A Time & Place for Every Laird by Angeline Fortin (ebook reader TXT) 📕

to snap at you.” Looking at the clock, she wassurprised to see that the morning had quickly faded and it was wellpast noon. “What do you say we have a quick lunch and get out ofhere? I think maybe the cabin fever is making me a littleedgy.”

“Cabin fever?”

“You know? Like in the winter when you’restuck inside for days on end and just can’t wait to get out again?”she explained. “Just too many days of the same thing. Don’t youjust want to get away from here?”

“Nae, not at all.” Hugh’s brow furrowed moredeeply.

“I think you’re in denial.”

“Denial?”

“You’re hiding out here.”

“Sorcha, lass, weare hiding out,remember?”

But Claire’s nerves were too taut to softento his gentle ribbing. “You can’t just read about the world; youneed to see it for yourself. Get a feel for it. You’re not going tobe able to ignore it forever.”

“I’m nae ignoring it,” Hugh argued. “Intruth, I hadnae given it much thought. I find the wealth of booksand amusements tae be a verra satisfying way tae pass the time.Barring a return to my home, I am more content in this place wi’ yethan I have been in a long while, and I could spend many a day herewi’out feeling yer cabin fever.”

“Well, I’m feeling it.” And more. More thananything, she just needed to get out. As flattering as his wordswere, Claire needed to see something else. Someone else. “Let’s goout and see a few sights.”

“Sights?”

“Sights,” Claire repeated with a definitenod. “Why don’t you go clean up a little and we’ll go intotown?”

Chapter 28

Leaving the island had brought color toSorcha’s cheeks and a light to her eyes. Hugh thought perhaps shehad been right about getting out for a wee bit, if it benefittedher so. In his time, many long days in winter were spent indoors.Time was occupied with estate business, games with the ladies ofthe household, and long hours reading books and newspapers as Hughhad done these past many days. With so much to learn and a futureto plan for, he hadn’t considered that this time would be anydifferent. Though he wasn’t familiar with the term “cabin fever,”he had felt what she described before, but usually after weeksrather than days.

Although, mayhap it wasn’t the isolationSorcha was truly running from, but Hugh himself and the feelingsthey roused in one another. Though Hugh knew exactly what he wantedfrom Sorcha and had contemplated a dozen ways to achieve it, hestill wasn’t certain that she was as confident in what she wantedfrom him. She wanted him physically – that much was evident – andit made his blood roar each time she looked at him with desire inher eyes. However, the hesitance was still there as well, and ithad become more and more vital to Hugh that her ghosts werebanished before they came together.

Hugh wanted her to come to him unreservedly,free of her past. He wanted her spirit, her heart. He wanted herlove as well, Hugh acknowledged to himself as he leaned his hipsagainst the ferry’s rail, watching not the city beyond but Sorchaas she closed her eyes and let the breeze caress her face as helonged to. The wind threaded through her vibrant hair as hisfingers itched to do the same.

Aye, he wanted her love but he wanted it allfor himself, and jealousy for a man long dead gnawed at his heart,the luckiest of men who had carried with him the love of thisamazing woman when he had left this earth. Hugh longed for theability to reach into the heavens and steal it back.

His body ached to possess her so, he hadn’teven been able to actively partake of the liberties she had offeredas a part of their new bargain. Their kiss had been tortuous toend. It would have been better to avoid bodily contact altogether,and Hugh had made a terrible misstep the previous night by sleepingwith her on the beach and waking with her in his arms. Every fiberin his being had urged him to take, to plunder what she haddrowsily offered. Hauling a thousand cords of wood wouldn’t beenough to tire him to the point where that lust was exhausted. Hughwas certain that if another kiss was taken, it would not endthere.

Sorcha released a deep breath, the tensionin her shoulders visibly seeping away even as his constricted withself-restraint. Turning to him, she smiled brightly, clearly morerelaxed than she had been at the house. Aye, she had needed thisexcursion, and perhaps he had as well even if he had not thoughtso. The sexual tension between them, buried beneath humor and idlechatter, had been stretched nearly to a breaking point.

“You don’t mind that we didn’t bring thecar, do you?” Claire asked as the ferry docked and the gangway wasput in place to offload the passengers onto the pier. The day wasso fine and the touristy places so close to the ferry terminal thatit had seemed a shame to drive when they could simply walk, soshe’d left Goose parked back at the Bainbridge station.

“Nae at all,” Hugh replied as he guided herthrough the thick crowds with a gentle hand at the small of herback.

As enjoyable as the ferry ride was, italways seemed that everyone was anxious to be the first one off,and they were jostled from all sides as the passengers converged onthe narrow walkway that led down to the street. “Do you mind if Irun in here and grab a soda?” Claire asked, indicating theMcDonald’s housed at the base of the station.

Hugh shook his head. “I’ll wait here forye.”

“Do you want anything? A Diet Coke?”

Hugh’s eyes narrowed at the blatant mischiefin her voice. “You get used to the burn,” she added with a grin andstrolled away, laughing, as Hugh rolled his eyes.

Inside, Claire placed her order and waitedfor it to be filled. Through the plate glass windows she could seeHugh waiting patiently for her, his arms crossed over his chest ashe leaned his hips back against an iron bike rack.

What a pleasure it was to simply watch him,the way he moved, the play of his muscles beneath the modernclothes and