She wrung her hands before her. “I find it more than intriguing how one with such a grand manner like yourself could give cause to such an ill act all those years ago.” Her fingers dropped to her sides while anguish rode her words.Time to lay it out on the table.“I heard you the day we parted.”
Callum’s face blanched. Yeah, he knew.
“Nella, you had taken your leave for almost an hour.” His words were weighed by shock.
“Aye, then you remember it well, do you not? After we separated on market day, you are not mistaken, I sought my clan’s keep after I took my leave. Halfway there the guilt I felt at not telling you everything I am overshadowed the fear at my sire’s warning about revealing my instinct in sense to another. I retraced my steps preparing to tell you all I behold before we were to take our leave that eve. I heard your cruel intentions spoken toward the warrior from your sire’s clan near the tron gate. He inquired about us after seeing you speaking with meearlier that same day. Your reply are words I shall never forget. ‘’Tis a shadow of a lass who believes I love her; naw, it is simply a bet I have with one of the lads from Inverness…’” The words halted when her throat closed.
Callum finished the remark he’d made years ago. “To see who may earn his way beneath the gown of an enemy clan’s daughter first. Oh, Nella, you were never meant to hear this…”
If the anguish twisting her soul for years could turn to flames, the keep would be burning to the ground. She charged at him. Go for his shin! Make him feel agony as well! Infernal long robe! Her foot tangled more with the robe than its intended target.
“Callum MacCade, you selfish pompous arse! I loved you. In its stead I was married off to a cruel chief.”
“Nella.” Callum’s steady voice slowed her struggles. “Aye, I did speak this, you were never meant to hear it for ’twas a lie.” She froze then looked him in the eyes, a rich clear blue filled by earnest. He… he was telling the truth! “I feared he knew what lay in my heart. I would not chance the truth; I wouldnotchanceus. So I created a grotesque lie. The story was a ruse; never for a moment did I consider you would hear this.” What had she done? What had she committed them to? “I waited all eve till mornin’ in the rain for you.” If her emotions could halt her heart, she would have died there. “Then I went to pay call to the stable marshal at your clan’s bailey in secret. I paid him handsomely to see if you were well. He returned telling me you were, and you had accepted another’s betrothal to a chief. One he said you cared deeply for and sought to be left alone.”
A feather if raised against her would have caused her to fall. “I…” She stumbled over her words by shock. “Ineverdeclared this. My late sire forced the betrothal onto me the day after. There was never any affection for him. The stable marshal… oh, Callum.” She turned away when a sob tore herthroat from the sorrowful look etched over his face. “Forgive me, my sire must have ordered him to lie. I never knew you paid call.” She kicked the chair leg; if only she could kick her backside. “Fool! Fate cast you a favor tossing me from your path. A burden I am to all.” She wrapped her palms over her shoulders, hugging herself. “Please leave me, I shall hold true to our accord then you may be rid of me evermore.” All this time, she was a fool in thegrandestsort, hehadloved her, and she’d thrown it away because she’d ran off before speaking with him.
“Nella,” he said softly as a warm palm grasped her wrist gently, “please look upon me.” Slowly she turned. “The Templar vows, you know of them?”
“Aye.” She sniffled. “The knight takes a vow of celibacy. To be found unfaithful to this may inflict a penalty of death. Callum, you have abstained from the arms of a lady, yet you never deemed to take the vow.”
“The lone reason was you,” he declared. “Taking such a vow would have meant I must cast aside any feeling or sentiment I held for you. This I couldnotdo; my heart hasalwaysbeen yours to command. I simply thought you never cared to claim it for your own.”
She raised her free hand, cupping his jaw softly. He had loved her; he… hestillloved her. She closed her wet lashes for a long moment, and the heat from his other palm covered hers after he touched her.
She met his gaze, which turned a bit in blur from her emotion. “The moments when my cruel husband touched me,” she whispered, “I would not have survived if not for you, Callum MacCade.” He raised a brow at her in question. “I would shutter my eyes then paint a portrait of you. It was you, always. These last days beside you at each turn I find my heart is still in your grasp.”
“Your first consideration the day at the burgh is I was a traitor to your feelings,” he replied solemnly. “That speaks to a stronger purpose belonging to trust. I am one of the highest knights in this realm yet the lady I love carried shadows of doubt regarding my intent. This.” He inclined his brow at her. “I. Shall. Earn. Lady Fawnella MacHearin.” Her brows raised in silent query. “Each turn before us, I will show you I am worthy of not only your heart but your trust. The first upon this bridge, your lips.”
Her head tilted slightly by curiosity. His breath, it… it was almost a pant. Why?
“Callum, my lips?”
She gasped when he stole her into his embrace. “Since the first moment we spoke, my mind has been clouded by one regard and one regard alone. Your lush full lips. I have yearned to kiss them till all fades away. Fists formed at my sides to halt my hands from holding you close as I do now. You forbid me to kiss you.” He should now all of her before things turned intimate – everything.
Chapter 16
Callum looked over her flushed face.She still loved him.
His eyes dropped back toward the lips he wanted, which spoke. “Forthwith, I wish you to knowallof me as well in this bridge belonging unto trust, Sir Callum, Stirling’s defender of the Templars.” Saint’s help him, he was struggling with being honorable.“There is one other matter I have been less then forthright with you in our past.”
Ahem.“Aye, Nella?”
“I truly do not care for boar stew.”
“Stew?”
“Aye.” She nodded. “I tried to be brave when you proclaimed it was one of your clan’s favorites. Alas, the taste, ugh, I find the same as moss on a loch’s edges.”
Even if a bailey wall rose to the sky between them, it would not have halted his advance. He lowered his lips, stealing hers. The gasp on her tongue turned into a groan as he tightened his arms about her. If logic were a bird, it just flew away.
All the nights dreaming of her only to awaken bitter or sad or resolute at his dire fate, it was no more. He had a chance with her, a real second chance, and these were a rare find in life. Aye, even gates set by giants wouldn’t keep him from seizing this hope for happiness with her.
Her tongue darted gently against his as if a butterfly carefully searching a meadow. A growl took his as he deepened their kiss. A slip in time, this was all it was. In a blink they were back beside the burgh where he was hers and she was his. He never got her permission to kiss her before racing in same as stallion on the Highlands. Where was his honor as a knight at her earlier request?Manners, knight, manners, discipline!Giving a fresh growl, he tore his mouth from hers, and both huffing moist breath against lips he whispered, “Forgive me, Nella, my manner is lacking.”
“I find your manner captivating, Sir Callum MacCade,” she replied. “I considered after the river you found me distasteful to look upon, thus the demand for me to take leave of your presence riding forth on Luss alone.”Thiswas what she thought was the cause. He was daft!
“’Twas not the reason at all.” His palm lowered onto her hip, tugging her closer toward him. She gasped when his arousal pressed her nether region. “This. This was the reason. I simply could not remain stoic with you so close. Your scent, your feel, your breath upon my face. My mind was raging against my body while logic versus desire coursed my blood.” His eyes lingered on her lips before they darted at the door then returned to her. “Do you worry for what Lady Alaina may think? This is the final shred in decency I hold from claiming what I yearn for, what I havealwaysyearned for. Tell me, Nella. Tell me to take my leave and I shall try to endeavor your wish. If you long for me to stay this eve, I shall make you mine, not only for this moment but all the time to come. Consider greatly, for my control slips in haste.”
