Highland Hellion (Highland Weddings #3)(47)

“Aye,” Rolfe agreed. “Although, for all Duncan’s insisting that it is a wedding present for ye, I rather believe his true intent was to make it so I must wait on yer whim to release me.”

Katherine stopped. She’d begun to circle him, unwinding the cloth, but froze as she remembered exactly what they were expected to do.

Her belly decided to knot as her hands started to shake.

Rolfe let out a very male, frustrated sound. “I suppose I’d be insensitive if I growled at ye to get on with it?”

“You would.”

Of course, she’d be a coward to stand there behind him, shivering over consummating wedding vows she’d decided to willingly take.

“And if I plead for mercy?”

She laughed. “You would never do any such thing.” But the break in the tension allowed her to get her feet to begin moving again. Katherine came around in front of him but kept her gaze on her work, succeeding in pulling a full measure of blue wool from him.

There were still at least three more lengths wound around him.

“Do nae doubt me, lass,” he continued. “The truth of the matter is, I took a bath, but I am sweating like it’s the dead of summer. So, if ye do nae release me soon, I believe I am threatening ye with the company of a man who smells less than sweet.”

“Well, I shall take that under consideration.”

She freed another length of wool, this one a brown color. “Is this a customary way to deliver a bridegroom?”

Rolfe snorted. “Only when Duncan Lindsey thinks I will no’ get the opportunity to repay his…kindness.”

“Hmm.” She held up the third length of fabric and admired the dark-ruby hue. “Perhaps he wishes to soften the blow of my having no dowry.”

“Katherine.”

There was a firm note in his tone. He wanted her to look at him and she knew it, yet she still worried her lip before she lifted her chin and locked gazes with him.

“If I wanted a fat dowry, I’d have wed years ago.”

There was a light in his eyes that made her tremble deep down inside her body. The reaction defied her understanding, and yet she felt it so keenly, it didn’t matter that she failed to make sense of it.

That was the way it was with Rolfe McTavish.

“I wanted ye,” he muttered in a husky tone. “I wanted more than to bed ye. I wanted to know ye are mine.”

She’d pulled another length from him and stood for a moment as she simply released it and let it settle to the floor. “There will be plenty who tell you how foolish it is to wed me for a tumble.”

His lips twitched. She’d seen him grin before, but this was something different, something more intimate. It was roguish to say the least, cocksure as well, but there was a promise lurking in his eyes that made her breath catch before she circled behind him yet again and pulled another layer away from him.

He shrugged, dislodging the remaining layers and sending them down his body. She stepped back and enjoyed the sight of him emerging from the cocoon, because he was too strong a creature to be bound. There was a majestic quality in his strength that mesmerized her.

He kicked the fabric to the side and contemplated her. The Lindsey plaid she’d wrapped around her for warmth was lying discarded on a chair. She stood there in her smock, feeling as though the candles behind her made it nearly transparent.

Yet where she’d been nervous, she was now curious to see what he made of her.

Would he be disappointed in his bargain?

For all she brought to him was herself. If he stayed, it was because he wanted to, and she found that idea endearing.

It felt as if the chamber had shrunk, now that he was free. He fixed her with a long stare before he grinned at her.

“Ye have the devil’s own courage, Kat.”

She lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Some call me hellion for it.” She plucked the book from where it lay nestled in the fabric and set it on a table before she turned to look back at him. “Best know I have no plans to adopt more submissive ways. If that displeases you, the door is behind you.”

He snorted before laughing outright at her brazenness. The Lindseys had wrapped him up in all his clothing. He started to work the buttons on his doublet as he finished chuckling. He locked stares with her before he firmly tossed it aside.

Her mouth went dry.

But her insides felt as if they were heating.

“I am no’ going anywhere.”

“So I see.” It had become impossible to stand still. She shifted slowly away from him, but her attention remained fixed on him as he pulled the end of his wide belt free.

You know what a man looks like…

Yes.

However, this was Rolfe. The man who made her breath catch. It was vastly different somehow. Time was moving very slowly as he tugged on that end of leather to release the buckle, and then it was free, the pleats of his kilts sagging and slipping down his hips.

It left him in his shirt and boots. Katherine found that pleasing because they were somehow more evenly matched now, even if she’d be a fool to think he wasn’t stronger than she was.

No, it wasn’t about raw strength.

“Do nae fear me, Kat.” His voice had become husky, but there was a genuine note of concern in it, too. One that warmed her heart.

“I wouldn’t have signed the contracts if I did.”