“I didnae have to approve anything. Ye are yer own person. But I have met with Mairi, aye,” Maxwell said. “It remains yer choice.”
Her fingers tightened on her cloak. “It is nae that I am ungrateful.”
“I ken,” Maxwell replied. “And I didnae just tell ye all of that to sway yer decision.”
Silence stretched.
Isla entered the chambers then, standing in the darker corner, clearly wanting to tend to Ariella before Maxwell said something wrong and upset her again.
Maxwell did not look at Isla. He kept his focus on his wife.
“I will nae follow ye,” Maxwell said, voice steady. “But I will send a guard far back on the road. For safety. Ye will ken he’s there. He will nae approach unless ye call for him.”
Ariella’s throat worked. “All right.”
Maxwell hesitated. He had always believed duty mattered more than desire.
That love was something to be earned later.
He no longer knew when later had become never.
“May I speak plainly?” he said.
Ariella held his gaze. “Ye’ve never struggled to do so.”
He almost smiled. Almost.
“Last night,” Maxwell said, voice low, “I answered ye like a fool.”
A flicker crossed her face. Pain, quick and controlled.
Maxwell continued anyway. “When ye asked about an heir, I said ‘nay’ without thinking. Without hearing what ye were really asking.”
Ariella’s chin lifted a fraction. “And what was I asking?”
Maxwell’s throat tightened. “Ye were asking if ye were safe to hope.”
Ariella went still Her eyes never leaving his.
Maxwell forced himself onward, each word chosen like stepping stones across a river. “Ye have been safe to hope since the day ye walked into me life. I simply didnae ken how to hold that truth without fear.”
Her eyes glistened, but she blinked it away stubbornly.
Maxwell’s voice roughened. “I am glad, Ariella. About the bairn. About ye. About all of it.”
Ariella’s breath hitched.
“But,” Maxwell added, because he would not lie by omission, “I understand if gladness is nae enough to mend what I broke.”
Ariella’s mouth tightened. She looked at him for a long moment, measuring.
Then she said quietly, “I daenae ken what I feel yet.”
Maxwell nodded once. “That’s fair.”
Isla exhaled as if she’d been holding her breath for weeks.
Ariella’s gaze dropped briefly to Maxwell’s hands, then back to his face. “Ye’ll let me have time.”
