“I thought he cared for me.” Thomasina whispered this time.
Someone came up behind her and she brushed a tear from her cheek. Lachlann put a comforting arm around her, pulling her close to his side. “I’m thinking ye may be sweet on the man.”
She shook her head but the tears kept sliding down her face.
“Tom, dunna try to lie to me.Isaw ye with him. Ye were lost in his arms.” He spoke in a quiet voice and stressed the words that tugged at her heart. “Ye were impassioned.” He turned her to face him. “Ye were ready to have him love ye. The deed would be done now if I had not interrupted.”
“Oh, I did. I wanted him to love me.” She whispered the words like a shared secret. “I’ve never felt anything so strong as that before.”
He brushed her hair away from her face. “Are ye certain it was the man and not that… maybe ye’re just ready to be a wife?”
“I never cared about being a wife. I never even thought about it. But being wrapped in arms so strong I felt… like a boat safe in a harbor. Like I’d found my home. Never before. Not until Sean touched me.”
“Do ye think that was what he might have been after all along?” His words were so quiet, as if afraid to hurt her with any accusations.
“Oh Lachlann. Nae. He’s not like that.” She shook her head, pleading with her voice for him to understand. “He’s a good man. He is strong, a warrior, but he was kind with me.”
She looked down at herself then continued. “I was dressed like this, like a boy.” She smiled at him. “I’m not very well endowed so it was simple enough but he saw through my disguise and protected me.”
Lachlann frowned. “Then why are ye still disguised?”
“Well, he didn’t admit he knew I was a girl. He let me keep acting… like… a boy. What?”
Lachlann’s full brow dipped into an angry frown. “Oh he did? And did ye end up in any unexpected situation with him? Like a bed? Or a swim in a loch?”
“Nae!”
“He dinna see you soaked to the bone and yer bonny body all revealed?”
“Why would ye even think that?”
Lachlann’s brows raised and his eyes opened wide as if caught saying too much. He turned a bright shade of red.
“Did ye have a… situation like that?”
“Well, not intentional—Never mind me!” His embarrassment was making him sharp with her.
She smiled. “Nae. He made suggestions about how I could be more like a lad.”
“Such as?” That hint of accusation was still there.
“I should not be squeamish… and defensive. And I should definitely want to learn swear words—”
“Enough!” Lachlann lifted his hand. “Did he take advantage of ye as a lad since he knew ye were a lass?”
She shook her head. “Never. He protected me. He protected me at the inn when the serving wench figured out I was a girl. He protected me when I walked in on the Norman soldiers raping her. He protected me when—” Sobs tightened her throat. “—when they were slaughtering the soldiers.”
Thomasina had no idea why she sobbed uncontrollably but was relieved Lachlann took her in his arms, his hand caressing her back in a soothing motion. He seemed to understand.
“I’d say ye have it bad.”
She pressed her face into his chest and decided she didn’t know, and didn’t want to know, what he was talking about. She just wanted it to be gone.
“And when father was here and tried to take me away, Sean gave him his coins. All of them.”
Lachlann stilled his movements.
“He told our fatherhewas my betrothed now… that I was a bonny lass he’d not be leaving.”
