She blinked at him, astonished that he recalled the Donaghey family motto.
“Aye,” she agreed. “Just so.”
Ewan didn’t say more, just hummed contemplatively.
They rode a bit longer, until they came upon a path that was too narrow for the horses.
“We can either turn back or take this down a ways on foot before remounting,” Ewan explained, breaking the silence. “It’s shorter this way, but I dinnae ken if ye’re wearing shoes that can stand the rocks.”
She gave him an affronted look. What did he think she was, some petal-handed gentlewoman? And he chuckled.
“All right then; down we go.”
Without their riders, the horses traversed the narrow path easily. Still, Ailsa kept her hand on Geal’s neck.
She was worried that if she didn’t, she’d be tempted to reach for Ewan when the rocky surface shifted beneath her feet.
When they reached the bottom, though, there was one last boulder that was too high for Ailsa to jump down herself. Ewan reached up a hand.
His fingers weresowarm in hers, no matter that the spring air still bore a bit of a chill to it. She stepped down… and didn’t release him immediately.
She gazed up into his blue eyes, transfixed into making a confession.
“I’m frightened,” she said, voice soft. “Marriage… it isnae an uncomplicated thing for a woman. I’ll no longer be a Donaghey.”
“Ye will,” he said.
Oh, indeed, the same blood would run through her veins. Her sisters would still be her sisters. But a name was no small thing, and it felt very strange to contemplate having a new one.
“Perhaps,” she allowed.
He was looking at her tenderly, softly, and it caused a spark of hope to light in Ailsa’s chest.
“Ye will,” he repeated. “And ye need not fear anything. All will be well, lass. I promise ye.”
And then, as if to bind this vow, he bent and kissed her directly on the lips.
CHAPTER EIGHT
For a moment,Ailsa justfelt.
The warmth of his lips. Their softness. The slight scrape of the stubble on his cheeks. The calluses on his hands where he reached up to touch her cheeks.
The jolt of heat that coursed through her.
And then her mind caught up with her body and she gasped, lurching back.
“I—” she said, feeling every inch the dolt.
For a moment, but only one, Ewan seemed just as affected. He cleared his throat, looking at her with something unreadable in his gaze. Then, however, he pasted a cocksure grin on his face.
Drat it all if that didn’t look twice as handsome on him, too.
“Why did ye do that?” she demanded.
He shrugged rakishly. “We’re to be married, are we no? Besides, I wanted to.”
“Youwanted to?” she echoed, all her previous insistence that she was no dainty lady losing its power in the face of her unfortunately missish tone. “And so ye just… did?”
