James gave him an assessing glance and dismissive shrug before turning the topic. “Do you see nothing that appeals to here then?” His attention turned to a pretty brunette he’d been eying through the afternoon. When James spotted the young woman across the room, he gave her a come-hither waggle of his finger.
“According to Fiona, you’ve got a widow on the line these days, Jamie,” Vin commented as the courtesan wandered over bringing a redhead with her.
“I do,” James confirmed idly patting his knee invitingly as the girls approached. “That’s where I was last night, in fact. Come now, Vin. Surely, you don’t expect fidelity? I can assure you my bonny Mrs. Ross does not.” He turned his attention to the pretty pair before them who were whispering and giggling behind their fans. Their eyes flashed with interest as they took in Vin seated across from his brother. While Vin lacked his formerly robust size, neither lady seemed to find him lacking in comparison to Jamie’s brawn since their giggling only increased as they stopped. The brunette dropped into Jamie’s lap while Jamie introduced them.
“Vin, this very lovely lady is Janice.” James bounced the lass on his knee as he lifted her hand to his lips with a roguish smile while she blushed and giggled some more. “And this…” he took the other woman’s hand and repeated the gesture, “is the ever enchanting Bess. Ladies, may I introduce my brother, Lord Clarendon.”
Vin greeted the girls with a more sedate nod. “My pleasure.”
Bess shared a look with her friend and rotated so she could drop into Vin’s lap. As she draped her arms around his neck, Bess looked up at him batting her eyelashes and casting an alluring smile on him. “So you’re Jamie’s brother, hmm?” She squeezed his arm and pressed her breasts against his side while her friend did the same to Jamie. Vin saw the solution to his frustrations fall ever so neatly into place without making a conscience choice. Through the course of his usual seductions, Jamie unwittingly provided Vin what he so desperately needed.
Summoning a lazy grin, he ran a hand down the woman’s gloved arm nudging his thumb into the opening at her wrist to circle the tender flesh there gaining a dimpled smile from Bess. “I’ve heard rumor this week, Lord Clarendon,” she whispered leaning even closer. “That you’ve been held hostage by ruffians in Egypt these past many years.”
Vin cast a dark glance at Jamie who was too involved with his lass to notice. “That is true.”
Unaware of his disgruntlement, Bess continued coyly. “I would imagine that such an awful situation would be incredibly…lonely.”
With her fan stroking down the side of her cheek and settling on her pouty lips, the appealing Bess was delivering a clear invitation Vin knew he could not turn down. That she was a lovely redhead of medium height was a coincidence Vin knew he should avoid at all costs lest he persist in imagining another in her place, but he knew what he needed. Knew what must be done so he might drive the woman who haunted his dreams and drove his desires from his mind.
“That would also be true,” he allowed in a husky voice.
Her eyes flared as if she were incredibly satisfied by his answer. “I just couldn’t consider myself a patriotic Scot if I allowed one of our national heroes to be so lonely after such a sacrifice was made for our country.”
Here was the moment. Bess was his if he wanted her and while she wasn’t exactly what his body was longing for, she was very beautiful and Vin needed release above all things. “Perhaps we should remove ourselves to a more private location then?”
“I have a nice little room just upstairs if you’d like to follow me, my lord!” she tapped him on the shoulder with her fan.
“I’m sure you do.”
The woman was determined to do her patriotic duty with gusto, Vin quickly found out. After following her upstairs, he entered her room only to have her shutting the door behind him and locking it with a wicked smile. She turned him pressing his back to the door before she dropped to her knees in front of him and went to work unfastening the front of his trousers. “Err, miss…”
“Bess, my lord.” She glanced up at him, her eyes agleam with devilish intent.
“Aye, Bess,” he cleared his throat as she nudged his clothing aside with an unseemly haste. “Wouldn’t you prefer to…err, warm things up a bit first? Perhaps a little….ah, Good Lord!” he gasped as she closed her lips around his hesitant arousal.
