A Laird for All Time by Angeline Fortin (room on the broom read aloud txt) 📗

his arms and kissed her again... Dimly Emmy heard a bell being rung in the distance but dismissed it.  Instead, she parted her lips slightly inviting him to deepen the kiss more but felt Connor’s retreat even as she did so.  Kissing her lightly one last time, he heaved a sigh heavy with regret.

“Heath…”

“So, I guess it’s that time when we dress ourselves up and do dinner, huh?” Emmy jumped in before he said something that might set off her temper.  “Another night of good times and great conversation?”  Connor laughed and Emmy joined him.  “I’ll do my best to keep it civilized,” she assured him.

“See that you do,” he joked in return.

“I guess I’ll see you on the other side?”  Emmy turned and went into her room unaware that Connor stared at her bedroom door for a long while.  Unaware of the confusion that rolled through him.

Chapter 14

The dress she wore that evening was even lovelier than the one she had worn the previous night, Connor thought as Emmy finally entered the drawing room more than an hour later.  He had heard her singing to herself as she bathed and had spent nearly a half an hour at her door listening to her muffled voice and imagining her there.  Her naked body immersed in the water with bubbles floating about her, caressing her.  Now the robin’s egg blue velvet of her gown clung to her body, accenting all her lovely curves, bringing out the color of her eyes.  His entire body tensed against the onset of arousal, the memory of their too brief kiss and he wondered how he would make it through the evening without touching her.

“Good evening, Connor,” Emmy greeted him cheerfully as she crossed the room to his side. With some self-mocking humor, she held out her hand to him and he took it in both of his raising it to his lips for a lingering kiss on the palm. Emmy’s eyes flared but, aware that all eyes were on them once again, pulled her hand back with as much grace as she could muster.  The stares were curious and avidly waiting, no doubt hoping for some sort of public confrontation to liven their evening as it had been the night before.  Emmy was determined that it not be so.  She just wanted a pleasant evening in the laird’s company.

Ian and Dory entered together then.  Ian was in an obviously good humor and Dory all roses and smiles by his side.  “What’s gotten into them?” Connor wondered aloud.  “I don’t think I’ve seen that woman smile in years.”

Emmy turned with two glasses of wine she had taken from the footman’s tray and handed one to him.  Examining the bright faces of the married couple, she gave a little laugh and clinked her glass against his before taking a sip.  “They are young and in love, Connor, what do you think has gotten into them?”

He looked at her in confusion and she raised her brow suggestively.  “Surely not!” he said in surprise casting an assessing glance at his brother and sister-in-law.  “In the middle of the day?”

Emmy snorted indelicately.  “Like you’ve never had sex in the middle of the day.”

Connor opened his mouth and closed it again.  Have you?  The thought entered his mind and he shook his head in denial.  The question that had bothered him so greatly the day before burned through him again.  How had she earned her fortune and living while she was gone?  She spoke most freely of sexual intercourse and used references on the subject most ladies refrained from even thinking of with casual indifference.  Her kiss was not untutored.  She had make love, he was sure of it.  With whom?  When?  The questions raged in him jealously.

Mistaking his silence as reproach, Emmy apologized with sincerity.  “I’m sorry; I promised you I would keep the conversation polite tonight, didn’t I?  I don’t mean to upset you.”

Wanting to drive the picture of her in bed with other men from his mind, Connor changed the subject asking her about the education she received at university.  Pleased that he was interested in getting to the truth, Emmy answered.  “As I mentioned, though I am sure you weren’t really listening at the time, I did my undergraduate work at UVA in Virginia then did my medical school at Duke.  From there was my residency at Johns Hopkins in Maryland.  I was so pleased to be accepted there.  It’s one of the best hospitals in the country.”

Connor hadn’t understood a couple of the things she had said.  Didn’t really know what a UVA was or of a school called Duke.  “UVA?”

“University of Virginia,” Emmy clarified.  “It was designed to a large degree by Thomas Jefferson, did you know that?  A lot of the buildings and it’s not far from Monticello.  That’s a beautiful place too.  Have you ever been?”

Connor shook his head.  “I wasn’t aware that his home was open to the public.  So yer a doctor now?”

“Yes, OB/GYN,” she answered.  At his puzzled frown, she elaborated.  “Obstetrics and gynecology.  Basically I take care of pregnant women and help them deliver their babies.”

With a sigh of relief, he nodded with understanding.  “So yer a midwife.”

Emmy was so offended she nearly choked on her wine.  “A doctor, Connor, don’t ever mistake the two, at least when I am around.”

Connor grinned in amusement.  “Sorry if I offended.”

“You did, but apology accepted.  But that was why I was talking to Ian today,” she explained.  “Dory’s told me that she’s miscarried several times already and Ian fears another.”

“It does weigh heavily on him,” he concurred glancing again at his brother where he stood chatting with a pair of his uncles.  He was very fond of Ian.  They had been close all their lives.  Whatever feelings he might have had regarding his brother’s choice of wife, Connor had truly mourned with him each of those losses.

“Well worrying all the time won’t help, I told them, and basically