Love Beyond Belief (Book 7 of Morna’s Legacy Series) (18 page)

“Aye. They’ve one less chicken in the coop from what I hear.”

I stood beside Callum, my hand still on him as he twisted to look up at me in shock.
 

“No, ye dinna? I doona believe it.”

“I did, but I really don’t want to talk about it. I do, however, wish to speak with you. Will you come with me?”

“Aye.”
 

Callum started to stand but stopped when Jerry reached out a hand to prevent us from leaving.
 

“No, please doona leave. I’m bored to tears in this bed. I’m verra good at acting like it’s always Morna intruding into other people’s business, but I’m rather nosy myself. Just go ahead and have yer conversation and allow me to lay back and listen.”
 

He smiled slyly, but even that wasn’t going to convince me to do what I wished to in front of Jerry.
 

“I know you have to be losing your mind, but this is rather personal. It’s not even a conversation really. There’s something…”
 

Callum interrupted me before I could continue.
 

“Oh come, Sydney. Jerry’s good at keeping secrets. What do ye need to say? I’ve no problem hearing it in front of Jerry if it will keep him happy. He’s a trying bastard when he’s not.”

I stood there, suddenly seeing this current situation much like the one with the chicken. If I didn’t just do it, I would talk myself out of it. I didn’t want to talk myself out of it—I’d wanted to kiss him again for days now.
 

“Fine.”

I bent to grab Callum’s face with both hands, lifting his head upward so that I could kiss him. It was a damn good kiss. When I pulled away, both men stared at me with an expression that I guessed resembled Anne’s as she watched me murder the chicken. It seemed I was on a roll with the unexpected today.

“Now, can we speak alone?”

Callum didn’t wait for Jerry’s permission this time as he stood and latched onto my hand, pulling me out of the room behind him.

“I’m sorry, Jerry. I’ll not be saying no to her, not if there’s a chance she may do that again.”

“O’course, lad. Get out of here, the both of ye. The lass made my month with that.”

CHAPTER 24

Three days was no time at all in the grand scheme of things, but three days spent doing very little other than thinking was a very long time indeed. While I used my kiss as a way to draw Callum’s attention away from Jerry’s bedside, it was certainly not the only reason I wanted him alone. While Callum and Jerry were away, I developed a long list of things I wanted to talk over with him.
 

Jerry’s heart attack frightened everyone, and the event made it plain to me that it didn’t matter that I’d yet to mark a week here at Cagair. I cared about these people. I felt comfortable around them. And despite the hiccup of my first night here, I trusted them completely.
 

As far as I could see, time wasn’t necessarily the best marker for change. Life could change in an instant—the past week was evidence of that. Or, as my entire time in Italy demonstrated, years could go by with nothing of interest ever happening. I trusted my feelings enough not to worry about the timeline in which they progressed.
 

I could deal with that, but what if Callum couldn’t? What if days away from me cooled his feelings? Even if they hadn’t, what exactly were his feelings anyway? His promise to pursue me certainly got my blood pumping, but I needed clarity on what we were doing.
 

Even if he technically lived in another century, the portal made it too easy for him to travel back and forth. We would bump into each other all the time even once the repairs on his castle were finished. I already enjoyed my new job immensely, and I suspected that my love for it would continue to grow over time. I had every intention, Callum aside, to be at Cagair long-term. So would he. I didn’t believe our feelings for one another could be pursued casually with no thought on the possible ramifications later.

What if things got messy and didn’t work out? I didn’t want that to impact my job here, or worse, to affect my relationships with the rest of the household. All of it needed to be talked through.
 

“Hang on.” My plea came out breathlessly as he nipped gently at my neck, holding me close with one hand as he swung the door to my bedroom shut with the other. He made no move to halt anything, and I hurried to get his attention. If I didn’t get the conversation going soon, my desire to talk would melt away from the warmth of his touch. “Callum, I mean it, hang on just a second. I want to talk to you.”

He paused with his lips still touching my neck. He held his stance for just a moment before stepping away to look at me with lust-filled eyes.
 

“Oh. Ye truly wish to speak? With the way ye acted in front of Jerry, I thought perhaps this is what ye meant by talking.”
 

He couldn’t look more disappointed.
 

“I meant both sorts of talking, but if we proceed with this kind first, the other will never happen.”

He grinned and nodded as he led me over to the edge of the bed.
 

“Aye, ’tis true. What do ye wish to speak of?”

“You don’t really know me—not well, not yet—but you’ll find soon enough that I tend to be very blunt. I’ve never seen much sense in beating around the bush about anything.”

He nodded, urging me onward. “I agree, lass. Say what ye need to.”

“Okay, right. Well, firstly, I think maybe I need some clarification on what exactly we are doing with all of this because if you answer one way, the rest of what’s on my mind will be moot.”

“Aye, I’ve some pressure then.”

He appeared calm, but for someone who’d just claimed that I didn’t like to beat around the bush, I certainly seemed to be stalling. It had to be making him nervous.
 

“No. No pressure. Just answer honestly. You’ve only known me a few days, so whatever you say will be fine. When you said that you were going to ‘ardently pursue’ me, did you mean in a strictly carnal way, or did you mean like me as a person—as a relationship of sorts?”

He crossed his arms and regarded me cautiously. He chuckled slightly when he spoke.
 

“Doona tell me that either answer is fine, for I doona know of any lass who would care for the first answer, but I will answer ye truthfully all the same.”

