Page 83 of The Moonstone Major
“Perhaps at first. But they’ll get over it fast. I think Hen and Phoebe will be leaping for joy once they admonish me, as it is their sisterly duty. They know I love you and that you are perfect for me.”
“Am I?”
“Yes, and we are going to find out something important about you tomorrow. Not that I care, for I already know your heart and nothing else matters.”
“You’re wrong, Chloe. Things change with each revelation.”
She stared into his turbulent gaze. “Would it change your love for me?”
Chapter Sixteen
The storm continuedto rage as day blended into night and back into day again. Fionn gave silent thanks the ghost captain had built this house sturdy enough to withstand everything the elements could toss at it. However, there would be a lot of damage in the village, and he desperately hoped the hospital, with its structure not yet secure, survived this tempest.
It would be disastrous if the walls and roof collapsed. The hospital plans might then be scrapped, and he could be transferred elsewhere. Where would that leave him and Chloe?
“You have been frowning all morning. Are you sure you love me?” Chloe teased, casting him an impish grin as they finished their breakfast and were now cleaning up. He was washing their plates, and she stood beside him drying them. He’d never seen anyone so happy to do chores, but Chloe did not think of these duties as onerous. She saw them as an affirmation of their love for each other.
What an odd girl.
But he loved this about her.
She smiled up at him, her face exquisitely radiant. “I don’t think you have given me a moment’s thought throughout breakfast.”
He shook his head, for he knew she could not possibly doubt his affection after what they had done last night.
Lord help him, that was fun. Exquisite fun. He’d brought her to pleasure twice, for the first time had not been nearly enough to satisfy his hunger for the beautiful girl. He was still greedy and aching for more of her.
For her part, she was deliciously responsive.
Nor had he been able to keep his hands off her while helping her dress this morning. That task had taken forever because he undid her lacings and buttons as fast as she was trying to do them up. For her part, she had been doing the same to him, tugging at his shirt and trying to pull it off him whenever he attempted to put it on.
Finally, they had managed to keep their hands off each other long enough to ready themselves for the day ahead, because they had a lot to accomplish and needed to get through as much of it as possible before the storm ended and they would no longer exist in their solitary cocoon.
He would have to return to the fort.
He stared at her while they finished their chores, unable to wipe that stupid, moonstruck grin off his face. “I’ve thought of nothing but you.”
He kissed her long and hard to prove his point.
However, he soon turned serious. “The hospital construction worries me. If the damage is too great, the army might not move forward with the project. I could be given new orders and sent elsewhere.”
She nodded. “Is this what has you so preoccupied? Would they allow you to bring me along?”
“Yes, quite likely. But it would depend on the location. I would never bring you to a battle site or anywhere I thought there might be danger. This is what concerns me most, Chloe. I never want to see you hurt. But look on the bright side—as a married lady, your family would allow you to reside here at Moonstone Cottage, which is where you’ve really wanted to be all along.”
“I do want to be here, but not if it means being apart from you.”
“We are getting ahead of ourselves. The point is, you would be settled somewhere you love, and I would not worry for your safety so long as the Hawkes remained here with you.” He finished washing the last of the plates and leaned over to kiss her again. “If anything were to happen to me, I would come back to you as a ghost and protect you forever.”
“Three ghosts watching over me? Don’t you dare think of dying for at least another fifty years. The light would burn out of me if I ever lost you, Fionn.”
“Now we arereallygetting ahead of ourselves.” He opened one of the kitchen shutters and peered out the window into the still-howling wind and pattering deluge of rain. “The storm shows no sign of stopping, but it cannot possibly go on much longer.”
“We have plenty of food and kindling,” she remarked. “It will easily last us the week.”
“But everyone thinks you are here alone, and they must be worried about you. I hope the Hawkes do not attempt to return this morning.”
“Cain might come, too. I’m sure Hen will send him over to find me and bring me to their home.” She sighed. “Melrose will be worried as well. I think we’ll have a crush of searchers here within a few hours. We ought to spend time on those boxes while we are still alone.”
