“Ye killed a soldier?” Niall’s voice was higher than usual, loud and accusing. “Why did ye not tell us that?”
“He held a knife to yer sister’s throat.” Sean stood, keeping his eyes on her.
“So were ye a part of the slaughter or nae?”
Sean turned to the man. His expression stone cold. “Nae. I would take no part in the slaughtering of unarmed men. I fight to protect me and mine.”
“Did he ken I was a woman?”
Sean’s chest tightened at the memory. All around him forgotten but her, he remembered the intense need to save her. “I dunna ken for certain if he thought you a lass or a lad. When he moved to grab yer arse, he had to die.”
“Tell me howyeknew I was a lass. My effeminacies?”
“Ye behave like a woman in many ways but ye fooled the others at the inn.”
“Did I?”
Lachlann moved next to Niall.
“I canna follow.”
“Methinks they need a moment,” Lachlann said and led him a short distance away.
“So when ye killed him, were ye protecting ye or yers?”
Sean offered a quiet smile. “He offered no threat tomyperson.”
“Ye or yers?” Thomasina repeated her question in a small voice.
“Ye spoke like a fighter yerself and I dinna want to see ye knocked on yer arse—fine as it was.” Sean’s voice was hushed. He closed the distance between them. He needed to tell her how he felt, especially if he had to leave her behind. “Not while I was there beside ye.”
A glistening of moisture appeared on her eyelids. His breath caught in his chest. Without thinking twice he leaned down to cup her cheek and drew her in closer. He kissed her lips with the lightest pressure before pulling back slightly. “I considered ye mine. From the first.”
Her eyes rounded. “I liked to be yers.”
“Dunna make this any harder than ’tis. Ye’re ripping my heart out.”
Sean wanted to kiss her again. It didn’t matter what he wanted. Not anymore.
She licked her lips and glanced at his mouth then back to his eyes. “Kiss me like I’m yers. Just once more.”
He closed his eyes and shut out everything around them. He closed his eyes to feel every tender sensation. He closed his eyes to etch the feel of her on his heart. The kiss was tender at first. Tasting. Remembering. Mourning. When she shifted closer, his arms wrapped around her. He held her against him, where she belonged, and memorized the feel of her in his arms. Her mouth became more insistent, opening for his tongue to plunder its depths. He groaned and pulled back.
“Nae, Thomasina. This canna be for us.”
“How can I just say goodbye to ye? I dunna want to say goodbye. I want to stay with ye. Dunna ye want that?”
“More than anything in this world.”
“If Lachlann had not come in, ye’d have made love to me.” She whispered the words in the small space between their lips.
Sean took a shaky breath then crushed her against him. “’Tis all for the best.” The words he was saying made no sense even to him. “Ye’ll live up north with someone better suited to ye.”
“Ye’re suited to me.”
“I hear I’m a brute.”
Her laughter made her stomach move against him. He began to laugh as well. “Sorry I am that I said that.”