He uncrossed his arms and reached for my hand, bringing it up to his mouth so that he could kiss the inside of my palm.
 

“I am not the sort of man who easily separates the urgings of my body from the urgings of my heart. The two are closely tied and always have been. Ye can be assured that I intend to get to know yer mind and heart just as well as I will know yer body.”

“Good. I feel the same way. Now, you should know before we continue that I’m not like a lot of people when it comes to dating. I’m too work-driven, too independent. There must be some boundaries, okay?”

He laughed and leaned in to kiss my cheek.
 

“What do ye mean by boundaries?”
 

“I mean that I make my own decisions. Don’t ever, even for a second, think that you can tell me what to do and I will listen. In fact, the fastest way to get me to do something is to tell me not to. As childish as that may be, it’s just the truth.”

I didn’t wait for him to respond before jumping into the most pressing matter on my mind.
 

“One last thing—what if this doesn’t work? Will you be able to peacefully coexist so that it doesn’t impact my job here? I’m already so fond of everyone. I would hate it if weirdness between us made it uncomfortable with everyone else. I know I can manage to separate everything. Can you?”

He shook his head, and something within me deflated.

“Truthfully, I doona know. I feel I’m already too fond of ye to see such an occasion arising.”
 

“Yeah, but it might.”

He stood, smiled, and extended a hand to pull me to my feet.
 

“I truly doona think it will. Even if it does, mayhap it’s not the best idea to go into anything expecting it to fail, aye?”

Callum pulled me closer and bent to kiss me. Perhaps I was approaching everything far too pessimistically.
 

He whispered in my ear before kissing the side of my neck.
 

“Now, let’s get about the business of speaking another way, if ye doona mind. I’ve been waiting to kiss ye again for far too long.”

I surrendered to his kiss and happily lost myself in the sensation of his hands gliding down the sides of my body. He moved upward toward my lips and kissed me so deeply that all worry drifted from my mind.
 

I would gladly stay lost in his touch for now. As long as I stayed cautious and kept a gauge on the pace of things, there was no harm in enjoying myself.

CHAPTER 25

1650

“What? Can ye wait a while longer? Why doona the two of ye come up here if ye wish to talk to me?”

Callum stood on the makeshift ladder, spreading the mortar for the stones alongside Taran, the best mason in all of Scotland. The work required a great deal of attention, and Callum didn’t want to stop for a short respite midday with the rest of his men, but by the sound of Adwen’s voice, his brother wasn’t going to give him much choice.
 

“No. Get yer arse down here. We already waited a good deal of time for ye. Taran doesna need ye. Ye are more likely in his way than ye are help to him.”

Callum cast a questioning glance in Taran’s direction. The old man laughed as he answered.
 

“I wouldna say that ye are in me way, but Adwen is right, I’ll be just fine on me own. Go and see what he wants so he will quit hollering.”

Handing the tools over, Callum wiped his hands clean and descended from the nearly-repaired tower. When he reached the bottom, he was near ready to deck his brother square in the nose.
 

“What is the matter with ye? Nora has more patience than ye do. What do ye want?”

Adwen didn’t answer him. Instead, Orick clasped him on the shoulder as they made their way outside of the castle together.
 

“We need ye to settle a wager between us. Ye’d think after what Griffith did to him the last time with a bet, he would’ve learned his lesson, but Adwen needs one more loss before sense finds him.”

Callum expected whatever their wager was, Adwen would lose—he always did. “What is yer wager? I canna see how I can settle it.”

“Now, before I tell ye, allow me to remind ye that ’twas not I that came up with the wager. Adwen is the scoundrel, not I. ’Tis only that I derive much pleasure from seeing Adwen change Nora’s diapers for a month. That is the only reason I bet him.”

 
“Get on with it. What did ye wager?”

Adwen stepped suddenly between them, apparently fed up with waiting on Orick to explain.
 

“I told him that ye already tupped Sydney. Orick disagrees.”

“Aye, I disagree.” Orick shoved Adwen out of the way. Callum couldn’t help but think how childish both of them looked in that moment. “I told him that ye are not the same hasty fool that he is, that ye take a little more care with yer women. I was right, aye? Please tell me ye have not already done so.”

Callum turned away from them, marching back inside the castle as he spoke. “If either of ye want to know the answer, ye will have to come with me and help gather up the last batch of stone to haul up to the tower for Taran.”

He refrained from saying another word on the subject until both men joined him in the storage room.
 

“Orick has won. I want to bed the lass, aye, but I’ve not even tried to do so.”

“Damn ye, Orick. Why are ye always right about everything?”

Adwen’s aggravated voice was enough to make both Callum and Orick burst into pleased laughter.
 

“Are ye really so surprised, Adwen?
 
Doona ye know me better than that?”

“I guess not. I knew that ye liked her, but I dinna know ye cared for her. Ye are not the lass-crazed man I once was, but ye’ve bedded plenty of lassies before.”

He did care for her—so much so that for the first time since the repairs on the castle began, he wished he could slow them down.
 

“Aye, I do. I wish to take my time with her, though I’m not doing a verra good job of it. My feelings are progressing more quickly than they should.”

Without saying a word, the men formed a line passing each piece of stone to the other as they worked in tandem to place them inside the wooden wheelbarrow. They would gather up the pieces here then form another tag-team line to haul them up the stairs to the tower.
 

Orick questioned him as they worked.
 

“How do ye mean? ’Tis my own experience that feelings needn’t be rushed or stalled. They appear and leave us just as they should—as they are meant to.”