Passionately Yours (Hellions of High Street 3)

“Let me go first,” he said.

“No need—”

Stripping off his coat, Alec lowered himself over the side. “If you slip, landing on a big lummox will be a trifle more comfortable than landing on a pile of rocks.”

The gusting breeze tugged at the vines, so he wasn’t quite sure if the ruffled whisper was an answering laugh.

His boots hit the ground with a thud. Steadying his stance, he looked up. “Have a care. The handholds are sharp, and there’s a cluster of—”

Caro had already started her descent.

“Ouch,” he murmured softly, seeing her fingers grab a patch of thorns.

“OUCH!” Her yelp, coming a split second later, was a good deal louder. For a moment, she hung suspended, balanced on one foot wedged in a crevice, but then…

He raised his arms just in time to catch her.

Whomp.

The force of her tumble staggered him, and he lost his footing on the slippery stones. Twisting hard, Alec managed to angle his body to take the brunt of the fall.

“Ouch,” she repeated, slowly raising her head from his chest. “Are you hurt?”

“Not mortally,” he rasped, trying to shake off the loud ringing in his ears. It couldn’t be the church bells, for they had been gone for centuries.

“Don’t move,” she ordered. Untangling her hands from the folds of his shirt she threaded her fingers through his hair. “I had better check for bumps.”

“OUCH!”

“Or blood.”

“Wishful thinking?” he asked.

“If I wanted to do you bodily injury, I’d take matters into my own hands, not leave it to chance.”

In truth, her fingertips felt rather soothing as they caressed lightly over his temples.

A chuckle rumbled in his throat. “I don’t doubt it.”

“That’s because you, of all people, know what an incorrigible hellion I am.”

“You are…” Unique. Intoxicating. Her scent, a beguiling mix of verbena and some unnamable spice, was teasing at his nostrils. “You are that, and more,” he finished.

“More what?” Caro shifted. She was lying atop him and the sensation of her glorious body sliding over his set off a jolt of longing, a spark of need. “More trouble?”

Trouble. Yes, definitely trouble.

“That’s too easy a word,” he answered.

She propped her elbows on his chest, a pensive look rippling through her gaze.

Alec thought for a long moment. “You challenge me.”

“We should all feel challenged,” responded Caro, her voice not quite steady. “It’s not always comfortable, but it’s by questioning ourselves that we learn and grow.”

As she spoke, her mouth quirked into a rueful smile. He loved how expressive her face was—from the flash of her alluring eyes to the flush of her petal-soft skin, she was so exuberantly alive.

He tilted his head, angling his lips to within a hair’s breadth of hers.