Morna's Legacy 04 - Love Beyond Measure (9 page)

Eoghanan’s invitation came as a surprise, albeit a lovely one. Or, perhaps it really wasn’t too much of a surprise when I thought back on all the subtle flirtation of the previous day. Still, it had been so long since I’d been asked out on any sort of date, I’d begun to believe that my last first date over six years ago would be my last date ever.

He asked in the most adorable way. Knocking on the door of my bedroom and speaking to Cooper first, saying something along the lines of, “I believe Morna needs yer assistance, young Cooper. Seems that she’s found a snail in an unfortunate place and doesna wish to pick it up herself.”

Cooper, eager to help and overly excited by anything remotely gross, leapt up from his place on the floor. “A snail? Well, I’ll get it for her.”

Cooper ran down the stairs quickly, leaving Eoghanan and I alone, where he shifted back and forth nervously in my doorway for a minute before speaking.

“Grace, do ye have a dress with ye here?”

I turned my head inquisitively, smiling internally at his question. It seemed an odd way to start the conversation. “Uh, yeah I do actually. It’s not all-together fancy, more of just a sundress. Why do you ask?”

“I hoped that ye might join for me dinner in Edinburgh. Would ye like to? I should tell ye that ye will have to steer the car. I doona think me shoulder will allow it.”

“Edinburgh?” I couldn’t help the surprise and hesitation in my voice. It wasn’t like Edinburgh was just down the road. “That’s over three hours away.”

“Ah.” He looked down at his feet a bit, embarrassed. “So, no then? ’Tis no the best idea.”

“No.” I moved toward him, shaking my head to stop him. “That’s not what I said. I’m only a bit surprised is all.”

“Aye.”

I smiled, hoping my initial reaction hadn’t disappointed him. A drive that far would get the both of us out of the inn for an entire day, which appealed to me greatly. I imagined he was in dire need of it as well. I doubted he’d traveled outside a ten-mile radius of the inn since arriving there. In addition, it might also be good for work, if I could stop and take some photos along the way. “I think that sounds great. I can be ready in half an hour.” I glanced over at the mirror on the wall across from me and looked sheepishly back at him. “Forty-five tops. What about Cooper?”

“If ’tis alright with ye, Morna said that she and Jerry might take him to explore Conall Castle. ’Tis just down the road a ways.”

Cooper would be thrilled at the idea. “He’ll love that. Meet you downstairs in a bit?”

He smiled, nodded once, and left me alone to get ready. I started stripping my clothes as soon as the door closed, resigning myself to the fact that, once again, I would get little work done today. It was becoming a very bad habit.

*

“Are ye certain I doona look a fool? Do men no wear kilts in Scotland anymore?” Eoghanan looked down at the khaki slacks and dark blue shirt Morna had dressed him in feeling utterly unsure about his new outfit. The linen pants and stretchy shorts were sensible garb for lounging around the inn, for they kept pressure off his scar, but to appear in front of other people without his kilt seemed very strange to him.

“Ye look nothing like a fool. Ye look like a man every lass in the Highlands will want to jump on sight. Best keep Grace on yer arm so they know ye are taken.”

“Taken?” It seemed a fast conclusion for the old lass to come to, though he liked the way it sounded very much. “I barely know the lass. Taken is no the right word.”

Eoghanan watched as Morna clucked her tongue at him, dismissively.

“If ye say so, though I doona know why ye would doubt a thing I say to ye. I have me way of knowing things that others do not.”

He knew that better than anyone, but said nothing as he heard Grace’s footsteps on the stairs, turning to take the sight of her in as she approached him. She was a beautiful lass by any standard. Even casually dressed as she’d been every time he’d seen her in the strange pants that women wore in this time with her long hair pulled up loosely off her neck and out of her eyes, he thought her breathtaking.

But now, dressed in a light blue dress that reached just past her knees, the sleeves capping just over her shoulders, he could scarcely catch his breath. She’d let her hair down. The long blonde strands fell loosely about her shoulders, trailing down her neck and into the deep crevice between her breasts that were emphasized by the cut of the fabric.

