Page 68 of Return of the Scot
“No’ really. If ye’d truly given it to her, ye would have had the deed put in her name and not kept it for yourself.”
He could see the surprised look on her face, almost as if she’d realized at that moment what she’d done.
“Ye’re right. I wanted it for myself.” She stroked the side of his face. “I wanted a piece of ye.”
“And I freely give it to ye, my love. All of the pieces of me.” Lorne kissed her again, and she wrapped her arms around him, deepening their kiss with a slide of her tongue over his.
It was then the door to their cabin banged open, and a shocked Alison gasped loudly enough to crack the spell.
“Ye promised, Your Grace,” Alison said, her matronly eyes boring into him. It was only Mungo holding the maidservant back that kept her from charging forward.
Lorne smiled widely. “She has agreed to be my wife.”
Alison waved away that statement. “Then ye’ll have to wait until after the wedding to take such liberties.”
Jaime pressed her lips together, clearly trying not to laugh as Lorne stood and pulled her to her feet.
“Miss Andrewson asked me to chaperone her, and I made a promise to MacInnes. He’ll have my head if he finds out…” She paused a minute. “Is it true? Have ye agreed to marry?”
“Aye, Alison. I have.”
“Well, ’tis a good thing then. Perhaps we can do so when we arrive at Dunrobin. Indeed, I’ll arrange it with your housekeeper as soon as we arrive. And then ye can…” She waved her hand in their general vicinity. “Until then, Your Grace, Mungo will help ye redress, and Miss Andrewson, let us go back into the captain’s bedchamber to fix ye up. No sense in anyone else guessing what might have happened when I left the two of ye alone for a second.”
“I assure ye, Alison, nothing untoward has occurred, other than a little kiss,” Jaime was saying.
Alison rolled her eyes and muttered, “Every little kiss like that is why the world is populated.”
Mungo snorted at that and then quickly schooled his face in all seriousness.
Lorne laughed hard, though, finding the woman’s humor too much to admonish her for speaking so out of turn to a duke.
“I can see why my fiancée has kept ye on, Alison. Ye’re most loyal.”
Alison gave him one last glower before shutting the door and taking his view of Jaime with her.
“Had your hands full, Mungo?”
“No’ as full as ye, Your Grace.”
Lorne narrowed his gaze. “I think ye’re being impertinent, but I’ll let it slide on account of my happiness.”
Mungo grinned. “Glad to have ye back, Your Grace.”
16
With their two stubborn heads put together, Mungo and Alison were able to keep Jaime and Lorne from any further physical contact for the rest of the day’s journey. Of course, this only made Jaime want to be nearer to Lorne, especially now that she’d agreed to marry him. Now that he’d trusted her enough to open up about what had happened to him in captivity.
Besides, hadn’t the curmudgeons ever heard about the lure of the forbidden? Still, they made excellent gatekeepers. Though, she suspected it was more likely Mungo was holding Alison back from tossing Lorne overboard.
At last, they reached the shores of Dunrobin, with the castle looming toward the sky as if some merry fortress out of a fairytale. “It’s lovely.” Jaime stood beside Lorne at the ship’s helm, the closest they’d been in hours, now that Alison and Mungo saw they were ending their journey.
“There’s nothing quite like the feeling of coming home.” There was a great depth of emotion in his words.
That feeling he spoke of—a sensation she was certain he must sense more acutely after having been gone from it for so long. She slipped her hand in his, entwining their fingers.
“I have to apologize,” she said. “Before we get off this ship.” Jaime turned to face him.
“For what?” He looked puzzled.
