“Why nae?” Erskine frowned. “Why is yer faither so set on ye marryin’ Lord Moore?”
“A connection to a noble lineage. It’s what he craves.”
“Then why nae swap an English noble lineage for a Scottish one?” Erskine was smiling again. “Yer faither would gain a powerful ally in Scotland. Why would he say nay?”
Laura couldn’t think straight. She loved him, oh how she loved Erskine and wanted to stay with him, but this way, she would be swapping one marriage for another. She didn’t want Erskine to marry her just out of duty, just to save her from the future.
“Erskine,” this time, she managed to free herself from his lap and step away.
“Ye would say nay?” Erskine’s voice was full of pain. Hearing that sound, Laura looked at him, but she was still backing away across the room, suddenly needing that distance. “Laura?”
She took off her hat and placed it on a table nearby, shaking out her hair as she gathered a moment to think.
“Erskine, you make marriage sound like a matter of business,” she sighed, playing with the tendrils of her hair for a moment to distract herself. “I do not want to marry just because you feel obligated to do it.”
“Obligated!? That’s what ye think!” Erskine’s suddenly sharp voice urged her to look back to him. He was on his feet now, crossing the room toward her. She backed up against the worktop of the kitchen just as he reached her, placing his hands on either side of her on the worktop. “Nay! That is nae what this is, Laura. I’m askin’ ye to marry me because Iwantto marry ye. Nae because it is the only way I can think of gettin’ ye out of this mess. That is just a bonus.”
“You do?” Laura held her breath as her gaze darted up and down Erskine’s now serious face. “You want to marry me?”
“Of course I do!” he shook his head as though in disbelief. “Laura, do ye remember what ye said to Tam on our journey up here? That surely what he should want in his wife is both a lover and a friend?” She nodded in reply. “Ye are right. Me God, ye were right! And now ye are here before me, me friend and the only woman I want to be me lover. Say ye would marry me, Laura. Please.”
“Erskine,” Laura could no longer hold back the tears that had threatened to come before. She felt them sting her eyes about to fall. She reached up toward him, smiling through those tears as the first ones trickled down her cheeks. “No matter what my answer is, it may not happen.” She rested her hands around his neck.
Oh, how I want to say yes!
Yet, she could not give him false hope.
“If I were to say yes to you now, my father could still find me; the Earl too. They could stop it.”
“One obstacle at a time,” he smiled, lifting a hand to her cheek and brushing away the tears with his thumb. “This is just me and ye right now. Nay one else. Daenae think of anyone beyond the walls of this house. Together we could be happy, and I could make ye feel exactly what we shared in that cave every day of our lives.” At the mischief of his words, Laura laughed through her tears. “Aye, we could smile and laugh like this together. Always. What do ye say, Laura? Would ye marry me?”
Chapter Eighteen
“Iwould,” the words fell from Laura’s lips.
Erskine couldn’t believe it for a second. He stayed standing where he was, in front of her by the worktop, his green eyes boring into her bright blue ones.
“Ye would?” he asked, needing to hear it again as a smile began to spread across his cheeks.
“Aye,” she mimicked his Scottish accent, prompting him to laugh.
“Thank god,” he kissed her then, cutting off any chance for more conversation.
On his journey back into town, the growing conviction had overwhelmed him with a need to see Laura and ask her to marry him that night. It wasn’t just about saving her anymore. It was about keeping her in his life, staying together, being lovers.
Laura broke off from the kiss suddenly, pushing him in his chest just enough to make him back up. The feeling of her hands on his bare chest made him growl in the back of his throat, desperate to maintain that contact.
“But…” her blue eyes darted from side to side. “This is so complicated! Would your father even approve of this?”
“I’m goin’ to worry about that tomorrow,” Erskine was sure nothing could remove the smile from his cheeks now. “Laura, I have just traveled back from a place where I had to see people say goodbye to loved ones. Right now, I’m just grateful to have ye in me arms. I daenae want to think about anythin’ else except that right now.”
She smiled too, and Erskine was lost.
He closed the distance between them, bringing both hands up to her hair and threading his fingers through the short brown locks, angling her head into another kiss. There was no preamble this time, no pecks or nibbles of lips. He just pushed straight through, taking her tongue with his own. Each stroke into her mouth made her push up against him until he was very aware of how bound her chest had to be in that linen binding beneath her boy’s shirt and waistcoat.
Things escalated: the kiss picked up pace, as did their wandering hands. Erskine was trailing one hand down Laura’s front, trying to feel her curves through the boy’s clothing. One of her hands was exploring his chest, paying particular attention to his stomach and the carving of muscle there.
“Where’s the bedchamber?” Erskine asked breathlessly, pulling back from the kiss just enough to ask the question.