She worked on him fervently, running her hands up his thighs and around his buttocks even as she gasped and moaned as if the pleasure were her own. Her cries brought images of another redhead to his mind and he saw Moira throwing back her head as she writhed beneath him gasping in pleasure as their bodies met. Her face flashed before his eyes again and again as she thrashed and moaned and cried out in ecstasy. He wanted to take her to those heights, wanted to be with her when he reached them with her.
“Argh!” Vin jerked himself away from Bess’s nimble tongue and talented mouth, rolling away from her with a hoarse cry of agony. It wouldn’t have taken much more for him to find relief, but would it be because of Bess or the visions in his mind? Once upon a time, it wouldn’t have mattered but now somehow it did. “Bess,” he gasped for breath, refastening his trousers hastily. “I fear I forgot I had promised my sister I would attend her at tea this afternoon.”
“Surely you are jesting, my lord.” Her glossy red lips parted in surprise.
“I am not,” he assured her, straightening his jacket. What could he say to a whore? That she was no substitute for the fiery redhead who slept but a floor up from him?
Her dark brows snapped together irritably. “Well, what about me then?”
Vin pulled out some coins and tossed them on the bed. “Here and, as for the other, I’d imagine you could manage it quite nicely on your own.” He pulled open the door with a heartfelt sigh of a man who’d just escaped the lion’s den unscathed and strode down the hall, passing Jamie and his Janice as they were coming up the stairs.
“Vin! What are you about?” James called as Vin by.
“Sorry, Jamie!” Vin returned, turning at the top of the stairs. “I must go, but I appreciate the effort, I do. Perhaps next time?”
But Vin knew there would be no next time until he’d managed to drive the image of his own lovely Scots lass from his head.
Chapter 21
We struggle with the complexities and avoid the simplicities.
- Norman Vincent Peale
If Moira had been good at evading Vin the previous day, she discovered he was a master of avoidance. She spent the better part of the day actively looking for him. He was nowhere to be found. Hobbes could only report that he’d left Carlton Terrace at dawn.
When he hadn’t returned by luncheon, Moira and Eve called up a carriage to drive across New Town to visit Abby. Kitty was there as well for a visit, her pregnancy made most social excursions unacceptable these days but she still took time each day to visit her friends or sister whether they came to her or she went to them.
Vin had been there that morning, Abby reported, but hadn’t stayed long before he had left to find Jamie. “What happened?” Abby asked her friend. “Did you kiss him again?”
“When did you kiss him?” Eve wanted to know having not been privy to her friend’s conversation the previous morning. Kitty seconded the question.
“Yesterday morning,” Abby answered for Moira. “Did you know Moira spends her nights in Vin’s bedchamber?”
“Oh, my goodness! I’m such a horrible chaperone!” Eve’s eyes twinkled gaily belying her words.
“It seems you are!” Kitty agreed with a laugh.
In truth, Moira’s friends were normally quite reserved and observed the strictest morals, but, when the heart was at stake; both realized extreme measures were often necessary to achieve one’s goals. And both had employed that philosophy in their own lives. Though Eve would never have condoned such behaviors with another man, she knew Moira’s history with Vin, had heard tales about him when they were all mere adolescents giggling under their cove
rs at boarding school.
Moira loved Vin. Wanted Vin. And Eve wanted her friend to get what she wanted.
She would break almost any rule if it meant Moira finally got Vincent MacKintosh, as long as it was what Vin wanted as well. Given the looks she intercepted during the week, Eve was very certain Vin felt more for Moira than he cared to admit. She didn’t necessarily want to force him into anything, but often a reluctant man needed a lure too difficult to resist before realizing what he really wanted.
If it took Moira being ‘ruined’ by Vin for him to realize a deeper emotion, Eve – and she imagined Moira as well – was good with courting some scandal.
