Mystic Mountains

'll always have a sharp tongue and a grudge where the English are concerned."
    "Maybe so." She flicked at a loose tendril of hair that tickled her cheek. "But I 've changed where you're concerned. I haven't called you a pig in a long time."
    "True." He shot her a wide smile then clicked his tongue at the horse.
    "Look at those stars." She craned her neck. "That's something I find so different out here; the skies are so clear, the nights so sparkling."
    "Perhaps it 's just that you didn't notice such things in London. Surrounded by grime and filth, struggling to fill your belly, you tend not to look to the skies."
    "That 's a fact. You spend so much time on the lookout for something to nab that often you forget that the flowers still blossom in spring, and the lambs are still born no matter what. All I wish is that my Ma and brothers and sisters could be here with me to see all this." With an expansive gesture she took in the shadowed pastures, stretching endlessly across this vast dry land.
    Tiger slowed the horse and turned the rig in at the main gate. Isabella sighed. She didn 't want this night to end.
    "Such a big sigh." Tiger peered at her and she shrugged.
    Should she tell him how she felt? No doubt he would gloat. Still and all, if he hadn 't been so persistent she would never have known the thrill of dancing. More than a few of the women there had spurned her, it was true. But she had the satisfaction of knowing most of them were eaten up with jealousy because, apart from that one dance with the Miss Bacon, Tiger barely left her side all evening. Doubtless it was an act, but she'd never felt so wanted in her life.
    The house lay quiet as Tiger pulled the horse up by the gate. He hopped down then walked round to lift his arms for Isabella. As he lowered her to the ground time seemed suspended, as for a long time he held her around the waist, then let her slip slowly to the ground. Isabella gasped as his hands gripped her. His nearness, his warmth, sent her heart pounding against her ribs.
    "Thank you for your gracious company, Bella," he said, his voice low, his breath a sweet caress on her hot cheek.
    "Don 't tease me, Tiger," she whispered.
    "Now why would my thanking you be considered a tease?" he asked, clearly surprised.
    "Because you're always telling me what a nuisance I am, and what a shrew. I don't know your reason for taking me with you to the ball, but I'm sure it wasn't for my gracious company."
    "M y sweet girl." He laughed softly, and the beauty of his face took her breath away. "You're a lovely woman. Why would I need an ulterior motive for taking you to the ball?"
    "Don 't tell me lies, please. I'm not lovely and we both know it." With both palms on his chest she pushed away, but he tightened his hold on her.
    "Y ou have this very annoying habit of accusing me of lying to you. For once and all kindly take my words at their value."
    She began to tremble when he pulled her forward until she could feel every inch of him against her from his knees to his chest.
    "Didn't you notice how the men were looking at you with admiration in their eyes tonight? Why do you think I didn't let you out of my sight for too long? Because I was worried if I turned my back someone would whisk you away."
    Isabella bent her head, her forehead resting on his shirtfr ont. Should she remind him he had more or less assured his friends he was about to set his cap at Prudence Bacon?
    But then she forgot all else as he nuzzled the flesh of her shoulder with his mouth.
    "I find you a very desirable woman," he murmured, feathering kisses along the slope of her shoulder and up her throat.
    Isabella stifled the tart answer that trembled on her lips. Why not throw caution to the winds and enjoy these few moments out of time? Tomorrow he would be back to ignoring her, back to being her overlord and master. Tomorrow she would be back to being the kitchen maid, spending her days wishing for things that could never be. In reckless abandon she lifted her face as the unfamiliar longing swept her along, tempting her to taste forbidden fruits.
    Tiger touched his mouth to the soft place below her ear, to the warm base of her throat where a pulse pounded wildly. She shivered, moaning deep in her throat as his lips moved tenderly against the lobe of her ear.
    Tiger swallowed a groan. H ow he desired her. Sweet heaven. Perhaps he'd wanted her since the first moment he'd seen her with her face scrubbed clean and her hair damp and smoothed back