“Yes, I did.”
“It was a lovely city.”
“Best crab bisque on the east coast,” she bragged perking up at the mention of her home. “And there is this one restaurant on the Inner Harbor where you can get the best steamed mussels! Good eats, baby!”
Emmy prattled on about restaurants and the food to be had in Maryland as they walked back down the coastline hand in hand. Connor listened with half an ear wondering if she had in fact eaten all the different foods she spoke of. Apparently she loved seafood, not deep-fried though – whatever that was – wine and even beer. A confession he had never heard a lady make. She spoke of the tourist attractions of the area as well, of things called the National Aquarium, Baltimore World Trade Center and the Hard Rock Café.
Plainly the place which brought her the greatest bliss was an oddity called Ben and Jerry’s where one could get a thing called ‘Half-Baked’. He wondered where he might find some as he imagined watching her eat such a treat would be a most sensual experience based on the look of rapture she wore just speaking of it.
Emmy stopped suddenly at the gate to the castle. The front was lit by the sun and glancing over her shoulder, she confirmed the sun was setting. This was it. She had missed it the previous afternoon while she napped, but here it was. She turned back to the castle and stared hard willing the newly restored façade to crumble away to what she had seen over a hundred years in the future.
Nothing.
Damn! A part of her soul cried out for mercy from his befuddling situation as the questions that had tormented her for the past 24 hours began calling for answers once more.
“Are ye well, Heather?” Connor asked, concerned with her motionless concentration. “Perhaps the walk has been too much for ye?”
Emmy shook her head as his words registered. “Too much for me?” she snorted. “That little walk? Are you kidding me? I’ve done the Susan G. Koman 3-day…twice! Too much for me indeed! You have an absurdly low opinion of women, did you know that?”
“Tis not completely unjustified,” he reasoned gesturing toward the castle as if to indicate the women inside.
“Well, just try not to keep lumping me in with pack, alright?” she asked as they continued through the courtyard to the main door. “I am not your garden-variety damsel in distress, you know.”
“The evidence is truly in yer favor, my dear,” he allowed standing aside with a sweep of his arm to allow her to precede him into the main hall.
Emmy let Chilton take her coat and allowed Connor to take her arm as they went up the stairs and through the hallways to the right wing where the laird’s rooms were. In silence, they entered their shared sitting room facing each other in silence aware that they had just spent the past hour in each other’s company holding hands and in pleasant conversation. There had been no recriminations, no accusations. Just simple companionship.
Suddenly Emmy was afraid that she might say something to spoil it all so she started to turn toward her room but Connor caught her arm and turned her back around. He stared down at her for a long moment, his dark eyes full of warmth, affection and questions.
“Connor?” she whispered. “What…?”
“Shhh,” he raised his hands to cup her still chilly cheeks warming them in his palms. His thumbs caressed the soft skin there and stretched farther out to rub lightly along her lips.
Unbidden her own hand rose to rub against the abrasive growth of his beard. Her eyes lit with some amusement as she curled her fingers to scratch his cheek much as his beard scratched her. Expectation raced along her spine and nerves as she stared up into his dark eyes savoring the feel of his thumb against her lower lip, but still he did nothing.
“Are you going to kiss me or not?” she asked in a low whisper.
Connor exhaled a low laugh and rested his forehead against hers. “I’m not certain.”
“Well,” Emmy teased breathlessly, “you have already fondled my breasts so I don’t think…mmmph!”
Connor ducked his head and caught her lips in a deep kiss catching her up in his arms and pulling her body firmly up against his. Up on her toes, Emmy stretched both arms up and caught him around his shoulders threading her fingers into his hair as she went. Their lips met and melded together as heat flared from the contact of their lips down to her toes. ‘Literally to my toes,’ she thought as she sunk into the embrace with a sigh of bliss. Connor’s firm lips pulled against her lower lip sucking on it lightly as his palms slid up her sides coming to rest just below her breasts. He moaned and pulled back slightly and she stared up at him with a shocked expression breathing as heavily as he. “Wow,” she said simply.
“Indeed,” he turned her slightly and caught her fully in his arms and kissed her again... Dimly Emmy heard a bell being rung in the distance but dismissed it. Instead, she parted her lips slightly inviting him to deepen the kiss more but felt Connor’s retreat even as she did so. Kissing her lightly one last time, he heaved a sigh heavy with regret.
“Heath…”
“So, I guess it’s that time when we dress ourselves up and do dinner, huh?” Emmy jumped in before he said something that might set off her temper. “Another night of good times and great conversation?” Connor laughed and Emmy joined him. “I’ll do my best to keep it civilized,” she assured him.
“See that you do,” he joked in return.
“I guess I’ll see you on the other side?” Emmy turned and went into her room unaware that Connor stared at her bedroom door for a long while. Unaware of the confusion that rolled through him.
Chapter 14
The dress she wore that evening was even lovelier than the one she had worn the previous night, Connor thought as Emmy finally entered the drawing room more than an hour later. He had heard her singing to herself as she bathed and had spent nearly a half an hour at her door listening to her muffled voice and imagining her there. Her naked body immersed in the water with bubbles floating about her, caressing her. Now the robin’s egg blue velvet of her gown clung to her body, accenting all her lovely curves, bringing out the color of her eyes. His entire body tensed against the onset of arousal, the memory of their too brief kiss and he wondered how he would make it through the evening without touching her.
