“Now there’s an alternative I could embrace.”
With a slight smile on his lips, Ian moved to the window and glanced out at the darkening sky. “He’s out of practice wi’ woman, ye ken?”
Following a night with Finn and a day replaying each minute of it in her mind, Aila would argue that point. It was far more probable that he relished his role as an arse — by his own admission, that might be the case — or his sexism was so rooted in his being that he truly couldn’t understand how his words might upset. Either way, he’d proven he was about as far from out of practice as a man could be.
“As are ye, aye?” Aila’s gaze followed him as he went to a side table, pulled open a small drawer and reached inside. “I want to apologize for my comments last night. It was insensitive of me to bring up such a painful subject.”
“Dinnae fash,” he said as he crossed to the fireplace and knelt at the hearth. “As I said, ’tis nothing. I would ask ye to provide Finn the same consideration ye pay me, however. Yer kindness.”
“I hardly know him.”
Ian glanced over his shoulder with a soft snort and turned his attention back to the fireplace, rearranging the logs. “He has his own demons, ye ken. Whilst I have vanquished mine, his are alive and well. They torment him with visions of the past when he’d do better to mind his bairns and look to the future. He isnae a man generally given to distraction when he has a goal in mind. In the space of a day, ye’ve worked a miracle wi’ him.”
Sex would do that to a man. And a woman. Anyone who had problems they wanted to forget. While the effect might last for a few hours, maybe even a day, it was no miracle.
A flame flared in the growing darkness and dimmed. A moment later, fire kindled and caught. Aila gaped at the growing blaze. Now, that? That was a miracle!
“’Tis cold in here.” Dusting off his hands, Ian stood and moved a wooden screen adjacent to the hearth. Welcome warmth rebounded back onto Aila. And to think she’d always thought those screens were decorative! “One of the maids should have started the fire for ye. I’ll make certain it’s taken care of in the future.”
“How did ye…?” She bit her tongue and watched as he retrieved a candle, set the wick to the flame and then positioned it in a candlestick in front of the small mirror on the table for the light to reflect around the room. “Thank ye.”
“Ye were saying?”
To ask how to light a fire would make her feel more the fool than she did after her other gaffs in this time thus far. Aila had no desire to lower his opinion of her, mainly because she had no idea where she stood in his regard. If the fireplace remained lit, she could light candles from it as needed.
Thanks to him. It would be nice to repay the kindness. “Only to make my apologies again and offer my condolences on the loss of your family. Would ye care to talk about it?”
One dark brow rose. “About what?”
“No’ this again.” Aila’s pulse leapt at the sight of Finn at the door. He leaned one shoulder against the jamb, arms crossed over his chest. While she knew enough about him to recognize his open enjoyment of fatherhood and to sympathize with his losses, Aila didn’t know enough about him to know if she even liked him yet. But she wanted him. More with each kiss, each encounter. That had never happened before.
His solemn gaze landed on the messy bed where Rab sprawled out like a pasha before turning to her. His stoic expression offered no clue to his thoughts or the assumptions he’d made upon finding them alone together. He lifted a brow in Ian’s direction. “Beware, my friend. I fear she wants ye to talk about yer feelings.”
* * *
One might jump to conclusions finding a young, bonny and unchaperoned woman alone with a man next to an unmade bed. If one did not know the character of the lady well — and he did not — and one did not have the measure of the gentleman, it would be a simple deduction. Especially given the ease with which that lady had fallen into another stranger’s bed with a rather vocal admission about having no regrets on the matter.
However, Finn did know Ian. He knew where his friend’s heart and his loyalties lay. Ian had also made his own observations on the matter clear and had been rather excruciatingly encouraging of Finn’s interactions with the lady. Bedding Aila would be a betrayal in his mind.
As for Aila… Given the varied statements included in her rant that morning, the impulsiveness that had driven her into Finn’s bed had been unusual for her.
An anomaly, she said. A freak of nature. He wasn’t entirely clear what that entailed, however he’d wagered he wouldn’t be too far afield to assume that she was as taken aback by the impact of their mutual attraction as he.
Besides, the door had been open. Their conversation muffled, yet loud enough to draw his attention. Those factors left nothing to the imagination. Yet she eyed him warily, as if he were an untamed tiger. Ready to pounce and tear her to shreds? Despite his reservations regarding the wisdom of their liaison, she’d be a fool to think he bore any regret for the night’s activities. Memories of their ardor had kept him at half mast, so to speak, for most of the day.
If he were inclined to any sort of pouncing, it would be to ravish her through another long night.
Shame Aila didn’t seem as if she’d welcome his advances again.
Then again, she hadn’t exuded any sort of covert invitation the previous night either. Other than her reaction when he’d kissed her hand, he never in his wildest dreams would have guessed she desired him with the fervor she’d displayed in the darkness.
Regardless of how her very presence teased his focus away from the matters that had commanded his thoughts and motivations from the darkness they’d dwelled in — where he wanted them to dwell — these past two years, Finn couldn’t banish her from his mind. He hesitated to admit that he welcomed her there or nurtured unseemly fantasies, nevertheless he wouldn’t be averse to another foray to her bed.
“Well, this is decidedly awkward.”
There was humor enough in Ian’s voice to awaken Finn from his stupor long enough to realize he’d been staring. He tore his eyes from Aila and cleared his throat. “I’ve just come from a visit to the nursery. Niall is brimming with stories about how they spent the day.”
Ian nodded and turned to Aila, his expectant look jolting her into motion. She set about straightening the bedcovers with a forced laugh. “He’s a talker, that one. I imagine he chewed yer ear off.”
