A Scandalous Deception (15 page)

Damn it all, was there a lovelier sight in
the world? Fin didn’t think so. With her pretty blue eyes gazing
upon him and her slightly swollen lips begging him to kiss her
again, Fin couldn’t believe his amazing good fortune. “Someone’s
coming,” he said, gesturing in the direction they’d been traveling.
Then he gently brushed his thumb across her soft lips. “We’ll
continue this soon, sweetheart.”

Soon? Lissy gulped, not certain at all what
to say to him, not certain at all what had just happened between
them, but she was certainly light-headed.

Fin pushed back to his feet and reached his
hand down to help her. Still slightly in a daze, Lissy grasped his
fingers, ignoring the warmth that filled her at his touch. She
shouldn’t feel warmth at his touch. He was
Fin.
Georgie’s
Fin. No matter that she’d urged him time and time again to get on
with his life, she never imagined…

Fin’s hand slid around her back and he
grasped her waist, pulling her closer to him as though she belonged
at his side. With his free hand, he waved at an approaching
carriage. “Do stop, please!” he called.

The driver waved back and the coach slowed to
a stop. Lissy didn’t recognize the crest on the side of the door.
The words
Creag an Turic
in an arc above a black lion
wearing a golden crown, but it appeared quite the fancy traveling
carriage.

“Ericht,” Fin muttered under his breath.
“Scoundrel. Hasn’t taken up his seat in several years.”

That
was what made a man a scoundrel?
Lissy scoffed as she glanced up at the very noble viscount beside
her. The moniker Saint Fin was hardly an exaggeration. She could
never be as perfect as him, not if she made it her life’s mission.
Honestly, she doubted anyone could.

He must have interpreted her look correctly
because he hastened to explain in
sotto voce
. “Spends every
night in one gaming hell or another. More concerned with lining his
own pockets than with the well-being of England.”

In other words, Lord Ericht was like most men
of Lissy’s acquaintance, not that she said as much. Besides, she
didn’t have the time to do so as the carriage rambled to a stop
before them.

“Hoping you can be of assistance,” Fin
called. “Our coach hit a hole up ahead. Threw my driver, broke our
wheel. There’s an inn not too far down the road, I understand.”

The carriage door opened and the Earl of
Ericht, strapping Highland Scot with black hair that he was,
alighted from the coach. “Carraway?”

“We are lucky you happened upon us,” Fin
said. “I’m afraid Lady Felicity’s slippers are hardly conducive to
the walk.”

Lissy squeaked in protest. What a thing for
him to say!

“Ye hit a hole up ahead?” The Scot looked off
in the distance. “It
is
getting dark.” Then he poked his
head back inside the coach. “Make room, Ellie.”

“Thank you.” Fin nodded.

“Of course, of course,” Ericht replied. “It’s
too late for us to carry on any further anyway, especially if the
road is as bad as ye say.” Then he stepped aside and gestured for
Lissy to enter his carriage. “My lady.”

She started for the conveyance with Fin right
on her heels, his hand on the small of her back. “Thank you, my
lord.” She ducked her head and climbed inside the coach. At once,
she spotted Lady Elspeth MacLaren, the earl’s pretty blonde sister,
sitting on the backwards-facing bench. Lissy smiled at the Scottish
girl, glad she was there. “Lady Elspeth, so kind of you to stop,”
she said, sliding onto the bench beside the blonde, relieved to
have some distance from Fin, if only for a moment. But her mind was
awhirl, and she needed time and little bit of space for her
thoughts to unjumble themselves.

“Is the road terribly bad?” the Scottish girl
asked, a bit of panic in her voice.

“It’s a bit bumpy,” Lissy replied. “With more
light, I’m sure it’s safe enough.”

Lady Elspeth nodded quickly. “Just in a hurry
to get home,” she said as Fin climbed inside the coach and Lord
Ericht called out instructions to his driver.

The look Fin cast Lissy as he dropped onto
the opposite bench heated her skin, and she wished she had a fan on
her person at the moment. Heavens, what had she gotten herself into
now? She turned her attention back to Lady Elspeth and said, “I am
too, in a hurry to get home, that is.” And they’d been quite close
in reaching that goal. Prestwick Chase was just a few hours away.
They’d almost made it tonight.

“Juliet will be fine.” Fin’s voice washed
over her and Lissy struggled not to shiver.

Good heavens, what was she going to do about
him? Part of her wanted to throw her arms around his neck, hold him
close and throw caution to the wind. That kiss, that soul-searing
kiss had been like nothing she’d ever experienced before. And Fin
was…Well, Saint Fin was the only truly perfect man she’d ever
known. In another life perhaps…

Lissy tried to put those thoughts from her
mind. She couldn’t throw her arms around Fin’s neck. She couldn’t
hold him close or throw caution to the wind. Doing so was reckless,
to both him and to her. And she’d been quite reckless enough in her
life.

Lord Ericht climbed inside the coach,
settling on the bench beside Fin. “Lucky we happened upon ye,
Carraway.”

Lissy met Fin’s gaze and the smile he
bestowed upon her said better than words could ever have done that
he’d have been quite happy if they hadn’t been stumbled upon at
all. “Lucky indeed,” he agreed.

“Ian,” Lady Elspeth began as the coach
lurched into a turn, “we
have
to leave at morning’s light.
Promise me.”

“Aye.” Her brother sighed. “We’ll get home as
soon as we can, Ellie. But I’m not going to kill myself getting
there.”

Lady Elspeth sat back with a huff, folding
her arms across her chest, silently shooting daggers in her
brother’s direction.

“Everything all right?” Fin asked.

