“I would like a minute or two alone with ye, just to make sure ye dinnae still doubt me.”
Before she could reply, she glimpsed her mother through the foliage, arm in arm with Colin Doogan.
“I was sure Clover and Ballard would be here,” Agnes said. “Elizabeth looked furious when she came back inside.”
Colin took both of Agnes’s hands in his. “They have probably slipped away to make amends. I think we should use this moment of privacy to our own advantage.”
“What do you mean?”
“There is something I have wanted to ask you since I set eyes on you tonight. I want to court you, Agnes.”
“Colin, my husband has been dead for only a few months.”
“And you loved him. I know that. I knew it all those years ago. I loved my wife too, then and until the day she died. But that does not change the fact that there was something special between us, Agnes. It is still there.”
“I should be draped in mourning, but I did not have the money for mourning clothes.”
Colin kissed her forehead. “You will not have a great deal of money if you hitch up with me either, but I can keep you in some comfort.”
“Colin, it is too soon.”
“I do not expect you to stand before the preacher with me tomorrow. I just want to start courting you.”
“I would feel disloyal.”
“Why? I do not ask you to forget him, just as I could never forget my Anne. Hell, I have ten children as living reminders of her. I also do not expect you to set aside that part of you that still loves him and probably always will. But that does not mean we cannot care for someone else. Our loved ones would not expect us to pine for them forever and live alone for the rest of our days.”
“No, of course not.”
“Then why wait for some arbitrary mourning period to pass? The worst of your grief is over. Now is the time to pick up the threads of your life. All those years ago we could have loved each other if we had not already given our hearts and our promises to others. Not many people are fortunate enough tohave a second chance. I do not want to spend the rest of my life alone, Agnes.”
“Neither do I, Colin. I am just not sure everyone will understand that.”
“Hey, I was listening,” Clover protested when Ballard started to tug her even farther away from the couple, deep into the thick wood behind the church.
“Would ye eavesdrop on your own mother?” he demanded.
“Yes.” She frowned when, once out of earshot and sight of her mother and Colin Doogan, Ballard pulled her into his arms. “I thought we were going back inside.”
“I want to be sure ye dinnae still think poorly of me.”
“No.” She sighed, then smiled faintly when he gave her a quick, exuberant kiss. “If there is a next time, however, do you think you could give Elizabeth her setdown in a public place? Unfortunately, the first thought that enters people’s heads when a couple tiptoes off into the moonlight isnotthat the man is going to explain a few moral truths to the lady.”
Ballard laughed, then grew serious. “I was feeling a mite alarmed for a moment. You looked prepared to shoot me.”
“The thought crossed my mind.” When he backed her up against a tree and began to spread soft kisses along the neckline of her gown, she made no effort to push him away. “Should we not be getting back to the revel?” she finally asked.
“In a wee bit. I need reassurance that ye have really forgiven me.”
She welcomed his slow, hungry kiss and returned it in full measure. When he ended the kiss she realized he had reached up under her skirt and untied her drawers, letting them fall to the ground. After a brief hesitation she stepped out of them. She ought to be scandalized by what he planned, but instead she felt a growing excitement. The dark wood sheltered them, and rays of moonlight gave their trysting place an exciting secrecy. Only one thing checked her sudden urge to be daring.
“I cannot return to the revel in a rumpled, grass-stained gown,” she murmured, shivering with delight when he loosened her gown just enough to free her breasts for his kisses.
“Then we shall have to be verra careful that ye dinnae fall on the ground,” he replied, as he freed himself from his breeches.
She gasped in soft surprise when he lifted her up in his arms. Without thinking, she wrapped her legs around his waist. He slowly joined their bodies. She shuddered with delight. Her desire had been strongly stirred by his caresses and the thought of making love outdoors in the primitive privacy of the tall trees, but now it totally engulfed her. As her release swept over her, his mouth on hers smothered their cries of ecstatic fulfillment. He sank to his knees, their bodies still united, and they clung to each other as they tried to regain their senses.
Later, back inside the hall, Clover left Ballard talking with Jonathan and hurried over to Molly, who was perusing the remaining food on the table. “Do I look presentable?” Clover asked.
