A Laird for All Time by Angeline Fortin Read Free Book Online

I was out here?” she asked tightly.
    “My rooms overlook the courtyard and this side of the castle,” he jerked his head back toward the keep.  “I saw ye come out and decided to make sure ye werenae out to kill yourself.” Connor had been dressing near the window when he saw her pass, her manly stride so visible in the tight trousers she wore.  Her garb was mannish and inappropriate, but he acknowledged that she looked lovely this morning in spite of her unconventional attire. Tendrils of hair had escaped their loose knot and danced across cheeks bitten rosy by the brisk October winds.  He fought the urge to cup her face in his hands to warm them. 
    “Believe me, buddy,” she said, taking in his trousers and half buttoned shirt.  “This whole situation isn’t that bad yet.” She wondered if he had dressed in a hurry to come save her from herself. “It’ll take a lot more before I’m ready to off myself.  How ‘bout you though?  You look pretty rough,” she couldn’t resist adding as she cast a critical glance at him, noting the bags under his eyes and bloodshot eyes.  “Nursing a hangover?”
    “Hangover?” he raised an eyebrow.
    “You know?  Hit the bottle a bit hard last night and are regretting the result?”
    “Dinnae gi’ yerself the credit for any such condition.  It had been my plan for the evening long before ye arrived,” he told her coldly with a curl of his lip at the reminder of his annual observance of his greatest humiliation. “I saw nae reason to change my plans simply because ye were here.”
    “Ouch,” she said lightly.  So her arrival , or the arrival of his wife, as he thought she was, had not prompted a night in the cups.  He had been planning on it anyway.  Interesting yet sad that Connor seemed to have allowed the woman who had abandoned him all those years before to still hold such control over his life.  It softened her a bit toward him and, changing the subject, she offered pleasantly:  “Actually, I just came out for the view.  I’ve always loved stuff like this.  Waves crashing, thunderstorms, lightning, that sort of thing.  Nature at its most violent and beautiful.” 
    “As I recall, ye once expressed a fright of those same things,” he commented.
    Emmy sighed and wondered if she could really do as Dory suggested and ride out this mistaken identity thing.  Connor obviously thought of her as his missing wife and there was nothing she could say that was going to change his mind on that point.  The laird was dug deeply into his beliefs and even Dory didn’t even believe that her word was going to change his mind until it suited him to do so.  She forced herself to recall that she just needed to go with the flow as Dory had said.  After all, she needed a place to stay until she figured out how to get back home.  Surely somewhere someone was working on the fix for it.  She shivered at the passing thought that perhaps no one knew what was going on.
    “Come, ye ’re cold,” he offered his arm gallantly to her. “Come inside and breakfast wi’ me.”
    Emmy took the arm he held out to her but, when her hand touched the bare skin of his forearm, a delicious shudder rocketed through her and she withdrew with a start. How was she to do this if his slightest touch had this effect on her?  Connor had jerked away as well, confirming her suspicion that it affected him equally.  She shoved her hands as far as she could into her blazer’s tiny pockets and stared up at the side of the looming castle, aware that he had pocketed his hands as well.  They began to walk back to the gates side by side.  Connor opened the heavy gate and bowed, indicating with a sweeping arm that she should precede him into the courtyard.
    “I’ll have to bring my camera out later when the sun is higher and take some pictures,” she offered by way of light conversation as she walked through. 
    “Ye own yer own camera?” Connor asked incredulously, stopping to stare