A better person. It seemed she’d changed for a man after all.
A tender embrace enfolded her, holding her close. His heart beat strong and steady. So wonderfully alive. As was she.
“Someone once told me that each day is like a glass of whisky.” Slipping a hand under the gap at the front of his shirt, Aila relished the warmth of his skin and the solid beat of his heart. “To be savored and enjoyed. I plan on doing that with each moment I have with ye.”
“We will savor them together,” he whispered against her hair. His hands stroked down her back and up again, firm and strong. “Ye ken, I have yet to sleep an entire night through with ye in my arms? I want to wake with ye just like this. Tomorrow morning and every one to come.”
Nothing would please her more. “I’ll be happy to sleep in while ye take Rab out then. Ouch!”
His hand landed with a smack against her bottom. When she looked up, he was smiling broadly. Tiny laugh lines flared from the corners of his eyes while amusement and affection danced within. The sight would never cease to warm her, arouse her.
How far they’d come from the Frown of Fury. From wariness and smothered anger. Not for each other, but for the respective pasts that had held them in their thrall. There would be no more of that. Only love, laughter and smiles. She would have a lifetime filled with them if she had anything to say about it.
“Ye think ye’re amusing?”
Aila pursed her lips and considered it. “Damn right, I do. And ye do, too.”
He cocked a brow at her. “Ye presume to ken what I’m thinking?”
“Aye.”
Finn grunted, low and sexy. “What am I thinking now then, ye vixen?”
“Och, and I thought ye might have something harder for me.”
She laughed when his powerful arms lifted her and pulled her over him. His mouth met hers, seizing her lips for a slow, deep kiss. “I’ve got something hard for ye,mo chridhe.”
“I dinnae want to hurt ye.”
“Never.”
Finn kissed her again, catching her thighs and drawing them up close to his hips so she could straddle him. Aila flung her hair back and wiggled her hips. “Ye do ken I meant hard as in difficult, aye?”
“I ken ye’re being difficult right now.” His brogue was thick and hungry. “Mo chridhe, come here.”
“What does that mean?Mo chridhe?”
“‘My heart.’ ’Tis yers, lass. Forever.”
“I will keep it safe, Finn. I promise.”
“As I will keep yers.”
Epilogue
Rossmore Castle
Elgin, Scotland
October 1, 1748
With a little help from Donell’s technical wonder, they managed to relocate to Finn’s half-crumbled castle two days later. Niall and Effie hadn’t even been aware of most of the transfer. They’d agreed to move them while they were sleeping. The secret would keep until there came a time when the future was something they planned to share with the children. Aila was confident that day would never come. Come what may, her life was with Finn now.
She’d returned to explain to Violet why she wouldn’t be returning: her elopement with the handsome stranger Donell had set her up with. A man who lived far, far away. With one last hug and having given the older woman her love, she’d made the break with a clear mind. She would have given up the time travel device to prove her commitment to their version of the future.
It was Finn who’d convinced her to keep it — just in case.
Aila let him have his way. In that one tiny thing….
