“Tonight, we celebrate the turning of the year,” he bellowed. “And give thanks for a full harvest, fine food and even finer grog. Those of ye on guard duty later—careful how much ye drink because if I find ye sleeping on the job, I’ll crack yer heads fer ye. Those of ye not on guard duty later, drink to yer hearts content!”
There was a round of cheering at this.
“To the harvest!” Reid shouted.
“To the king and queen!” the men shouted back.
Everyone raised their cups in a toast and began tucking into the feast.
It turned out to be a grand evening. Just as he’d hoped, the tension that had permeated the castle evaporated and was instead replaced with singing and laughter, with ribald jokes and good-natured banter. Sitting at the head table with Abigail, Reid felt something he’d never expected to feel for this band of thieves and cutthroats.
Affection.
He’d felt loyalty before, of course. He’d always done right by them, always taken his duty as their commander seriously. But he’d neverlikedthem. Now, he saw that Rufus wasn’t just some towering oaf who was good with a war hammer, he was also a great storyteller and he had the men at his table spellbound as he regaled them with tales of the Fae that his grandmother had told him as a child. Now Reid realized that Blair wasn’t just a skinny thief who’d escaped justice by signing on with Laird Campbell, he had a sparkling wit and a way of telling jokes that had people falling about with laughter.
It was a revelation. Who might these men have been if their lives had turned out differently? For that matter, who would he have been if he hadn’t taken the path he had?
Carry on this road or choose another. The choice is yers.
He glanced at Abigail. She was laughing at one of Blair’s jokes, despite the fact that it had hardly been decent for a woman’s ears. She looked resplendent and the sight of her made his heart lift. A different road? Was that what Abigail was showing him? After tonight, he would know. Nerves flashed in his gut again, and he downed his whisky to try and drown them out.
But it didn’t work. Whilst everyone else seemed to grow increasingly relaxed as the evening went on, Reid found himself getting more and more wound up. What if he’d read it wrong and Abigail didn’t feel the way he did after all? What if she laughed in his face?
Ah, curse it!
Finally, the feast ended and cook and his helpers began clearing away the plates and platters. Some of the men—those who’d imbibed too much drink—had fallen asleep where they sat, heads on tables, snoring softly.
“I think I might follow their example,” Abigail said, nodding to the snoring men. “It’s late. Although,” she added with a saucy smile, “I’m sure I could be woken up a bit—with the right persuasion.”
Damn it, she was the most forward lass he’d ever met. It was one of the things he loved about her. She wasn’t afraid to let him know what she wanted—and he was all too happy to give it to her.
He lurched to his feet. He suddenly needed very much to be alone with her. Taking her hand, he led her from the hall to the sounds of ribald comments and shouts of, “Long live the harvest king and queen!”
Although ostensibly Abigail still had her own room and she washed and dressed in there, she hadn’t slept in her own room for some time. She spent the nights in Reid’s room and they made good use of his over-sized bed. Reid kicked the door open, tugged her inside, and was on her almost before he’d shut the door, pushing her up against the wall and kissing her hungrily.
His body ached for her but he stopped himself, forcing himself to take a step back. It was time to do what he’d been planning for three days, what tonight had really all been about.
He was going to tell Abigail that he loved her and ask her to stay.
She had become the pivot on which his life turned and he knew he could no longer live without her. The thought of her leaving, of her returning to her homeland, twisted his stomach in knots.
So he broke their kiss and stood looking at her with his hands resting against the wall to either side of her face. She was breathing heavily, her cheeks flushed with desire, and in that moment, he would have burned down the world if she’d asked him to. He realized he was trembling.
“Reid?” she said softly. “What’s wrong?”
“Naught is wrong,” he replied. “Just the opposite. Do ye know what ye’ve done to me, lass? Ye’ve stripped me bare and left me helpless. For me, the sun rises and sets with yer smile.”
She cupped his cheek and leaned forward to kiss him. He put his finger on her chin to stop her. If she kissed him again, he was lost.
“What I’m trying to say, Abigail is...” he faltered. Why were the words so damned hard? “What I mean to say is... What I want to ask is—”
“My lord! Come quickly!”
Footsteps pounded in the corridor outside and there came a hammering on the door.
“My lord!”
With a snarl, Reid flung open the door, ready to unleash a torrent of fury on the bastard who had disturbed this moment.
