Cardiff Siblings 01 - Seven Minutes in Devon (43 page)

Better yet, she was moving. That meant
she was alive. Hurt, possibly, but alive.

He breathed a bit easier, racing
toward the mad assemblage trying to get back inside the manor house
before the rain drenched them all.

He had every intention to follow Niall
and Morgan inside the house, but he changed his mind with the next
bolt that hurtled to the ground. On the other side of the lawn,
David and Vanessa attempted to drag Emma inside the house but she
fought against them both like her life depended upon it.

Aidan changed his trajectory to
intercept them. Niall was with Morgan. She would be
fine.

Emma needed him now,
though.

“
Emma!” He doubted she
could hear him over the howling of the wind and the rumbles echoing
from the sky.

David tried to toss her over his
shoulder, but she flailed and kicked against him so much that he
was forced to put her down again.

“
Emma!” Aidan shouted
again. This time, she heard him. In an instant, her head turned
toward him, and then she dashed across the lawn to meet him. The
blankets they’d wrapped around her fell off and she wore nothing
but a nightrail and wrapper, but that didn’t deter her in the
slightest.

His heart leapt at the sight, but then
it froze. Now was the time he’d been dreading, the time when he’d
have to apologize and grovel and beg for her forgiveness—a
forgiveness which he hardly deserved, but desperately
needed.

She didn’t stop until she’d flung
herself into his arms, her tear-drenched cheek buried against his
neck. “You’re all right? I’ve been so worried.”

But she shouldn’t have been worrying
about him. With the way he’d treated her for so long, she ought to
have been praying for his demise. Aidan pulled back, prepared to
begin what would be his life’s work for the remainder of his
days—making Emma realize just how deeply he loved her and how very
much he needed her in his life—but she stopped him before he could
even start by kissing him.

Her arms tightened around his neck and
she pressed the length of her body against him so he had to hold
onto her or they would topple to the ground. She pressed her tongue
between his lips and then drank from him with a desperation near to
matching his own.

A new flash of lightning struck
through the sky, and the air fairly crackled with the electricity
as thunder crashed all around them.

“
Get inside,” David
demanded.

But Aidan couldn’t move a muscle. Not
while Emma was kissing him with such abandon, like he was her
breath and heartbeat and soul, all combined. Or perhaps it was him
kissing her in that way. He couldn’t tell any more. He didn’t much
care, either.

The sprinkling of raindrops turned
into a deluge, an icy torrent pelting them from above.

Emma trembled in his arms, and he
forced himself to pull away. “We have to get you inside,” he
shouted over the noise of the storm.

She looked up at him, as earnest as
he’d ever seen her, and shook her head. “I love you!”

“
You’re mad!” he shouted.
As mad as he was. And yet her declaration warmed him to the core.
Still, he took her hand in his and tugged, trying to draw her
closer to the warm, dry house.

Emma dug in her heels and put her hand
on his chest. “Wait.” He couldn’t possibly deny her anything in
that moment, despite the water plastering her hair to her head and
drenching her from head to toe. “I know why you’ve been angry with
me—”

“
I’m not angry with you
anymore. I was a fool. I blamed you because—”

“
Because you couldn’t blame
Morgan,” she interrupted. “I know. But I know that it wasn’t really
me you were so angry with, and it’s all right. It’s all right
because I love you and you love me and for now, that’s
enough.”

Aidan shook his head. “It’s not
enough. How can it possibly be?”

She couldn’t be serious. He’d blamed
her time and again for things which couldn’t be further from her
fault—and she knew it. Worst of all, he’d done it again after
making love to her, and declaring that he loved her. How could she
simply brush it aside, like it had never happened? He didn’t
deserve such devotion.

But standing there beneath the pouring
rain, shivering in her nightrail, she smiled up at him with the
most radiant smile—wide lips, too-large teeth, and all.

“
Aidan,” she shouted over
the pounding of the rain, “it’s enough
because
I love you. And I didn’t
believe you loved me earlier, but I was wrong. I know that now. Why
else would you have come searching for me when it was madness to do
so?”

Never in a thousand years would he
understand how her heart could be large enough to love all the
broken and helpless things that she did. But he was grateful for
it—it was precisely what he was. Broken and helpless.

Until she’d fixed him.

September, 1819

The wedding had been a quiet affair in
Knightsbridge, since Sir Phillip Hathaway was not readily able to
travel to see his youngest daughter wed. From what he’d observed,
Lady Hathaway had been beside herself with all of those of Quality
present. Not only was one daughter a baroness, the other was now
sister-in-law to the Earl of Trenowyth, and one of her dearest
friends was to marry the Marquess of Muldaire. That happy couple
had made the journey to join them, along with Muldaire’s brother
and cousin, their fellow houseguests from David’s house
party.

