He ended the kiss, the wind now howling in a manner that cautioned a storm was on the horizon. He kissed her forehead and tucked her in close against the wind. She shivered, and he thought to remove her from the cold elements around them.
“You’re cold. I’ll escort you to your chamber.”
“Nay, a few moments more, then I’ll sleep better.”
“I’ll gladly hold you for as long as you like.”
He meant every word. Holding her soothed him unlike anything ever had. It made him forget, for a moment, the experiences that had scarred him more than the battle had injured his face.
“Alasdair, will you teach me how to use a sword sometime? Do you have a small one I could use?”
“Aye,” he agreed at once. “I know exactly where to get you one. I’ll make sure it fits you perfectly.”
They stayed like that, wrapped around each other, until a cold rain started.
“I’m ready,” she said, turning in his embrace.
He moved behind her to protect her from the weather, then followed her down the dark staircase. She led him to her chamber, then turned to him and said, “My thanks for listening to me.”
He kissed her quickly and said, “I look forward to sharing more secrets.”
He left her and headed down the stairs, the sudden need to see his grandfather overpowering him. The hall had quieted, and no one stopped him as he made his way to the chamber at the end. To his surprise, his grandsire’s door was open. He knocked on the wall beside it and stepped inside. “Grandsire?”
“I’ve been waiting for you.”
His grandfather sat in front of the hearth, just as he had before, and motioned for him to take the seat beside him. “How did you know I was coming back?”
“You’ve been chatting with a lass, have you not?” The old man gave him a sly grin. Hell, his grandsire knew him too well.
“How would you know that? We were on the parapets.”
“’Tis my job to know what my bairns and grandbairns are thinking and doing. Now that Maddie is gone, you are all my priority. Besides, I made a promise to her long ago, and I intend to keep it.”
“To watch over us?”
“Aye,” he said, his eyes sparkling. “Enough about me. You’ve met a lass you’re drawn to finally?”
He considered lying to his grandsire, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. “Iamdrawn to her.”
“And you fear it could become a problem?”
He shrugged his shoulders. In order to answer the man honestly, he’d have to ask him some hard questions. Perhaps, given everything his grandsire had been through in the past several days, this was not the right time for those questions.
“Why not ask me now?”
He scowled, turning his head quickly to stare at the dear man. How the hell did he always know his thoughts? “All right, I’ll ask. I’m not sure I wish to get so attached to someone. I saw how awful it was for you after Grandmama passed on, and for Papa after he lost Mama. I don’t know if I could handle that kind of pain. I don’t want to fall in love with a woman only to have her leave me.”
Shocked at the dampness around his eyes, he swiped under them to keep tears from falling. His memories of watching the men he most admired grieve, while he grieved, too, pained him worse than that awful memory from the battle near the Borderlands.
Alasdair was an only child, so he’d witnessed every bitter minute of his sire’s grief. He’d seen the private pains that had not been shared with anyone else.
“It’s too painful, Grandpapa. How did you handle losing Grandmama?”
“Alasdair, aye, it was painful, but I want you to think on this. What would my life be if not for Maddie? You would not be here with me now, nor would I have Aunt Kyla, Aunt Eliza, and Aunt Maeve to help me.”
He took his gaze from the dancing flames in the hearth to stare at the beloved man next to him, someone he knew he would lose, too, someday.
But age had given his grandsire wisdom more valuable than any amount of coin.
