"Now you," she murmured, and with sure, deft hands, she helped him out of the plaid, the shirt, the rest of it, until he stretched beside her, his body pressed beside her own, dark where she was pale, taut where she was soft, hard where she was satiny, and all of it a perfect complement and fit. His fingers traced up and down, circling the smooth hollows and secrets of her body, and she stroked him, kissing and admiring and easing along, while his heart began to thunder within him.
He knew a little more about pleasing her now, knew that she loved to stretch out and arch for him, knew the shape and sweetness of her breasts, so that he kissed and caressed her with a leisurely sureness that he knew would bring him as much pleasure as it would bring to her. Soon he covered her with kisses, then gently eased his fingers inside of her, tenderly coaxing until she began to whimper and rock against him.
When her hand found him, shaping his hard, heated leneth and teasine even more life into that nart of him.
he sucked in a breath and rocked toward her, and she moved a little and opened for him, so willing and lovely that his heart leaped just to know it. Lifting, taking her hips into his hands, he eased himself into her, feeling her luscious heat surround him and mold to him, and as he began to thrust, he felt himself shift, pulsing blood and breath, then his very soul rushed through him, and he felt his life open up before him as it never had before.
All of it, suddenly, seemed a miracle to him such as he had never experienced before, and he felt himself surge with the great power of it and felt her move under him like a wave of the sea, sweeping in tandem with him toward a new threshold.
Never before, he thought as he emerged, had he felt so truly joined, so blessed, so deeply in love. He was filled with a renewed, deep certainty that this woman, this union, was what he had been needing, and missing, for so long.
Yet danger still lay ahead for both of them, threatening that union—and he thought she understood that as well as he did.
"We will be meeting our friends at the Chocolate House in a little while," Alec said, when they met Walter in the drawing room an hour or so later. "We'll need a private room to speak with them, if you have that wee room at the back of the shop available."
"Aye," Walter said, as he led them through the corridor to the front door of Hopefield House.
A minute's walk took them across the vard to the ten-
ement building. Walter let them in the back door and through a corridor, past a kitchen, and out into the main area of the shop. "We've been here nearly forty years, when my brother and I started the business of Fraser's Fancies. We started out with coffee and added China tea and chocolate," he told Kate. "We opened this shop originally as a coffeehouse, then added chocolate, and it's since become known as the Chocolate House. It's the brown stone front as much as what we serve here, but we like the name." He smiled and held open another door for Alec and Kate to pass through. Walter Fraser was slightly built, lean and spry and barely as tall as Effie, but his good nature balanced her exuberance.
As they went through, Kate smiled up at Alec. "I like your uncle," she whispered. "Is he one of the staid Frasers?"
He leaned down, knowing Walter was a bit deaf and would not hear their conversation. "He may seem that way, but for his penchant for experimentation, especially with chocolate and cacao, which puts him on the wilder side, I think."
"Hot peppers and such?" she whispered.
"You say you have friends meeting you here today?" Walter asked. "You'll be wanting to take chocolate, then. 'Tis the king o' drinks." He led them into the main room.
Stepping over the threshold, Alec looked around, and his hand clenched on Kate's shoulder.
Three soldiers sat at a table by the front window. Kate caueht her breath and nearly stonned. so that he
bumped against her. She looked up at him with alarm in her eyes. He recognized two of the soldiers as those who had been at MacLennan's Changehouse.
"Is the private room empty now, Uncle?" Alec asked quietly. Walter nodded and led them to a side door, opening it to show them a small room with four tables, each with a silver chocolate server on it. No one was there, though a fire crackled in the hearth.
"This is the smokin' room," Walter said. "You can use this one for your meeting. Might be others coming in to use it, too, though. We get busy of an afternoon. We see a fair number of clerks and advocates here, and because we're so close to the courts, the justices themselves come here often. The Lord Justice Clerk and the Lord Advocate himself come here for their midday break from proceedings there."
Kate gasped then, and Alec pulled out a chair for her to sit. She shoved back her hood and patted her hair with a shaking hand. "Lord ... Advocate? Here?"
