Penmort Castle (Ghosts and Reincarnation #1)(108)
She looked at his shadowy form and he murmured, “I’m leaving, darling.”
She’d muttered back, “Hang on,” and with sleepy energy she’d flipped her legs around his body and jumped out of bed. He rose with her and she grabbed his hand, led him to the guest bedroom and flicked on the lights.
“Abby –” he started but Abby was mumbling sleepily to herself.
“I should have come in and got it last night but I…” she stopped by the bed and he halted beside her, looking puzzled and somewhat impatient. She let go of his hand, reached under the pillow and pulled out an envelope. “Honor said she’d leave it here and she did,” Abby finished.
Cash’s eyes went from hers to the envelope and Abby explained about the copied diary pages and the safety deposit box.
Abby had not had time to process their emotional evening or any of the profound secrets Cash had let slip during his tirade. Secrets about his surprising history of being poor (something about which she had no idea, she thought, especially with his manner, that he’d been born to money, lots of it). Secrets about his father leaving his mother and him a fortune that had been taken away (something which neither Angus nor Honor or Fenella mentioned and she wondered if they knew). Secrets about the reason he worked so very hard (something which made her heart hurt).
That morning, he seemed none the worse for wear, his usual charismatic self. But a deadly light shone in his dark eyes when she explained what the envelope contained.
When she was done, his arm went around her waist, he hauled her into his body and his mouth came down on hers in an intense, thorough, mind-numbing kiss.
When he was done, her knees were weak and she sagged into his body.
After she recovered, she lifted the envelope and slapped it on his chest. This was done in an effort to be cute and try to control her heated body caused by the ferocious triumph she felt in his kiss and her concerns about what that might mean for his safety.
“Be smart with this, Mr. Fraser. Don’t make me regret giving it to you,” she teased mock-severely and he smiled but his smile didn’t reach his eyes.
His eyes were still deadly serious.
His fingers closed around the envelope and he tucked it into his inside jacket pocket.
Then his hand went into her hair and he asked, his burr so rough it vibrated against her skin, “Fancy living in a castle?”
A shiver slid through her at his question, right before it hit her he was Penmort’s master, true and legal.
Her eyes moved over his handsome face and she realised it suited him.
Instead of answering his question, Abby snuggled closer and admitted, “That night we were there, Alistair stood by the fireplace and I thought he seemed out of place.” Her fingers curled into his lapel, she went up on tiptoe and tilted her head back as she got closer to his face. “You wouldn’t seem out of place. As crazy as this sounds, a castle suits you, Conner Fraser.”
At her words, his fist tightened in her hair, his mouth crushed down on hers and if she thought the first kiss was filled with ferocious triumph it was nothing to this one.
He’d lifted his head nary an inch when he was done and asked, “How long does your period last?”
“Not long,” she’d breathed, still recovering from the kiss and having some difficulty in this endeavour.
“How long?” he pushed.
“A couple of days,” she answered.
He grinned against her mouth and muttered, “I won’t make it.”
She couldn’t help it, Abby laughed, straight-out, nothing hidden, nothing buried, nothing held back, both hands clutching his shoulders and her body shaking with hilarity.
When she’d controlled her mirth she saw he was looking at her with a partially startled expression, the rest held a warmth so intense, it was breathtaking.
His hand went out of her hair and both arms wrapped tight around her as he shoved his face in her neck and he said something enormously strange.
“I’ve got you.”
“Pardon?” she asked.
His head came up, his mouth touched hers and he murmured, “Nothing.” His eyes scanned her face and his fingers came up, trailing her hairline, tucking the fall of hair behind her ear. “Go back to bed, darling, I’ll see you tonight.”
Then, after another touch of his lips against hers, he was gone.
When she’d called him that afternoon to tell him she had dinner plans with Honor and Fenella, she’d given him the excuse she and Jenny cooked up as to why he wasn’t invited.
Although Cash seemed not to have any reservations about discussing Abby’s menstrual cycle, she and Jenny were betting on the fact he wouldn’t feel the same about his cousin.
So, Abby had told him Fenella was having “female problems”.
This surprisingly worked.
Cash, sounding distracted, said only, “All right, love. Call me when you leave the castle so I’ll know when to expect you safely home.”
He didn’t seem curious to know why Abby all-of-a-sudden would be Fenella’s Female Problems Confidante and he didn’t seem angry she wouldn’t be home for dinner.
So now there she was on her way to the castle and perhaps her catastrophic end and she was thinking she didn’t want the last thing she said to Cash to be a lie.
Therefore, when she pulled into the pub where she was meeting Angus and Cassandra to get instructions before going to the castle, she yanked out her phone and dialled Cash.