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

it was.  If there were ever a perfect opening for a futuristic show and tell, this was it. Emmy could show him the iPhone explain how it works and when he said in amazement how such a thing was impossible…boom, she dropped the bomb.  She opened her mouth, looked into those deep, dark eyes and deflated.  “Just something I had dropped in the bathroom yesterday afternoon,” she ended up responding vaguely.

Chicken.

“So what are your plans today?” she carried on instead.

“I had thought to offer my company and carriage to drive ye everywhere ye need to go today,” he answered filled with curiosity.  She had been about to say something else.  He knew it, and indeed she had looked disappointed with her own response.  It occurred to Connor in that moment that besides denying her identity, she was hiding something else.  That surprised him as he had thought only the previous day that she was an open book incapable of deception.  He wondered what it could be.  “Can I see what she gave ye?”

“Not now.  Where am I going today?”

“News of yer special skills seems to have spread overnight.  Chilton told me that several women from even as far as Craignure are seeking yer services.  Assuming, naturally, that you would care to provide them,” he eyed her bacon once more and with a sigh of defeat, Emmy handed over a piece.  “Why not?

Accepting the change of topic without batting a lash, Emmy shrugged.  “It’s mine and not yours and I am allowed my privacy.  House calls, huh?” Emmy nibbled on the last of the bacon thoughtfully.  Seemingly her vocation was highly sought after in this time.  Could there really be so many women pregnant at the same time in such a sparsely populated place?  Granted there was no real birth control around.  No TV and long nights and the nights were getting rather cold.  A warm bed occupied by a warm partner had a broad appeal and the activities that could get you even warmer resulted in…well, a high percentage of pregnant women.  Women who had no one to care for them on Mull except for the old doctor that Dory refused to allow near her.

“I could take it from ye.”

“You’ll only get to see it when you ask nicely and I decide to let you have it,” she responded pleasantly, amused over their banter.  “Well, house calls it is, then.  When do we go?”

“I thought within an hour or so,” he looked at her speculatively.  “I am much stronger than ye.  Any resistance could be easily overcome.”

“But that would be going against my wishes and you’re not that kind of guy.”  Emmy watched his frustration grow through lowered lashes.  “I’ll need time to bathe first.  I still smell like seawater.”

He studied her for a long moment then a new look dropped like a mask over his features.  His mouth softened and his eyes grew heavy and hot.  Connor reached across the table and took her hand tracing circles in her sensitive palm.  “Are you sure ye’re not still fatigued from last night?” His voice turned low and seductive.  “Perhaps ye should return to bed for some more…rest before we go.”

Emmy shivered as he stood and pulled her to stand in front of him.  He stared down at her with his dark, hungry eyes, his hands moving lightly up her arms to her shoulders, neck to cup her cheeks.  His mouth lowered to hers in a light teasing kiss licking at her lower lips before slanting across her mouth with devouring heat and intensity.  Emmy leaned in with a moan as his hands plunged into her hair and moved down her back.  His lips nipped and sucked until she was void of logical thought. So far gone was she that Emmy almost didn’t feel his hand slipping into her robe pocket but she slapped a hand down over his and glared up at him in astonishment stumbling back from his embrace.

“Now that was just cruel, Connor.  You think you can seduce it out of me?”

“Almost had it,” he murmured kissing her again, softly, but with a chuckle.

He was so good that he almost had, too.  “No, no, you had your chance,” she pushed him away.  “Go away now.”

“Now who is cruel?” he moaned stepping back to reveal his aroused state.  “Will ye leave me in pain?”

“It is your own fault trying to use my attraction to you in such a way.  You must respect my wishes and my property, Connor,” she insisted fiercely.  “I said no, not now, and I meant it.”

“Ye didn’t truly mean it.”

“Surprisingly, I did.  You can’t just take what you want.”

“I am the laird; I always get what I want.”  While the words were teasing, Emmy could see that on some level he was  serious.  He might try to wheedle what he wanted from her but, in the end, he fully expected to get it, one way or another.

“You don’t always get what you want.”

“Surprisingly, I do,” he mocked her words.

Lifestyles of the rich and powerful, she thought.  She had known that he had some arrogance in him; it was part and parcel of the commanding presence he portrayed.  Part of him. The earl.  But to such an extreme that he assumed his every wish would be granted?  He probably didn’t truly know the meaning of the word no.  The world was his oyster and if he wanted the pearl, it was his.  Well!   “No! Not this time!”

“Are ye telling me no?” he asked torn between shock and amusement.

“I am telling you no.”  She crossed her arms over her chest and stared him down stubbornly.  “It will be my choice if and when I let you see my personal belongings.  You cannot command or seduce them out of me.”  In truth, it was probably that he used her affections and desire against her that irritated her the most.  “You just shouldn’t think it was okay to toy with people with that!  And besides,” she went on with