Chapter Five #2
A grin spread across his lips. “I’ve never been accused of knowing my place,” he said huskily. “Even if I did, in yer case, I’d ignore it.”
God, he was so close. Lilia was having difficulty breathing and she turned her head, looking away from him because she was thrilled and intimidated at the same time.
Looking at him made her feel as if she were losing control of herself.
She could see him in her periphery as he leaned in, taking a long, deep smell of her hair.
It was enough to turn her bones to jelly.
“Brody…” she breathed.
“Shush,” he murmured. “Let me smell ye. I want tae know what an angel smells like.”
It wasn’t just her hair he was smelling, but her skin.
He sniffed her neck, moving to her shoulder and smelling that as well.
All the while, he didn’t touch her. He didn’t make a move to make contact.
But his face, his nose, was close enough that Lilia could feel him brushing against her.
His heated breath spilled over her skin, blowing against her like the heated bellows of a smithy’s forge.
It was intoxicating.
“What does an angel smell like?” she managed to ask.
He moved so his face was next to hers. He was looking at her profile at close range as she looked away.
“Beauty,” he muttered. “Strength. Honor. It smells like everything in life a man needs in life.”
She sighed in utter delight as his words filled her ears.
When his lips gently kissed her cheek, her jelly bones gave way and she slumped back against the wall.
Brody swiftly moved forward, slipping his arms beneath hers and bracing her against the stall so she wouldn’t fall.
As she turned to him, opening her mouth to speak, his mouth slanted over hers in a deliciously tender kiss.
The lightning exploded.
Lilia could hear little gasps as he kissed her, hardly aware they were her own. For all of Brody’s size and strength, his kisses were so very gentle, like the touch of a bird’s wings, something so delightful yet something that filled her with awe and wonder. She’d never been kissed before.
Not even close.
It was as if the sun suddenly burst out from behind the clouds.
Her arms went around his neck, holding him firmly against her as she responded to his heated kiss.
Enfolded in his embrace, she was vastly aware of his body pressed against hers, the heat from his big frame filling her with a comfort she’d never known before.
She could hardly breathe, but she didn’t care.
She welcomed the giddiness. He was overwhelming her with the virile masculinity that had been buried beneath that street filth.
His scent filled her nostrils, too.
Glorious.
And then, it was abruptly over.
Someone opened the barn door and Brody released her so quickly that she stumbled back against the wall of the stall. He moved with the speed of a cat, now standing on the other side of the stall with a horse brush in his hand as Angus shuffled into the barn, mumbling to himself.
Realizing the old man hadn’t seen them in their clandestine embrace, Lilia simply went about her business, pretending to check on Lady Currie’s white palfrey before speaking to Brody, who was bent over a horse that he’d already tended earlier in the morning and trying to make it look as if he were actually working.
“M’lady will want her carriage again tonight,” Lilia said to him before turning to Angus, who was over near the tack, still muttering to himself. “Did ye hear me, Angus? We’ll need the carriage again tonight.”
Angus simply waved at her, unimpressed with the usual request. Passing a lingering glance at Brody, Lilia slipped from the stable, heading out into the stable yard.
But thoughts of Brody were heavy on her mind as she passed through a shelter where some of the hay was kept.
It was no more than a roof held up by four posts and as she passed through it on her way towards the manse, someone grabbed her from behind and pulled her behind a pile of hay.
It was Brody.
His mouth was on hers again, his big arms around her.
Lilia was much more adept in responding the second time around as a thrill swept through her.
Her arms wound their way around his neck as they fell back into the hay, lips fused.
The hay made a convenient hiding place, a nice little cave to shield them from the world in these precious moments of discovery.
But that didn’t mean they would not be seen.
“Brody,” she said even as he kissed her. “We must be… careful. Someone might see us and it’ll get back tae m’lady.”
She was starting to sit up, fearful they might be spotted, but he pulled her back down onto the hay, his hand on her face, thumb caressing her cheek.
“Not tae worry,” he said. “Angus is still inside the stable and no one can see us here. Unless ye dunna want me tae kiss ye anymore. I’m presuming a great deal that ye’re enjoying it as much as I am.”
His hand against her face was tender, like nothing she’d ever experienced. “No one has ever wanted tae kiss me before,” she whispered.
“Lucky me.”
She laughed softly, but quickly sobered. “Lady Currie doesna like her maids tae be associated with men. That’s what I meant when I said we must be careful.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “Tynan’s mam is a maid.”
