Lachlan’s fists clenched harder.
Come on, Mairi.
The hall had grown very still. His searching gaze roamed over her face.
Marian continued, her voice steady but softer now. “In London, I was useful. I was convenient. My mother and my uncle, they placed me wherever it suited them.”
Her words seemed to escape her lips faster than her thoughts, so she paused and glanced toward the high windows and the portraits on the wall.
“But here,” she continued, “for the first time in my entire existence, I felt as though I might belong somewhere.”
Lachlan felt his chest tighten. Her words had touched him, but just as quickly, reality crashed back.
Marian was a threat to everything. And she was English, just like his mother.
“Belongin’ isnae somethin’ ye borrow,” he uttered, sounding as cold as he possibly could. “And it isnae somethin’ ye take from another man’s hearth.”
Marian met his eyes. There was something else in her expression now. Something defeated.
“I do not wish to take anything from you,” she whispered.
“Then go.” His voice cut through the air, though his heart was screaming at her to stay.
Ye’ll leave. ’Tis what ye Englishwomen do at the end.
He was testing her.
He wanted her to leave so that he could prove to himself that he had been right all along. That he had not made the wrong decision by pushing her away all along, and that she was just another Englishwoman.
He needed to prove his fear valid.
But Marian did not move. For a heartbeat or two, she simply stood there, her eyes fixed on him as though she was waiting for him to retract his words.
Lachlan held her stare, every muscle in his body bracing for the moment she would finally turn around. For the moment, she would finally lower her head, gather what remained of her dignity, and walk out of his life just as easily as she’d found her way into it.
Go on, Mairi.
The thought constricted his chest, and he swallowed hard.
Prove me right.
Marian’s fingers curled at her sides. Her chin lifted only slightly, and she took a step closer to him, her blue eyes piercing deep into his heart.
“I shall leave, Lachlan,” she said his name in front of everyone present. “But first, you have to tell me something.” Her throat bobbed as she swallowed. “You have to tell me that this is what you truly desire, and it is not your pride speaking.”
Lachlan stiffened.
How dare she…
His lips pressed into a hard line as her chin lifted higher with the same stubbornness that he only now realized he’d fallen for.
His gaze faltered for a moment before returning to hers. “It is what I want,” he declared, sounding as though someone else had spoken through him.
Marian blinked, stilling for a moment before lowering her gaze. She turned to leave without another word.
His hand caught her arm before either of them seemed to realize he had moved, pulling her across the space between them. His chest had never felt heavier than it did at that moment.
“I will not watch another one walk into me home, only to walk out of it again.” The words escaped through gritted teeth, and his grip tightened on her.
