She cast him a quick smile.“Do you lie because you have seen sorrow in my future, or is my future veiled?”
“I would never lie to you, Leila.”He spoke with conviction, because it was true.
“Not even out of kindness?”
“Not even then.”Fergus took a breath and confessed the truth.“I have not had any glimpse of your future.”He did not admit that he believed that might be because she would return to the east.
He would not consider that she had no future, only that it was not within his world.
“No future for me,” she echoed, a bit of sadness in her voice.
“Just because I cannot see it does not mean as much.I never see my own.”
“Then perhaps our future days are bound together,” she whispered, making the opposite conclusion to his own.
Fergus did not know what to say.
Leila looked up at him, then, and her gaze lingered on his mouth.She ran the tip of her own tongue across her bottom lip, as if she hungered for more than he had any right to give, then she took a deep breath and dropped her gaze, hiding her thoughts from him.
Fergus felt immediately bereft.“What will you do?”He lifted one hand when she did not reply.“Will you stay here at Haynesdale with Bartholomew and Anna?I know they would welcome you.”
Leila shook her head.
“Will you continue to Killairic with Duncan and me?”
“And face the wrath of your betrothed?”she suggested, a smile in her voice.
“Isobel might not make the conclusion you expect.”
“Then she is a fool,” she said hotly and straightened beside him.“For any woman with blood in her veins would desire a man so loyal of heart as you, even if he were not wrought so tall and fine, nor possessed of such valor.”
“Leila!”Fergus protested, surprised by her endorsement.“You know little of me...”
“After eleven months in each other’s company, I know much of you, and all of it has merit.”She looked up at him, her eyes flashing.“I admire you, Fergus.You are the manner of man to whom I should like to pledge my troth.”Her gaze clung to his, her desire so easily read that Fergus was shocked.
Indeed, her confession made his heart leap, and he wished it had not.
Leila must have seen his expression change, for she smiled ruefully.“You need not fear that I will act upon this, or that I will be more than your faithful companion,” she continued more quietly.“But if the lady Isobel fails to see your merit, or dares to doubt your integrity, she will answer to me.”
Fergus’s answering smile faded when Leila’s hand landed on his thigh and any words died on his lips.His entire body went taut as an unruly desire rolled through him.
He had been chaste too long, to be sure.
Leila’s eyes were so dark as to be fathomless.Fergus could not tear his gaze away from her.When she spoke, her voice dropped low with intent.“And if there is ever any deed you would desire of me, Fergus, you have only to ask.”
Fergus was honored and might have admitted as much, but he had no chance.For Leila caught her breath, then stretched up and touched her lips to his.He knew it was intended to be a chaste kiss, perhaps the sole one they would ever exchange, but her caress fed that newfound fire within him.
He found himself bending closer, unable to resist what she offered so freely.He cupped her nape in his hand and deepened their kiss, tasting her sweetness and wanting more.
When she opened her mouth to him, surrendering to their embrace, Fergus realized that Leila was not the only one who wished for the impossible.
