Page 54 of Her Tempting Traitor
“Gus!” Cassian roared in his own embarrassment. “Get out!”
Fook.Should have known his son would ignore him.
“Gabby, do you want to come with us on our ride? Looks like Father wouldn’t mind.”
Gabby laughed all the harder, and Cassian glanced between his son, grinning cheekily, and the woman who had been limp in his arms a moment ago.
“Are you—oh Heavens,” Gabby managed, pressing her fingertips to her lips to quell her chuckles. “Are you certain you would not prefer the time alone with your Da, Gus?”
The lad was already backing toward the door and now shrugged unrepentantly, his smirk still bold. “If he falls off his horse, I’m going to need help getting him back up again?—”
Gabby burst into chuckles again, muffling them against Cassian’s shoulder, and he knew she’d heard the unintended double entendre there.
Although, as quickly as Cassian’s cockstand had deflated at his son’s uninvited entrance, hewouldneed some help getting it back up again.
“Christ Almighty,” he groaned at their teasing, which only caused Gabby to giggle harder. He fixed a glare on his son. “Ye willno’speak to anyone of this, do ye understand?”
“Of course, Father.” Gus’s tone was still irreverent, but his expression turned serious. “I understand these things—I don’t want to hurt Miss Gabby any more than you do.”
With that, he slammed the door behind himself, and Cassian slumped back against the pillows.
When had his son grown up?
Not just to understand why Gabby was here with his father, but to know how hurtful it could be to her reputation?
“I’m going to have to have a talk with the laddie aboutdiscretion,” he grumbled.
Gabby, who had her humor—or perhaps nervous laughter—under control, pressed her cheek to his shoulder. “He did notappeartraumatized.”
“Nay,” Cassian grunted, snaking his arm around her. “If anything, I suspect he likes memorenow, kenning that ye approve of me.”
She was quiet for a long while, and he wondered if she was thinking on his words.
They hadn’t been wrong; since her arrival, Gabby and Gus had become surprisingly close. He’d assumed it had something to do with his son’s love of Sir Dickie’s menagerie, which Gabby also seemed to know quite a lot about. The lad not only liked her, he respected her as well, which was important.
It was how Cassian himself felt about her.
How’d he get so lucky?
At long last, Gabby pushed herself up to kiss his cheek. “You have a smart and caring son, Cassian. I would be honored to spend the morning with you both, if you are willing to have me along.”
His hold on her tightened, and he told her nothing but the truth. “I can think of nothing I want more, Gabby.”
CHAPTER 10
The day was overcast, with rain threatening from the lingering clouds which hung low over the Glencoe mountains in the south. A typical morning in the Highlands, and Gabby was familiar with enough of them to not allow it to dampen her mood.
Because she was in averygood mood.
Not just because she’d been woken in such a unique and satisfying manner—although that was quite wonderful and she was already musing on how to repeat it—but because she was riding in the fresh air with two people she was rapidly beginning to suspect were among her new favorites.
Giving a loud whoop, Gus kicked his horse into a gallop, shooting across the fields toward the distant bend in the River Lochy. She heard Cassian, riding beside her, suck in a breath—and when she glanced at him, he winced.
“I’m trying no’ to hover,” he admitted quietly. “I hadnae realized what a good horseman he has become.”
“You have not been riding with him?”
“A few times, when I visited Inverlochy before. Mainly with Sir R—Uncle Dickie, and they were all far more…sedate rides.” He blew out a breath and offered a wry shrug. “Since being back without a foot, I havenae wanted anyone to see what a shite horseman I am now.”
