Chapter 6

The Aurora made Argyll in record time, and then found Lady Patience's home within an hour of that. It would have been easier if the house had not been hidden under a forest of trees. Upon landing and being greeted by the Lady Patience's husband, Fogg was informed that the forest was in fact a large garden planted around the house to simulate the ancient forests of the Scottish Lowlands.

Squire Macaulay was an amiable sort. After ordering his servants to help tie the Aurora down and getting a short tour of the amazing airship, he walked Phileas and Rebecca through the dense trees of the outer grounds to the manor house.

Jessica was not in the house. Brandon had taken her to the opposite end of the grounds from where the Aurora had landed after a horse run through the park. There was a small pavilion there and more privacy than they had had in the twelve days they had been together.

The courting couple had come to know each other much better. Brandon was fully versed on just how spirited this American-born lady that sounded so much like a native English girl could be. There had been pleasant conversations and fiery arguments. Jessica rode like the wind. She played the piano well.

Brandon had managed to coax a few stories out of her about life in America. As she had relaxed with him, Jessica had stopped whitewashing the details and gave him a fuller picture of remote life in Indian Territory. It had sounded ghastly to Brandon, but Jessica's eyes had shined with happiness at the memories of her first marriage, despite the hard details.

Halfway through her visit, however, Jessica saw that her coming had not been a general get to know you visit, but a marriage trap. She had been so indignant; she had come close to leaving. It had taken all the charm and persuasiveness Brandon could muster to keep her in Scotland.

Jessica's son, Brandon found a delight, though he was no easy win either. Daniel had been instinctively wary of Brandon from the first. And later, after catching Brandon giving his mother a kiss in the garden, he had become positively hostile.

Shamus told his brother what had happened after Daniel's first outburst. Brandon's response, he set Daniel down for a talk, gentleman to gentleman. He made his intentions toward his mother plain to the boy. To his surprise, the boy's reservations disappeared. He liked the idea. Brandon was not sure if it had been himself the child had liked or his large family, but he was grateful for it. Brandon accepted the boy's approval respectfully and then set out, in earnest, to gain Jessica's.

To that end, he had Jessica perched on the railing of the pavilion being soundly kissed. Over the last few days, there had been quite a bit of this. Brandon had discovered her sensitive neck and a spot on her arm near the inside of the elbow. When given enough attention, it could make her tremble like a leaf in the wind.

On her side of things, Jessica had made no coy games about being a shy maid. She was an experienced woman and liked his attention. But, being a lady, she couldn't let his liberties go very far.

Brandon, however, was getting frustrated. His attentions in the quiet of the pavilion had stepped up to all out seduction. He planned to push her to the brink this afternoon, and then take her to the hunting cabin a few miles farther into the country for dinner. there he would propose. If all went well, they would be married as quickly as the banns could be read.

Very slowly, Brandon lifted Jessica off her perch, sitting them both on the floor for more comfort. Jessica was nearly insensible with kisses. He ran his hands up and down her back a few more times before working his way forward. The lady didn't wear a corset with her riding dress; that made it all the easier.

Jessica wasn't quite as far-gone as Brandon thought, but she was enjoying herself too much to make complaints. She had not been happy to find out she had been brought here to be fixed up with a nephew or that Brandon was under orders to find a wife. Well, I'm out of find a husband, his father was so sweet…

The old Laird had come the day after her discovery for damage control. He was as tall as Brandon, massively built with wide shoulders and a thick mane of silver. Unlike her father, who would have been the same age, he was amazingly hale and hard. Angus MacAlister had charmed her slippers off in just half an hour.

Jessica had told her friend Patience in confidence about her meeting the older gentleman. Her friend had chuckled. "Do not let him hear you praise him so. His last wife was about your age when they married. My brother likes women young and fertile. Some have accused him of trying to breed the clan larger all by himself. He has sixteen children all together, from three wives."

After having spent a day in the old man's company, Jessica had no trouble believing it. And if Brandon matured like his father…

Her reflective thoughts were put to a halt as Brandon laid her down on the floor of the pavilion on his coat. Her riding jacket was gone. He had his hands under her blouse, tickling her stomach and sides. Jessica knew where he wanted to go from there, but it wouldn't happen without getting to the buttons in the back. And I will not let him undress me in the middle of the garden at mid-afternoon.

Jessica suffered the tickling with delight and then rolled out from under him before Brandon could go any farther. When she stood, a servant came into view to the right, making his way toward them. Brandon saw her looking away and tracked her line of sigh. Muttering something in Gaelic, he stood to chase off the intruder.

"My Lady asks Mrs. Fogg to come to the parlor," the servant said. "You have visitors from London." Jessica and Brandon took the news with surprise, fetching their jackets from the floor to head back to the house.