“Snowed?” he grinned.
“Duped, bamboozled, hornswoggled.” She read his face and eyes seeing only affection and humor. Surely he was not so Machiavellian that he could dupe her so entirely. “Have I been?”
“Snowed?” he hesitated then slowly shook his head. “No, my love, ye’ve not.” Connor caressed her cheek lightly. “It is real, this attraction between us. In truth, it is the verra reason for my persistent insistence that ye were Heather. At least once I had admitted to myself the possibility that yer story, however unlikely, was true. As Heather, as Dory’s sister there were grounds for yer continued presence at Duart. If I were to concede that yer story were true, ye would have cause, even impetus, to leave. I did not want ye to.”
“You wanted me to stay?”
“I still want ye to stay, though, I suppose we must reveal the farce to the others and assign ye other chambers for propriety’s sake,” he added regretfully.
“Let’s not jump the gun on that just yet,” Emmy was prompted to respond. “Other than Ian and Dory no one knows yet and I don’t think they need to. And if Dory can handle us being roomed next to each other knowing the truth then I think we’re okay for now. Unless there is another reason to move me?”
“Such as?”
Emmy twisted her lips, reluctant to put voice to her fear. “Perhaps you would rather not…encourage my affections or give me reason to think there is more between us?”
“What are ye trying to say?”
“I am trying to figure out if you just want to sleep with me or if you want more than that. That maybe a couple rounds in the sack will be enough for you,” she looked away down the coast.
Tenderly, Connor grasped her chin and turned her back to face him. “Ye’re trying to discern whether I just think ye’re ‘a piece of ass’, I believe yer phrasing was or whether I care more fully for ye.” It was not a question. Either she was an open book or he knew her as well as she knew him. “If ye will think back to the disagreement we had prior to my departure, I believe ye’ll find that ye had the right of it before.”
Emmy didn’t pretend to misunderstand him. “I thought that you might have regretted the words when you left so quickly or that you hadn’t meant it at all. A slip of the tongue or something.”
“Is your glass truly ever half-empty?” he chuckled. “Let me make myself clear then, though I put myself at yer tender mercies in doing so…ye’ve won, my love. I am defeated. I love ye Emily MacKenzie. Ye’re a fascinating, intelligent woman,” he stroked her cheek once more and looked down at her exquisite face. “I felt so right from the moment I first saw ye and it has little to do with yer body as lovely as it is.”
Emmy closed her eyes and turned into his palm covering his hand with her own, savoring the moment. Other than her mother, no one had ever before told her that they loved her, well, discounting Billy Everson in the 2nd grade. How brilliant it felt! Satisfying, intoxicating! Her chest ached with emotion. “Oh, Connor! I am so glad to hear you say that!”
“Because?” he promptly softly.
Emmy opened her eyes and met his gaze noting the stress and uncertainty there and knowing she could not leave him hanging. “Because love is best when returned and, Connor, I love you. You are maddening and aggravating and challenging…”
“Why thank ye,” he offered acerbically.
“But,” she drawled taking his hand in hers, “I love that you madden me and aggravate me and challenge me. You make me think and make me feel in ways I have never done before. You make me feel. I have had an ache in my chest since I met you, a heartache at the thought of loosing you. I don’t know what I would have done if it was completely one-sided.”
“Unrequited love is said to be a most horrible state and I will admit that I had many fears that such a fate might be my own. Having been rejected once before had made me hesitant to allow any vulnerability. I did not want these feelings as much as I wanted ye and even had considered that we might enjoy each other without emotional attachment. Once I realized my feelings, I even thought to deny them. While I might feel as I did, I had no intention of revealing myself to you in fear that my feelings might not be reciprocated,” he confessed.
“It’s hard to take a chance on love,” she agreed. “I doubt I ever would have said anything if you had not been stronger and braver than me and done it first.”
“It is a man’s burden.”
“Let’s not go there, Connor,” she teased. “Where I am from, women propose to men all the time.”
He looked horrified. “Never say so!”
“Okay, I won’t,” she ribbed him. “That is why you left? You didn’t want to be emotionally vulnerable to me?”
“It is not in my nature to appear weak.”
“No, I suppose not.” Emmy leaned into his arms and laid her head on his shoulder. “But I love you anyway.”
His breath drew in deeply and exhaled in a rush. “I love ye, as well, so incredibly much.”
“I am so incredibly glad,” she whispered into his neck before taking the flesh there between her teeth and nibbling and sucking lightly. Connor leaned away and lowered his head capturing those teasing lips with his own. Emmy clung to him as his hands cradled her shoulder and neck pulling her closer to him. Their bodies met at the chest and hip and Emmy could almost feel his heat radiating through the layers of her outerwear and his, but it was not enough.
“How is your head?” she whispered.
“Much better, thank ye.”
“Maybe