Suddenly Morna’s hand smacked him roughly against the back, reminding him to look up from the lush paleness of her bosom and to speak up like a grown man rather than the young lad he suddenly felt like.

“Grace. That is…well…a verra nice dress.”

He smiled as she laughed, some of his nervousness lifting away as she tucked her hand gently into the crook of his arm. “Thanks, you don’t look bad yourself. Nice haircut.”

“Aye.” He grinned lifting his left hand to touch a small spot on the back of his head, winking at her as he did so. “Only exception being this wee bit here. The lass who trimmed it got rather excited for a moment.”

Cooper suddenly spoke next to Grace’s side, and Eoghanan realized rather ashamedly that he’d not noticed the boy trailing along behind her before. “That’s so weird. What did you do? Tickle her? She’s never messed up my hair.”

Grace glanced up at him a little sheepishly, and he reached down to grip Cooper on the shoulder. “Aye, yer mother did a fine job. I only spoke in jest. Are ye excited about yer trip with Morna and Jerry?”

“Oh yes. So, so, so excited. I’ve never seen a real castle before. Only on tv and stuff.”

Grace stepped away from him, bending over to pick up Cooper and hug him. “I’m sure you’re going to have a great time. Just promise me that you’ll listen to whatever they say, Coop?”

The young lad regarded her seriously. “Of course I will, Mom. I only get rowdy for you, ya know?”

Grace laughed, leaning in to kiss Cooper’s forehead. “Yes, I do know. Thanks for that.”

The boy laughed, squirming so she would set him down. “You’re welcome.”

Once Cooper retreated toward Morna and Jerry, Grace looped her arm around Eoghanan once more, sending his pulse racing in anticipation of their day spent together. “Let’s get out of here,” she whispered in his ear. Gladly, he turned her toward the door.

*

For the first half hour of our drive, Eoghanan remained unusually silent. If I’d not been watching him closely out of the corner of my eye, I would’ve worried that he’d been less interested than he’d first appeared. Instead, I found that it wasn’t a lack of interest in conversation with me, but a rather obvious fascination with the workings of the car that kept him silent.

He watched everything I did closely; from adjusting the mirrors to shifting the gears, he watched with wide eyes, and his mouth kept opening and closing in the same way Cooper’s often did if he wished to ask a question but then thought better of it. And although it appeared as if he tried to hide it, I sensed an unexplainable nervousness about him as I pushed the car to a reasonable cruising speed.

“Do cars make you nervous?”

Eoghanan directed his attention fully to me for the first time since the beginning of the car ride and smiled, shaking his head in a fashion that seemed more about pushing away his thoughts than in answer to my question. “No, though ye do.”

“Me?” The thought that I made him nervous seemed entirely absurd to me, but the confession endeared me to him even more. He had the unique ability to seem completely confident, yet vulnerable, at the same time.

“Aye. Ye are stunning, Grace. I have never seen anyone as beautiful as ye and it…aye, I canna help but be nervous around ye. ’Tis a verra nice feeling.”

“You like to be nervous?” As a mother, I lived in a constant state of light anxiety. I disliked nothing more than being nervous.

“Aye.”

He reached over, laying his hand on my knee—a gesture that sent a shockwave so great down my spine I had to grip the wheel to keep from swerving off the road.

“Nerves, as ye call them, remind me that I can feel something other than regret and worry. I havena felt that way about much of anything in a verra long time.”

“Oh.” I hardly knew what to say in response to him. It pained me to think that he’d lived with such feelings, but he also meant to tell me that I made him feel differently, which was the headiest of compliments.

My entire body hummed with an unexplainable energy anytime I was near him, but in the confines of the car it seemed worse, like the windows would vibrate and shatter if some of the pressure wasn’t released soon.

Glancing out the side window, I spotted a hill scattered with flowers that truthfully, while pretty enough was rather ordinary. I pulled the car over all the same, desperate to put some space between us before I jumped him.

