Finn hung back for half a heartbeat. His eyes flicked from Neil’s mouth to his hands and back again. “Ye came to find us,” he blurted. “Ye came to find us?”
Neil’s chest tightened until it hurt. He shifted Anna to one arm and reached his free hand to ruffle Finn’s hair. Something about them calling him their father tugged at something he didn’t believe was still there.
Maybe he didwant to be a father. The idea of having children did not seem strange at all. In fact, it was the complete opposite.
“Listen to me,” he said, steady and firm. “Nay matter where ye both go, I will always find ye and yer ma. Do ye hear me?”
Finn’s lower lip trembled. “Ye mean it?”
“Aye,” Neil said. “I mean it. We will never be apart again if I can help it.”
Maggie barked once, satisfied. Skye hovered a few steps back, watching with bright eyes. Neil gave her a quick nod that he hoped conveyed that she belonged in this odd, stitched-together family as much as any of them.
Despite the noise, he could feel Kristen’s gaze on him. It landed like a touch between his shoulders.
“Daenae make promises ye cannae keep, Neil.”
She was standing a little way off, with her shawl pulled tight and her arms folded across her chest. Her chin was high, and her eyes were too bright.
Tears, perhaps?
He didn’t wait for the answer.
“I intend to keep this one,” he said. “For as long as ye will let me.”
She gave a small scoff. “Ye say that now because ye rode all this way and everything feels grand and brave. What happens when ye remember that ye daenae want any distractions? When duty calls again?”
He took a step toward her. The children shifted with him, and he anchored them with a hand.
“Duty never stopped calling, Kristen,” he said. “I only used it as an excuse, and I hurt ye with it. I am done doing that.”
Murdock stood off to the side, his arms folded, watching like a guard who would not step in unless asked.
Neil was grateful for his presence. Still, he kept his eyes on Kristen.
“I didnae come all this way to play at apologies for a day and ride back alone,” he added. “I ken what I am saying.”
He set Anna gently on her feet, then touched Finn’s shoulder and nodded toward the dog and Skye. “Take Skye and Maggie,” he said quietly. “Let her chase ye. I need a word with yer ma.”
Finn hesitated, then nodded like a little man and trotted off. Anna followed, clapping. Maggie bounded after them, delighted at having a mission.
Murdock caught up with the children and shot Neil a look that said he had heard enough for now, before herding them to the safer side of the shore.
Silence fell, punctuated by the soft slap of water against stones and the rustle of grass.
Neil looked at Kristen. He saw the shadows under her eyes and the stubborn tilt of her chin that she used like a shield. But he did not reach for her.Not yet.
“I have been hiding behind ghosts,” he said, his voice low. “Me faither’s. Alex’s. Even Lachlan’s. I told meself that if I stayed cold, I would keep everyone safe. All I did was make ye suffer.”
Her throat worked. “Us and yerself too.”
“Aye, but ye especially,” he sighed. “Now I ken what matters. I want ye, wife. Nae just in me bed, and nae just standing beside me so the clan feels easy. I wantye. Yer temper. Yer soft heart. Yer dragons and yer rules, and the way ye speak to me people till they smile.”
He nodded toward the children at the waterline. “I wantthem. Our strange little family. I want to spend the rest of me life earning the way they look at me when they call meDa.” He drew a breath and held it for a beat. “I want this. Us. Forever. If ye will have me. Nae as a duty, but as a choice.”
Kristen’s fingers tightened on the edge of her shawl as the wind lifted a strand of her damp hair and laid it against her cheek. For a moment, she looked as if the weight of separation had pressed her flat. Fear sat there, and hurt, and something warmer that she tried to hide.
She took one step closer.
