Rory frowned as if he only just made the connection. “I’m a complete numskull. Of course that’s why you married me.”
“Did you think I wanted your fortune?”
He shook his head. He still looked surprised, but happy surprised now. Like a man out on a morning stroll who had stumbled over a pot of gold in his path. “No, I knew it wasn’t that. Otherwise you’d have accepted my brother.”
Her lips flattened with annoyance. “People have been talking.”
“Aye, they certainly have.” The teasing light in his eyes confirmed that he was far from displeased to know she loved him. That was good. Even better would be if he loved her back. “They’ve been saying something else, too.”
She sighed. “That I’m besotted with you, I suppose.”
He laughed softly and kissed her. “I never heard that. I wish I had.”
“So what have they been saying?” It was hard to keep her mind on the conversation after that kiss which, while swift, had been thorough.
“That the new Earl of Channing took one look at the vicar’s bonnie daughter and fell head over heels.” He settled between her legs, and she became aware of some very interesting things happening to his body. “Bess, I’m trying in my clumsy way to tell you that I love you.”
Dazed she stared up at him. “You do?”
“Aye, I most certainly do.” The tenderness shining in his eyes convinced her more than mere words could. His brogue was thicker than usual. “You blazed into my life like lightning and I never wanted to live without you again.”
“I felt…I felt the same,” she confessed, and her elation in becoming his wife expanded until she felt ready to burst with the glory of it all.
“Will you tell me again?” he asked softly.
She brushed back an unruly lock of auburn hair that tumbled over his forehead and studied those beloved features. “I love you, Rory.”
Rory kissed her again, gentler, sweeter. He slid up on the pillows and settled her in his arms. “And I love you, Bess. Forever.”
“I’m so happy,” she whispered, resting her head on his chest. “I thought I was happy before. But knowing I love you and you love me, I can’t tell you how wonderful that feels.”
“I’ll devote the rest of my life to keeping you this way.”
She kissed his bare shoulder. “I never thought I’d fall in love with a pirate. Until you arrived at Penton Wyck, I’d always been revoltingly well behaved.”
Even before he spoke, she felt his sudden tension. “Actually that’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about.”
She tipped her head back to study his expression. When they’d exchanged their vows of love, he’d looked incandescent. Now he looked troubled. And a tad sheepish.
“You don’t need to make any dreadful confessions, my love.” She paused, savoring the endearment on her lips. “What’s done is done. I love the man you are now, whatever your murky past.”
***
“That’s very understanding.” Rory’s lips turned down in self-derision. Bess had sounded so very proud of herself when she’d professed her love for an outlaw. How he hated to blight her pleasure. “But I’m afraid there’s one dreadful confession that won’t wait.”
Her eyes wary, Bess sat up and tugged the sheets higher to cover her breasts. “Rory, what is it?”
He caught her hand and regarded her ruefully. “Gossip isn’t always as accurate as it was when it spread the news about my yen for you, bonnie lass.”
“What do you mean?”
“It means, despite all the colorful tattle, I’m not and never have been a pirate.”
She peered into his face, clearly seeking some sign of his familiar teasing. But on this occasion, he was deadly serious. “Not a pirate?”
He shook his head and admitted the shameful truth. “I went into the Royal Navy as a boy, and spent the next twenty-odd years fighting most respectably for king and country. In fact, since the end of the French wars, I’ve devoted the majority of my time at sea to catching pirates.”
A faint frown drew her brows together. “So you’re a law-abiding citizen?”