“Aye, but her husband is dead.”
Brody nodded in understanding. “Will she punish ye, then?”
Lilia shrugged vaguely. “I dunna know,” she said. “I’ve never had an association with a man before, but I told ye that Lady Currie is the jealous kind. I dunna want tae end up in the kitchen scrubbing floors because I’ve upset her.”
Brody thought on his response. Though he knew why she lived at Hawkhill thanks to Tynan, she had yet to tell him.
He felt the overwhelming need to know everything about her because he’d never felt this way about anyone in his life.
It was true that Lilia had saved him from the streets, so it was natural that he felt an obligation towards her.
But what he felt at the moment went beyond obligation.
She was quickly getting under his skin.
“Why do ye serve her?” he asked. “Is it a family tradition?”
He thought he was rather clever the way he had asked her and Lilia was none the wiser.
“In a way,” she said hesitantly. “My da used tae serve Laird Currie before he married Lady Currie. He served him and his father for many years. When my da became ill, Laird Currie paid for the physic. My da died and couldna repay him, so I came tae work off the debt.”
It was a simple, straightforward answer. “How long have ye been here?”
“Nearly two years.”
“Then the debt should almost be paid, I would think.”
Lilia didn’t look too pleased. “Laird Currie told me two years,” she said.
“But Lady Currie wants me tae remain with her beyond that, so Laird Currie told me once that being a servant is the best life I can hope for. He made it seem as if this is the best I’ll ever have in life, but I know it’s not true. ”
“What else will ye do if ye dunna serve here?”
Her eyes took on a warm glow. “Brody, do ye not wish for something more in life? A home of yer own, a wife, mayhap children. I wish for those things, but I want more – I can make the most beautiful clothing ye’ve ever seen given the proper fabric.
I want tae make clothing for fine ladies and sell them for a good price. ”
He smiled faintly. “’Tis a noble goal,” he said. “Does Lady Currie know?”
Lilia nodded unhappily. “She has me make her a new garment every week,” she said. “She doesna pay me for it – I work hard for nothing. I had hoped that would help pay off my father’s debt faster, but it makes Lady Currie want tae keep me with her forever.”
“I can imagine so,” he said. “When I asked ye what ye did for her, ye told me almost anything. Ye never mentioned ye were her seamstress.”
Lilia sighed heavily. “What does it matter?” she said. “She’ll not let me leave. I’ve made myself too valuable tae her.”
He was looming over her, propped up on an elbow. She looked so unhappy that he reached out, gently stroking her cheek.
“Ye’re very valuable,” he said softly. “So valuable that ye dunna belong here. Ye deserve tae be a seamstress for fine ladies and get paid for it, and have yer freedom, too. An angel with clipped wings canna fly.”
She smiled at his insightful words. “I hope tae,” she said. “Someday.”
“Would ye come with me if ye could?”
Her smile faded. “Come with ye where?”
He shifted so he was laying on the straw beside her, looking up at the roof of the shelter. “I’ll find a proper position,” he said. “I’ll earn money for the both of us and ye can sew tae yer heart’s content.”
She turned her head, looking at him curiously. “What are ye talking about, Brody?”
He didn’t answer for a moment, pondering what he’d suggested. It had purely been on a whim, but even as he thought on it, nothing had ever seemed so right. He hadn’t known her very long, but that didn’t matter.
His heart knew hers.
He knew he didn’t want to be without her.
“I want ye tae marry me,” he said quietly. “I know we havena known each other very long, but we’ve got the rest of our lives tae know one another. I dunna want tae stay at Hawkhill the rest of my life and neither do ye. Why not live our lives together?”
Lilia watched him as he spoke, shocked by the proposal but also wildly flattered by it. “I’ve never had a man ask tae marry me,” she said, awe in her voice. “But… when I found ye, ye were living in the street. How can ye think tae support a wife?”
“I told ye that I can do almost anything. I’ll find a job.”
“Then why have ye not found a job before this?”
“Because I had nothing tae live for until I met ye.”
She sat up, looking at him with a great deal of confusion. “’Tis a heavy burden tae put on me, Brody McKay,” she said. “When I met ye, ye had the smell of ale on ye. Why were ye living in the street with nothing else tae live for?”
“Do ye want the truth?”
“If ye’re proposing marriage, I think I deserve it.”
“Are ye actually considering my proposal?”