“I overheard you and Niall talking wills, which seems to have shadowed me.”
“Nae worries. When you wed, a will becomes null and void and a new one is made, hence the morose conversation.”
She smiled up at him, wishing he’d take her hand again. “I’d prefer to talk weddings ... honeymoons.”
“Niall and Loveday seem content to go nae further than Lamb Hill.”
“You can’t blame them for wanting to spend their first days and nights of married life at home instead of aboard ship. Loveday is a poor sailor and often sick.”
“I don’t blame them. I’m just impatient.”
“You’re fond of Bath, then?”
“Nae.” He took her in his arms slowly as if they were about to dance. “My impatience has nothing to do with Bath.”
She leaned into him, woozy again. Being alone atop the hill, with no servants or family near, led to a dizzying intimacy they’d never known. Would he kiss her a second time? She wanted nothing more than to be close to him. When he held her, she felt whole. Wholly his.
“You ken how I feel about you, Juliet?”
His tender tone turned her heart over. “We’ve never spoken of our feelings.”
“Mayhap we should, though mine are plain enough.”
“You care for me enough to have risked coming to Virginia—and my refusal.”
“All a bit hazy in hindsight. It began with your miniature and Ravenal’s letters. At first, I was in love with the idea of you.” His lips brushed her hair. “I actually penned you a love letter of sorts before I sailed to Virginia, then burned it. Once I met you, you had me heart and soul.”
Heart and soul.It seemed she’d waited all her life to hear those very words. “You’re a true romantic underneath it all.”
“I’m wholeheartedly yours. You’re my first thought at break of day and my last thought at night, and all the times between. I carry your miniature everywhere.”
“And it thrills me to hear it. I love you, Leith. I’ve loved you longer than you think.”
He grew still as if trying to take it in. “But when you look at me, you surely see all the things you stand against. Trade and tobacco and a brutal monopoly that ties you in knots.”
“I see a man who is trying to do better, who is willing to risk a great deal, including his heart.”
“You think me better than I am.”
“We are all of us fallen. By God’s grace we rise and are made new—together.”
“So you have cast your lot with a man who adores you but has a long road ahead.”
“All we have is this moment. And before we leave this place, I want to mark it by removing all doubt from your mind about my devotion.” She stood on tiptoe and slipped her arms around his neck, their foreheads touching. “You were the first man who kissed me, and you will surely be the last.”
Her steadfast words seemed to unlock something inside him. Yet another thawing, she sensed, a step closer to whatever united them and a step away from whatever had bound him before. His hands spanned her waist and he drew her even closer, his faint beard chafing her skin as his mouth met hers. She tasted need and relief and unmet longing in his kiss. Her own breathless desire swirled amid it all, filling her to the brim with a delight she’d never known.
When a circling hawk shrilled a cry, they came to their senses but only for a trice. They looked down and laughed, as they had trampled her hat. Uncaring, she threaded her hands into his hair, wanting more of him, her rising heartbeat like a rush of wings. Twining the black, silken strands between her fingers, she stole his queue ribbon as a reminder of this heaven-sent day, mischievousness rivaling her pleasure.
56
Love must be as much a light as it is a flame.
Henry David Thoreau
Birdsong and the sound of childish, hushed voices in the corridor woke Juliet. She sat upright, momentarily dazed to find herself in Leith’s chamber. Then the ardor and intimacy of the night before came rushing back. Pushing aside the bed linens gingerly, she tried not to wake the man beside her. Silently, she stole across the carpet and passed through the dressing room to her bedchamber in time to meet Nurse opening the door and admitting Bella and Cole, as was their morning custom once the twins had dressed and breakfasted.
“Mam!” They ran to her, showing surprise to find her still in her nightclothes, her feet bare and her unbound hair hanging about her shoulders. Usually she was fully dressed and seated at her escritoire by the window, having her morning Bible reading and cup of tea or writing a letter.
