She heard her name spoken from somewhere that seemed far away, but when she opened her eyes, Ian's lace was intimately close to hers, his eyes seeking permission.

"Yes, Ian." She splayed her hands over the strong features of his face and drew it to hers. "Yes, please." As she kissed him, she heard a small groan escape his throat. She felt his fingers loosen the tie belt, then draw the robe away, exposing one side of her body. While his hps explored her mouth, his hand explored that side, slowly, tantalizingly, moving with exquisite deliberation down the length of her neckline, across her breast, past the curve of her waist, over her hip, and back around, coming to rest on the soft mound of her pubic curls. With a sharp intake of breath as he began to intimately explore her, she arched against him, something deep within craving the fulfillment promised by his touch.

Moments later, she felt him shift his weight across her body. He removed the other half of the robe and performed his magic on that bare skin. Meredith thought she might die from the need he was building within her. Never had she been loved like this. It was as if he were worshiping her with each caress, and with each caress, her desire flamed, obliterating her reason, destroying all caution.

Just when she thought she could take no more, he stopped and drew away from her. "I want to see ye," he said, kneeling beside her, removing her arms from the huge sleeves of the robe. His voice was thick with his own desire as his eyes wandered from the top of her head to the tip of her toes. She lay naked and unashamed before him and let him devour her with his gaze.

"I want to see you, too," she murmured at last and watched in pleasure and anticipation as he removed his shirt, then stood and took off his pants and shorts.

His body was as magnificent as the Highland mountains themselves. Broad shoulders settled across a muscular chest before his torso tapered toward his hips. His legs were long and well formed, his arms brawny. She saw the strength of his desire and held out her arms to him, for it was her desire as well.

He knelt across her and entwined her fingers in his, his eyes never leaving hers. He entered her gently, easing into her with the same slow deliberation, driving her passion out of control. Again she arched into him, and she felt the first flicker of that sweet satiation her body demanded. She wanted more, but he moved away, only to return with a deeper thrust, and she rose to meet his lover's assault. He smiled down at her, and she felt their bodies begin to move in a rhythm that carried her higher and higher with each stroke. She tried to keep her eyes open, locked on his, but the sensation was too exquisite, and she closed them as she cried out when he brought her to a crescendo of delight. He crested the wave with her, and she felt the delicious pulse of his body within her, filling her, making her whole.

He lay down lightly upon her, wrapped one leg around her, then turned to one side, holding her against him in their intimate embrace. "Oh, my God, Meredith," he whispered, "what a woman ye are."

She was unable to speak or move or think or scarcely even breathe. He was everywhere she wanted him to be. Around her, within her, in her mind and heart, body and soul. She may have made a terrible mistake in this, but this was an experience she would cherish for the rest of her life, no matter what the consequences.

"I… don't generally fall into bed with virtual strangers," she said, finding her voice at last, teasing the hair on his chest with one finger.

"Nor I." He drew her even closer with his leg. "You've made me lose my mind, lass."

She looked into his eyes. "Lass. I've never been called a lass before. It's so… Scottish."

"Do ye like it?"

"I do."

"Hmmm. Did ye hear what ye just said? Ye said, 'I do.' I like the sound of that."

Meredith blinked. He couldn't mean… "What are you talking about?"

He kissed her forehead. "Do ye suppose a Sinclair could marry a Macrae without everyone in the territory i a king up arms?"

Meredith held very still. Marry? Was he serious? "Is that a proposal?"

"Aye,'tis."

"But… but we barely know one another." "I thought 'twas rather well-acquainted we just became."

Meredith's heart began to race all over again. This couldn't be happening. She'd known this man less than a week and, although she was overwhelmingly attracted to him, there were still many things about him she distrusted. Falling into bed with him might be bad judgment, but marrying him so hastily could be disaster. She placed her hand on his chest and drew away slightly.

"When you picked me up on the road, you said we needed to talk about something. Is this what you meant?"

Ian shifted and they separated. Meredith felt the loss and shivered. He threw the bedspread over them and drew her back into his arms. "No, actually, it wasn't what I had in mind."

