He sat very still, and all she wanted was for him to come to her, to drop to his knees and tell her that he felt the same way. To confess his undying love for her, to kiss her and hold her and convince her that she was wrong about him, that his proposal was not just about responsibility, or a need to protect. She wanted to hear him say that he could not live without her. Whether she died tomorrow or lived to be an old woman, she wanted him to be grateful for the passion that could be theirs, if only he could justloveher.
But he said nothing. He started rocking in the chair again, and eventually he turned his eyes away.
Catherine inhaled deeply and let out a quiet sigh. “Well, now you understand my reasons for refusing you,” she said, determined to keep a cool head. “We are hardly—either of us—in a position to make decisions about the rest of our lives. I have no memories, and you have just made love for the first time in three years. It’s bound to make things seem more intense than they really are. I’m sure that when all of this is over, you will thank me for turning down your offer.”
He rose quickly from the chair and walked to the door. “I’ll keep watch from just outside,” he gruffly said, “and tomorrow we’ll see Raonaid. Everything will seem much clearer then. For both of us.”
With that he left her to wonder if perhapsshewas the one who needed to be reminded that this situation was not normal.
It’s bound to make things seem more intense than they really are.…
Perhaps that’s all it was,she thought, and all she needed to do was keep better control over her heart until life returned to normal.
Oh, she wished it could be so. But somehow she knew that was a wish not likely to be granted.
Chapter Thirty
How should one prepare to meet an identical twin for the first time?Catherine wondered anxiously as the coach rumbled up the long, steep hill to Blue Waters Manor and came to a halt at the bottom of the lane.
Lachlan and Gawyn had ridden ahead to announce her arrival and ensure that there was no danger while the others stayed behind to guard the coach. Catherine was to wait until there was some indication that she would be both safe and welcome.
While she waited, she tried not to think of Lachlan and the argument they’d had the day before, and how she could not bear the thought of losing him. It was quite likely, however, that she would. One way or another. Even if Raonaid agreed to lift the curse, he would soon escort Catherine home to her family.
Growing increasingly troubled, she thrust that thought from her mind and instead tried to focus on her first meeting with her twin sister. What questions would she ask? She would inquire about Raonaid’s childhood, of course, her special gifts as an oracle, and her life in the Hebrides.
Catherine wondered curiously if Raonaid had an aversion to onions, as she did, or if she could not fall asleep on her stomach. They were twins after all. Since they were identical, would they share the same tastes in everything? Would they have the same mannerisms? All these trivial questions and details seemed fascinating to Catherine, and each moment that passed seemed to stretch on forever while her heart beat faster and faster. Her life was about to change irreversibly. She was going to meet her twin, and nothing would ever be the same again.
Sitting forward, Catherine peered out the window, through the early-morning light. What was happening inside the manor house? Had Lachlan told Raonaid the news yet? Had he asked her about the curse?
***
With his targe hanging at his back, his hand gripped around the hilt of his sword, Lachlan strode slowly into Raonaid’s parlor. A housekeeper had greeted him at the door and informed him that Murdoch was not at home and would not return until the evening. The lady of the house, however, would be downstairs shortly.
With a swell of dark, simmering impatience, Lachlan glanced around at all the seafaring portraits on the walls and other marine artifacts that decorated the mantel and tabletops.
Bloody hell, it was going to be a challenge to keep his temper under control.
The floorboards creaked at the top of the stairs, and someone began to descend.
His heart pounded like a heavy mallet as his thoughts rushed back to that night in the burial cist when Raonaid had cut him with the knife and left him there, drugged and sick, tethered to the ground. Cursed for life.
How would he feel when he saw Catherine’s identical twin? What if the sight of her made him think of the woman he had made love to? The woman who had cried out in ecstasy in his arms?
At last, the oracle stepped into the doorway, and he regarded her with careful scrutiny.
She looked different from how he remembered her. Today she wore an elegant morning dress and her red hair was shiny and clean, swept up at the sides.
“I knew you’d find me eventually,” she said in that achingly familiar voice. It was so much like Catherine’s, and indeed, he did find it alarming to see her image before him, in the body of a woman he despised.
As the seconds ticked by, however, he began to see how terribly wrong he had been when he first encountered Catherine in the stone circle. How could he not have seen the truth? For Raonaid was nothing like Catherine.Nothing.Raonaid flaunted a look in her eye that he remembered very well—a cruel, hateful fire that burned with spite and contempt.
No. There would be no more confusion. A lifetime apart had produced two very different women.
But did she know? he wondered, narrowing his eyes at her. With all her gifts and powers from beyond, had Raonaid ever suspected she had a sister?
“I never stopped searching for you,” he replied, watching her stroll casually into the parlor. “For three years, I have been cursed to a life alone. I have not lain with a woman in all that time—not until yesterday—and that is why I am here. I have come onherbehalf. I am asking you to lift the curse. Make it go away.”
Raonaid’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Are you jesting? For three years, you have been celibate?You?The great lover of the Highlands? I don’t believe it.”
