Page 50 of It’s in his Highland Kiss

“I dinna ken, lass,” Eiric said. “I think ye’re the one who must answer that question.”

Marion seemed to know what Eiric meant, and she didn’t try to pretend that she didn’t understand. Eiric was thankful for that; he was in no mood for games. All he wanted was an answer to his question.

“Ye’ve been avoidin’ me,” he added, when Marion didn’t speak. “I ken that, because ye’re always around somehow, but noo ye’ve stopped visitin’.”

“I suppose I have been avoiding you,” Marion admitted, as she took a seat next to him, but didn’t look at him at all. Her gaze was fixed onto the floor, thumbs twirling around each other. “I don’t know what to tell you, Eiric.”

“How about ye tell me why ye’ve been avoidin’ me?” Eiric asked. “That’s all that I need to ken, Marion. And after ye tell me, if ye still wish to avoid me, then ye can do so for as long as ye please. I only want to ken the reason.”

Marion didn’t speak for a long time, instead staring at the floor in silence. Eiric gave her time, though, and didn’t try to push her; he knew that pushing did little good, while it could do a lot of harm.

He didn’t mind waiting. It seemed to him as though he had waited for Marion his entire life; he could wait a while longer.

When she finally spoke, Marion took a deep, shaky breath, and finally met Eiric’s gaze. “I think you know why,” she said.

It was certainly not the answer hat Eiric wanted.

“Even if I do, I’d like to hear it from ye,” he told her. “I dinna wish to assume anythin’, Marion. I want ye to tell me.”

Marion seemed to be burdened by his request, much more than Eiric would have liked, but he wasn’t about to let her off the hook so easily. He was uncomfortable too. He was in pain, too. If there was nothing between them anymore, then he needed to know.

“We’re cousins,” Marion blurted out in the end, as she shot up from her chair and walked to the window, staring at the world outside. “That’s the problem, Eiric. We are cousins, and no matter how distant our relation is, I don’t think that it is wise for us to develop any feelings for each other.”

“Cousins marry all the time,” Eiric pointed out, but he knew precisely what Marion meant. He couldn’t blame her for it; he would have the same worries had he been in her shoes.

“I know that,” Marion said. “But I think that it would be much better if we don’t allow anything to happen between us.”

“Somethin’ has already happened between us,” Eiric pointed out. They had shared a very heated kiss, after all, and no matter what Marion said, he couldn’t erase it from his mind.

“Nothing has happened between us,” Marion hissed, as she finally turned to look at him once more. “And whatever has happened, it’s now in the past. It’s unwise to talk about such things, and . . . and frankly, I’d rather we didn’t.”

“Why?”

Eiric knew the answer, of course. He knew that Marion didn’t want to talk about any of it because it all hurt too much, but he needed her to admit it. He needed to hear it with his own two ears.

“You know why.”

“Tell me anyway.”

“You’re being very difficult,” Marion said. “What does it all matter, hmm? All that matters is that we try to stay away from each other.”

Eiric looked at her, and every glance was like a stab to his chest. He loved that girl. He loved her, and he was prepared to do anything to have her.

“Do ye love me?” he asked, and it seemed to him that the question had taken Marion by surprise.

“Eiric, please . . . please don’t do this,” Marion said, her voice barely audible, even in the peaceful silence of the room. “I can’t answer that question.”

“If ye wish for me to stay away from ye, I will,” Eiric promised her. “I just need to ken if ye love me.”

Marion sighed. Eiric watched her as she began to pace back and forth in front of his bed, her hands clenching into fists. “You’re my cousin,” she said. “And you’ve given me a new life, a beautiful life. You’re my saviour, Eiric. Of course I love you.”

“That isna what I meant and ye ken it,” Eiric countered. He didn’t want to know whether or not she loved him as a cousin or as a saviour. He wanted to know if she loved him like a woman loves a man, like he loved her.

“You’re making this very hard for me,” Marion said, instead of answering his question. “Why are you asking such things? Why must you make this even harder than it already is?”

“It wouldna be that hard for ye if ye simply answered me question,” Eiric said. “It’s a verra simple question, Marion. Just answer it.”

Marion stopped pacing and fidgeting with her hands. She stopped right in front of Eiric, her gaze hard as steel. She was furious, Eiric could tell; furious that he was putting her in that position, furious that he was making her admit her feelings to him.