The following excerpt is unedited and may differ from the final format and/or published work.

Special Excerpt

“Didn’t you see his face, Ewan?” Palms pressed into the desktop, Louisa leaned over the desk. “Didn’t you see how much your words meant to him?”

“Damn it, Louisa, I’ll not be chastised about the boy or anything else in my own house.” His chair crashed backwards to the floor as he stood up and leaned forward over the desk until he could breathe in the warm fragrance of her. Oblivious to his anger, she didn’t retreat, she simply glared at him with righteous indignation.

“Well someone needs to say something, because until now, I don’t think anyone’s had the wherewithal to call you out on the topic.”

“A topic that isn’t your concern,” he said through clenched teeth.

“As his governess, it is my concern.” Louisa’s voice held a defiant note as she glared at him. “All he wants is to be loved, Ewan. He wasn’t to be loved so desperately.”

“You clearly don’t understand what a boundary is, Louisa,” he snarled.

With an angry noise of frustration, he lost his head and did the only thing he could think of at the moment to silence her. Her eyes widened as his hand curled around the nape of her neck then tugged her close so his mouth could taste the heat of hers.

A small sound of surprise vibrated against his lips as he kissed her hard. In the back of his head he heard shouts of warnings, but ignored them as he experienced the first hot taste of her. Sweet and succulent as a summer strawberry, her lips singed his in a way that cautioned him to release her.

The warning went unheeded as he plundered her mouth as a man who’d just found a beautiful treasure would. Beneath his kilt, his cock hardened and jutted outward. The soft murmur whispering out of her gave him the opportunity to slip his tongue into her mouth until it mated with hers. The sugary confection they’d had for dessert still lingered in her mouth, and he couldn’t remember a tablet tasting any sweeter than it did at this precise moment.

The scent of roses filled his nostrils with every breath he took. It was an aroma he knew he could recognize even in the dark. Until now, she’d been passive against the assault of her mouth, but with a quiet mewl of pleasure, her tongue hesitantly twirled around his. With each passing second, her hesitancy was slowly replaced by an uncontrolled, heated response that fired his blood.

Every stroke of her tongue against his made his cock throb. It was an unfulfilled ache he’d only experienced in the dark when dreaming of her. He wanted to explore every inch of her with his hands and mouth until he’d committed all of her to memory. Desire pounded against his body as the need to drag her off to his bed surged through him.

The thought pierced the red haze of desire engulfing him, and he jerked away from her. Her hazel eyes fluttered open, and his heart slammed into his chest at the desire flaring in her gaze. Christ Jesus, what the fuck was he thinking to kiss her like that. A knot formed in his throat as he retreated from her completely. Determined to avoid something like this ever happening again, he narrowed his gaze at her.

“As I indicated earlier, if you continue to act as if you were mistress of Argaty House then I’ll assume you’re willing to perform all the duties that accompany the role.”

For a moment, she stared at him with a mixture of mortification and disbelief. The impact her expression had on him was no different than if someone had landed a hard blow to his stomach. A split-second later, anger flushed her sweet face. If he’d thought she would retreat, he’d been wrong. The woman was hopping mad, and he knew Louisa Morehouse well enough now by now to know she wasn’t about to let him have the last word.

“You kissed me, you arrogant beast. And I am most certainly not trying to act like the mistress of your house,” she snapped.