“From that kiss? Something more than a hasty retreat,” Bernie admitted softly. “It was rather lovely to behold, actually.”
Lovely to receive, as well.
“It went exactly as I imagined it would.” Tears clogged the back of her throat in an aching knot and pricked at her eyes again. One splashed, hot as an iron, on her cheek. Then another.
Bernie nudged Baird from the seat and took his place, hugging Georgiana tight. “Oh, dearest, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what I thought might happen—a happy ending, I suppose. I never meant to distress you.”
“Don’t worry yourself.” Georgiana returned the embrace, comforting in turn. “This was nothing I hadn’t anticipated.” But for that kiss. That moment of dizzying euphoria and hope…precious, surprising hope before the illusion faded to dust. “It’s done now, if nothing else.”
“What a poor liar you are. You needn’t pretend with me, Georgie,” her friend scolded. “Despite everything you’ve said, I know you must be distraught.”
“Nonsense, I’m perfectly well.” She gave one final squeeze then straightened and swiped at her tears. “On the bright side, there’ll be no more need for me to wonder, or for Maisie to pester me further. There is that, at least. I’ll simply put the past right back where it belongs and—”
The thundering of hooves approaching sent an aberrant rush of exultation through her, chasing away the more sensible line of thought. Even as she scolded herself for doing so, she dared to believe he’d followed her.
It didn’t take more than a peek out the window to prove herself a fool, but Georgiana was still crushed to find it wasn’t Mal drawing even with them.
“Why, Captain Lindsay,” she said in surprised recognition.
She called out for William to stop the carriage. Unlike Mal, the years hadn’t been as kind to his friend. His hair was steely gray, his once broad physique bordering on emaciation. Deep frown lines scored his face as if he were in constant pain.
“It’s Colonel now. Retired, that is.” He tipped his hat. “How kind of ye to remember me, Duchess. But if I recall, I asked ye to call me Rabbie.”
Georgiana winced, recalling the single awkward conversation she’d ever had with him beyond the day Mal had introduced them. “That was a long time ago.”
“It was.” He inclined his head. “Much has changed since then. Yet some things ha’ no’.”
It was an invitation for her to comment on the exchange Lindsay had clearly witnessed even though she hadn’t spotted him. Or been aware of anything beyond Mal. She didn’t accept the encouragement.
When Lindsay realized she wasn’t going to offer him more than her well-mannered courtesy, he tugged off his hat and slapped it against his kilt. As the tartan shifted to the side, she noticed the leather strap securing the stump of his leg to the saddle.
With a wince, she realized where his pained expression derived from, and without thought, offered, “Can we offer you a ride somewhere, Colo— Rabbie?”
She cringed before the offer was complete but to her surprise, Lindsay laughed.
“Dinnae think me a puir cripple, lass. I willnae tolerate it. As recompense, I’ll ha’ to demand yer company for dinner. Yer bonny friend, too.” He peered inside with a frown that blossomed into a broad smile. “Well ‘pon my word, if it isnae the charming Miss Gregson. Och, the waters in Bath must be powerful indeed to keep ye ladies from aging a day.”
Bernie giggled like a schoolgirl and even Georgiana had to acknowledge the extravagant compliment.
“You haven’t changed at all either, Colonel,” Bernie teased with a flirtatious smile. “Not if you can still spout such outrageous compliments.”
“Outrageous?” he scoffed. “Naught but the truth, I swear. Now ye maun come for dinner for nae other reason than to put salve on the wounds ye’ve wrought.”
Before Bernie could impulsively agree and send them back to Glen Cairn, Georgiana told him, “I am certain the inns at Glenrothes offer a fine fare if you’d care to join us.”
He glowered more deeply, but there was a light of caring and humor in his blue eyes. “Och, there’s naught there worthy of a lady. Weak soup and stringy meat. Yer no’ thinking of staying there, are ye? Ye’d be beset wi’ lice and fleas in a single night.”
Georgiana shuddered at the thought, despite the fact she wasn’t certain if he was jesting or not. “Is there somewhere you’d recommend?” she asked. “It’s too late to go far.”
