KiltTease (7 page)

Victoria let out a frustrated sigh. “I can’t watch this. I know how it ends. Let’s go, Callan, the Baird.”

Douglass pinned Quinton with a steely glare. “Aye. I see. It’s never me the lassies go for. I’m starting to get a complex.”

Callan chuckled before he put his hand out for Victoria to take. His brother’s entire demeanor shifted when Victoria met his gaze. The depth of love exchanged between the two after the simple gesture made Quinton’s face flush. It seemed so intimate and not for prying eyes.

His brother glanced at him again, nodding a good-bye. “Catch you later, brother.”

When they’d gone, Kate asked, “What did they mean about knowing how this ends?”

“No idea,” he lied smoothly.

She pursed her lips, not looking entirely convinced. “I should make not lying to me a rule.”

Since that was a fair point, he shrugged. “Over the past two years, the men in my family have fallen like dominoes whenever a Yank comes along.”

She nodded in understanding. “Your cousins’ wives seem nice. Victoria’s bossy, but I like her.”

“My point, except my family has done more than like.”

Her eyes lit with humor. “Well, it’s not because they are Yanks. They’re all African-American women. As my grandmother would say, ‘the blacker the berry…’”

He barked out a laugh. “I can’t believe you said that.”

She waved him off. “You’ve met me. Yes, you can.”

Aye, he could. She’d given his uncle nothing but shite over brunch. She did it with sarcasm and a sweet smile, and his uncle had listened. Somewhat. So by the time the brunch had come to a close, she’d made friends with his cousins’ wives, his cousins, and even his grouchy brother. Victoria preened about it all.

While Kate’s face had a glow, her gaze held nothing but mischief. “You’re not just standing out here with me for my health. What do you have in mind?”

While his family had grown smitten over her, Quinton had just watched her. Watched her mouth close over strawberries, her tongue wrapping around her finger as she cleaned a drop of dessert from it.

He’d been forced to listen to her sigh in pleasure. All he’d wanted to do was drop his hand beneath the table, let his fingers dance up between her legs, and change the sighs into a moan with a caress. If they’d been alone, he would have had
her
for brunch.

“What I have in mind is a personal tour of this castle,” he said.

She bit into the side of her lip, looking tempting and tempted. “Will the owner mind?”

As he had suspected, she wasn’t much of a rebel. He wondered how and why she’d said yes to him. An interesting facet he could explore on another day. Today he planned to get his hands on her. “He’s opened his home to us. The wedding will be here too. He’ll be back from London for it.”

“So that means it’ll be us and the servants?” Her smile pretty much said she wasn’t against this plan. “The servants you are hoping to keep quiet about what they see, or you’ll just do the logical thing and pay them off.”

He tapped her nose with his forefinger. “Precisely.”

She just stared at him for a long moment. “People don’t really say no to you, do they?”

They hadn’t. Not in a long while. “You can always be the first. Teach me a lesson in humility.”

She racked him over with an intent gaze. “You don’t brag. You don’t flaunt unless you’re making a point or someone else happy. I haven’t seen you act entitled. Even then, I think it would be more territorial than anything. You’re already more humble than some people I know.”

His brows rose at her breakdown of him. “And you know all this after a few days?”

“Don’t get me wrong, you’re nice to look at, but by now the shine would be wearing off of you. I’ve seen you alone, with your family, and an employee. You can tell a lot about a man with less.” She blew out a breath. “Now you were going to use a tour of a castle to feel me up…”

His dick perked up at her sultry tone.
Take care
, his brother had warned. Was he? Or was he just taking advantage? She grabbed his hand, not giving him time to find the right answer, not just the easy one, and pulled him back up the castle’s steps.

They passed the entrance hall that held a small writing table then the main hall that was decorated with the MacDougal crest and other antiques. She didn’t stop until they reached the left wing—brunch had been in the right.

She told him, “You can get to the tower on this side.”

His step faltered as he shook his head at her. “How do you know this?”

“Ashley told me.” Kate added when he only stared at her, “She’s one of the servants. I got lost going to the bathroom and we chatted.”

Bemused, he had to ask, “Do you have to talk to everyone?”