For Moira’s sake though, Eve prayed it would work out in the end. Whether she admitted to it or not, Moira had a fragile heart, easily broken. It was mended only loosely now from the damage Vin had done it before. The slightest pain would without doubt shatter it once more. Being abandoned after surrendering herself to Vin would certainly be a long drop for her friend.
Kitty lowered her voice asking the question they all wanted the answer to. “Have you..?”
“Heavens, no, Kit!” Moira flushed with embarrassment. “It’s nothing like that! I’ve merely sat with him while he sleeps because of his nightmares. We haven’t…”
“Yet!” Abby cut in. “But yesterday they kissed.”
“No, I kissed him,” Moira corrected determined to keep the gossip honest.
“But he kissed you back?” Kitty asked.
Moira closed her eyes, mortified. “I don’t want to talk about this!”
Eve raised her brow. “I don’t think you gave me any choice when I was in your position. As I recall, you were both determined to have it all, right down to how good it was. Now, I’ve aided you by looking the other way so you might win your Vin at last, but if I’m going to continue to do so, I’ll need details!”
“This is so embarrassing!”
“Now you know how I felt!” Eve insisted, chuckling merrily. “Come now. He kissed you back, I’m assuming. Did you kiss again?”
“Yes, do tell!” Abby chimed in.
“Not exactly,” Moira demurred.
Abby frowned. “What do you mean, not exactly? I thought after last night everything was coming along so well. You should have seen the way Vin was glaring at Aylesbury while he was holding your cloak for you. I’ve never seen a man’s eyes burn with such jealousy in my life! And the show Aylesbury was putting on! It won’t take him even a week I think to prompt Vin into action if he keeps that up. Vin was livid.”
“Was he?” Moira felt some satisfaction on seeing Eve nod along with Abby’s observation if only because it supported his behavior the previous night. He had seemed jealous of Aylesbury by words but actions always spoke more clearly to Moira’s mind. Vin’s actions left her with more questions than answers.
“He was. So what happened?” Abby asked again.
“He came to my room last night.” All the women’s brows shot up. “No, no. He came to me since I refused to go to him after yesterday morning. Anyway, he just wanted to lie with me for a while so he could relax. We talked for a long time and I guess we just fell asleep.”
“He didn’t even try to kiss you?” Eve asked as if she could not believe it. Vin was a MacKintosh after all!
“Not once.” But a blush was already blooming on Moira’s cheeks, telling the others there was more to her tale. They waited expectantly. “When I woke this morning, Vin was kissing my neck and touching me.”
“I would assume, given your high color, he wasn’t simply holding your hand?” Abby noted archly.
“He was not.” Moira squirmed before admitting. “He was touching me everywhere. That is all I will say to that.”
“My goodness, you are a bad chaperone!” Abby ribbed Eve.
Kitty urged her on with a wave of her hand. “So you...?”
“No!” Moira exclaimed. “I said we hadn’t but we were kissing and such – he did seem to be enjoying it – but when I touched him…there…” Moira thought she’d never blushed so continuously in her entire life as she had in the past ten minutes. “Well, he…oh, don’t make me say it! Anyway, he started cursing then, using some words I’ve never heard before, and then he left. Just like that! I don’t understand it at all! I mean, that’s what supposed to happen, isn’t it?”
Kitty flushed and looked as if she might choke.
Eve blushed a bit as well. “Oh, dear.”
“Bloody hell,” was Abby’s more succinct response. She shared a speaking look with Eve. “He might never come back after that, you know.”
Eve shook her head ruefully. “Well, he had been five years a prisoner! Surely, he didn’t expect to…oh, dear!”
“This is not good,” Kitty agreed.
“What?!” Moira cried.
“Let me just say, Moira,” Kitty began hesitantly, “you needn’t worry Vin is mad at you.”
“He isn’t?” The confusion was obvious in her words.