Lindsay smiled, the lines on his face extending down. “As it happens, I ken the perfect place. ‘Tis a few miles east of here. Nothing as fine as Glen Cairn but it’s sheltered my family comfortably for neigh unto a hundred years now. I can vouch for the quality of the linens and talents of the cook personally.”
It was an oblique invitation at best. Bernie nudged her with her toe, urging her to respond in the positive. The many nights they’d spent in small inns and hard beds throughout rural Scotland were the only part of their travels that left her friend less than enamored. The promise of a soft bed and palatable food was appealing, but spending the night so close to Mal when she wished she were a hundred miles away was not.
“We couldn’t possibly impose.”
“Nay imposition at all, I swear.” He laid his hat over his heart.
Bernie kicked again and even Baird stared balefully with the one eye she could see through his long fur.
“My staff,” she tried evasively, “I sent them ahead to secure the rooms.”
“I’ll send a man to the village to retrieve them,” the colonel promised. “Come, please. My home is yers.”
“We’d be overjoyed for the chance to visi—”
This time it was Georgiana kicking Bernie to silence her. She gnawed her lip indecisively. “Is Ma—that is, you aren’t expecting any other company for dinner?”
“Regrettably no’, but it’d be my extreme honor to host two lovey ladies at my table.”
Mal wasn’t coming. What did she expect?
Chapter Fourteen
The home of Colonel Rabbie Lindsay
Windygates, Scotland
Later that evening
A muffled thud roused Georgiana from her fitful bouts of slumber. While admittedly a comfortable bed, she’d been unable to sleep well despite several glasses of wine, a hearty dinner, and Lindsay and Bernie’s lively conversation. She couldn’t escape the doldrums her exchange with Mal had mustered. They’d followed her to bed to plague her dreams and leave her to do nothing better than toss and turn.
Rubbing her eyes with a sigh, she rolled onto her back with hopes of finding a comfortable position to induce some semblance of restful slumber. A creak of the floorboards sounded, and she felt rather than saw Baird come to attention at the foot of the bed.
“Nancy? Is that you?” she asked drowsily, thinking her maid had come to wake her though the room was still black as pitch.
There was no response, only a muted scuff that caught her attention more fully than a shout in the dark. She sat up. Baird yawned noisily and jumped down from the bed with a weighty four-chorus thump. The dog was no primitive protector, true, but his lack of alarm soothed the spurt of fear chilling her veins.
“Bernie?”
No reply, though she knew instinctively someone was in the room.
“Whoever you are, you’d best leave before I scream.”
A heavy weight depressed the mattress near her feet but it wasn’t the dog.
“Ye dinnae want to do that, lass. Ye’ll bring the whole house down on us.”
A little thrill went through her at the sound of the gruff burr.
Mal.
The thick down comforter shifted and a rough hand encircled her ankle. Georgiana kicked it away, from shock more than anything else.
“I will scream.”
A throaty chuckle sent another shiver through her and his hand was back at her ankle, then sliding up her calf.
“Will ye, lass? Shall we determine if I accurately recall how to ensure that y
e do?”
Did he mean…? He couldn’t possibly intend to…
But he did. His palm skimmed up her thigh and inward, his target unmistakable. Her limbs trembled and she clamped her legs together, her heartbeat racing. Not from fear. Oh, how she wished it were something as simple as that.
“I will scream…f-for help…if you do not leave my ch-chamber.” No response but the upward creeping of his caress to show what he thought of her threat. “Now.”
She inhaled sharply to make sure he knew her threat was real and opened her mouth, intending to call out. His lips were there to cover hers, to swallow any sound she might have thought to make. Not that she could think to do anything else but surrender to that kiss. So fresh on her lips from earlier in the day. From the dreams that had left her restless so far tonight. The taste of him at once new and familiar. With a hint of Scotch, warm and intoxicating.