Lord Ericht shrugged. “Everything’s fine. She
just hasn’t been home in a very long time and recently realized she
missed the place. Or something like that.”

Lissy never missed home. If it hadn’t been
for Luke’s summons, she wouldn’t be headed there now. She might not
ever go there again if she could avoid it. The halls of Prestwick
Chase offered nothing but haunting memories and a lifetime of
unfortunate events. “I hope you’ll find your home in good spirits,”
she said because someone had to say something.

Lady Elspeth unfolded her arms, worrying her
skirts between her fingers as though sitting still might be the
death of her. “Thank ye.”

Whatever was going on with the girl, it
wasn’t a sudden desire to see her home, no matter what the earl
said. Had something happened to Lady Elspeth in London? Was she
escaping something by fleeing back to Scotland? Normally, Lissy
would ponder about the girl’s obvious anxiety, her brother’s
cryptic comment. Normally, she would inquire about it even. But not
now, not with Fin sitting across from her, not with his gaze still
heating her skin, not with the memory of his kiss so fresh in her
mind.

“We can leave the ladies at the inn,” Lord
Ericht said. “Then we can go back for yer driver and carriage.”

“That’s very kind of you,” Fin replied. “We
do appreciate it.”

“Not a problem at all. Glad to be of
assistance.”

Lady Elspeth muttered something under her
breath and Fin and Lord Ericht exchanged more pleasantries; but
Lissy couldn’t focus on any of it. Her mind kept returning to Fin’s
kiss, the softness of his hand on her cheek and the warmth and
strength of his body, pressed against hers. Oh, she was in trouble,
and she didn’t have a clue what to do about it.

When the coach finally came to a stop, Lissy
was a bundle of nerves and she couldn’t wait to escape the confines
of the carriage and the swarming thoughts in her head. Lord Ericht
opened the door and lifted his hand to Lissy, helping her alight
from the coach, and Lady Elspeth was right behind her.

“We’ll get our rooms and then head back for
Carraway’s coach,” the Scotsman said to his sister.

Her back to the coach, Lissy stared up at the
Tudor-era inn before them. She’d escaped the carriage, but her
thoughts about Fin still plagued her. There would be no escaping
that, probably not ever.

A warm hand squeezed her shoulder and she
knew it was him. The gentle pressure of his grasp, the soft scent
of sandalwood, the heat that shot straight to her core.

“Lissy.” His voice rumbled and his warm
breath against her neck made her shiver from want.

She closed her eyes. What a mess she’d made
of her life. She’d like nothing better than throw her arms around
his neck and beg him to kiss her once again, to make her feel as
carefree as she’d felt in the middle of the road when it was just
the two of them. But her life
was
a mess and she couldn’t
travel down that particular path, and certainly not with him. He
deserved better.

Lissy stepped away from Fin, not able to look
at him for fear that her resolve would melt away. “Please do hurry,
Uncle Fin,” she said. “Poor Annie is probably terrified.” Then she
started for the taproom entrance without so much as a glance back
over her shoulder.

Uncle Fin
. Why the devil had she
called him that? To torture him? To vex him to no end? To put some
distance between them? Fin was most concerned it was that last one.
Damn it all, he didn’t want there to be distance between them. The
first time he’d felt right with the world in a very long time had
been with her in his arms, alongside the road. He didn’t want to go
back to how things had been before. He wanted to pull her into his
arms and make the world feel right once more. He wanted to kiss
every inch of her skin. He wanted her in his bed, waiting for him.
He wanted…

“…that interesting, am I?” Lord Ericht’s
voice broke Fin from his reverie.

He glanced up at the Scot across the carriage
from him and said, “I beg your pardon.”

“I don’t think ye’ve heard one thing I said
since we left the inn.”

The man would be most certainly correct about
that. “I—uh—I’m…” He sighed. “I do apologize, Ericht. Just
concerned about Lady Juliet’s condition, is all,” he lied. “I’m
afraid I’ve been lost in my thoughts.”

“And I’m the Loch Ericht Kelpie.” The earl
snorted. “It’s none of my concern, Carraway. And ye can tell me to
go hang, but that look ye’re sporting, I’d wager my blunt that the
reason for yer expression is that pretty blonde back at the inn
with my sister.”

The last person Fin was about to bare his
soul for was the Earl of Ericht, gambling scoundrel that he was.
“You
can
go hang,” he said, though there was no heat in his
voice. The Scot was, after all, helping him retrieve his coach,
driver and Lissy’s maid.

“Fair enough.” Ericht laughed, a warm sound
that made Fin feel the slightest bit guilty for his uncomplimentary
thoughts about the man. “It’s just that I’ve seen that very
expression on the face my oldest friend this last month. And if
ye’re as tortured as he’s been, then I’m quite sorry for ye.”

Perhaps Fin had been harsh in his judgment
about the earl. He shrugged a bit and said, “Tortured might be a
slight exaggeration.”

Ericht nodded. “Aye, my friend would say the
same, I’m sure. God keep me from falling under whatever spell that
bit the two of ye. I’m rather happy keeping my own hours and my own
council.”

A fortnight ago, Fin would have said the
same. But that was before everything changed. Before his life
stopped making sense. Before he truly saw Felicity Pierce for who
she was, heart and soul. Before he realized she beckoned to him,
that he loved her. Before that kiss…

Lissy. Lissy. Lissy.

Had Fin moved too quickly for her with that
kiss? Was she truly as terrified of men as Lieutenant Avery had
suggested? Or was he reading too much into her response back at the
inn? Was she simply trying to vex him? Uncle Fin, indeed. If she
ever called him that again…