Aidan was not nearly so enamored of
all the grand events of the day, but he was more than happy with
the end result, particularly since there had been no more talk
between David and Niall about protecting Emma from him.

No one would keep him from his
wife.

He still worried about Morgan,
particularly since they had never discovered the source of the
whistle which lured Kingley away from her that day in the woods.
But after they’d all been located and none had been found the worse
for wear, life had just gone on as before with a few
modifications.

The most obvious of those was that
Kingley now went with Morgan everywhere, including back to the
family home…and Morgan was granted much more freedom than she had
been in years, due to his assistance.

Finally, Aidan was allowing her free
rein to fail. He had Emma to thank for such a change, and he did so
at every opportunity he was granted. She’d helped him to learn
that, while Morgan was blind and had her scars, and had at one
point been a bit touched, it was he who was still stuck in the
past.

With Emma at his side, however, he was
able to move forward with his life.

He’d resumed his sculpting and
finished the angel piece, which was now listed for auction. After
seeing the portraits he’d done of Emma, he’d begun to take
commissions for other portraits, and was attracting quite the
attention from this new venture.

For now, he and Emma would live at the
dower house. But with Emma’s encouragement and Aidan’s renewed
passion for his art, soon he would be able to purchase a home they
could call their own.

Even though it would mean being
further away from Morgan, this was something Aidan felt certain he
could handle. Besides, Kingley was perhaps better in the
overprotective bear of a brother role than even Aidan had been. The
way the dog growled at Lord Jacob Deering at every turn was as good
a sign as any on that score.

There was nothing left for Aidan to
worry about but one thing—getting his bride into bed on their
wedding night.

She stood beside her mother, with
Morgan and Miss Weston standing across from her. Her smile
stretched from ear to ear, and somehow only spread wider when she
caught him staring at her.

Aidan hitched a brow, and a moment
later she excused herself from the ladies and made her way to his
side.

“
You’ve got that smirk on
your face again,” she said on a laugh. “I never quite know how to
react to it.”

“
I’d say your reaction this
time was just about perfect. You nearly came running to
me.”

Emma pursed her lips and made a poor
attempt at a pout. “Am I to be at your beck and call?”

“
Mm,” Aidan murmured,
dropping his voice so no one would overhear. “I rather like the
sound of that. Of course, there might be times we could trade
roles. You could hitch your finger in my direction, and I would
drop my chisel and race to your side…then find other uses for my
hands.”

She laughed, a hearty sound that
warmed him through to his toes. “I might become spoiled if I had
such power over you.”

“
Care to give it a try
right now?”

Emma’s tongue darted out briefly to
wet her lips. Her chest rose and fell with rapid breaths. Then she
gave him the tiniest of nods, and skirted out of the
room.

Aidan followed after her before she
could change her mind. Once they were in the corridor, he caught
her from behind, drew her back against him, and nibbled on the spot
just below her ear.

“
You’re wicked,” she
breathed. She didn’t sound overly upset over that fact.

“
More wicked than you could
ever know.” Then he proceeded to show her just how delightful being
wicked could be.

To my dear readers,

I hope you have enjoyed reading SEVEN
MINUTES IN DEVON as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you have,
would you be so kind as to leave a positive review at the site
where you purchased the e-book? Thank you so much!

All my best,

Catherine Gayle

About the Author

Catherine Gayle has been an avid reader of
romance novels (and almost anything else she can legally get her
hands on) for as long as she can remember. Her mother might say it
started in the womb. When she is not writing or reading, she can
often be found buried beneath her sleeping cat or chasing the
Nephew Monster.

Catherine loves to hear from her readers.
You can send her an email at [email protected].

Coming Soon!

Shelved

An Old Maids’ Club novel

Miss Josephine Faulkner refuses to come in
second to anyone—not even to a husband. Oh, sure, Duncan Ramsey,
the Earl of Leith, has been owner of her heart since she was a
girl, chasing after him and her older brother when they tried to
leave her behind. And while it is true she once gave herself to
Duncan completely, when she was only offered marriage in return
(and therefore, second class status within the relationship), she
told him in no uncertain terms where he could put his blasted
chivalry. Now he needs an heir to prevent his ne’er-do-well cousin
from one day inheriting his father’s marquessate, but having sulked
over the mistakes he’s made with Jo for over a decade, he can’t
imagine anyone else being suited for the job. Somehow he must
convince her that a life at his side will be more worthwhile than a
life of stubborn independence.