A Laird to Hold by Angeline Fortin (best feel good books .txt) 📗

Though he’d asked for her to elaborate upon this playing doctor idea, she’d refused. Still the mysterious smile lingering on her luscious lips sparked his imagination and kindled a smoldering desire in his groin. Her nipples hardening against his chest because of the cold made him intensely aware she wore nothing beneath the thin garment. Knowing did nothing to tamp down his arousal. They’d been wed just two months and spent most of that time in bed. His constant desire for her should have been waning by now, yet somehow Connor lusted for his bride still.

Even in a strange time with an uncertain future. He was a lucky bastard.

Hopefully, they’d be as blessed in completing their mission this day. As yet, however, they had no solid plan. They hadn’t been able to wait inside while developing one as the lobby had been crawling with reporters, all waiting to get the scoop on the condition of the famous Scarlett Thomas. They’d been fortunate to sneak through without anyone recognizing their connection to her celebrity. If their entrance the previous night hadn’t convinced him, the persistent presence of the gossipmongers assured Connor fame wasn’t worth the personal cost.

“Scarlett telephoned the inn and her bags are still there,” he said of their mission. “Thank God for that. And since they’ve agreed to open the room for us, we’ve nothing more to ponder than how to get there and back again.”

“We could ponder how else we might spend some time in the room before we return.” Emmy glanced up with a suggestive wiggle of her brows. “It’s not a hospital operating room, but it’ll do.”

Another shaft of desire heated him despite the cool weather and Connor’s lips lifted at the corners. He rubbed his palms up and down her bare arms. To warm her, but his heated gaze achieved the same goal on its own if experience was any indication.  “Whatever ye say, my love. I look forward to new experiences.”

Her expression grew languid and she slipped her hands beneath the loose top he wore, her palms skimming up his ribs. “Oh, it’ll be different.”

“Will it?” He dropped his hand lower, feeling the heat of her bottom through the thin barrier. “These scrubs do hae a measure of benefit, dinnae they?”

Her lips brushed over the stubble along his jaw. “You don’t know the half of it.”

Connor grinned against the top of her head. He stroked up her back before raking his fingers through the length of her long blonde hair. After just a few months, he’d forgotten what it was like to hold her like this without the rigidity of her corset between them. With Emmy as unbound and uninhibited as she was now. He’d missed the feeling. “I’m looking forward to learning more.”

Bending his head, he kissed her with promise. He tasted coffee on her cold lips. Anticipation of passion warmed them quick enough, whetting his thirst for something a beverage couldn’t quench. With both hands back on her rounded bottom, he molded her slender body to his.

A loud blast tore them apart and a tiny car passed by and stopped a short distance up the drive.

“Get a room,” a harried man yelled as he got out of his car and a child followed. “This ain’t no place for none of that, ye rocket.”

“Come on.” Emmy tugged his arm and pulled him across the drive, unconcerned about the public spectacle they’d made of themselves there on the curb.

Connor followed but startled a moment later when another horn blared and a long black vehicle stopped just short of taking his legs from beneath him. He slammed his palm down on the hood, wishing it were a sword.

“It’s a car, not a dragon.” The humor in his wife’s tone told him she knew the direction of his thoughts. “You don’t need to kill it.”

“I’ll admit, lass, ‘tis a wee bit different seeing them in person.”

“Och, ye fookin’ twally-washer. Fuck ye dain?” The driver stuck his head out the window and shook his fist. When Connor just glared at him, the oaths continued, “Get yer fookin’ arse out of the drive, ye dozy cunt.”

Stunned by the angry, offensive expletives even if he weren’t familiar with each one, Connor crossed the remainder of the drive, but Emmy stood fast and stared the driver down.

“Hey, we’re just walking here.”

The man spat. “Americans, eh? Proper tits, the lot of ye.”

“I know,” she nodded, calmer than Connor would be under such verbal fire. “We feel bad about that, we really do.”

She followed in Connor’s wake after the driver moved on. What an angry lot they were in this time, he thought distastefully. He had to wonder if they were all a bit deranged.

He was once familiar with this city, but no longer.

In so many ways.

The future was thus far fairly removed from what he’d imagined from Emmy’s stories. Perhaps she’d been right when she once told him her time wasn’t all sunshine and roses. But then, he wasn’t an earl here in the eyes of the common folk either. The title had demanded respect.

Connor looked back at the stark white, modern hospital behind them. In no way did it resemble the Edinburgh Infirmary he’d been familiar with. He cast his gaze over the crowded parking lot before them. Over the sea of cars in a variety of colors and sizes. Across the street stood a quartet of buildings, perhaps flats, of maybe twenty stories in height each that caught his eye and held it. Other than in London, he’d never seen a structure so tall before. Such a marvelous time yet repulsive in so many ways.

And they weren’t even in the thick of the city, he realized. Around them, there were no busy streets, no businesses. In fact, to the south of them was nothing more than an open