“Then help me.”Elijah’s green eyes met hers. “Help me figure out how to be the faither they need. Please.”
Something warm bloomedin Piper’s chest at the request. At the vulnerability in his voice.
This wasthe man she’d glimpsed in the portrait gallery, not the cold Laird, but the man beneath. The one who cared, who hurt, who wanted to do better but didn’t know how.
“Aye,”she said softly. “I’ll help ye.”
“Thank ye.”Elijah’s expression softened. “What do I need to do?”
“Give me a few hours,”Piper said, her mind already racing with possibilities. “Let me plan somethin’. An activity that ye can all do together. Somethin’ that’ll let ye connect with them in a way that feels natural.”
“A few hours,”Elijah repeated. “All right. I can do that.”
He started to turn away,then paused. “Piper?”
“Aye?”
“Yer parents—ifthey come back, if they try anythin’ else—ye tell me immediately. Promise me.”
“I promise.”
“Good.”He held her gaze for a moment longer, and Piper felt her heart skip. “Thank ye. For, for everythin’.”
Then he was walking away,heading back toward the keep, leaving Piper standing alone in the courtyard with her thoughts whirling. She pressed a hand to her chest, feeling her heart racing beneath her palm.
He values me.He wants me help.
The realization hither like a physical blow.
She loved him.
Somewhere between theforest and the castle, between their arguments and their stolen moments, between watching him struggle to be better and feeling his hands on her skin, she’d fallen in love with Elijah.
The knowledge should have terrifiedher. Should have sent her running in the opposite direction. Because loving Elijah was foolish. Dangerous. He was a laird, and she was just a governess. He’d been married to a beautiful woman, and Piper was?—
He thinks ye’re beautiful.He showed ye that in the portrait gallery. He made ye feel things ye never thought ye’d feel.
But that didn’t meanhe loved her back. Desire wasn’t the same as love. And even if he did care for her—even if there was something more than just attraction between them—it didn’t change the fundamental imbalance in their positions.
She worked for him.He paid her wages. He held all the power.
But he’s also tryin’to be better.He’s lettin’ ye in. Askin’ for yer help. Trustin’ ye with his children.
Piper took a shaky breath,trying to sort through the tangle of emotions in her chest.
She loved him.That was the truth, whether it was wise or foolish, practical or impossible.
And maybe,probably, nothing would ever come of it.
Maybe he’d never feelthe same way. Maybe she’d spend the rest of her time at Castle McMahon watching him from afar, loving him silently, knowing she could never have him.
But she also had thismoment. This feeling. This knowledge that, for the first time in her life, she’d opened her heart to someone. That she’d let herself feel something real and deep and transformative.
And that was worth something,wasn’t it? Even if it hurt. Even if it ended badly.
At least she’dfinally felt it. Love. Real, genuine, terrifying love.
“Miss Armstrong?”
