Page 50 of Beneath the Harvest Moon

His fingers dug into her thighs, keeping her close.

Her ragged breath tickled his skin. She stroked the back of his head. This must be a dream.

The grumbling of the cows suggested otherwise.

Summoning what remaining common sense he possessed, he withdrew his softening cock. His seed dribbled from her quim and his prick twitched. Damn it, man, have you no self-control? God save him; he did not care. He would fill her with his seed again and again. No one would doubt that she belonged to him and he to her.

He set her on the floor, and she wobbled. “My legs have turned to jelly.” She chuckled and re-arranged the shimmering blue silk of her skirts.

A bubble of male pride swelled. He re-buttoned the fall of his breeches. “I must admit, I could sit down.”

He tucked his hand behind her knees and set her on the pile of straw on the other side of the cowshed. The roosting hens shuffled before settling back to sleep.

Blythe flopped onto the straw, and he lay with an arm slung across his face.

“Have you nothing to say?” Blythe sighed.

He blew out a long breath. “I apologise if I became a little distracted.”

“All I did was enter the cowshed and put down the pails.”

“As always, I have no self-control when it comes to you.” Dear God, he was a poor excuse for a man and a physician.

“I am sorry, Gabriel.” The straw shifted. “I should not have said… It was unfair of me to say those words after all I have done to you.”

He let his arm flop and rolled onto his side.

Blythe sat with her back to him.

“Did you mean it?”

She peeked over her shoulder. “Yes.”

He tugged her down and wrapped her in his arms, tucking her head beneath his chin. “Then never apologise for saying so. I want you to be honest with me, Blythe, or we will never overcome this.”

She leaned away. Liquid shimmered in the corners of her eyes. “I do not think we can overcome this. I should never have returned, and I should leave. All I do is cause you pain.”

“Do you think my pain would be any less if you leave me again?” His arms tightened around her. “I want you with me. Whatever you have done or whatever you do, I will always love you. Nothing can change that.”

Warm droplets seeped into his waistcoat and shirt, and his heart cracked. “I am to blame for our sorry tale, not you.” He longed to stop her tears, but all he could do was press soft kisses on her hair.

She leaned away. “Why?”

“I should not have spilled my seed inside you. My mother was a midwife, and I had worked in the apothecary shop since boyhood. I should have known better.”

“We both should have demonstrated more common sense, then and now.”

“Yet, I continue to repeat past follies. I sh⁠—”

She rested a finger against his lips. “I do not regret what we shared, and I did not before. It was my decisions afterwards that caused so much pain.”

He kissed her finger and set her hand over his heart, holding it in place. “We have each made mistakes, and they cannot be changed. But I believe we can find it in ourselves to put those blunders behind us and create a happy future together.”

“But—”

“No more buts or whys.” He tucked a finger beneath her chin, tilting her face upwards. “Marry me, Blythe.”

“But—”