“I think I was a sea sprite in my other life,” she said wistfully, breathing in the sea air. “I love being near the sea.”

He stared at her, surprised to hear her speak about something so personal. “At home where you live, are you land bound?”

“I am. I love visiting Annapolis, and the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, but otherwise, I live way inland. This is beautiful.”

“It can be bitterly cold and stormy.” He didn’t mean to ruin her impression of the area, but if she had romantic notions that it was always this way, he wanted to dispel them.

“Yes,” she said, as if the notion pleased her.

The weather had been nice since she’d arrived, except for this morning when it was so cold and foggy and she’d taken the walk with Borthwick in the gardens. Grant wondered then if really bad weather would faze her—her father had hated the wet weather and cold. Though Grant didn’t remember anything that Theodore had actually liked.

Grant drove her to the last stop they’d make, where a white, frothing burn poured over moss stones in a quiet glen. Green, grassy hills surrounded them, and sheep wandered near the top of one of the hills.

“Can we climb them?” she asked, prompting him to pull over into a car park.

He was surprised to see her smiling face, her eyes sparkling with fascination. He hadn’t expected to see her this enthralled with the land. Of course she’d appreciate what the land could mean financially to her, but to treasure it like he and his kin did? Definitely unexpected.

She was out of the car in a flash and climbing the nearest hill before he could hurry to catch up. The grass was like velvet and the climb easy as they made it to the top. He pointed to a waterfall cascading down one of the hills way off in the distance.

“It’s beautiful,” she said. “I wish I had my camera.”

“I can bring you here again,” he said, not sure why he said so. She could come here on her own any time she wanted and didn’t need him to escort her. Dark strands of her hair whipped across his shoulders, and he was reminded of his first encounter with her when he wore his kilt and how her hair and skirt had whipped at his bare skin, tantalizing, teasing, tickling him.

Her lips parted in awe as she surveyed the surrounding lands. She turned to see the hills behind them that stood even taller. “Can we climb those?” She spoke with such enthusiasm that he smiled.

“Aye, if you wish it.”

“I do.” She hurried down the incline like a sure-footed sheep, then raced across the narrow footbridge built over the burn. When she reached the other side, she began the climb.

Grant nearly laughed at her exuberance. He hadn’t expected to enjoy the outing, just assumed it would be a grueling duty, nothing more. He could envision her racing up and down the green hills in her wolf coat, with him in hot pursuit. No one lived out here for miles around, yet even then, visitors to the area might see them, and running at night would be a better choice.

He had no idea why he was even thinking along those lines. Why would she want to run with him through the hills at night as a wolf?

He always joked and played with his clansmen when they were through with their work for the day. Well, even while they worked. But being with Colleen here like this felt different. For a moment, he didn’t feel like he served as the manager of her estates while she was the owner and taskmaster. He felt like a man with a woman on a Sunday jaunt in the glen. Except she wasn’t just any woman. She was a she-wolf, her cute little arse jiggling ahead of him as he climbed the hill to join her.

When he reached the top, she was trying to catch her breath and swayed a little. He grabbed her arm, and he didn’t know what came over him. But suddenly he was looking down into her smiling face, as if she was smiling at him, and he wanted in the worst way to kiss her.

She didn’t pull away from him, either.

He shouldn’t kiss her, but damn, he wanted to.

Still breathing hard, her heart beating fast, she placed her hand on his chest. He expected her to push him away, but she didn’t. She just stood there looking up at him, waiting for him to do something. He breathed in her scent, all woman and she-wolf and…interested.

They stood high on top of the hill overlooking the glen, the water rushing by, the sheep grazing on the green grass across the burn, and white clouds passing overhead against the blue sky.

He still had hold of her arm, but then he released her, cupped her face with both hands, and kissed her.

When his lips met hers, he knew he shouldn’t do this. He intended to make it sweet and unassuming, to quench some damnable need that he had to satisfy. He didn’t presume it would go anywhere, and he almost imagined it would be lame and unappealing—after having built up the expectation that kissing that sweet mouth of hers would make his world spin and topple over. He hadn’t thought she’d crave the intimacy as much as he did. Yet when she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back, she exhibited an eagerness that turned his world on end.

She was more than willing.

He held back, not wanting to frighten the lass. From her response, she didn’t appear to be the kind of she-wolf who frightened easily. Her soft lips pressed against his, her body caressing his own, when he was only thinking in terms of lips and kissing and not of rubbing their bodies together as if in preparation for something even more intimate! Despite the cool breeze sweeping around them, he was burning up. He should end this now, not wanting her to think he had designs on her to gain her properties. Yet, just from the way she wasn’t pulling away, he couldn’t either.