Chapter Seven #2
To his consternation, tears welled up, magnifying her eyes, before spilling over. He placed the handkerchief he still held into her hands.
“Dry yer eyes and tell me the whole of it, for I’m not believing there’s a man alive who would not go in search of ye.”
“I’m overweight.”
He snorted. “Sure and that’s a lie. I’ve held ye in me arms, lass. Did ye not hear what I said about yer curves causing a distraction? God help me, Pippa, yer curves would slay a man at ten paces. There’s not a bit of ye that is overweight.”
She shook her head. “If I were only five inches taller, my figure would be acceptable to Society. I may even be able to catch the eye of a man under the age of forty.”
“Sure and ye’ve caught me eye, lass. Would ye discount me opinion because I’m closer to thirty than forty?”
She pinned him with her gaze. “You do not have to make fun of me, Flaherty. I know what I look like.”
“I’m not having a laugh at yer expense. Once I got past the ill-fitting coat ye were wearing as part of yer disguise, I had to concentrate not to notice yer curves. Ye’ve the figure of a goddess, the face of an angel, and the lips of a temptress.”
“You’re mad!”
He leaned in close and slid an arm around her. “I’m thinking ye may be right. If I am, ’tis yer fault. Shall we test yer theory?”
Pippa furrowed her brow. “And just how do you intend to do that?”
Eyes locked on hers, Flaherty lowered his lips until they were a breath away from hers.
“Like this.” He molded his mouth to Pippa’s and drank from the sweetness of her lips.
Need slashed through him, urging him to taste more thoroughly.
He traced the rim of her mouth with the tip of his tongue.
She gasped at his touch, giving him the access he needed to explore the flavor, and test the texture, of her mouth.
Passion wrapped in determination, forged in the fire of her convictions…
That was what Miss Phillipa Stanhope was made of.
She slid her arms around his neck and leaned into him. The fullness of her breasts pressed against his chest and shattered his control. He pulled her onto his lap and crushed her to him, kissing her until she went slack in his arms.
“Bloody hell!” Flaherty rasped. “Don’t faint again!”
“That’s what I was going to say,” a familiar voice said from the other side of the room.
Without looking over his shoulder, Flaherty grumbled, “Go away, Garahan.”
“I’ve been sent to tell ye Mrs. Green’s preparing a tray for the lass, but it appears that she may be needing more hartshorn.”
He looked down into the dazed expression on Pippa’s face. “She’s made of strong stock and didn’t faint. Just a bit overwhelmed by me manly form.”
“Is that what ye’re calling it now? When I approached the room, it looked as if ye were trying to swallow her whole. Though me eyes could have been deceiving me. Either way, I’m thinking ye’d best be ready to do right by the lass and marry her.”
Flaherty ignored his cousin to tuck a silken lock of hair behind Pippa’s ear.
“According to Mrs. Green, ye were worried about the lass regaining her equilibrium after passing out,” Garahan said.
“Last time I checked, kissing the breath out of a lass tends to have the opposite effect. Though now I’m thinking ye had another intention entirely.
Have ye asked his lordship for the special license? ”
Unable to bring himself to let go of her, Flaherty stayed where he was with the lass on his lap, her head resting against his heart.
“To answer yer second question, I will. As to the first question, I have watched her and tended to her, just as I told Mrs. Green I would. Can ye not see the roses in her cheeks?”
Garahan sighed. “I have. Are ye blind, Flaherty, or do ye realize what’s just happened?”
Flaherty pressed his lips to the top of Pippa’s head and inhaled. Heather. The scent suited her as well as the lavender had when she’d stood defiantly in front of the broken-down carriage garbed as a coachman. He reveled in the taste and feel of the woman in his arms. “I’ve just kissed Heaven.”
Garahan snickered. “Ye’d best prepare yerself, boy-o.”
Pippa stirred in Flaherty’s arms. “We Flahertys are always prepared,” he grumbled.
Garahan grinned. “Well then, I’ll be telling his lordship that ye want him to procure a special license for ye.”
Flaherty felt the spit dry up in his mouth. “Just because I kissed the lass and mentioned marriage, does not mean I plan to marry her right away!”
One moment Flaherty was holding the lass on his lap, the next, she was standing in front of him with her hands on her hips, while his ears were ringing, and the side of his face stung.
“Well then!” Garahan chuckled. “Now that that’s been settled, I’ll be telling his lordship he’d best put a rush on the special license.”
The stinging slap to the side of his face should not have been a surprise. The lass may be tiny, but she packed a wallop, and he admired her, though he truly had not meant to insult her with his comment about not marrying her immediately.
Before he could tell her as much, her fiery temper was let loose. “You rogue! You cannot just kiss a woman until you’ve muddled her mind, and in the next breath state that kissing doesn’t lead to marriage! I was raised to believe that it did.”
Flaherty took a moment to gather his wits about him—but would not admit that that was what he was doing. “’Tisn’t what I said at all. I said—”
“It is what you meant.”
“Faith, ye’re going to be a handful.” He stared at her until his guts untied and a feeling he had not experienced before filled him.
Flaherty couldn’t find the words at first, and then he realized it was euphoria—his heart was filled to overflowing with respect, admiration, and love for the lass.
Truth be told, there was a healthy bit of lust as well.