No one was more surprised than Ian Sinclair when the proposal of marriage came out of his mouth. Marriage was something he'd thought he might consider one day, but not for years yet. He'd been married to his work and to the ongoing project with the castle. There simply hadn't been time to think about it, or a woman worth thinking about.

Then along came Meredith Wentworth, Meredith Macrae Wentworth, and suddenly marriage seemed the most logical step in the world. If, that is, they could settle the rather major issue that still loomed between them. He held her close and jumped into it with both feet.

"Ever heard of a company called New Horizons Cruise Lines?"

"I've seen their ads on television. Why?"

"They want to buy this castle."

Meredith turned wide eyes on him. "What on earth for?"

"The same reason they're after the land in the village. They want to run us all off and create a vacation resort here as one of their fantasy ports of call."

He jumped when she bolted out of his arms and sat up, clutching the bedspread to her. "Why, that little weasel. He's playing both ends against the middle."

"It wouldn't be Angus Stewart of which ye speak?"

She jerked her head toward him, and he saw the fire m her eyes. "What did he offer you? Or should I say threaten you with?"

Ian knew in that instant that Meredith had nothing to do with Stewart's deceit, and joy surged in his heart. He told her the details and watched as her eyes widened in astonishment and then narrowed again in disgust.

"Why, he's the sleaziest, slimiest bastard I've ever run across."

"And I thought ye were a lady," Ian teased, but agreed wholeheartedly with her opinion. He was curious, though, as to how she knew about Stewart. She must have heard something in the village. "Your turn. What do ye know about him?"

"He came to the village and informed my kin that they don't own their land, and that you, the mighty Earl of Sinclair, were about to enforce another clearing. He said you were going to turn the village into a tourist attraction. He failed to mention New Horizons Cruise Lines."

It was Ian's turn to explode. "I would never dream of such a thing… even if I owned the land! Which as far as I know, I don't."

Meredith snuggled down next to him in the bed. She was quiet for long moment, then whispered, "I owe you an apology, Ian. Like the rest of the Macraes, I've doubted you. I didn't know if Stewart's claim was true or not. That's what I was trying to find out last night when I started talking about tourism."

Ian drew her closer. "I owe ye an apology of my own," he said softly, kissing her hair. "Stewart showed up in my office just a day or two after ye arrived in Corridan. When he made his threat, I concluded that it was just too coincidental that ye both came to this remote little village at the same time. I thought ye must somehow be involved with him, maybe had even hired him."

"What! You couldn't-"

"Wait a minute. It gets worse," he added unhappily. "Last night, ye convinced me that ye couldn't possibly be involved in a scheme to promote tourism. By the way," he added with a small laugh, "ye also stole my heart." He felt her move closer, but it didn't make his confession any easier. "Today, when I found out that the cruise-line company was American, I was suspicious all over again. It was one thing to think ye, a stranger, might be about to betray me, but after last night, ye weren't just a stranger anymore. Ye see, I'd fallen in love with ye, and I couldn't bear it if ye were really only just a beautiful enemy." He paused, then added, "That's what I wanted to talk about."

She looked up at him with a bemused smile. "So what am I? Friend or foe?"

"Would I propose to a foe?"

"I'm a Macrae," she reminded him, "and you didn't know the truth about Angus Stewart's scheme when you proposed."

"I knew ye, and that's all I needed to know."

Chapter Ten

The rain relinquished its stranglehold on the mountains, and Meredith let go of her last doubts about Ian as the two of them lay on the bed, intermingling discussion of the solicitor's scheme to take Corridan and the castle with lovemaking and talk of what-ifs that only the day before would have seemed impossible. With some effort, she managed to convince him that they should postpone any talk of marriage until the issue of land ownership was clarified and any misunderstandings sorted out between the Macraes and the Sinclairs. "It would just give the clans something else to squabble over," she pointed out. "Neither clan is going to like the idea."

She didn't tell him that her real reason for deferring his proposal was that everything had moved too quickly where her heart was concerned. She knew she'd fallen in love with Ian, but marriage, so hastily… that was something else.