“No, dear, I would wager Vin is angrier at himself right now.” Eve shifted uncomfortably. It was one thing to speak of personal matters with a friend. It was quite another to have such intimate knowledge about one’s brother-in-law. She wasn’t sure how she could face him herself! “Surely, you understand, Moira, that a man is supposed to…uh, wait until he has…well, satisfied you as well before…uh,” Eve looked helplessly at Abby who just shrugged.
“Well, of course, I do!” Moira scowled at them both. “I do have books, you know? But, you’re right, it has been five years or more since Vin made love. I rather thought he would be pleased to experience his pleasure so readily.”
“A man would never be able to look at it that way.” Abby patted Moira’s hand. “I wouldn’t think on it again unless Vin remains distant, Moira. Give him a day or two. You should be pleased he is so attracted to you. I think it bodes well for the future.”
“Do you really think so?” Moira knew her friends were once again bolstering her hopes but Moira was pleased by Vin’s overwhelming passion. It excited her to know he was so enthralled by their shared passion that he couldn’t hold back. She wanted him and would take that final step in surrendering herself completely to him when the time came. Whether he came to love her or not, she wanted it. She wanted those memories to cherish for the rest of her days.
“Certainly and I wouldn’t hesitate long before pushing him a bit farther if you are intent on pursuing a future with him.”
She hadn’t been. A week ago, Moira had wanted nothing more than to run away with Harry and leave all thoughts of Vin behind. The constant pull of friendship versus love had weakened her resolve. Already wavering, the reassurances of her friends, their opinions of what they saw, what they read in Vin’s behavior transformed longing into hope. They had her half convinced he loved her and only needed the tiniest push to send him head over heels. The other half of her knew she was betting on a long shot. It was thrilling and terrifying at the same time. It was the greatest risk she would ever take if she were willing to commit to that course.
Moira recalled the feel of Vin’s arms around her that morning, the passion he displayed, the way he moaned his pet name for her in her ear. It couldn’t only be generic passion that inflamed him, could it? He wanted her. If he wanted her with such intensity and loved her as a friend, surely finding a connecting point couldn’t be so difficult! What was true love but having a passion for your dearest friend? From everything her friends had ever told her, it is what they felt for their husbands. She had that connection with Vin. She needed to jump at the chance, the opportunity facing her. “I am. Now, more than ever.”
Eve beamed at her. “Good! I honestly believe Vin only needs the slightest nudge to realize his true feelings for you. I don’t want you to give up on him.” A more wry smile replaced the other. “But still, I would suggest that you never, ever mention what happened this morning to him.”
“My goodness, yes!” Abby agreed heartily.
Kitty only snorted, adding wit
h a chuckle, “I thought that went without saying.”
Chapter 22
To live is to suffer,
to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.
- Friedrich Nietzsche
Raven’s Craig Castle
Near Kirkcaldy, Scotland
Three Days Later
Vin sat on the stony beach and stared out over the Firth of Forth, watching the sun reflecting off its choppy waters where it met the North Sea. There were some small cargo vessels passing in the distance likely on their way to dock in Edinburgh. Other than the gulls, there were no signs of life on these winter days. It was a cold morning, the February winds from the waters were bracing in their intensity but Vin thought the chill bracing, he savored the feel of the frigid air as it entered his lungs with each breath cooling him, calming him from the inside out.
For two full days and three nights now, he’d been at Raven’s Craig Castle alone but for the household staff and Godfrey, the MacKintosh’s longtime butler who oversaw dealings between the castle and their family estate at Glen Cairn. The seclusion was not overbearing nor did it remind him of his years of solitary imprisonment unless he deliberately made a comparison. Vin thought it was perhaps because he had little to dread these days…beyond a return to Edinburgh. Instead, he read endlessly, walked on the beaches or rode one of Francis’ horses. In the silence of the winter twilight, Vin even tried to play the piano, glad he attempted to do so without an audience who might be more inclined to flee than listen so badly out of practice was he.
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