Jane sighed her disappointment as she followed him. She wondered what Annie could possibly want. Annie was always in a tizzy about her position with Miss Kat. Which was a silly thing to be, because everyone knew it was more of an honor to work for the viscount and viscountess in the castle than to work for Miss Kat in her cottage in the woods. Although…Jane looked once more at the massive man who walked before her, noting his tight rump and muscular thighs. Perhaps there were some benefits to working in the cottage for Miss Kat, after all.

Donald led the way to an area near the outer wall. Except for a few maids gathered on the other side of the garden, they were quite alone. He reached into his pocket and withdrew a crumpled note. “Mistress Annie said to give this to ye.”

Jane opened the hastily scribbled note, smoothed it out, and then squinched her eyes at it.

Donald looked at her with suspicion. “Can ye read?”

“O’ course I can read,” Jane said indignantly. “Not well, of course. But well enough.” She squinted back at the paper, slowly working her way through the rather scrambled writing. “She wants a book?”

Donald nodded.

Jane studied the note a bit more, then nodded once. “What Miss Kat needs is one o’ Lady Strathmore’s fashion plate books.”

“Can ye get one for us?”

Jane folded the note and carefully stowed it in her pocket, taking the time to admire Donald’s wide shoulders and how he dwarfed even the huge shrubbery around the herb garden. “Possibly.”

“What do ye mean ‘possibly’? Are ye goin’ t’ help Miss Kat or no’?”

“I’ll have to steal from me own mistress.”

“Borrow,” Donald said firmly.

“If she don’t know ’bout it, then ’tis stealin’.”

He eyed her for a long moment, his eyes traveling over from her head to foot. Eyes of dark blue that left a shiver everywhere they went.

Janie wished she’d worn her good gown today of all days. She had to settle for thrusting her bosom forward and sucking in her gut. She wished she had the time to comb her hair, too.

“I have to hurry back,” he finally said. “Mistress Annie said ’twas important we no’ waste any time in gettin’ that book to her.”

“Then ye’ll have to make sure she gets it. But first we’re goin’ to have to visit the shed.”

He blinked slowly. “The shed?”

“I want a kiss,” she said firmly, giving him a direct look that gave him pause. “And more.”

Lord love the woman, but she was daft, she was. But she was also young, clean, and rather attractive with her brown hair and blue eyes. Besides, he was not a man who took well to returning from an errand empty-handed. Not Donald.

She wet her lips. “The woodshed behind the stables is empty.”