Page 9 of Love’s Charity

He reached over, grabbed hold of her pallet, and dragged it close enough to overlap his. “I can bear it, m’love,” he said, pulling her into his arms. Tipping her head back, he kissed her long and slow, reveling in the precious taste of the woman he had never hoped to hold this way again.

She eased back and gave his beard a playful tug. “We need to be quiet and sleep now.” With a coy but determined tilt of her chin, she smiled. “And I hold fast to what I told ye before—nothing more than kisses until we marry, ye ken?”

That drew a pained sigh. But he consoled himself with the fact that he could at least hold her while they slept, and all was finally right between them. “Of course, m’love.” But he needed the sweetness of one more kiss to carry into his dreams. His heart swelled as she tightened her hold on him as if to never let him go.

Reluctantly, he lifted his head and kissed the tip of her nose. “We must try and sleep now. We will need an early start if the storm allows.” He rolled to his back and pulled her into the curve of his arm, smiling as she rested her head on his shoulder.

“What shall we do about the MacGougans?” she whispered after a silence long enough that he thought her already dozing.

“What do ye mean?”

“We canna take away what’s left of the supplies I brought inside to fix our supper. Poor Mistress Hanna has nothing. She will surely freeze and starve to death if we dinna leave her some of the food and blankets. In fact, she needs all of what we brought other than the clothing and shoes for the MacGougan bairns.”

“We willna leave her wanting. I can set some snares for more meat for the MacGougans, but I dinna ken how we can come up with more grain or vegetables.” He frowned up at the thatching over their heads. At least he had repaired the old woman’s roof to keep the weather out. “I dinna ken how we might come up with more blankets and wraps either.”

“And we would lose a whole day if we traveled back toTor Ruadhfor more. I’m sure their wee ones are already disappointed that we havena yet arrived. The older ones know Lady Catriona and Cook always send extra sweets and cakes for Yuletide.” She shifted against him with a heavy sigh of her own. “I’m wearing extra layers of everything. Mistress MacGougan could have one of my shifts and a pair of my stockings. That might help her a bit.”

“I could give the man my fur coat. It’s too warm for me, anyway.” He hugged her tighter, his heart soaring that, rather than fighting, they were working together toward a common goal. “We shall work it all out in the morning, aye? We will bring to them all that we can. I’m sure they’ll still be thankful.”

“Aye,” she whispered, nestling her head more comfortably into the curve of his shoulder. “I am thankful we made this trip and met Mistress Hanna.”

“So am I, m’love. So am I.”

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