“Good evening, Connor,” Emmy greeted him cheerfully as she crossed the room to his side. With some self-mocking humor, she held out her hand to him and he took it in both of his raising it to his lips for a lingering kiss on the palm. Emmy’s eyes flared but, aware that all eyes were on them once again, pulled her hand back with as much grace as she could muster. The stares were curious and avidly waiting, no doubt hoping for some sort of public confrontation to liven their evening as it had been the night before. Emmy was determined that it not be so. She just wanted a pleasant evening in the laird’s company.
Ian and Dory entered together then. Ian was in an obviously good humor and Dory all roses and smiles by his side. “What’s gotten into them?” Connor wondered aloud. “I don’t think I’ve seen that woman smile in years.”
Emmy turned with two glasses of wine she had taken from the footman’s tray and handed one to him. Examining the bright faces of the married couple, she gave a little laugh and clinked her glass against his before taking a sip. “They are young and in love, Connor, what do you think has gotten into them?”
He looked at her in confusion and she raised her brow suggestively. “Surely not!” he said in surprise casting an assessing glance at his brother and sister-in-law. “In the middle of the day?”
Emmy snorted indelicately. “Like you’ve never had sex in the middle of the day.”
Connor opened his mouth and closed it again. Have you? The thought entered his mind and he shook his head in denial. The question that had bothered him so greatly the day before burned through him again. How had she earned her fortune and living while she was gone? She spoke most freely of sexual intercourse and used references on the subject most ladies refrained from even thinking of with casual indifference. Her
kiss was not untutored. She had make love, he was sure of it. With whom? When? The questions raged in him jealously.
Mistaking his silence as reproach, Emmy apologized with sincerity. “I’m sorry; I promised you I would keep the conversation polite tonight, didn’t I? I don’t mean to upset you.”
Wanting to drive the picture of her in bed with other men from his mind, Connor changed the subject asking her about the education she received at university. Pleased that he was interested in getting to the truth, Emmy answered. “As I mentioned, though I am sure you weren’t really listening at the time, I did my undergraduate work at UVA in Virginia then did my medical school at Duke. From there was my residency at Johns Hopkins in Maryland. I was so pleased to be accepted there. It’s one of the best hospitals in the country.”
Connor hadn’t understood a couple of the things she had said. Didn’t really know what a UVA was or of a school called Duke. “UVA?”
“University of Virginia,” Emmy clarified. “It was designed to a large degree by Thomas Jefferson, did you know that? A lot of the buildings and it’s not far from Monticello. That’s a beautiful place too. Have you ever been?”
Connor shook his head. “I wasn’t aware that his home was open to the public. So yer a doctor now?”
“Yes, OB/GYN,” she answered. At his puzzled frown, she elaborated. “Obstetrics and gynecology. Basically I take care of pregnant women and help them deliver their babies.”
With a sigh of relief, he nodded with understanding. “So yer a midwife.”
Emmy was so offended she nearly choked on her wine. “A doctor, Connor, don’t ever mistake the two, at least when I am around.”
Connor grinned in amusement. “Sorry if I offended.”
“You did, but apology accepted. But that was why I was talking to Ian today,” she explained. “Dory’s told me that she’s miscarried several times already and Ian fears another.”
“It does weigh heavily on him,” he concurred glancing again at his brother where he stood chatting with a pair of his uncles. He was very fond of Ian. They had been close all their lives. Whatever feelings he might have had regarding his brother’s choice of wife, Connor had truly mourned with him each of those losses.
“Well worrying all the time won’t help, I told them, and basically told him that they needed to get back in the sack and keep their marriage happy,” she explained.
“Back in the…?”
Emmy gestured to the couple noting that Ian’s hand was resting lightly on Dory’s back and absently creeping lower. Seeing the earl noticed with movement as well she arched a brow at him.
“Ahh, I see,” and indeed he did. She had nosed in on another person’s personal problem and tried to fix it. Amazing that most of her solutions were such simple ones. ‘Let it go’, ‘make love’. The doctor seemed to give good advice. The Dory he knew would never allow herself to behave in such an unseemly manner in public. Yet there she was now cozying up to his brother while he had his hand nearly on her arse. Incredible. He said as much to Emmy. “Dory’s not a bad sort, I think,” Emmy said eying the couple much as he was. “Just a bit retentive and OCD about things.” Feeling his questioning gaze turn to her, she offered. “She’s a control freak.”
Connor laughed out loud freely drawing the incredulous looks of his entire family. “That she is! That she is! Brilliant! Och, Heather lass, what a corker ye are!”
“Thank you, I think,” she accepted his praise and sipped her wine studying him as he reigned in his amusement. The laughter, though it had clearly surprised him, had lit Connor’s face allowing the years to fall away. Her eyes caressed his face. How beautiful he was! His dark eyes danced with light and humor, his lips still tipped up at the corner showing his white teeth. “Look at you, Connor,” she whispered. “For a moment there you looked almost happy.”
