Page 50 of Lost with a Scot
Aiden thanked each of the me. Brock put a hand on his shoulder.
“Ye’ll be going too, won’t ye?” Brock said.
“Ye know I will,” said Aiden.
Brodie put his hand on Aiden’s other shoulder. “It’s not yer fight.”
“It’s Anna’s fight,” said Aiden. “That makes it mine.”
Brock grunted. “No sane man wishes to go to war.”
Aiden nodded. “No, but these are insane times. It’s Anna I fear for most. She’s lost everything. Her home, her family...”
“But she has ye,” Brock said. “And we ken how strong ye are, brother. Stronger than either of us.”
But would it be enough? The Romani prophecy was there in the back of his mind, along with Anna’s vision from the fairy pools.
“Promise me, if I dinna make it out of this and we canna take back her homeland, ye will take Anna back to Scotland and keep her safe.”
“We promise,” Brodie assured him. “But ye will not fail.”
Aiden wished he could believe them. “I should see if Anna is all right.”
He left his brothers and sought out his wife. She was standing on a chair while a dressmaker took her measurements in one of the sitting rooms. He lingered in the doorway, watching. She didn’t notice him at first. She was smiling, then grinned widely at something one of the ladies in the room said. She laughed so rarely, but when she did, the sound made his heart flutter in his chest as though it wished to take flight. If he did die, at least it would be having known one of the greatest joys a person could know—to love her.
Anna’s gaze drifted as she noticed him leaning on the doorjamb, watching her, and the smile she gave was brighter than any summer sun. For a brief moment, all his fears and worries vanished. She said something to the dressmaker who nodded and packed up her measuring tape and then Anna stepped off the chair and rushed over to him. He moved into the corridor out of sight of the ladies in the room as Anna embraced him. They already acted scandalous enough around each other in public, so he was trying his best to behave.
“Are you all right?” he asked as he wrapped his arms around her.
“Yes. At least, I am now that you are here.” She glanced back at the doorway she had just left.
“Do you need to go back in?”
“No, we are finished.” She tilted her face up to his. “Take me to our room,” she whispered.
He saw a desperate intensity in her eyes and understood what she wanted. He let go of her hips but clasped her hands in his, and they went to their bedroom.
She closed the door behind them and locked it. Neither of them wanted to say the words that hung unspoken in the air between them. Each day could be their last together.
He placed his palms on either side of her head against the door. Anna peered up at him in a sultry way that made him desperate to kiss her, but he didn’t dare rush this moment.
Aiden leaned in and nuzzled her nose, then feathered his lips over hers. Only when she gasped softly against his mouth did he finally kiss her. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him close to her as they shared soft, excited breaths.
“Aiden...”
He closed his eyes, enjoying the way she whispered his name, as though it was the only thing that mattered.
“Anna,” he replied, hoping she would hear it the same way.
Her tawny eyes shone bright in the late-afternoon sunlight. She reached for his cravat and began to undo the folds of silk at his throat. She took her time as she slid the cloth off his neck and tossed it to the floor. Her hands began to undo the buttons of his waistcoat, but when her fingers trembled, he caught them and raised her hands to his lips, kissing each of her fingers with all the tenderness inside him that blended with his hunger for her.
“It’s all moving too fast,” she whispered, her voice breaking.
“We can slow down, lass. We—”
She shook her head. “Not you and me—everything else. We’ve only just found each other, and now we are facing a war...” She faltered and then tried again. “I wish I could freeze time and simply hold on to you,” she confessed.
Aiden’s heartbeat quickened as he kissed her palms this time.