He eased her back and followed, bracing himself over her. His mouth slanted across hers, deepening the kiss. Seeking entry, his tongue swept past her lips, then over hers. Aggressive. Insistent. She met him without hesitation, without a moment’s consideration for denying him. The duel and parry of her tongue must have surprised him because he drew away slightly. She wasn’t protesting or demanding he leave her alone. In fact, Georgiana wasn’t about to surrender the moment. She wrapped her arms around him and drew his weight down. Once again, his eager lover of days past.
Oh, how she’d missed this. Missed him. The feel of him. The thrill.
She slipped her hands up his loose shirt. He flinched at her touch as if it burned but with a hungry groan, sank against her. She gloried in the heavy weight of him on top of her. His body hot and hard, taut beneath her roaming hands. Time hadn’t changed him as much as it had her. He’d not become paunchy in the middle or soft. Oh, he was heavier, the muscles of his chest, arms, and back thicker. Brawny. She celebrated in the transformation. Appreciated the sameness.
Yet he wasn’t entirely without other changes. Gone was the tender lovemaking she recalled from her youth, the gentle caress of his lips and soft sweep of his hands.
His kisses roughened, sucking and nipping at her lips before trailing down her neck with equal treatment. He seemed out of control, impassioned to the point of frenzy. Knowing lust drove him to such lengths only served to notch up her desire. He ripped her night rail from her shoulder. Shocked, yet equally excited by his ardor, she tugged at his hair to hold him where he was. A warm puff of laughter wafted against her breasts. He cupped them, kneading, before lifting them as his lips resumed their trail downward. With a rough swirl of his tongue, he drew on her nipple until she arched off the bed with a startled yelp that quickly evolved into a low, needy whimper. Her fingers curled into his shaggy hair. Within seconds she quivered with need, throbbed with a heretofore-unknown primal hunger.
More carnal than she remembered, more demanding, he thrilled her all the same. His whiskers chafed against her tender skin. He sucked and bit as he continued downward, tearing her nightgown out of his path until she was laid bare. Teeth raked over her belly before his tongue darted into her navel, then trailed further down.
His rough palms ran beneath her bottom, holding and lifting, and then he was there.
“Ahh!” Her cry of wonder descended into a moan that reverberated throughout the room.
Again, he nipped and suckled. This time to greater effect. Reeling. Ravishing. Awash with a fire she’d never known before, Georgiana arched her hips. Vocal melody squeals and gasps ranging from delight and astonishment escaped her despite her efforts to contain them. His soft chuckle teased the damp curls between her thighs until she was sure she’d die of embarrassment.
And he wasn’t done with her. Without mercy, he persisted in his assault until flames licked at her limbs, and set her atremble. He drove her to the apex faster than ever before. She fisted her hands in his hair, a throaty cry of anticipation and exaltation breaking from her lips as she teetered on the precipice of release.
Then he was gone.
“No,” she protested hoarsely, sitting upright and reaching out. “Don’t go.”
He couldn’t leave her. Not just lost in a moment of passion. Alone.
“Never, lass.” He was back in a heartbeat, naked. His hot, muscular body pressing her against the mattress, his hard chest meeting hers just as his lips covered hers once more. Softer now, coaxing and teasing but still insistent.
“Mal,” she murmured against his mouth. There was more to say, to confess how she’d longed for him, needed him. It’d taken only a single word earlier to shatter the moment between them. She wouldn’t risk it again. Catching her lip between her teeth, she bit it all back.
He tensed anyway and raised his head. A shaft of sorrow struck her, fearing that he might leave her again. She couldn’t see his expression, couldn’t know what he was thinking. Then gentle fingers stroked her hair from her temple, his lips brushing her skin in their wake.
“My bonny Georgie.”
“My Mal,” she whispered in reply.
He kissed her once more, urging her thighs apart with his. She wrapped her legs around his hips and welcomed him in. Welcomed him home.
He drove into her hard and thick, his labored groan mingling with her soft sighs.
“Ah, God, yes. Mal…yes,” she gasped as he began to move.
It’d had been so long. Too long. Too long since she’d been touched like this at all. Far too long since it had been Mal doing the touching. Never had it felt like this—all fire and hunger. He caressed her legs and bottom as he drove into her with hard thrusts that renewed the smoldering fire in her belly.
