“I wouldn’ae have kissed ye or confessed me affections for ye if I had nae intention of makin’ ye me wife,” he told her. “It’s what I’m hopin’ for, even if I have to wait years for ye to consent to be me bride.”
The initial shock of his words settled into a swell of untold happiness, that swept through Heather’s chest like a mighty ripple. In her mind, she had also hoped that his intentions were proper, though it had not stopped her from indulging in his delicious kisses. Hearing him say that his affections reflected hers, a great relief sloughed away from her shoulders.
Shyly, she glanced down at the smooth pebbles. “You would have me as your wife? We barely know one another.”
“Is that nae what we agreed?” He chuckled, tilting her chin back up to meet his eyes. “That’s a courtship, Lass, or so ye told me. A time for us to get to ken one another better. After three weeks of bein’ near to ye, I ken there’s a great deal more to learn, and I’m a willin’ student.”
She nodded. “It is the same for me. I… know so little of… um… romance and of… uh… courtship. Back in England, I was never allowed in a room with another gentleman, unless my father or brother were present. Even Brandon was not exempt.” She paused. “Have you heard word from him, as of yet?”
“I havenae.” A look of frustration passed across Owen’s rugged face. “I’ll give him a week longer. If I still havenae heard aught from him, I’ll be sendin’ scouts to see where he is.”
Fear spiked at Heather’s heart. “Do you think something has befallen him? Might it be that the same people who killed my brother have done the same to him?”
“I daenae ken, Lass, but he kent the risks when he began this pursuit.” Owen sighed. “Och, the smile has left yer lips again. That’s why I daenae like to speak of such things.”
Pulling herself closer to his chest, she peered up. “Then you will have to bring it back to my lips.”
“Is that so?” His eyes shone with irreverence, as he dipped his head to catch her mouth with his.
She sank into him as their kiss deepened. Her breath grew shallow, her heart racing, her stomach tightening, her skin burning with desire for him. He seemed to sense it, as he traced his fingertips down the sides of her neck and paused at her collarbone. There, he smoothed a palm down to her heart, pressing harder so he could feel the wild beat of it.
Meanwhile, his other hand skimmed over the swell of her breast and over her stomach, where it veered to the curve of her waist. His arm slipped around her, urging her as close as she could possibly be.
A gasp whispered into his parted mouth as she once again felt the swell in his loins, sparking a pulse of longing inside her. “I know so little,” she panted, closing her eyes as his lips grazed along her chin, marking out a new, searing path down her throat.
“We’ll learn from each other,” he said: his voice thick with want. “Tonight, there’s somethin’ I would teach ye. Leave a ribbon on yer door if ye want the lesson. If nae, leave nay ribbon.”
Her neck arced back, relishing the burn of his kisses against her skin. “Tonight… yes, tonight—”
Oblivious to what he might have in mind, she was only too eager to discover what other buried sensations he might unearth within her. For here in Scotland, she felt free for the very first time. In that freedom, the rules she had lived by all of her life no longer seemed to apply.
Tonight,she repeated inwardly, where fear collided with curiosity.Whatever you may teach me, I hope I am no disappointment.
In her head, beneath the louder call of her newly kindled desires and discoveries, Brandon’s voice whispered: “Do not forget your integrity, Heather.”
The trouble was, in Owen’s arms, it was easy to forget everything. Her father had not attempted to retrieve her. Indeed, there had been no word from England at all, and if her fathercould forget her so swiftly, as it appeared he had, she saw no reason not to follow suit.
That night, she would have to choose between her head and her heart: to put the ribbon on the door or leave it off.
14
Pacing back and forth in front of the roaring fireplace, Heather’s former eagerness had been exchanged with anxiety and unease. A thousand thoughts crashed through her head, becoming so crowded that she could not pick out a single calming notion.
He says he wishes to have me as his wife, but can I believe that? What if this is merely a ploy to dishonor me, so I can never return to England?She paused, not knowing when she had stopped thinking of England as her home. Gallagher Castle seemed more like a prison now, which she had fortunately escaped. In truth, even if she had the choice of going back, she was not sure if she would.
“What would I gain from it?” she whispered to the flickering flames. “A locked door and a life of solitude, prohibited from going within ten paces of a book or anything that might bring me joy. Remember, Heather, you were not living while you werethere. You were just existing, ruled by the harsh commands of another.”
At Dunn Castle, no such rules existed. She could visit the library whenever she pleased, to read at her leisure. She could wander wherever she liked, though Owen had insisted on her having a small escort if she left the castle grounds. Nevertheless, the two guards who were tasked with protecting her did not attempt to intrude upon her peaceful endeavors; they merely followed at a distance.
“Can I ever really belong here, though?” She crouched down in front of the fire and lifted her hands up to warm them, though the room was already thick with heat.
In the fortnight she had been there, Clan Dunn had neither been dismissive nor embracing of Heather’s presence. They offered polite greetings whenever she passed them and mustered smiles, but she knew it must have been difficult for them to see her there. After all, they had lost brothers, fathers, sons, uncles, cousins, to the war against her people. The English.
The battle is over but the war rages on in the minds of the people.Cromwell had been victorious, that much was true, but Scotland would always be a proud country. The people of Clan Dunn surely held some bitterness in their hearts, while Heather must have served as a stark, unpleasant reminder of a drawn-out defeat.
“Perhaps, I do not belong anywhere.” Her shoulder sagged as she watched the flames dance, seeing shapes and figures in thefire that made her envious. No flame rejected another. No fire forged a divide because their foundations came from different trees.
Just then, a knock came at the door. Heather’s heart leaped into her throat, for she had momentarily forgotten why she had been nervous in the first place.
