Davina stepped back. “Nay. As much as I enjoyed yer kisses, I will no’ be playin’ that game with the likes of ye.”
“Game?”
“I’ve heard how ye go about breakin’ hearts in London and Edinburgh, I will not be yer next victim.”
What the blazes was she talking about? “I doona go around breakin’ hearts.”
She laughed and turned away from him, her homespun skirt billowing out. “Jesse and Fanella have told me all about how ye dance, kiss, melt a heart and go on to the next.”
As soon as his sisters returned from London, he was going to throttle each of them. “I do no such thin’.”
Davina grabbed an arrow from the ground and then turned to him. “Who do ye think I believe more? Yer sisters who are dear friends, or ye, an unrepentant rake?”
Rake? He wasn’t a rake by any stretch of the imagination. “I would hope it is me, and that yer not callin’ my honor into question.”
She tilted her head and frowned. “Not honor. I wouldna think to do so.”
At least she thought he had honor. His sisters, on the other hand, had a lot to answer for.
“I just doona think ye can help yerself.”
“What?” Did she think he ran around kissing and caressing unsuspecting ladies, one after the other?
“I think ye like ladies and if ye’re of a mind to be kissin’, ye kiss them.”
Is that what she thought just happened? He simply felt like kissing her and now he’d move on? “I can assure ye that I doona go around kissin’ lasses just because it seems like a good idea in the moment.”
“Ah ha, but ye do go around kissin’ them?”
“Aye. Nay.” He stomped away from her and thrust his fingers through his hair. This was not what was supposed to happen next. “It isna what ye think.”
“Then what is it?”
Blast, how could he explain when he wasn’t so certain himself? He did like lasses, all lasses, but Davina was different. “I dinna ken what I was wantin’.” Somehow he knew that explanation was not going to suffice.
“And ye do now?” she asked incredulously.
“Aye!” He turned around and marched right back to her. “Ye. I want ye.”
Davina blinked up at him. “I wish I could believe ye, but I willna have my heart broken, Ian Grant. How can I be certain that next week ye willna tire of kissin’ me and find another?”
“Because I willna,” Ian ground out.
Davina sucked in a breath. “Then prove it.”
“How the blazes can I prove somethin’ like that?”
“By not kissin’ anynone else, of course.”
Well, that should be easy enough. There wasn’t a lass within five counties that he had ever wanted to kiss besides Davina.
“In London.”
He jerked at her words. “London?”
“Aye.” She lifted her chin. “If ye can enjoy the Season without kissin’ and dancin’ then I’ll ken ye willna break my heart.
“Ye want me to go to London? Now?”
“Or ye willna be kissin’ me again.”
“I’m not goin’ to go off to London to prove myself.”
“Then I guess we’ve reached an impasse.” With that, she picked her bow up off the ground and marched past him, toward the manor.
Ian thrust his fingers through his hair. How the bloody hell had he ended up in this mess? He meant to kiss, court, marry and seduce. In that order. Not be given an ultimatum to prove himself.
About Jane Charles
Jane Charles is a USA Today Bestselling author who has lived in the Midwest her entire life. As a child she would more likely be found outside with a baseball than a book in her hand. In fact, Jane hated reading until she was sixteen. Out of boredom on a long road trip she borrowed her older sister’s historical romance and fell in love with reading. She long ago lost count of how many novels she has read over the years and her love for them never died. Along with romance she has a passion for history and the two soon combined when she penned her first historical romance. What turned into a hobby became a passion. In addition to historical romances, she has been pulled to write contemporary and began penning her new series, Baxter Academy of Arts. She intends to continue writing both historical and contemporary.
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Historical Romance by Jane Charles
The Tenacious Trents
Compromised For Christmas
Landing a Laird
A Misguided Lord
A Perfect Gentlemen
Devil in Her Dreams
A Lass For Christmas
Lady Revealed
Lady Disguised
Lady Concealed
A Tenacious Trent’s Wedding
Lady Admired
A Scot to the Heart
Courting the Scot
Kissing the Lass
The Spirited Storms
Christmas Spirits
Ruined by a Lady
Weathering Captain Storm
Wiggon’s School For Elegant Young Ladies
To Walk in the Sun
Ghosts From the Past
The Witching Hour
A Gentleman’s Guide to Once Upon a Time
His Impetuous Debutante
His Contrary Bride
His Not So Sensible Miss
His Christmas Match
Muses
Her Muse, Lord Patrick
Her Muse, Her Magic
Her Muse, Her David
Her Muse, His Grace
The Garden Brides
Lily, One Lord’s Temptation
Contemporary Romance by Jane Charles
Baxter Boys
Rattled: Rattled #1 (Baxter Boys Series ~ Rattled)
Still Rattled: Rattled #2 (Baxter Boys Series ~ Rattled)
The Rattle Box: Rattled #3 (Baxter Boys Series ~ Rattled)
Rattle His Cage: Rattled #4 (Baxter Boys Series ~ Rattled)
All Horns and Rattles: Rattled #5 (Baxter Boys Series ~ Rattled)
Shake, Rattle and Roll: Rattled #6 (Baxter Boys Series ~ Rattled)
Rattling Around: Rattled #7 (Baxter Boys Series ~ Rattled)
The Christmas Rattle: Rattled #8 (Baxter Boys Series ~ Rattled)
Baxter Academy
Valentine Wishes: The Legacy #1 (Baxter Academy Series ~ The Legacy)
Colors of You: The Academy #1 (Baxter Academy Series ~ The Academy)
Shadows of Memory: The Academy #2 (Baxter Academy Series ~ The Academy)
Casting Doubt: The Academy #3 (Baxter Academy Series ~ The Academy)
Between the Lines: The Academy #4 (Baxter Academy Series ~ The Academy)