Page 43 of Scandal with a Sinful Scot

Garrett’s thrusts grew wilder, and she placed a hand against the wall to steady herself. Then he left her, groaning as he lowering her to the floor. Gasping for air, Abbie turned to face him. He held one hand over his shaft. As promised, he did not come inside her. Reaching in the pocket of her skirt, she handed him a handkerchief.

“Would you?” he asked, still breathing unevenly.

Abbie moved his hand and gently wiped away the proof of his desire. It was intimate, standing this close, assisting him as their breathing returned to normal. Garrett then undressed, and did the same to her.

He swept her up in his arms and carried her to the chaise. Laying her on it, he covered her with his large body, then began to build the passion between them once again, but at an agonizing, slow pace. Garrett only stopped long enough to place the rubber condom on his stiff shaft. Once sheathed, he kissed and licked her skin, suckled her breast until she writhed and moaned under him. He threaded his fingers through hers and lifted their arms above their heads.

When he entered her, tears gathered on her lashes. It had never been this intense between them before, but when had they had the opportunity to love each other so unhurriedly? His languorous, deep thrusts urged her onward as she lifted her hips to meet him. The sounds and odors of sex filled the small hut and mingled with their moans. Abbie lost all concept of time, and lost track of how many occasions she reached her peak. His free hand rested at her hip, and Garrett started to alternate between quick plunges and deliberate slow withdrawal.

Oh, Abbie was ready to come apart. Fly to pieces. Then she did, as if she soared with the clouds. She had read such passages in books and thought them exaggerated. Then she remembered her past encounters with Garrett. No exaggeration. This one topped them all.

His release directly followed hers. He lifted his head, gritted his teeth, and all the cords in his neck pulled taut as he shuddered. “Sweet, suffering Jesus,” he groaned. Burying his face in the curve of her shoulder, he trembled and Abbie held him close to her heart. They lay like this for interminable moments, until he finally lifted from her and lay flat.

Exhaling shakily, he gathered her into his embrace. “My God.”

She sighed contentedly. “Yes, indeed. I am the most fortunate of women.”

“And I the most fortunate of men. Abbie, will you wait a few days before your departure? A week even?”

“Why?”

“I need you, I want more of…this. Besides, how can I court you if you are in Standon? You claim that you wish us to know each other better, then announce you’re leaving. What is going on? Second thoughts?” He frowned. “Or is it the caution you mentioned?”

How to explain? Her emotions had not been caught in a maelstrom like this since they were last together all those years past. It was all on her, for she was the one who’d come here to stir them up. Now she was retreating like a besieged coward. God, was she having second thoughts? Abbie snuggled in closer. No second thoughts about loving him. Abbie needed him as she needed to breathe. “Yes, a little caution. Also, there is scandal…”

“What? Scandal? What are you on about? You keep mentioning the bloody word.”

“In the eyes of society, what we did fourteen years ago is as scandalous as what we are doing here and now.”

Garrett bolted upright, staring at her as if she were off her head. Perhaps she was. “To hell with society. All that matters is us. Together. Never to part. Say you agree, Abbie. Return to Standon by all means, but know this: it is temporary.” There was an edge of anger and exasperation in his voice. “You belong with me. At my side. In my bed. Damn it all, I want us to wed and be a family with our daughter, and more children besides. I want us to share the future. You said that you wanted one with me. Have you changed your mind?”

“If I hadn’t come here, you never would have sought me out,” she accused. Bitterness unfurled inside her once again. “Let that sink in. You broke my heart. I kept waiting for a knock at the door. A letter or note. Any word. Something. But it never came. You…never came to me. I had been discarded like an old pair of boots.”

Garrett threw his arms in the air as he stood. “God above, Abbie, we’ve agreed to put the past behind us—to allow the acrimony to heal. But it never will. Not for you. Not completely.”

She rose, holding the sheet to her chin. “Perhaps it never will. Can you blame me? Which makes me traveling here on an impulse all the more troubling.” Her voice quivered with emotion. “Yes, scandal is on my mind, for I paid for it as you never have. I was alone and pregnant, rejected by my parents, beaten by my father, married to a stranger—thankfully a kind one, but a stranger regardless. I carried the brunt of it all these years. It has affected me. It still does.”

“You should have come to me,” he snapped. “The moment you discovered you were pregnant.”

“And be humiliated again? You should have come to me,” she retorted.

“Damn it all, I’ve said that I’m sorry for my youthful, immature actions. And I am truly sorry. I didn’t seek you out because I was ashamed of my cruel words and behavior. I believed that you were better off without a selfish, self-absorbed young man with a stubborn streak as long and wide as the Thames. You were better off without a superstitious man who allowed an ancient curse to rule his life. I would have made a terrible husband and father.”

She blinked rapidly, trying to stave off tears from forming. “And now you’ve changed?” she asked skeptically.

He gave a short bark of cynical laughter, then frowned. “I’m still stubborn. I like to believe that growing older and wiser has made me less selfish. And the curse? I’ll not lie, it’s still there. I believe there is merit to its existence. But I’ve decided that it will no longer rule my life. I’ve told you this, Abbie. I love you too much to set you aside again. It would destroy me more than any damnable ancient curse.” He smoothed her cheeks with the pads of his thumbs. “How to make you believe it? You will have to trust me. Trust, Abbie. It is holding you back. You love me, but the trust is not there. Not one hundred percent. And until it is, there can be nothing permanent between us.”

A lone tear trailed down her cheek. “I do so want to trust you. There is such a hollow feeling inside me and it’s been there for years.”

He kissed her forehead. “Since I hurt you.”

Abbie nodded, sniffling. “When I saw you in Standon, I was breathless. Stunned. Thrilled. I had to see you again. Talk to you. Touch you. All the feelings I had hidden away roared to life, and without properly thinking it through, I journeyed here. For I had to know: Was what we shared all those years ago real or merely a youthful, reckless folly? And beyond my own desires, you needed to be told of Megan. Bitterness was not a sufficient reason to keep her existence from you.”

“Allow me to declare once again: You are bold and courageous for coming here. Because you are correct. My stubborn self refused to seek you out, even though you’ve haunted me, especially in my dreams. But here we are, my love, flaws and all. Acknowledging our mistakes, our frailties, and our faults. Where do we go from here? You spoke of a fresh start. I would advise both of us to embrace it.”

Abbie leaned against his chest. “And someday live at Wollstonecraft Hall?”

“It is large enough to accommodate us. The men of Wollstonecraft Hall are a strange sort, all living together as we do, but we are a solid, supportive family, and they would welcome you and Megan warmly.”