“I’m thinking ye’ve gotten the better of me too many times, lass. ”
Face flushed, eyes bright, Pippa narrowed her eyes to glare at him. “I have no idea what you are talking about.”
Flaherty held up one finger. “First ye shoot me.” She started to speak but fell silent when he held up a second finger. “Then ye try to bribe me with coin to protect yer friend and her babe.”
“That is not what—”
He all but shoved three fingers in her face. “Then ye’re slapping me face and telling me what ye think I said—which ye heard all wrong.” When she continued to stare at him, he sighed. “Tell her, Garahan.”
“I’m not getting in the middle of yer argument.” His cousin turned his back on them and strode from the room. “I’m going to speak to his lordship about the license!”
“’Tis a discussion…not an argument,” Flaherty called after him.
“What are you talking about?” the lass demanded.
Flaherty gambled with the fates and took a step closer to her.
“When a beautiful woman, like yerself, bests a Flaherty, there’s only one thing to be done.
” The fire in her eyes confirmed what he’d discovered the moment their lips met.
There was passion simmering beneath the surface, just waiting for him to fully unlock it.
“Oh, and what is that?” Pippa asked.
“Ye’ll have to marry me.” Before she could disagree with him, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her again.
This time lingeringly…tenderly. “If ye haven’t figured it out yet, lass, I’ve been fighting with me pride.
Though I’ve already apologized for it, I’m adding that I’m sorry to have been avoiding ye.
A man’s pride is important to him. Flahertys have it in spades. ”
When she didn’t speak, he kissed her forehead, her cheeks, and the end of her nose before capturing her lips once more.
This time, he kissed her until his desire for her had him by the bollocks.
Pippa melted against him and sighed. “If you stop talking, and communicate with your drugging kisses, I may let you convince me.”
He held her close and rasped, “I forgive ye for shooting me, lass, and should have told ye that weeks ago. Can ye let yerself forgive me for holding on too tightly to me pride, when I should have been listening to me heart?”
She cupped his cheek. “Do you promise that you do not hate me and won’t hold what happened against me?”
“Ye have me word, lass. I could never hate ye—I could be mad at ye for a time, but never would I hate ye.”
“And?” she prompted him.
“Ye have me word of honor that I will not hold what happened against ye.” When she stared at him, he smiled, and this time he prompted her, “And?”
Pippa blinked. “And what?”
He shook his head. “Faith, I’m thinking yer head is as hard as mine. Say yes.”
“Yes?”
He kissed her breathless. “Ye’ll be a beautiful bride.”
“Bride?”
“Did ye not just say yes?”
She frowned. “You asked me to.”
Flaherty grumbled, “Have ye forgotten me question already?”
“Which one?”
“The one where I asked ye to marry me!”
Pippa shoved out of his embrace, put her hands on her hips, and reminded him, “You told me you would have to marry me.”
“I asked ye, lass.”
“No. You did not. Your exact words were, ‘Ye’ll have to marry me.’”
Flaherty blinked and could not feel the top of his head, sure and that was a sign he’d lost his mind. “Well now, ’tis the same thing.”
Pippa put her hand in the middle of his chest to keep him from wrapping his arms around her again.
“Ye are going to marry me, lass. Aren’t ye?”
“Not truly a proper proposal, but much closer,” she said.
Flaherty put his hands around her waist, pulled her flush against him, and nipped at her lips. “Will ye, lass?”
“Will I what?” she whispered.
“Will ye put me out of me misery and marry me?”
“I will not let my pride dictate my thoughts or actions like some other people. But since you asked nicely, I will consider your offer.”
“I told ye we should not have left Flaherty alone with the lass,” Garahan grumbled, returning with O’Malley. “He mucked it up and will need more time convincing her.”
“Well now,” O’Malley replied, “he’s nearly healed and will be going back to his duties. I’m thinking once everything begins to settle down around here, Flaherty will have a chance to ask her again.”
“I won’t be needing advice from either of ye buggers!”
“But she didn’t say yes,” O’Malley reminded Garahan.
“Ah, but the lass did say she’d consider it,” Garahan pointed out.
“Can’t a man have a private discussion—” Flaherty began, only to be interrupted.
“I waited until ye were through kissing the lass,” Garahan said.
Flaherty scrubbed a hand over his face. “Could ye not have waited longer?”
Garahan’s incredulous expression was his answer. “Given the way ye were kissing her, I’m thinking I asked his lordship to get yer special license just in time.”
Flaherty raised a hand to wave his cousin away. “Forget I asked. Now then, lass—”
“Ye should be calling her by her first name, if ye’re intending to ask for her hand,” O’Malley said.
Flaherty was resigned to the fact that his cousins were there to see that he would marry the lass to protect her reputation.
Even the baron’s loyal servants would talk—he had to promised to protect her with his name.
Letting his frustration show, he told her, “Flahertys don’t beg, lass.
” The hint of temper in her eyes pleased him.
He added, “And I won’t be waiting long for yer answer. ”
“Pippa!” The fear in Millie’s voice had them all turning toward the woman running toward them.
“What’s wrong?” Garahan asked.
“Is it yer babe?” O’Malley added.
“Easy now, Millie,” Flaherty said. “Take a moment to catch yer breath.”
Pippa pushed past the men and grabbed hold of Millie’s outstretched hands. “What’s happened?”
Millie stopped crying long enough to answer, “Roarke’s gone!”