"Aye, he's Alec's uncle on his mother's side. Lord Hume."
"I thought your mother was a MacDonald," she said.
"She was, but her stepbrothers are Humes. Complicated, but that and other relatives have given me an assortment of uncles. Uncle George comes nearly every day, does he not?" Alec asked.
"Usually. He takes his chocolate here often as he can. Likes Spanish-style with cinnamon and anise, or else chocolate with jasmine, and biscuits. If he has trials and interviews and such, he'll come for the fours and have his cocoa instead o' tea."
"Jasmine?" Kate asked dubiously.
"Och, 'tis good, that. Jasmine flowers and vanilla beans with the chocolate. The lassies like it." Walter winked at Kate, and Alec nearly gaped—he had never seen his uncle do that.
But he remembered Kate's peculiar effect on men, and supposed his uncle must have succumbed, in his way. "We've whatever sort you like, lass. With cinnamon, or jasmine, with anise or pepper, or the way the bairns like it, with milk and sugar and vanilla beans. We serve it hot and some days can serve it chilled on ice, when we have the snow brought down from the mountains for the packing. We have medicinal chocolate, with brown sherry frothed with eggs, and we have chocolate soup, as well. What will you try?"
"Chocolate soup?" Alec asked. "We did not have that before."
"Aye, it's but a puddin' over bread, wi' thick chocolate and eggs. Oh, and Effie wants to add a more Continental flavor to our place, so she is offering mocha custards and chocolate liver."
"Liver?" Kate asked, looking at Alec.
"Aye, liver fried up and dipped in a chocolate sauce. And she doesna like my eating chocolates, but she says the liver is fine, see, because 'tis Continental," he added, shaking his head. "What would you like to try?"
"I'd love to try some Spanish-style with the cinnamon, please," Kate said.
"I'd be happy to make it for you myself. We make it in the best chocolatieres, large silver pots with molinillo
sticks to whip up a very thick froth. You'll never have it so good as at Fraser's. Alec?"
"Aye, lass, you'll never have it so good as at Fraser's," Alec drawled. She kicked him beneath the table. "I'd like some coffee, Uncle, if you would be so kind. Strong and bitter, with sugar on the side."
"Och, this lad never did like the cacao, though his brother loved it. Edward kept this business thriving, while this lad lets me tend to it and mucks about with espionage," Walter murmured to Kate.
"But Mr. Fraser, Scotland needs men who are willing to muck about with such things, just as we need men who are willing to muck about with chocolate, to create the most wonderful eating chocolate imaginable." She smiled sweetly.
"And you enjoy tending to the business," Alec said. "You manage it much better than I could do."
"When you have time, lad, we'll need to go over the accounting books. Our exports of Fraser's Fancies—cocoa, teas, and coffee—are finally beginning to grow again, though our import costs are climbing quickly, too."
"Flax," Alec said. "I've been thinking. We need to consider investing in another commodity. Flax is a stable industry for Scotland, and can expand very rapidly—if we invest in flax and fabrics, we will better be able to support Fraser's Fancies. And we can contribute to the wel�
�fare of Scots who need small industries in their towns."
Walter lifted his brows high, and his glasses slid to the end of his nose. "Of course! Och, we'll talk about that. It could be you'll be as brilliant as your brother
was in business matters! Now, we'll make these drinks up for you." He smiled and left the room.
Alec reached across the table to touch Kate's hand. "You're anxious, lass. And since I've known you, I've seen a good deal of courage, and temper. What is it?"
She shook her head, smiling a little, then got up to peer through the door that Walter had left open a bit. "The soldiers are still there. But where are Rob and Connor?"
"They will not come inside if they see soldiers here. You may have to go up to the castle as we agreed, to see Ian and the others, and wait for us."
"But our plan depends on all of us staying together. We agreed on it."
"Aye. First Jack and your kinsmen must do their part, and we must wait for them. Is that the one o'clock bell?" Alec rose and went to the door with her to watch for a moment. Soon the door of the shop opened, and several men in black robes and old-fashioned white periwigs came into the Chocolate House. Three or four redcoat soldiers were with them, although Alec could not immediately see them for the crowd of black robes and gesturing hands in the way.
