Page 30 of Captivating the Countess
She took his hand instead, gripping it as if to steady herself. “I didn’t dream you just now? You were really...”
“Kissing, you, yes. I enjoyed it very much until the nag intervened.” Rain tried to note any flaws in her act, but he couldn’t see anything except her confusion. He felt as uncertain as she looked. This was not ground his medical journals covered.
“I see.” She shivered and drew the blanket up to her chin while she considered the implications. “Do you think Teddy’s portrait gave her more power?”
That wasn’t the direction of his thoughts, but he accepted it, for now. “It seems that way. You appeared as an apparition in my bath, and I feared the worst.”
“An apparition?” She shuddered slightly. “I’ve never done that before—that I know of, at least. I cannot know what happens when I’m unconscious.” Releasing his hand, she drew her knees up to her chin and refused to look at him. “I’m not certain whether to be embarrassed or terrified.”
Her steadiness in a moment that would have driven another woman to hysterics convinced him of her truth more than anything else. He very much appreciated her orderly mind. He had more than enough females in his life whipping him with their emotional outbursts.
If she’d been possessed by his grandmother, the countess had every right to run away, screaming. She might faint easily, but she wasn’t a coward.
“A little of both seems natural. Do you recall what the spirit said?” Now he had to wonder if that had been his own hallucination because he’d wanted it so much.
She nodded but didn’t repeat the words. “A little more explicit than her usual message but still not quite clear. I don’t believe I want your nagging grandmother as a child.”
He laughed. It was that or hold his head and bang it against the bedpost. “If that was her, she must have been a bit of a witch, more so than any Malcolm.”
“A Norse witch?” she took the escape he offered and smiled a little. “But our Malcolm beliefs are similar. We accept that spirits are all around us, as natural as the air we breathe, and one might choose to inhabit us when a child forms.”
He had to know. He felt like a schoolboy instead of a man with experience, but he had to ask. “She seems to think that to heal, we need to...” He couldn’t talk to a maiden like that.
“Fornicate?” She finally glanced his way. Humor lurked in the depths of her eyes. “I’m not entirely certain that was an actual requirement or her impatience. Or perhaps our own wishes.”
He breathed easier. “I love the way you think, thank you. If you’d had hysterics, I would be lost. You said you wrote your sister. Have you had an answer?” He’d not had one from Gerard, but the earl was a busy man with a lawyer’s mind. He was probably considering all the ramifications of his bond with his wife and how much he would reveal and everything else a convoluted brain could evoke.
Bell shrugged. “Iona thinks it is only necessary that both their hands touch each other and the object of interest. Gerard is the one who is able to see the visions. She simply stimulates them. She thinks their... conjugal congress... may strengthen their bonds, but isn’t certain that it actually makes the vision better.”
“But as in all things Malcolm, the individual matters. With us, it may be different.” Rain was pretty certain he wanted it to be different, that he wantedconjugal congressto be the solution.
She slanted him a look as if reading his mind. “We could tell the duke that we’re experimenting. You could actually lay your hands on him. That’s what Gerard does with his old rocks and artifacts. Then Iona covers his hand with hers.”
“But you say Gerard and your twin have abond. I don’t think one waltz in a ballroom constitutes a bond.”
“No.” She rested her chin on her knees and stared past him. “I fear we are drawn to each other. I’m not at all certain that’s a good thing.”
“Shall we each write up a list of pros and cons?” He tried to be humorous, because what he wanted to say wasMarry me and let’s find out.Or simplyLet’s fornicate.
She actually nodded approval, the cold-blooded witch. Of course, he’d just been admiring her steadiness. He needed to make up his mind what he wanted, which had ever been the problem when it came to women.
“I think a list would be wise,” she said. “I don’t think our circumstances right now are conducive to clear thinking.”
“I hope that means you still want to grab my robe and drag me into bed.” There, if she could be blunt, so could he.
If she reddened, he couldn’t tell in the dim light. She did turn those glorious eyes in his direction at least.
“I will have difficulty sleeping,” she admitted. “That is still not reason to tempt fate.”
Some of the tension drained out of him that she felt the same as he. “There is a solution to our lack of sleep. Make certain you add that to your list.”
“Under pro or con?” she asked in amusement. “Go away, my lord. This is all highly improper, illogical, and inappropriate, and we will regret it in the morning.”
“No, I don’t think so.” Rain leaned over and kissed her lips, lightly, just enough so she knew he desired her.
She didn’t push him away but tasted him as if for the first time.
He stood then, before he could push for more. “Shall I visit your office around five tomorrow so we can compare lists?”