Mal, my darling. My love, her inner voice cried, though she dared not vocalize the words for they would surely drive him away. How I’ve missed you, mourned for what we’ve lost.
His hand slid behind her knee, urging her leg higher. The new angle allowed him to plunder deeper, filling her even more. A gasp of delight escaped her, followed by a rueful groan.
Hesitating, Mal lifted his head. She pictured his raised brow, the way he cocked his head in curiosity.
“What is it?” he asked. “Am I hurting ye?”
“No, not exactly.” She half-moaned, half-laughed again as his weight bore down on her elevated limb, glad he couldn’t see the blush creeping hotly up her cheeks. “There’s…er, a reasonable probability that I’m not quite as flexible as I once was.”
He buried his face in the crook of her neck and his whole body shook, though he was kind enough to refrain from laughing at her outright.
“Dinnae fash yerself, lass. I’ll ha' ye stretched out before much longer.”
Gently, he pushed her bent leg more until it was pinned between his chest and hers. He rocked his hips against hers more gently, probing deeper and deeper in long, slow strokes. It didn’t take more than a second before thoughts of aches and pains fled her mind. Georgiana could think of nothing but him and the magic he was making between them.
A few moments more and all ability to think was gone. With one final thrust, he sent her spiraling to a shattering release and descending into sexual oblivion. Still he wasn’t done with her. The rest of the night was devoted to reminding her of how magical the two of them were together.
And what she’d lost when she’d lost him.
* * *
A shaft of sunlight found its way through a gap in the curtains, slashing a bothersome path across Georgiana’s face. She woke slowly, aware of every ache and pain the night wrought on her limbs. A heavy body snuggled against her back, radiating an almost uncomfortable amount of heat. Grumbling, she blocked the sunbeam with a forearm and rolled to her other side to escape the brilliant reminder that night had fled.
The body shifted with her, maintaining proximity and curling into the angle created by her uplifted knees. A puff of breath wafted her chin accompanied by a gurgling yawn. Opening one eye, she shook her head as Baird made himself comfortable at her expense. One shaggy paw covered his muzzle and eyes, he no more
anxious than she to face the bright sunny day.
Though for different reasons.
Mal was gone. Some part of her knew without a doubt he wouldn’t be coming back. Not for more bed sport, nor for any other reason.
She couldn’t entirely pinpoint the exact reason he’d come to her at all, despite the myriad of possibilities that came to mind. None of them complimentary or kind.
He hadn’t come because he couldn’t resist her charms. Nor had he come to profess any continuation of the affection he once held for her.
She’d spent enough of those years wallowing in a fair measure of guilt, knowing she’d hurt him, not to recognize the pain the previous day when he’d looked down at her. It might have been kinder had time allowed him to forget about her. To put the past behind and live a rich, fulfilling life with a family of his own.
According to the tales Rabbie Lindsay shared over their supper the night before, Mal had done none of those things. Oh, he hadn’t said so flat out, but she was bright enough to read between the lines of what he said and what he meant.
Knowing he’d suffered from her actions, from what he surely saw as her betrayal, served to amplify the enveloping guilt she’d borne all these years.
She dashed the back of her hand across her eyes to wipe away the hot seeping tears, and flung her arm to the side. A crinkle caught her attention and she plucked a folded piece of paper from the pillow beside hers. She unfolded the note and read the two simple words scrawled on the paper.
Goodbye, Duchess.
No, he wouldn’t be coming back.
The night had been a reminder of what they’d had, as if those memories weren’t already as vivid as yesterday’s. He’d made sure she’d remember…
At least he’d left a note. The courtesy was more than he’d been allowed.
With a low whine, Baird inched upward, rasping his rough tongue along her chin. Georgiana smoothed his fur back from his face, getting a glimpse of his dark, sympathetic gaze. Somehow, knowing her pain was so obvious—even to a canine—strangled her with such pervasive emotion each breath was a struggle. Curling her fingers around his ears, she gave him a scratch or two of thanks.
Once Again, My Laird Page 10