Eyeballs deep in mommy-world since Cooper’s birth, I’d gone far too long without the affection of a man. In Eoghanan’s presence, a gentleman if I’d ever seen one, someone who I knew couldn’t tell a lie by the look in his eyes, a man who actually seemed to like me as much as I did him, well, it was like that part of me, the part of me who wanted to be kissed and touched and loved by a man had been suddenly unleashed after years of captivity.

And I was very, very hungry.

Eoghanan must have felt the same building pressure and the need to get a grip on it before continuing the rest of the journey into Edinburgh as I had, for when we returned to the car after my abrupt stop, he made a pointed effort to engage in conversation the rest of the way. At least while we listened and responded to one another, our minds weren’t left to daydream about ripping each other’s clothes off. Not that he would’ve acted on it anyway. He came across as far too old-fashioned to do so.

We even managed to keep the conversation going throughout dinner, though it consisted of mainly pointless jabber. We discussed my work a lot, Scotland, the inn, Morna and Jerry, but nothing overly personal. It was as if there lay some unspoken understanding between us that anything personal that might evoke emotion would put us in that place again—the state of desire that would build the tension that lay ever present between us, and it frightened us both. Though he’d said nothing of the sort, and it seemed hard to believe by looking at him, I got the feeling that perhaps he was just as ‘out of the game’ as I was. Just as unfamiliar with what was expected on a date, just as silently eager for a human connection.

When we’d finished eating and our bill paid, a strained silence fell over us once again, but this time I made no effort to end it, exhausted from hours of forced conversation. I couldn’t help but be a little disappointed, only because I knew this date wasn’t a fair representation of how we could be together. Though we’d not spoken too much, we’d only known each other a few days after all, conversation flowed more naturally with him than with anyone I had ever met before. He scared me, or more accurately, the way he made me feel scared me, and I’d allowed my fear to dictate our conversation. I expected he’d done the same, and we rode most of the way back to the inn mutually, but silently, feeling like we’d let the other, not to mention ourselves, down.

Finally, less than a mile away from the inn, Eoghanan spoke, reaching over to squeeze my hand as he did so. “That was rotten, lass. I doona wish to discuss the weather, nor the countryside with ye. ’Tis no why I asked ye to come here, no to speak to ye as I would a stranger. I know that I havena known ye but a few days, but it doesna feel that way. No to me. I doona believe it does to ye either. I wish to know everything about ye, about what ye did as a child, about yer family. I want ye to tell me what ye want out of yer life and for wee Cooper’s, and I wish to tell ye about meself as well. I want to speak to ye about things that matter, but I canna do that just yet.”

“Why not?” It was the only thing I could force myself to say in response to him. He gave the perfect speech—exactly what every woman wants to hear—that a man wanted to actually learn more about you…by means of communication. Something that every man I’d ever known until now found very challenging.

I don’t think I would’ve believed such an exclamation from just anyone, but I knew that he told the truth. He was different; I could tell that from the first moment I saw him. He didn’t play games, didn’t pretend to be someone he wasn’t.

It took him a moment to answer. I could sense his hesitation in the way he gripped my hand. He kept squeezing it, releasing it, squeezing it again, all the while running his thumb back and forth over the top of my hand.

“Because…” he exhaled loudly, and I slipped my thumb from underneath his hand, bringing it around to stroke his hand to comfort him. My mommy-gene, my inherent need to soothe, coming through once again.

“Lass, if ye told me those things just now, all of the important details about ye, I wouldna hear them. I can think of nothing other than what yer hair would feel like if I ran my fingers through it, how yer lips would feel against me own. So please, continue to speak to me about the weather and yer boss, Mr. Perdie, but remember that I do wish to hear everything else. I just canna hear it right now. No when I’m so bewitched by ye.”

I replayed his words in my head over and over. Each time they sounded more swoon-worthy than the last. My heart beat in quick time, and I had to hold my breath because I knew it would come out shaky. I said nothing, only slowly pressed down on the brake and pulled the car to the side of the road.