He reached out and caressed her cheek with his thumb. “For a moment there I almost was.”
The butler called the assembled to dinner and the earl cocked his arm to her and she took it gladly as they moved into the dining room. “Felt good, didn’t it?”
It did, he thought, looking forward to a meal for the first time in a decade. It did.
Chapter 15
Connor couldn’t remember the last time he had enjoyed a meal more. Heather had kept him amused with stories of her time in the Americas. It seemed she was a ‘big fan’ of baseball, a sport which he knew nothing about. She related it to cricket and he was able to grasp some of the basic principles of the game. She enjoyed watching these games in person, she said but preferred football on the ‘TV’. She made Baltimore sound like the most wondrous place on earth, he thought, and considered that he might enjoy going there with her some time to see all the places she spoke of.
He lingered only briefly over his whiskey, eager to join Heather in the parlor to continue their conversation. She amused him so completely with her stories and touched him with the depth of her caring for the women she treated. She had told him how she was joining a new medical practice when she returned from her holiday and Connor had known almost instantly that he didn’t want her to leave again. He wanted her to stay in Duart permanently…with him. What did that mean? Did he really want to try marriage again? Certainly not! How utterly appalling to even consider it!
Yet as he entered the parlor and saw her seated at the piano concentrating on the piece she was playing, he was not so sure.
He listened to her music for a moment before wandering over to the piano. He recognized the tune ‘Climbing over Rocky Mountain’ from Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance which he had seen in London several years before. She played the lively tune with spirit and a grin on her face. Clearly she was enjoying herself. “Having fun?” he asked anyway taking a seat next to her on the bench.
Emmy had watched him saunter over with a relaxed half-smile on his face where only moments before a nearly horrified expression had taken hold. She wondered what he had been thinking about, but didn’t dare ask. Whatever it was, it wasn’t pleasant. “I am,” she answered his question as she reached the end of the piece. “How did you like it?”
“Very well done,” he complimented sincerely. “Ye play with spirit and joy.”
“Six years of lessons.”
“I saw that opera when it opened at the Opera Comique in London.”
“Did you? Lucky you.” She tickled out a few notes feeling a bit of envy. “I just love musical theater and a good show tune. I’ve taken the train up to New York a few times to see some shows. Saw Wicked a few months ago. It was wonderful.”
“Can’t say I have heard of that one.”
“No,” she sighed, her earlier depression slipping back over her at the reminder of where she was. “I don’t imagine that you have.” Well, of course he hadn’t!
She seemed so morose for a moment that Connor scooted closer to her and took her hand in his. “Are ye alright then?”
Emmy gave him a half-smile and shrugged. “Just a little homesick, I guess. Do you want me to play something else for you?”
Allowing her to change the subject, Connor affirmed and watched as she stared at the ceiling for a moment before she launched into a slower melody. “Ye’re good, ye know,” he offered. “I didn’t even know ye play.”
“Mmmm-hmm,” she responded in time to the music. “And the guitar, too. Mom always insisted that music developed good math skills. She had read some study on that years ago and thought better safe than sorry.”
“I have never heard of any such thing.” He listened to her play for several minutes watching her hands as they moved lightly over the keys. “Ye two must have been particularly close.”
“I miss her every day,” Emmy admitted. “It’s hard not having any family left.”
“Ye have Dory,” he corrected.
Emmy glanced over at her ‘twin’ sister who was almost giggling as Ian whispered in her ear. She made a noncommittal ‘humph’ and shrugged a shoulder. “You are lucky, though, to have
so much family around.”
“Ian is a good friend and a good brother,” Connor hedged.
“But the rest never even talk to you,” she finished for him giving him a sidelong glance as she continued to play. “It’s because they’re scared of you, you know?”
“Scared of me?” he asked in surprise looking about the room before meeting her amused eyes.
“Sure, big angry guy who holds their existence in the palm of his hand. Never smiles, never talks to them either,” she continued. “They’re all terrified that you are going to turn them out or cut of their allowance or something. It’s all they ever talk about.”
“Is that so?” he asked as he looked around the room. Everyone’s eyes suddenly had somewhere else to look though he knew they had all been watching him a moment before.
Emmy noticed and smirked. “See?”
“Interesting.”
“Isn’t it?” she rolled into the chorus of the tune. “You could try talking to them every once in awhile, you know. Just so they know that you are human and aren’t going to drink their blood while they sleep,” she teased and raised her elbow to point across the room. “Your aunt Millie, for instance, has a hip that nags her persistently. And your uncle, Robert, I think, has problems with his arthritis.” When he gave a short snort, Emmy laughed. “Well, it is what they talk about when they are not talking about you.”
“I think my estate manager keeps me sufficiently informed regarding everyone’s status,” he chuckled.
Emmy tilted her head considering. “You’re right. Your way might be best.” She flowed from ‘Once Upon a Dream’ from Sleeping Beauty into ‘The Music of the Night’ from Phantom of the Opera.
“What is that?” he asked after listening for a moment to the dark music. “I thought myself well versed in opera, but I don’t recognize it.”
A Laird for All Time Page 9
