He grew troubled for a moment. “Are you sure, Cate? God knows it’s selfish of me to ask you to give me another chance after what you’ve been through. I nearly lost my mind when I discovered you’d been taken. They could try it again—using you to get to me and the others. I swear I will do everything I can to protect you, but being with me is not without risk.”
“I’m Robert the Bruce’s daughter, Gregor. I’m going to be at risk with or without you, and I like my odds better with.” She smiled. “When I cannot defend myself, there is no one I would count on more.”
She could see that her words meant something to him.
“You proved that well enough with what you did to save the king. I’m proud of you, Cate.”
She beamed, smiling broadly. His praise meant more to her than he could know. “I’m proud of myself, too. I guess all that dirt you made me eat that day was worth it.”
He laughed, and then gave her a cryptic smile. “I told you I wanted our children to count on me. Aren’t you curious to know what I meant?”
She rolled her eyes. “I assumed you were anticipating all those sons again.”
He grinned back at her. “Not exactly. I’m afraid I was referring to something a little more immediate than that.”
It took her a moment to realize what he meant. The blood drained from her face. She gazed at him wordlessly, not wanting to say the words that might crush her hope.
“They are waiting for you—for us—at Roro, my love.”
He’d brought the children back. “But how? What about their relations?”
“They will be a part of their lives if they want to be, but I convinced them that they belong with us. You gave them a home, Cate.”
She couldn’t believe it. Eddie…Maddy…“All of them? Even Pip?”
He nodded. “I think with my nose we even look like father and son now. What do you think?”
She gave a half-cry and sob and launched herself into his arms again, just letting him hold her. The feeling of those strong arms around her was like nothing else. She didn’t realize she was crying until she looked up, and he wiped the tears from her eyes.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Nothing. I’m just so happy, I don’t know what to say.”
“Say you’ll marry me. Say you’ll be my wife. Say you’ll be the mother of my children—even ones I didn’t know I had right away. Say you’ll stand by my side during the day, and sleep by my side at night. Say you’ll grow old with me. Say you love me as much as I love you.”
“I do love you. And yes, yes, I will marry you.” She paused, tugging her bottom lip between her teeth. “Although I was looking forward to a month or two of courting.”
When he smiled that long, slow smile that curved his sensual mouth and set every drop of green in his eyes sparkling, the most handsome man in Scotland had never looked so dazzling. But it was that other glint in his eye—the one that promised another kind of dazzling—that made her shiver with anticipation. “That depends on the kind of courting you have in mind.”
She pulled back. “A very proper one, of course, under my father’s watchful gaze.”
He groaned. “Christ, that’s what I was afraid of.”
She quirked a brow. “Do I take it you are not enjoying celibacy?”
“Not when I am near you. Right now, I’m not enjoying it at all. After a month—or two—of this, it’s not going to be pretty.”
She patted him on the cheek. “Poor, Gregor. I think you’ll live.”
He captured her hand in his much bigger one and brought it to his mouth, pressing a warm kiss upon her fingers. “I will, but it won’t be easy.”
He looked as bent out of shape as his nose. She slid her arms around his neck and lifted on her toes to press a kiss on his disgruntled mouth. “Don’t worry; I think we might find a few storerooms in Dunstaffnage.”
A shadow crossed his face. “I haven’t apologized for what I said, Cate. I never should have said that about taking you against a wall. I didn’t mean it—”
She stopped him with a press of her fingers to his mouth. “I know. And I will let you apologize to your heart’s content later, but right now you’d better hurry if you don’t want someone to come in here and discover us.”
His eyes lit up like green flames as soon as he took in her meaning. It was clear from how quickly he started removing her clothing that he wasn’t going to wait for her to change her mind.
