Scotch Swords, Muskets and Love

CHAPTER 5

Susan finished explaining what she was going to do in order to help get evidence that Seamas and Lord MacNally had been behind the theft of Robert's money. Robert took a long, slow sip of whiskey, and then set his pitcher down carefully on the table.

“You'd do that for me?” he asked. “Really?”

Susan drank another swig of whiskey herself. She felt its fire working its way through her veins, and she couldn't help feeling somewhat emboldened.

“I'd do a lot of things for you, Robert... Even though I hardly know you. Forgive me for being so bold as to say that, but I... I feel as if I can't help myself.”

Now that the whiskey had worked its passage through her blood, she felt as if a while lot of things that she had bottled up for years were now ready to come tumbling out of the places they had been kept; stuffed and crammed into shadowy places inside her, hidden from the light.

“I'm sorry for being so bold,” she said “I just can’t help myself... it's been so long since I opened up to anyone, anyone at all about my feelings. I’ve been so terribly lonely since... since Seamas, since I broke off the engagement with him. And his betrayal of my trust has left me feeling so broken and empty inside. I really... I’m so sorry to burden you with this, but there's just, there's something in me that I feel I can't keep bottled up any longer. And... And I feel a strong attraction to you, Robert. I know, I know it sounds crazy. We’ve only just met each other, and here I am opening up to you... Oh, part of me feels like a fool, but... But part of me really feels like I can open up to you. That you understand what I feel. I'm sorry if I sound like some crazy person. But... this is how I feel, and I can't help it.”

Robert smiled and reached across the table, taking her hands gently in his.

“You know what, Susan? I feel the same. Ever since all these terrible things have happened to me – the death of my fiancée, the drought that killed my horses and the theft of all that gold that's put me in debt and made me have to forfeit my family's lands... Well, ever since these things have happened, I’ve felt like a failure, a loser. Like everything I worked for, everything I earned turned out to be nothing, because I was foolish enough to let all that money get stolen from right under my nose. And I've been unable to talk deeply to anyone about it, because... Because... well, just because I feel like nobody can really relate to me. But with you... I felt something Susan, I felt a connection; a deep, intense connection that went beyond what mere words could say. I saw it in your eyes, and I hoped you had seen it in mine. Now, after talking to you like this... I know that you saw it in my eyes too.”

He gave her hands a gentle squeeze.

“And now, with what you've just proposed to do for me... Well, I can hardly think of anyone in my life who's ever done anything so kind for me. And to make the kind of sacrifice that you're prepared to make, that you've just described... With all the feelings and emotions involved... I really don't know how I could ever repay you for your kindness.”

Susan smiled at him, and her eyes sparkled in the candlelight.

“I haven't done anything yet, Robert. But I will... For you, I'd do... I'd do anything.”

Robert stood up from the table, but kept his fingers wrapped gently around Susan’s hands.

“Stand up,” he said softly.

“Alright.”

Susan stood up, looking down at the floor as she did, suddenly afraid to meet his eyes. However, he took his right hand off of hers and with his forefinger he gently tilted her chin up, so that she was face to face with him.

“You have some of the most gorgeous eyes I've ever seen,” he said, “and since I first laid eyes on them – on all of you, in fact – I haven't been able to get you out of my head.”

“I feel the same, Robert. You took my breath away when you walked into my shop... and I'm still trying to get it back, to be honest.”

They stared deeply into each other's eyes for a few more moments, and then Robert, still holding Susan’s hands, leaned in close and kissed her. His lips parted hers with slow languor, and then he slipped his tongue, hot and hungry, into her mouth. She couldn't help but gasp at the intensity of emotion that his passionate kiss brought bubbling to the surface of her consciousness; suddenly she felt a powerful hunger that was almost painful in its intensity waken within her.