She ran her fingers through his hair at the base of his skull and smothered a groan as Stuart lifted his lips to run them along the side of her neck, sending shivers of hot, biting lust to all points south. If this was a skill they taught the men, how on earth did Scottish women ever leave their beds?

A few moments later, Stuart rested his forehead against hers and she felt his breathing was as unsteady as her own. When he eased back slightly, she opened her eyes to find him looking down at her, his gaze blurry with unsated desire.

‘Not that it wouldn’t be great, but if I’m going to bed you, I’d rather do it in the comfort of an actual bed.’

‘Bed me?’ She laughed. ‘I think this castle is growing on you. What century did you say you were from again?’

‘I dinna ken about old-fashioned, but I’m definitely feeling old, lying on this hard ground.’

Elle had to admit she’d been trying to ignore the rock under her back, which had been surprisingly easy to do while she was being distracted by the man beside her kissing her senseless only a few minutes earlier, but now she was definitely feeling it.

‘Would you mind if we stopped by the arch just for a few minutes on the way back?’ she asked, accepting his hand to pull her up from the blanket. He didn’t immediately step away when she stood and she found she had to tilt her head back to look up at him.

‘I was planning on picking up where we just left off when we got back to the house,’ Stuart said and his deep voice sent a shiver of excitement down her spine.

‘I should hope so,’ Elle told him with a slow smile, ‘but I’d really love to capture the arch with this afternoon sun behind it. I’ll make it quick,’ she promised.

‘Fine,’ he sighed, but his slow grin made everything tingle and she was pretty sure it would be the fastest damn drawing she’d ever done in her life.

In the car, she couldn’t help but watch him as he drove. It seemed so bizarre that earlier this morning they were still at that two-polite-strangers point, and then suddenly, over the course of a meal, they … weren’t.

‘If you keep looking at me like that, I’m going to rethink the whole outdoor recreational thing and pull over right here,’ Stuart warned lightly, without taking his eyes from the road ahead.

Elle leaned back in her seat a little and studied him with a curious smile. ‘Exactly how old are you?’ she asked.

‘Thirty-one,’ he said, then sent her a quick glance, maybe to try to gauge if she was horrified by the announcement.

‘I was expecting you to say forty,’ she scoffed lightly.