Chapter Twenty
“Drunken revelry leads to tangled thoughts and a surprise.”
When he returned to the house, all the inhabitants still slept. A remnant of moon hung low on the horizon. The stars glittered through a scattering of clouds. The usual cloak of fog had dissipated as though the sun had risen in the dead of night to burn it away. A tiny sliver of light shone through the window of his room where a night light guided him to his destination—bed and oblivion from tangled thoughts.
The drunken revelry of the last few hours had left him insensate and more confused than ever. Char had parted company with the men after the first bar and only two drinks, claiming a headache. He and Jonas had stayed at the second stop for hours commiserating over the contrariness of the female species and battling off more than a few of that species’ flagrant attempts to distract them from their commiseration.
Sorely tested, they found each delectable wench lacking in some manner because they were not the woman wanted. It would have been easy enough to take up with one of those saucy lasses to slack their male urges and frustration. But it seemed they preferred, at least for this night, each other’s company. They sought a confidante with whom they could flog their exasperations regarding the absence of that one woman they most desired but could not claim. Jonas decrying his inability to voice his true feelings to Char only mirrored Brian’s disheartened misery.
Stumbling into his room, he quickly disrobed and collapsed, naked, onto a bed more comfortable than any he’d ever rested upon. He thought sleep would conquer him quickly. Unfortunately, images of the beauty sleeping right above his head entered his thoughts and disturbed nocturnal escape like a sharp stone wedged under his sheets.
Brian could still feel the softness of her body, taste her lips and throat and the hard-pebbled nipple he’d suckled while floating under the drooping branches of a weeping willow on a placid lake. How appropriate the name—weeping willow. Never in his life had a woman reduced him to the urge to weep. Yet, he’d wanted to weep for joy every time he held her in his arms and at the same time cry in defeat over his less than exalted status that prevented him from claiming her.
These feelings were not in accordance with the warrior his father had raised. His mother too would chastise his reticence. She’d tell him to fight for his heart’s desire. With that clarity, he acknowledged the thrown gauntlet. He would not fail to claim the woman he’d come to love. Love? Is this how love felt, this burning ache, this unrelenting desire that made a pottage of his brain? Finally, he sank into the fogged sleep of inebriation, his last thoughts that tomorrow he’d speak with Alistair.
Sounds of people moving about the house and Simon’s sharp barks roused Brian from muddled dreams. His mouth tasted sour, and his thick, dry tongue, stuck to the roof of his mouth. Stumbling out of bed, he’d made it halfway across the room when Angel entered through the door opening to the back yard.
His naked back toward her, he turned his head over his shoulder. “Sorry, lass, I’m…excuse my state of undress, I’ll be with you in a moment.” He closed the bathroom door and leaned against the cool wood, a raging erection throbbing between his legs. He needed an immediate cold shower.
* * *
When she returned from her early walk with Simon, she informed the family that she planned to take Brian for a drive down to Henry Cowell State Park and an overnight camping trip. “It seems Brian needs to get away from the clamor of the city. The noise and press of people try his nerves. You don’t mind, do you?”
“No, darling,” her mother patted her shoulder. “Even though he’s managing better than anyone expected, it must be very difficult to carry on in such strange and different circumstances. You two go and have a good time.”
Granny M’s brow peaked, but she didn’t comment. They helped her pack a cooler with refreshments without further questions. Everyone seemed to accept the time they spent together, encouraged it even.
Angel had already packed a quick bag for the weekend, just in case her plans became a reality. When Brian still hadn’t emerged from his room, she couldn’t wait any longer to determine whether he’d come home last night. The thought that he’d found some other woman to entertain him moved her to enter his room without knocking.
Wasn’t that just the sight to start her day? He had a fine-muscled ass and thickly muscled thighs. All parts of his body rippled with strength and moved with purpose.
One look at all that hard flesh caused a shuddering heat to rush over her skin. If she took him on this excursion, she knew they’d surrender to the rising sexual tension between them. Did it matter? Of course, it did, but she no longer worried about the fall-out. Whatever happened would happen. The fates had brought them together, why should she deny what her body wanted, what he clearly wanted too, if he’d only relinquish his stubborn sense of honor. Would he reject her at the height of their passion once again, and if he did, could she handle it or ever forgive him?
She sat in the rocker and closed her eyes, waiting for him to come back into the room.
“Angel.” She must have dozed because when she opened her eyes, he stood before her, dressed in faded bell bottom jeans and a thick, dark-green sweatshirt. The green of his eyes had turned as dark as a forest at sunset.
“My apologies for…umm…for waking you. I didnae hear ye knock— earlier—I didnae know ye’d entered my room.”
How peculiar. His brogue intensified. He seemed nervous, or perhaps plagued by a guilty conscience.
“No problem, I thought maybe I’d missed you, or maybe you hadn’t returned home last night.” She tilted her head in question and waited through the ensuing silence. His concentrated focus on her face, her mouth, the slow drift to her breasts belied his body’s casual stance. He rolled his shoulders. Ah huh, not so casual after all.
“I returned quite late. Early this morning, in fact, and am the worse for my overindulgence.”
What exactly had he overindulged in, she wondered but didn’t ask.
After another fraught moment of silence, he asked, “Did you need something, lass?”
She gently rocked in the chair, allowing the silence to stretch a moment longer. There was something slightly naughty and delicious in making him squirm.
“You said you wanted to get out of the city. Do you still want to get away?” The fact that she’d packed a bag, loaded the sleeping bags and tent into her trunk, and filled a cooler, she didn’t share.
He looked startled, and she had to repress the urge to chuckle. “Yes. Yes, I’d like to get out of the city. Are you offering?” He shifted his large body and leaned against the wall all practiced nonchalance. An arrogant smile lifted one corner of his mouth, as though he’d anticipated her offer.
She rocked out of the chair and turned toward the door. “Maybe I’ve changed my mind. Perhaps your friends from last evening would provide better company.” Her irritation got the better of her good intentions, conveyed by her snappish tone. If he’d found someone else to entertain him, let her drive him to the wilderness. She hoped whoever it was would leave him there while at it.
Brian grabbed her hand, “No. I…Jonas and I, how do you say it, tied one on last night? Too much drink, not enough sleep, and I’m making a hash of this. Yes, I’d love to go with you.”
“Good, because I’ve already packed the gear and some food in the car.” Did she sound too eager? She turned away from him before an expression too close to gloating satisfaction appeared on his face. Dammit, once again her eagerness exposed her as weak and needy.