Hope Everlastin' Book 4 (23 page)

"There isn't one inch of
you I would change, Mr. Ingliss."

"No?"

She playfully ran her
fingers through the golden curly hairs on his chest. "No. Even if
you did develop a paunch, it would be all the more for me to
love."

Roan released a breath
through pursed lips. He could feel his body tightening beneath her
rump. Feel himself strain to breach his underwear to slip inside
her.

"Are we—" Hiccup. At least
they were coming less frequently now. "—anxious to get down to
business?" she asked coyly while unbuttoning the shirt she
wore.

"Anxious? I'm bloody
aroused for the occasion!"

Her slender eyebrows arched
and she clucked her tongue. "Don't get me laughing again." She
opened the shirt and teasingly lowered it from her
shoulders.

Roan's eyes fixed on her
firm, naked breasts. His mouth went dry and his nostrils became
pinched. "Aye. No laughin’."

She completely removed the
shirt with deliberate slowness and dropped it over the side of the
bed. "Are you?"

He forced his gaze to look
into her eyes. "Am I wha'?"

"Aroused?"

"I'm abou' to catapult you
across the room," he said wryly.

She laughed then she
hiccupped and sighed. "It feels good to laugh. Good to be
free."

She yelped with laughter
when Roan masterfully reversed their positions. She stared up at
him with eyes wide and blinking, her lips parted in
surprise.

"My, my, big guy. We are in
the mood!"

"That's wha' I've been
tryin’ to tell you," he said with a mock growl. Planting his hands
to each side of her shoulders, he leaned toward her, his gaze
riveted on her lips. "God, ye're a beautiful womon, Laura. Just
lookin’ at you makes ma blood sing."

If Laura had intended to
keep up the playful bantering for a time longer, his poignantly
spoken words rendered her speechless. She reached up and placed her
hands along his jawline and swept her gaze over his face as if
recommitting it to memory. Roan felt a little breathless. She was
all he had ever wanted, or could possibly ever want in a woman, and
he realized that he very much wanted to have a child with
her.

Of course, that was
ridiculous. It wouldn't be fair to Laura to burden her with another
responsibility, and Kevin, Kahl, and Alby needed their full
attention.

With a sigh, he sought the
pouty contours of her mouth and kissed her deeply. He rolled onto
his back, at the same time cocooning her within the muscular
strength of his arms and legs. His tongue caressed hers then traced
the inside of her lips. A low moan of satisfaction rattled in her
throat. His hands slid to the waistline of her cotton panties.
Hooking his thumbs in the narrow elastic band, he had started to
slip the material down her hips when her fingers gripped his
wrists.

"Not so fast," she said
with a lazy grin.

She squirmed just enough to
prompt him to untangle his legs from hers. Then she sat up and
stretched out her arms, relishing the glaze of passion in his eyes
and the flush on his face. It was seldom she got the opportunity to
explore the boundaries of her sexuality with him. There were always
interruptions—mostly the boys—or one of them was so tired by the
time they were ready for bed, sleep won out.

But now the children were
outside with Beth and Lachlan. They were both rested and glorious
sunshine poured through the windows. She wanted this time with him
to be special, something that would keep a grin on his face for
days to come.

With this in mind, she
sensuously combed her fingers through her hair, knowing the uplift
of her arms showed her breasts to their best advantage. Roan's
hands cupped them with diligent tenderness. The texture of his
palms against her nipples sent a delicious thrill through her, and
another low moan escaped her.

His erection flexed beneath
her groin. Smiling contentedly, she trenched her fingers up his
chest and rolled his nipples between her thumbs and forefingers.
His eyes closed. A deep breath swelled the powerful contours of his
chest.

A more fiery passion ignited
low in her abdomen.
Enough teasing,
she told herself. She wanted him inside her.
Wanted to climb the spirals of ecstasy in his arms.

She was about to swing her
right leg over him when a movement in the outer corner of her right
eye gave her a start. Believing one of the boys had come into the
room, she jerked her head around.

A scream ejected from her
throat, and she scrambled off Roan, then off the bed, on the far
side of the cause of her alarm. Roan bolted into a sitting
position.

Dazed, his wide eyes
spastically searching the room, he rasped, "Wha'? Wha's
wrong?"

He was expecting to find
one of the boys about, but saw nothing to justify Laura's reaction.
With a grunt, he dealt her a harried look then frowned with
concern. She stood trembling, her arms folded across her breasts,
her face shockingly pale and the green of her eyes overly bright
with what appeared to be fear.

Climbing out of the bed, he
went to her and gripped her upper arms. Again he was perplexed by
her behavior, for she leaned to one side to see around him, but a
glance over his shoulder told him there was no one but them in the
room.

"Laura, wha's
wrong?"

"Didn't you see him?" she
shrilled, staring into his face as though he'd lost his
mind.

"See who?" He scowled. "Did
one o' the lads—"

"That man!" she cried,
pointing to the other side of the bed. "He was standing there,
watching us!"

Now Roan stared at her as
though all her marbles weren't quite in a row. "There was a mon in
this room? Watchin’ us?"

"Yes, dammit! He was right
there—" She blinked in bewilderment. "He-ah...."

"Wha'?" Roan released a dry
chuckle. "Are you playin’ wi' ma mind, lass? Normally, I wouldn’t
care you havin’ a wee fun wi' me. But if ma memory serves me
correctly, were we no' abou' to embark on some hot and heavy
sex?"

"I could see through him,"
she murmured and swallowed hard enough for him to hear. "But I saw
him, Roan. He had this stupid look on his face. You know...like he
was shocked we were...you know."

"He was shocked because we
were gettin’ down to lovin?"