“Yup,” she said without a hint of shame. “I have that kind of face that gets me stopped in the grocery store and told a life story.”

That he could believe. From the beginning, her interest in him had seemed genuine, and now he knew it was. He’d seen her alone, with his family, and with people who could give her absolutely nothing in return. She’d been kind and sarcastic to every single one of them.
Kate
was
Kate
. Quinton had never imagined how arousing sincerity could be. But it was, and he just wanted to touch her.

He brushed his fingers over her shoulder and then guided her to the wall of portraits. One after another showed a man with a paunch stomach wearing Highland dress. The corridor held a lingering scent of mothballs and lemon oil.

She looked down both ways, confusion clear on her face. “Is it the same man?”

Many years ago, when he’d first come to the castle, he’d thought the same. “Nah. It’s genetics. The last one is the current owner.”

Kate checked the portraits again. “Well, damn,” she whispered.

As they walked down the hall inspecting frame after frame, he let his fingers trail over her soft skin—innocent touches on her elbow, hip, neck. She kept up a stream of questions he answered with ease, but his focus fixed on the way her breathing turned choppy and uneven. Her reaction depended on what he caressed with the pads of his fingers. Quinton made note of it all, because those spots would be what he’d kiss and lick later.

When they reached the stairs at the end of the corridor, she faced him. “What’s on the second floor?” Her big, rounded pupils left very little room for her brown irises to shine.

His probably looked the same, and he hadn’t even begun to seduce her. His skin felt tight from the need to do just that. “More heirlooms. This would be interesting if my eyes didn’t glaze over whenever my family started discussing antiques. Maybe then I could tell you the history of everything here.”

“Can I tell you a secret, Quinton?”

“What?”

“During all those tours I took in Ireland, my eyes totally glazed over during the history portions.”

He laughed. “Kate.”

“What? It’s something else we have in common.” She threw him a grin over her shoulder and started up the stairs.

Quinton let her go up two steps ahead of him and then placed his hand to the back of her knee. Her skin felt so smooth against his rough palm. “We should go straight up to the tower,” he said. “The view is beautiful.”

She froze then trembled. He let his hand crawl up beneath the blue material of her dress. Stepping up behind her, he slid his palm against her inner thigh. The heat of her warmed his hand. Her breath caught as she glanced at him, her mouth parted. He let his fingertips brush against her silk panties. Wet. Adding just a bit of pressure to the touch, he petted her pussy through the thin fabric before passing her on the stairs.

It took her a few seconds to follow him. “Quinton.” Her voice was raspy.

She couldn’t see his smile, but he had a big one. He’d made her sound that way. “Aye?”

“Never mind.” Within the next breath she’d caught up with him, a flush in her cheeks. “Is asking personal stuff off-limits?”

Before she could pass him, Quinton put his hand up to his nose and inhaled the scent of her. He groaned. She smelled good enough to eat. Her eyes widened.

“Depends on the question, lass,” he said, dropping his hand.

He gestured for her to lead again. She swallowed. “Um…”

Quinton chuckled at her flustered reply. She shot a glare his way and moved forward. The narrow space seemed to fill with her light scent. He could take her there, right there on the steps.

Maybe Kate could sense that primal need, because she put a little more space between them, her hand gripping the wooden railing. “You and your brother don’t seem close. I’m an only child, but still that relationship doesn’t seem…close.”

He nodded his head in respect, following her. She wanted to play dirty then. “We were when we were younger. Then our mother died.”

Sadness softened her posture. “And you haven’t tried to get close again?”

That note of sympathy isn’t what he wanted, but he accepted the emotion from her. Kate had a soft center, and he liked that about her. “Maybe now that I’m retired we can.”

She bit her lower lip, sighed, and then asked, “How bad is your injury?”

His shoulders went up, the muscles bunching. How in the fuck had she caught that? He stopped on the stairs. “You’re sharp.”

He grasped her leg, blatant in his caress and unapologetic in his attempt to distract her. Her lids went heavy, but she ran ahead three steps, breaking the contact. He should have known it wouldn’t work.

