Joanna's Highlander (Highland Protector #2)(55)

“I hope so.” Joanna tensed against another unbidden thought. Might as well get it all out in the open. “By the way, I wasn’t fishing for a serious commitment right now. I’m not one of those women. Nice and slow is fine by me. Okay?”

Grant scooped her up into his arms, then turned and lowered her onto the bed. Hovering over her, a suggestive smile playing across his lips, he undid the buttons of her oversized sleep shirt. As he neatly peeled her shirt away from her breasts, he bent and kissed the valley between them with a long, heated kiss. Moving over to one side, he mouthed her nipple, gently catching it in his teeth, then treating it to a warm, wet caress of his tongue.

“Aye, lass,” he said as he fondled her other breast. “Nice and slow is fine by me as well.”

Joanna yanked away Grant’s kilt, reached down between them, and wrapped her fingers around his swollen cock. “What about the colt?” she whispered, as she rhythmically pulled and released his velvety hardness.

“Later,” Grant replied. “When we’re finished with nice and slow.”





Chapter 18


“I’ll give young Master Tyler this much—even though he’s the smallest of the lot, I do believe he’s the best.” Grant shifted on the hard aluminum bleachers, clapping and whistling as Tyler rounded the odd-shaped circle again after hitting the ball so far away that none of the other players could reach it. “Well done, lad! Well done!”

Odd game, this baseball was. Entertainin’, but appeared t’be a great deal less rough than shinty. Grant unconsciously rubbed his right leg well below the knee. He still sported a scar from when he and his brothers were young lads and Alec had hacked him with his caman and split open his shin. He returned to his position of elbows on the knees, feet spread apart, ready for the next bit of action. I believe I could grow t’like this game. He smiled to himself. Funny how such everyday things of this century ne’er interested him until they were somehow connected with Joanna.

He leaned over and nudged Joanna’s shoulder with his. “What did ye call it when he hit the ball with the stick, then made it around the circle afore the other lads could catch him?”

“Home run,” Joanna supplied without taking her eyes off Tyler. She clapped her hands over her head and waved two thumbs up at the cluster of uniformed boys hopping around the victorious Tyler, who was currently running in circles and roaring out some sort of seven-year-old battle cry. “Tyler loves any kind of sport where he can run wide open and be as loud as he wants. Lucia refuses to let him play football—’fraid he’ll get hurt, and I totally get that. He’s not as strong in basketball. He’s so small compared to the other boys. But he’s fast and super-coordinated, so if we can work on his shooting, I bet he’ll excel at that too.”

“Shooting?” Grant sat up straighter on the bleachers and stared at Joanna. “What sort of target or game do they hunt in basketball?”

Joanna gave him a look that clearly told him he’d made another feckin’ twenty-first-century blunder. Sons a bitches. So much t’remember in this damn time. Sixteen years and he still didna have the gist of all of it. He shook his head. “Never mind, lass. I can tell by the look on yer face that my ancient arse is showin’ again.”

Joanna giggled, wrapped an arm across his shoulders, and squeezed. “I love your ancient arse and don’t you forget it.”

Her words warmed his heart and made him keenly aware of the weight of the binding brooch he’d tucked away in his pocket. Today was the day. As soon as the best time presented itself, he was going to do it—ask Joanna t’be his wife. She’d accepted his legacy well enough. Believed it t’be true, although she didna try to hide her aversion to the Heartstone or the goddesses and what they might choose t’do at any given time. He didna blame her for feeling so. He hated the fact that they still had so much control over his life just as much as Joanna did.

“Look over there,” Joanna whispered with an excited pat on his back. “You were right. She does like Taggart.”

Lucia and Taggart were standing side by side, shoulders barely touching, stealing shy glances at each other like teenagers on a first date.

“Of course I was right.” Grant looked where Joanna had directed with a subtle nod of her head. “The man’s been smitten with her for well over a year now.” He wrapped an arm around Joanna’s waist and pulled her closer. “Almost as long as I’ve been smitten with ye.”

“Smitten, huh?”

“Aye.” He knew it wasna the proper word for this time, but that could just be damned. He’d adapted as much as he could. Besides—he’d won this fine woman even though he was still a bit…how did Esme put it…ah yes…still a bit backward. “I told ye why he was takin’ his time. And then there’s the matter of young Tyler. He doesna wish t’dishonor the lad’s memory of his father.”

Joanna brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes that the wind kept catching and tossing with wild abandon. She glanced over at him and smiled. “You Scots are honorable men. Lucia and I are lucky to have you.”

’Tis time. The instinctual knowledge that now was the time to ask Joanna t’be his wife shoved him up off the small section of freestanding bleachers and had him go down on one knee on the slightly muddy ground in front of her.