For a moment, Murdock just stood there, staring at her like she’d said something impossible. Something miraculous.
Then he moved.
One moment, they were facing each other; the next, he’d closed the distance and pulled her into his arms. The embrace was crushing, desperate, like he was trying to convince himself she was real.
His whole body shuddered. “I didnae think… I never thought someone could…” He pulled back just enough to look at her, his eyes bright with unshed tears. “I want to marry ye. A real marriage this time. Nae for protection or duty or politics. For this. For us. If ye’ll still have me.”
“Aye,” she agreed without hesitation, without a doubt. “Aye, I’ll marry ye. I’ll be yer wife. Skye’s maither. Part of yer family. If ye’ll have me.”
“If I’ll…” Murdock made a sound that was half-laugh, half-sob. “Leona, I rode for three days without stoppin' because I couldnae stand another moment without ye. Skye cried herself to sleep every night because ye were gone. Even Hamish told me I was bein' an idiot and needed to fix what I’d broken. The whole castle has been miserable without ye.”
“Just the castle?” Leona asked, a smile tugging at her lips despite the tears streaming down her face.
“Nay.” Murdock’s voice went soft, intimate. “Nae just the castle. Me. I’ve been miserable without ye. Empty. Like someone cut out me heart and rode away with it.”
“I’m sorry,” Leona whispered. “I shouldnae have left. Shouldnae have assumed.”
“Ye shouldnae have had to assume.” He brushed the tears from her cheeks with gentle thumbs. “I should have told ye. Should have said the words. Should have fought harder to make ye see that what I felt for ye wasnae obligation or duty or anythin' but love.”
“Ye’re sayin' it now.”
“Aye. And I’ll say it every day for the rest of our lives, if ye’ll let me.” His voice dropped, became fierce with conviction. “I love ye, Leona. I love yer courage and yer kindness and the way ye talk to Nyx like she understands every word. I love how ye never backed down from me, never let me hide behind me walls. I love that ye see the man I could be rather than the monster I fear I am.”
“Because ye’re nae a monster,” Leona insisted. “Ye never have been.”
“Maybe nae. But I was broken.” Murdock’s hands framed her face, his touch achingly gentle. “Damaged in ways I didnae ken how to fix. And then ye came along and… ye didnae fix me. Ye just loved me anyway. Cracks and all.”
“I happen to love the cracks,” Leona said softly. “They let the light in.”
Something in Murdock’s expression cracked at that. The last of his careful control, his walls, all of it crumbling down to reveal the raw emotion beneath.
“I daenae deserve ye,” he murmured.
“Then spend the rest of yer life tryin' to.” Leona smiled through her tears. “I’ll wait.”
“Ye willnae have to wait long.” His thumb traced her lower lip, and Leona felt heat bloom in her belly at the touch. “I plan to spend every moment makin' ye feel happy. Loved. Makin' ye understand exactly how precious ye are to me.”
“Murdock…” His name came out in a breath as his head lowered toward hers.
“Tell me to stop,” he murmured against her lips. “Tell me this is too fast, too soon, that ye need time to?—”
Leona kissed him.
It was different from their previous kisses. There was no desperation, no restraint, no fear. Just pure, honest emotion pouring between them as his mouth moved over hers with a tenderness that made her chest ache.
“I love ye,” she whispered against his lips.
“Say it again.”
“I love ye.”
“Again.”
“I love ye, Murdock. I love ye, I love ye, I love ye?—”
He kissed her harder, deeper, his hands tangling in her hair as he pulled her flush against him. Leona could feel his heart pounding against her chest, matching the frantic rhythm of her own.
When they finally broke apart, both breathing hard, Murdock rested his forehead against hers.