It hardly mattered who they were. Any development involving justice and military could be disastrous if Kate was recognized, or if Rob and Connor were questioned. Walter rushed forward to greet them, and after talking for a few moments, nodded and indicated the private room with an eager smile.
"Aye, he's here," Walter was saying. "And Kate, too.
Oh, aye, you will want to meet her. Come this way, Lord Hume."
"By the devil," Alec muttered under his breath. He looked at Kate. "I hope you have your fairy charm well in hand today, lass. Uncle George is here, and he looks none too pleased. If you've never prayed for a miracle before, this would be the time."
Kate's face went ashen so fast that Alec thought she might faint, but she sat straight, put a hand to her throat where her necklace lay hidden, and smiled. It was like a bit of sunshine emerging.
God bless the lass, he thought in admiration, then he prayed himself—though he had not done anything like it for a very long time—as he stood there looking mild and nonchalant, prayed for a miracle to guide them through this.
For he could not lose her now, not to this fate or any other. He was her fate now, as she was his—and that would be complicated enough where this lass was concerned, he thought, without long-robes passing judgment.
Alec stepped back as Walter and one of the justices approached. And then he saw that the Lord Advocate, one of the most mean-spirited men he had ever known, uncle or not, was walking directly toward the private room.
And behind him was Colonel Francis Grant.
Chapter 28
%% ■ 'his is the man, Lord Hume," Grant said. He .M. had a tight smile on his face as he looked first at Alec, and then at Kate. "Captain Fraser. And this is the girl he stole away from the prison at Inverlochy, ignoring his orders from General Wade."
Kate stared hard at Grant, who gave her a narrow glance, then could not help but sweep his gaze down her body, neatly defined by the snug jacket and flaring skirts. He lifted one brow in a rude acknowledgment of her attractiveness to him.
Beside him, the Lord Advocate had a scowl so deep it carved troughs in his jowly cheeks and in his brow. "Alexander," he said in a gruff voice, "how are you?"
"Fine. sir. thank vou. and vou?"
Kate looked from one to the other, noting Alec's cool formality as he answered his uncle.
"Alexander?" Colonel Grant repeated.
"Lord Hume is my uncle," Alec told Grant.
"Uncle! Damn you, Fraser—"
"That's no matter to me," Lord Hume snapped. "If he's guilty, he's guilty, nephew or none, and he knows me well enough for that. Where is my chocolate? And who the devil are you?" The Lord Advocate peered at Kate from under shaggy gray eyebrows. His eyes were blue and rheumy and he looked supremely annoyed. She smiled timorously.
"This is Katherine, sir," Alec said.
"Katherine who? I will not play games. Is this the girl who is to be interviewed for treasonous crimes and espionage? The one Wade wrote about in his report to me—and the one this gentleman is whingeing on about?" He peered again at her.
She wanted to take a step backward, but did not, holding her ground and regarding the Lord Advocate calmly and silently.
"This is the one, sir," Alec said. Kate glanced at him, dumbfounded by his open admission, tantamount to a betrayal that left her on her own—but for the fact that he sent her a covert glance that said, inexplicably, all would be well.
"Where's Walter's lass with that blasted cocoa? I do not have all day for this. Well, sit down, all of you, and tell me what this is about. If she is to be interviewed, it may as well be here since I do not even have my chocolate vet and must wait." The Lord Advocate sat down.
heavily, for he was apparently a robust man under his voluminous black robes.
Alec pulled out a chair for Kate, and he sat beside her. Grant remained standing.
"Lord Hume, sir, this girl was caught stealing documents from officers' tents," Grant began. "You have seen the reports. She was seen again and again, and she did bodily harm to some of the men, including myself. She is a harlot, to be frank, and though Captain Fraser had her arrested, he has since changed his mind and abetted her escape." He looked so smug that Kate wanted to reach out and slap him.
