Page 109 of The MacGregor's Lady
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“Up you go.”
“Make fast and come after me,” Asher said, leaping onto the rope ladder. “I may need ye to help me kidnap the countess.”
The scene on the deck was one to confuse a besotted man on a good day, and this was not a good day. Hannah stood nose to nose with old Mills, the sailors agog from their various posts, while the maid, Cousin Ceely, repelled boarders with a ferocious scowl.
“And furthermore, the MacGregor will not appreciate you arguing with me, Captain! I need a boat and somebody to row it, or I’ll row it myself, but let me off this ship this instant!”
What?“Hannah.”
She froze as if she’d taken an arrow in the back, then did an about-face and stood her ground, back to Mills. Her boots were beside her on the freshly scrubbed deck, and the sea breeze was making inroads on her tidy bun. The front of her skirt was slashed all to hell, and she wore no gloves.
She could not have looked more beautiful to him.
“Asher MacGregor, please tell this man he cannot take me to Boston. Tell him you will not allow it.” She had never sounded more crisp, imperious, or Bostonian.
The temptation to run to her, to snatch her into his arms was overwhelming, but the stakes were far too high for rash behavior. “Why would I not allow it? It’s all ye’ve wanted since ye set foot on Scottish soil, Hannah. It’s your duty, your heart’s desire. If I love ye, and I do, verra much, why would I come between ye and your heart’s desire?”
“Because—” Her hands fisted at her sides. She closed her eyes and turned her face up to the heavens. “Becauseyouare my heart’s desire. To be your lady is my heart’s desire. The rest…” She looked around at the wide sea beyond the harbor, at the shore, and then at him. “The rest will have to sort itself out. I will need your help, but I need you more. The alternative doesn’t bear… I can see no alternative.”
Behind him, his brothers were clambering over the rail, their boots thumping onto the deck.
“Then come to me, Hannah, and be my lady.” He held out his arms, and in her stocking feet, she pelted across the wet deck, as nimble as a goat. Gilgallon swore cheerfully in several languages, and Con and Spathfoy started arguing about who had won the bet.
Hannah held him tight, her arms lashed around his middle. “Don’t let me go, Asher.”
“You won’t fall, Hannah.” Though he didn’t turn her loose.
“No, don’t let me go to Boston. My family has had years to put Step-papa in his place. I can only offer them my home—our home—and hope they’ll accept the invitation. I cannot let their lack of sense become my own.”
She would have babbled on, would have explained all her reasons and counterarguments and contingency plans to him, but he kissed her, all the argument he needed to make.
The sailors whistled and stomped, Mills barked orders nobody heeded, and Hannah kissed Asher.
And kissed him.
When her enthusiasm for remaining in Scotland was threatening Asher’s ability to walk, he broke the kiss. “Madam, we have an audience.”
Hannah mashed her nose against his throat. “Good, they can be our witnesses, and your brothers too. The captain can marry us, can’t he?”
Ian said something in Gaelic that Asher hoped Hannah couldn’t understand.
“The ship’s captain cannot marry us, Hannah.” He put his lips to her ear. “Under Scottish law, we married the day you had me naked in the hills behind Balfour House. You might want to have a more formal ceremony once your grandmother is done speaking sense to you.”
“I liked the informal ceremony.” Then her head came up. “Mygrandmother? I’m not waiting weeks, while we beg and plead and bully a stubborn old woman to get on a ship for Scotland, Asher. She can be impossible. She doesn’t believe in half measures. I tried to reason with her by correspondence, and she wouldn’t even acknowledge my arguments.”
Another kiss was necessary to stop this tirade. Why didn’t anybody tell schoolboys there was no need to argue with ladies when a more effective tactic lay so close to hand? “Will you wait until we can get you to shore?”
“To shore?”
“I asked your grandmother to come to Scotland, Hannah. I begged, I pleaded, I nigh wept on the pages and told my man in Boston to offer my firstborn and my last groat to get the old woman onto one of our ships. I also offered emphatically to host your mother and your brothers for an indefinite stay, and they’ve accepted.”
Well, in part they had. He could explain the subterfuges necessary to accept his invitation, but Hannah would hardly quibble.
And if she did, he’d kiss her again.
Spathfoy clamped a hand on Asher’s shoulder. “So do we stand around in the middle of the harbor all morning, or take turns kissing the bride?”
