He nodded his consent and lay back against his pillows, content with the miraculous painkiller she’d already given him. Rab leapt up next to him and flopped down at his feet with a yawn. Her fur baby had yet to completely overcome the effects of the laudanum. Aila had no idea how long it would take either of them to be back to normal.
Rab could sleep his off. Finn, on the other hand….
No doctors. No coddling. It had been a rather long day, as they’d already said many a time. They’d made the excuse that the rest of it could be worked out in the morning now that Elliot was restrained and under supervision in Inveraray’s brand new jailhouse. He had significant head trauma and bite marks to his hands and arms that required stitches. There were fair odds he might not make it through the night. Aila couldn’t find it in herself to summon an ounce of pity for the man who’d killed his own father.
A woman’s weapon, all three men had labeled poison.
Whatever they thought, Aila would never stoop to such subterfuge. If she were angry, she’d make sure Finn knew it. If she were upset, she wouldn’t let the mistakes she’d made in the past follow her into the future. It might take her a while to set them completely aside. Nevertheless, she would. There was only a bright future for her now. One where love and trust went hand in hand. Honesty was all he would have from her.
Was it all she would have from him?
The woman I love.
Honesty or a declaration made in the heat of the moment?
“I’m fine here,” Finn said as he settled himself. Aila leaned over to kiss him but missed his mouth when he turned his head to the side. “Ye should get yerself a bath.”
Aila blinked. “Do I stink?”
He shook his head, his expression hard to read. “A meal then. Ye maun be starved.”
“Are ye…are ye trying to get rid of me?” She eased away. “If ye need some privacy, ye only need to say so. If it’s something else…?”
“Lass….” He hesitated and caught her hand. “Marta is in the castle now.”
Aila stiffened. Damn, she’d forgotten about that. Given his stone-cold threat in the solar before, she would have thought he was done with his wife. Had she been wrong?
“As are a number of noblewomen and busybodies who will, to the last, be hoping to sniff out more gossip,” he continued. “I wouldnae want to risk sullying yer reputation.”
Relief almost wilted her limbs. “If that’s what ye’re worried about, I’m prepared to be sullied if it means we stay together.”
“Och, my lass. There is nothing I want more. Nay, that’s a lie.” He tried to sit then winced and fell back once more. “I’d like to kiss ye. There is one thing I want even more. Those feelings ye’re always havering on about? I’d like to talk about them. Ye’ve brought something into my life I thought I’d never find. Hope. Optimism. Love.” He ran his hands through his hair with a sheepish look. “Blast, this is no’ how I’d thought to ask. I want ye to be my wife,mo chridhe. To stay with me and Niall and Effie.”
“Finn, I—”
“Nay, dinnae say anything.” Finn held up a hand to forestall any response or her attempts to throw herself at his mercy. “I ken it is too much to ask of ye. Until I can obtain a legal divor—”
Aila cut him off with the kiss he wanted. The one she needed. Even while it soothed the last of her jangled nerves, it aroused and excited.
“It could be years, lass,” he murmured against her lips. “Before we can legally be together.”
“I dinnae care.” And she didn’t. She didn’t need a piece of paper to validate her love. Later she would explain that modern philosophy. Right now, nothing mattered beyond him. “Finn, I…that is…I love ye. Come what may.”
Finn crushed her in his arms. Gasping for breath she looked up at him and caught the broad smile on his lips. “And I love ye, lass. I regret no’ saying so before.”
He loved her! Even in a state of sound mind. Aila was elated…and frankly, a little perplexed. “I cannae imagine why.”
With a low chuckle, he kissed her nose. “Because ye’re so bonny when ye ask silly questions?Och, lass, there’s no’ a thing I would change about ye. Ye’re perfect as ye are.”
“I’m no’ perfect.” God, she couldn’t accept such an attitude. The last thing she needed was a relationship with a man who saw her only through rose-colored glasses. “I’m flawed, Finn. Stubborn, moody.”
“Who told ye that?”
Aila shrugged. “Everyone.”
He only shook his head, his thumb sweeping along her cheek as he cradled her face in his hands. “Aye, I suppose ye’re all those things. I would even add to it a touch of arrogance, willfulness, and pure cheekiness. Nae one is perfect,mo chridhe. No’ ye, no’ I. ’Tis those things that challenge me and excite me. Ye may verra well drive me to an early grave and I ken, nae day with ye will be mundane. It will be a life worth sharing with ye, nevertheless. A perfect life. Because ye are perfect in my eyes.” He ran a hand down her shoulder. His fingers curled around to trace her shoulder blade while his hazel eyes held hers, soft and sincere. “Ye are enough,mo chridhe.More than enough. Never doubt that and that I love ye.”
“Oh Finn!” He’d seen her tattoo only briefly and still managed to intuit the meaning behind it. How had she ever been so lucky to find a man like him? She hugged him and laid her cheek against his chest to hide the tears in her eyes. Gah, she’d have to work on these tears. It was so unlike her. Then again, so was feeling so many emotions. Every single one of them flooded the confines of her heart and overflowed. Brash and bold were falling away to reveal a different person inside.
