“I made this for ye this morning.”
He was holding it up in the weak light and Isadora gazed upon it in surprise. The metal caught the light, flashing.
“’Tis beautiful,” she said, reaching out for it. “What is it?”
“A bracelet. Put it on yer arm.”
She did, instantly, looking at the warm color against her skin. But more than that, she was looking at a gift he’d made for her.
She’d never been more touched.
“’Tis truly beautiful.”
“Ye said that. Do ye like it?”
She nodded without hesitation. “It is the most beautiful gift I have ever received,” she said, toying with it. Then, something on the bracelet caught her eye and she removed it, peering at the interior of the circlet.
“Thu fhèin,” she breathed, her wide-eyed gaze turning to him. “Only ye.”
The corners of his mouth twitched. “I told ye that ye were the only lass I had an eye for,” he said. “I mean it.”
Isadora was overwhelmed. “So ye put the words on the bracelet?”
“So ye’d always remember.”
She looked at it, stunned. “I dunna know what tae say,” she said. “I’ve never had so fine a gift. I shall wear it until I die.”
He seemed pleased by that. “If yer kinfolk notice it, tell them ye stole it from some fool in the vale,” he said, watching her chuckle. “They would believe that.”
“Aye, they would,” she said, carefully putting it back on her wrist. “It is much better than birds’ eggs.”
He reached out, putting a big hand on her knee where she sat on the stone. She smiled at him, her cheeks red with the thrill of his touch and the beauty of his gift. She was smitten with the man as it was, but the bracelet merely cemented it. Abruptly, she pulled out a small dagger at her waist and grabbed a long, curly tendril of hair. Quick as a flash, she cut it off, extending it to him.
“It is all I have tae give ye in return,” she murmured. “I wish I had more. I wish I could give ye as fine a present as ye have given me.”
He took the hair carefully, gazing at the spiral curl as if she’d just handed him the finest chalice of gold. Lifting it to his nostrils, he inhaled her sweet, musky scent.
“I shall treasure it always,” he said quietly. “It is the best gift I have ever received.”
Isadora clutched her arm to her chest, the one that the bracelet was on, feeling something she’d thought she’d never feel again. She’d felt it, once, because in the years since the time she’d first met Cam, she’d briefly considered giving her affections to a young man with rosy cheeks and a sly smile. She’d become rather fond of him, even expressing her interest to her father.
But any hopes for a romance had ended when the young man made it clear that he wanted a wife to tend his home and his children, not rob travelers in the vale or have skill with a sword. He’d ended up marrying a foolish chit with big breasts and a ridiculous giggle, and the heartbreak had sent Isadora deeper into the world of swords and battles.
Still, there had moments when she wished she could have been the kind of woman that young man had wanted, but Cam seemed to have no such reservations about a tough lass from the hills.
He would take her as she was.
Only you.
“It seems strange,” she said after a moment. “We’ve not known each other a long time, yet I feel as if I’ve always known ye.”
Reaching up, he pulled her off the rock, down onto the ground next to him. The ground was cold and damp, but his arms were big and warm as he wrapped them around her slenderbody. Isadora should have resisted purely for propriety’s sake, but she couldn’t muster the will.
Those arms around her felt like heaven.
“Yehavealways known me,” he whispered. “Ye met me years ago and ye’ve known me ever since. Ye knew I’d come back tae ye.”
She was having difficulty thinking as he held her close. Every time she tried to form a coherent thought, his proximity would suck it right out of her head.