Lord Hume grunted. He looked from one of them to the other, and at that moment Walter walked into the room carrying a tray with a tall silver pot with a long, narrow spout. He was followed by a servant carrying another tray with a second pot and various cups. "Finally," Lord Hume muttered.
Watching Walter froth the chocolate in the pot by whipping it fervently with the stirring stick, Kate waited, heart pounding hard, dreading the rest of the meeting with the justice.
First Walter poured out Lord Hume's chocolate— steaming and rich, it smelled like heaven—into a small porcelain bowl. Then he set a small bowl before Kate and poured her another serving of the same.
"Spanish-style with cinnamon," Walter said, looking pleased to have such distinguished guests and cherished visitors gathered together. With a flourish, he offered Grant a bowl as well, but the man declined with a curt, dismissine wave of his hand.
The servant girl poured a small china cup full of hot black coffee for Alec, setting it in front of him with a bowl of sugar and a delicate silver spoon. Biscuits on a tray, with marmalade and butter, completed the meal. Bowing, Walter left and ushered the girl out of the room with him.
"Now," Lord Hume said, "go on. I have only a few minutes before I return to the courts." He sipped his hot cocoa, holding the bowl with both hands. "The girl stole documents, et cetera. I know all that. Now I want to hear something I don't know. Katherine who?" He looked at her over the rim of his bowl of cocoa. "What is your name?"
"Uncle George, this is Katherine Fraser," Alec said.
"What! What do you mean? A long-lost relation of yours?" Lord Hume picked up a biscuit and bit into it, crumbs flying.
"If she were Fraser," Grant sneered, "you would have said so earlier."
"Katherine Fraser," Alec repeated. "She is my bride."
Kate sat silent, watching the others warily.
"Bride," Grant growled. "What the devil is this about?"
"You married your prisoner? That was damned foolish." The Lord Advocate sipped loudly. "You could be imprisoned and stripped of your military commission for that, lad."
"Exactly what I think, sir," Grant said. "Treason, lying to the court, stealing the prisoner away without permission. She was arrested in his quarters, and now he's trvine to protect her. She does that to eentlemen.
Lord Hume," he said, leaning down. "She's a Jezebel and a strumpet—"
"You're unpleasant to listen to," Lo
rd Hume barked. "So be quiet. I rather like the look of the girl myself. Are you a strumpet?" He peered at Kate.
"I am not, sir, and I've never been," she replied quietly, and thought he began to smile. Lord Hume leaned toward her, but then exhaled loudly and returned his attention to his steaming drink.
Like his nephew, the Lord Advocate seemed immune to her presence and any charm she might have. She watched him, realizing that she was so anxious about her fate, and Alec's as well, that she could not deliberately charm anyone just now. She trembled all over.
"Hmph. Now I want to hear what this is about. Alexander, explain." Lord Hume sipped again, noisily, and munched on another biscuit, then dipped it into his cocoa.
"Sir, when she came into my tent that night... I believe she was searching for me," Alec said.
With her own little bowl raised in her hand, Kate stopped, the chocolate scent of the steam surrounding her. She stared at Alec in disbelief.
"I can say for certain that I have been looking for her ever since we met, months ago in London. We pledged our love when we were together there. I gave her my heart, and she gave me hers, if I may be honest with you gentlemen. And then we were separated. Ever since then—"
"We have been searching for each other," Kate said. "It's true. I have looked for him everv dav since I first
saw him... I have dreamed about him and feared I might never see him again. Everywhere I went, I felt compelled to look for my Highland officer." She glanced up at Alec. "No matter what I did, I was always looking for him. Only him."
"As I have looked for her," Alec murmured, setting a hand on her shoulder.
"Oh, I can't bear this," Grant said in a snide tone. "And you never looked for military documents?" He snorted.
"Only those with Alec's name on them," Kate said.
Lord Hume, chewing a mouthful of dry biscuit slathered in marmalade and dipped in cocoa, watched them, crumbs spilling from his mouth. "Mm-hmm," he mumbled. "So then you had her arrested?" He sent Alec a sharp glance.
Sarah Gabriel - Keeping Kate Page 25