Page 16 of A Thistle Beyond Time
Cormac left the room and Jenna replayed the night’s events from the beginning, trying to piece it all together.
“What on earth did I do? I hope I didn’t embarrass myself too much,” she said to herself.
Bits of memory were making their way into her brain. She remembered Cormac carrying her up the stairs to the house.That was nice of him.He carried her into her room where she kissed him.Oh, my God, I kissed him! He must think I’m easy – or worse.But the kiss, as she remembered it was incredible, all soft, and warm. A very solid wall of man had wrapped himself around her and she’d liked it, very much. She was drunk, though. Maybe it seemed better than it really was. Just thinking about it was doing crazy things to her body, so it must have been pretty damn good.Oh, no! I asked him to make love to me! It’s official – I am never going to be able to look him in the eye again.
Cormac walked back into the room to the sight of a very red-faced Jenna fanning herself with an old magazine. She immediately lowered her gaze, as if she had just found something very interesting to read.
“Are ye well, Jenna? You look a bit ill.”
“I’m fine,” she barked. That felt better. She needed to reestablish the boundaries she’d set yesterday. She definitely didn’t want him thinking she was interested in him. Although he was very sweet, and protective of her, when Jonathan was being an ass.So, he’s a nice guy. What difference does that make? I’m going to stay as far away as possible. I don’t need this right now. I used to think Jonathan was a nice guy, too. Hell, I married him!
Cormac handed her the aspirin and the water.
“Can I get ye anything else, lass?”
“Yeah, you can leave me alone and get the hell out of my room.” Yelling at Cormac was making her head hurt worse, but it was also allowing her to take back control of her wayward emotions.
“I’ll leave ye, then. I can see that yer back to yer prickly self.” Growling under his breath, Cormac turned on his heel and strode from the room, leaving Jenna to nurse her aching head and sort through her conflicted feelings.
* * *
Cormac soundly closed the door to Jenna’s room. He was having a hard time understanding how she could be so sweet last night, and so thistle-like this morn. Could drinking all that whiskey have turned her into someone she was not?
The front door opened and Dylan walked through, looking a bit disheveled.
“Hey, dude, how was your night? Did ye get Jenna back here without any trouble?”
“Aye. There was no trouble,” Cormac scowled.
“Your words are saying one thing, but your face is telling a different story. What happened?”
“Nothing happened. Yer cousin is in a verra bad mood this morning.”
Dylan took a seat and motioned for Cormac to do the same. They eyed one another, both waiting for someone to speak.
“She was pretty out of it last night. Thanks for making sure she got home in one piece,” Dylan finally announced.
Cormac nodded and continued to scowl.
“It couldn’t have been that bad,” Dylan said.
“It wasnae, until this morning. She was a different lass last night, sweet like honey and this morning, she’s as prickly as a thistle. I dinna ken what changed.”
Dylan grinned. “She sobered up, that’s what changed. She always has her guard up, especially around men. She’s been dealing with Jonathan for a while now and it’s made her very skeptical of any man’s motives. Plus, my guess is, she’s a bit embarrassed about last night.”
“Aye. I ken what ye speak of.” Last night he’d thought there was hope for them, but this morning all of his hope had been thrown out the window. Why on earth did Edna think that Jenna would agree to be his wife? A better question yet – why would hewanther to be his wife? A brief glimpse into the softer side of Jenna had him curious to find out.
* * *
Jenna was feeling bad about how she had treated Cormac. He hadn’t done anything wrong. As a matter of fact, he had been a perfect gentleman. She should apologize to him for her behavior and leave it at that. The wall was back up and she wasn’t planning to let it be knocked down any time soon.
As she was about to enter the living room, she could hear Cormac speaking with Dylan. He sounded hurt and confused by her ill treatment.
“Ahem.” Jenna cleared her throat to announce her presence and both Cormac and Dylan glanced in her direction. “Cormac, I just wanted to apologize to you for my behavior last night and this morning. I was angry with my ex, and I took it out on you. I’m very sorry.” She hoped she didn’t look as embarrassed as she felt.
Cormac looked up in surprise at her words, a relieved smile spreading across his handsome face. “Apology accepted, lass.”
“Good. I promise not to be all ‘prickly like a thistle’.” Jenna did her best to smile through her embarrassment.
