“Can you love me, Sheena?”
There. It was done.
Sheena didn’t know what to do. Should she tell him the truth? Tell him she already loved him? But she was afraid to make herself that vulnerable. This powerful feeling was new to her, and it was frightening. So instead of answering, she asked him the same question.
“Can you love me?”
He went to her and cupped her face in both of his large hands. His kiss was tender, yet so full of love, like the man she had come to know. Sheena was left breathless, clinging to him.
“Do I have to be telling you, Sheena? Did it ever really need saying?”
“Aye, it did,” she replied solemnly.
“Sweet Mary!” he sighed. “I love you. There! Now dinna expect me to say it again.” Then he inquired nervously, “And you?”
Sheena gave him a brilliant smile. “I love you, Jamie. I do.”
He laughed with relief and joy, holding her tightly. “Och, sweetheart, you canna know how happy you’ve made me.”
“I’m no’ feeling so poorly myself,” she teased him, as happy as she had ever been.
Chapter 42
They sat at the laird’s table in the great hall at Tower Esk. The meal was nearly over. It had been a pleasant time—and a great relief to see Jamie and her father getting along so well. Still, Sheena was anxious to retire to the guest chamber she and Jamie had been given.
They would be leaving Tower Esk in the morning. Sheena had seen so little of Jamie during their visit, and she was feeling a bit jealous. It was not the same as when they were at Castle Kinnion, where he felt more at ease. After wanting for so long to get back to her home, now she wanted only to return to hernewhome.
Would it lessen in time, she wondered, this wanting to be with him every moment? Well, the desire didn’t worry her. Wanting to be with him was not a bad feeling at all!
Sheena touched his bare knee below his plaid. Jamie grinned, his eyes twinkling.
“Do you know what you’re about, lass?” He leaned over to whisper in her ear.
“Aye, I think I do.” She grinned as she moved her hand upward along his leg.
Jamie caught her hand, then stood up abruptly. He made the appropriate excuses before escorting Sheena out of the hall.
Once out of sight of the others, they ran like children, laughing all the way to their room. Inside, behind the closed door, Jamie tumbled Sheena to the bed. Their passion was wild and tender and, as always, wonderful.
“If it wasna so cold, I’d take you to your little pool in the morning,” he told her between kisses. “For memory’s sake.”
Sheena sat up abruptly and demanded, “Who told you about that? Niall?”
“Nay, lass. Your brother’s told me many things, but he didna have to tell me about the pool in the glen. I saw you there myself, in the spring.”
“Yousawme?” she gasped, blushing. “Jamie, you didna!”
“I did.” He teased her without mercy. “And may I say, sweetheart, there was never a more bonny kelpie than you were that day. Truly, I didna think you were real.”
“But…you saw me!”
Her indignation only spurred him on. “Just like this,” he said, kissing her bare breasts. “The image of you in that pool never left me. Now do you see why I was so surprised the day I found you in Colen’s room? I’d had no luck finding you, and suddenly there you were—with my brother.”
“Finding me?”
“Aye, lass. You never left my mind. I came back many times, hoping to see you again. Did you never wonder why I was alone when your father’s men found me?”
Her eyes widened. “Then you were captured because you came looking for me?”