So he answered the question. “Bad enough that if someone hit me hard in the right spot I could lose the mobility in my arm.” He closed the space, cupping her face. “You’re not to tell—”

“Anyone. I know, but…that presents a problem.” Her hands went exploring, starting with his tie. She tugged it loose to get at the buttons on his shirt. “I sort of imagined you holding me up against the wall once we got up to the tower.”

She’d undone enough buttons to slip her hand in and scrape her nails over his pec. There was no sting of pain, just pleasure. He groaned, and then she was gone, moving up the stairs again.

“I can make do, lass,” he said, chasing after her now. His heart raced from the thrill of it, the smell of her. Her. “Never doubt that.”

Kate turned around. Her dress whirled at the quick movement and he caught a glimpse of her red panties.

She gave him a little smile that let him know she knew it had. “You do look determined, but I don’t want to exacerbate your injury.”

He grabbed her around her waist before she could move away. Their bodies slammed together. Her gasp came out excited and aroused. There was something very alluring about how small and soft she felt against him. The subtle details made him want to be both gentle and rough with her.

Quinton nipped her chin, needing to taste her. She was sweet. Her skin warm. It wasn’t enough to feed the ache. He placed open-mouth kisses on her neck until he reached her ear.

“If it’s that important to you,” he said, “you can always be the one on top. I am a modern man who doesn’t mind a woman who takes control.”

Her chuckle turned into a moan when his hands had slipped under her skirt again. His rough palms abraded her skin as he tugged at her underwear. The thin straps would be easy enough to break. He wanted to rip them off and push her into the wall, just like she’d done the first time they’d kissed. But this was only supposed to be a tease. Kiss her. Touch her. Leave her wanting.

“These are now mine, lass,” he whispered in her ear. “You got them all wet.”

“No,” she breathed. “You did.”

Kate leaned against him, bracing her hand on his good shoulder, never letting her gaze break from his. She was so open and vulnerable he could see her desire, bright and endless. The heat of that emotion warmed him from the inside out. His hands fisted on the straps of her panties as though he was trying to ride her emotions out and needed something to hang onto.
Breathe. Slow and steady
.

When Quinton had a semblance of control again, he bent to slide her panties off. He stuffed them in his pocket before going to kiss her neck, but she’d skipped forward. All his attention had tunneled to her, so he blinked his surroundings into focus. They’d made it to the circular staircase that led up to the tower.

“Longest staircase in the world,” she murmured.

He laughed at her exasperated tone, right on her heels. “Then move faster.”

She was breathless by the time they stood in the tower’s archway. Kate turned to him. “This is anticlimactic. It looks like a storage room.”

Tapestries decorated the circular room, but the space was filled with forgotten antiques. A pungent citrus scent clung to the air, but it was Kate that he breathed in. “For the most part, it’s for overflow, but we’re here for the view, remember.”

He pulled her into him, waited until she trembled—the anticipation getting to her—and then he kissed her. She melted into him with a sigh. A rush of need gripped him at the simple sound of surrender. He wrapped one arm around her waist and buried his other hand in the mess of curls. If there was any pain, he couldn’t feel it, not while she tasted of strawberries and champagne.

And her moans…He licked slow and deep into her mouth to draw them out. She kept her lips on his but edged back to unbutton the rest of his shirt and then went to work on his pants.

Fuck. Quinton had only meant to tease her, get a feel of her wet warmth, and then drop her off at her B and B. Things between them were moving fast enough, too fast, but Kate started to stroke his cock through his boxer briefs. His stomach muscles jerked at her caress.

He used her hair as leverage to tilt her head back. A sigh spilled from her throat. So he sucked the delicate curve of her neck just to feel the noise against his lips. A need to devour the sound twisted in his gut. It was so pure, sweet. He’d never had sweet. Never needed that before. She was getting to him. More than he could have ever imagined.

Just as he thought Kate could be innocent too, she closed her hand over his balls in just the right way. Not too hard, not too soft, just perfectly. Precome rose to the tip of his cock. If she moved, he’d follow her mindlessly.

That thought made him tense. Quinton edged her back to give himself a moment to think. She licked at her swollen lips, meeting his gaze. A haze of desire had darkened her brown eyes.