“I do, and your family also.”
“Why?” The word was torn from him.
“Because you have strength and honor. Such goodness inside you.”
“You can’t know that.”
Those golden eyes were locked on hers now.
“I can.” She leaned in and kissed him softly. “I was wrong to say what I did to you when I woke after Lilly healed me. You had not betrayed us, and I knew it soon after you’d gone.”
“When those men told you. Manton and Berger.”
“No. I knew before that. Knew you would not do that to me… us.”
He took her hands in a fierce grip.
“Your belief is stronger than mine.” He kissed her knuckles. “When I saw you that day on the beach, Kate, I believed what I felt was a result of gratitude. You saved my life. I would be dead without you. You were my angel at that moment.”
“I don’t want to think about you dying.”
Rory placed his hand over her mouth.
“It’s my turn to talk.”
She nodded.
“I saw you when I woke at Oak’s Knoll. Felt different when you were near, and again believed that connection was due to what had happened. You came to my side when I met family for the first time in the parlor. Sat with me, and I told myself you were doing as you would for any person.”
“Not any person. You.”
“Then we came here, and there you were again, and I felt the pull inside me to come to you. I wanted to hurt that man at the kissing booth. Then under that tree, I felt something inside me give. The tightness I’d always carried began to ease, and it was all because of you.”
He held her hands to his chest.
“When I knew those men were in the castle, all I could think about was getting them out so you weren’t harmed… any of you. Then you were shot, and I have never known such fear.”
“Oh, Rory.” Kate fell forward into his arms, wrapped hers around his waist as his went about her back.
“I never wanted love, Kate. Believed I wasn’t capable, and yet when I came here it was thrust at me from every side. Sisters, brothers, nieces and nephews. Then, of course, there was you.”
He eased her from him, bracing his hands on her shoulders.
“I don’t know what to do about what I feel for you.”
“Love me.”
His eyes closed briefly, and she held her breath.
“It’s not a comfortable feeling.”
“Love?”
“Yes.”
“Then we shall be uncomfortable together.”
She watched as he exhaled slowly.