"I swear I saw him. When I
screamed, he...well, he sort of broke apart."

An abrupt laugh escaped
Roan. "Damn me, Laura. Wha' did you put in yer tea this
morn?"

Wounded by his skepticism,
she stiffly backed up a step, her bleak gaze studying his face. "I
know what I saw. He was wearing a long black raincoat and
glasses."

Roan frowned with deepening
impatience. With a sigh of resignation, he walked to the other side
of the bed and repeatedly swiped a hand through the air as he
covered the floor space along the length of the bed. Laura watched
him, shaking her head in disbelief. She couldn't decide if he was
earnestly trying to determine if something had been there, or was
adding further insult to her claim.

"If you're looking for a
cold spot," she clipped, "there won't be one."

Roan stopped and placed his
hands on his hips, and passed her an exasperated look. "There has
to be an explanation."

"Besides me being an
hysterical female?" she asked bitterly.

"Laura."

"Don't 'Laura' me! Maybe
when Deliah brought Lachlan and Beth back through, another spirit
came along for the ride. Who knows! Maybe hundreds of them came
through, and we're just not aware of them yet!"

Roan's face blanched.
"Don’t say tha'."

"It could be true."
Shuddering, she hugged herself and looked forlornly about the room.
"Let's face it, Roan, when it comes to Baird House, anything is
possible."

Roan sat on the edge of the
mattress. The prospect of his home being invaded by unwelcome
ghosts made his stomach queasy. "Winston or Deliah should be able
to determine if we're under invasion," he said, vainly trying to
inflict a hint of humor in his tone. "Maybe even
Lannie."

Laura dashed to the closet
and removed a pair of jeans and a pale pink sweater.

"Wha’ are you doin’?" he
asked, watching her approach the foot of the bed with the garments
in hand.

"Getting
dressed."

"Wha' happened
to—"

Her eyes flared up with
anger. "I'm not in the mood."

With a mischievous grin,
Roan stood and opened his arms to her. "Give me a minute or two and
I'll change yer—"

"No way," she said, pulling
up her jeans and fastening them. She hastened to the dresser and
removed a bra from the top drawer, saying over her shoulder, "I'm
not into being watched while I make love."

"Laura...." His groan
trailed off as he watched her quickly don the bra. She returned for
the sweater, which she slipped on as though her life depended on
her speed. As she tugged the bottom down to her hips, she met his
gaze through a worried frown. Silence passed between them for
several long seconds before she brusquely headed for the
door.

"I'll be
outside."

She left the door open and
disappeared into the hall. Again Roan sat on the bed, shaking his
head with incredulity. He didn't doubt Laura had seen something.
Except for the mouse incident when she'd jumped on the dining room
chair and shrieked, she wasn't inclined to hysterics. In fact, he
told himself, she was one of the strongest women he'd ever
known.

"Whoever the hell you are,"
he muttered, "I don’t think much o' yer timin’."

* * *

A dreamy smile seemed a
permanent fixture on Beth's mouth that morning. From where she sat
on a bench in the south garden gazebo, an elbow braced on the
latticework railing and her chin atop the crook of the arm, she
couldn't imagine ever being happier. Lachlan, a bundled infant in
each arm, was introducing them to the peafowl scattered about the
yard. The boys were performing acrobatics beneath the bright
sunlight. Although the ground was sodden from the melted snow and
the rains of the past few days, and the boys were more wet than
dry, their singsong laughter filled the air and a large portion of
her heart.

Despite all the
unprecedented events that had befallen her since first arriving at
the estate, there was something about this place she loved. It was
more than just the aesthetic splendor and the overall ambiance. Had
she been born within the walls of Baird House, she couldn't have
been more connected to the land.

Lachlan returned to the
gazebo, cooing softly to the babies as he approached Beth. She
straightened away from the railing, telling herself it was a little
scary to love someone as much as she loved him. Every new day that
she looked at him, it was as if her heart and soul went through a
rebirth. He was the most exasperating person at times. Also the
most loving. The kindest. Certainly the most unusual.

That he loved her and their
children, she didn't doubt.

That he cherished his home
and land was also not in question.

However, that he could walk
away from Baird House in order to secure a more normal existence
for his family troubled her.

During the night, they'd
talked some about the possibility of moving to her home in
Kennewick, Washington. In one respect, the idea excited her. In
many others, she could see pitfalls he couldn't. He'd told her they
could visit Baird House whenever they wanted. That was true, but
living on the estate and visiting were not the same. He told her he
would not regret any decision they came to, even a move to what he
considered to be a foreign country. He believed he could cope, but
she wasn't so sure.

Perhaps she would have gone
along with his conviction before he'd told her about his life prior
to his death. Before that, she'd thought of him always as a wealthy
man who had not known what it was to struggle from one day to
another. How wrong she'd been. It was one thing for someone used to
luxury to adapt to a lifestyle of budgets, another for an
eighteenth century man who had amassed his own fortune to find his
way in a strange country, in a time when electronics were the norm
of everyday life. Lachlan would never be truly happy unless he
could use his brain and brawn to better his existence.

During the meeting last
night, Roan had been adamant that if she and Lachlan moved to the
States, Lachlan's fortune would go with them. It was sizeable, but
not even Lachlan knew how much he was worth. There was over three
hundred thousand in Scottish monies, but the gems had yet to be
priced, and there were far more than even Roan had known about.
Lachlan had invested most of his fortune in precious stones, which
were mostly still hidden in various parts of the house. Winston had
suggested he take some samples of them to Edinburgh, where he would
have a gemologist of his acquaintance appraise them. It was agreed,
but later, when Lachlan and Beth had retired to their room, he told
her he didn't feel right about taking anything from the house,
except for his personal belongings.