Page 74 of In Bed with her Highland Foe

“I dinnae blame ye fer hating me, but this situation isnae what ye think.”

“What is it then?” she demanded, her hands clamped against the side of the bath. “If ye want me tae understand this at all…” She broke off, her breath gasping. “Then start speaking.”

“Fine, ye have yer wish.” He turned to the fireplace. The water in the buckets was now hot enough. He grabbed each one in turn as he spoke, tipping the water into the bathtub. “Aye, I am the son of the last Laird Gregor, and the current Laird Brayden’s youngest brother,” he spoke quickly, wanting to get it over with as quickly as possible. “Before ye continue tae blame me brothers and me fer yer father’s death, there’s something ye dinnae seem tae ken.” He halted, momentarily. “The battle that took yer father was with our father. Nae with us.”

He continued throwing buckets of water into the tub, with greater alacrity now. She jumped on the other side, clearly splashed by some of it, though she didn’t complain.

“As for the matter of Laird Shay, I kenned him. I kenned him when I was with me first love, Elisa. Oh, he wanted her, and he was determined tae have her.” He turned his back on Kyven. Elisa’s face appeared in his mind for a second. There was guilt there – guilt that he could not save her, but not love, not anymore. “He got her. He got her by making sure that I left the clan.” He threw the last bucket of water into the bathtub, turning to face Kyven once again. “He and Larry caught up with me one day. They made threats, tae make sure I would leave the clan and nae come back. It was simple, really. They threatened tae kill Elisa and me brothers unless I left.”

“What?” Kyven spluttered quietly.

“What choice did I have?” Gilchrist hissed, feeling the familiar anger at Shay bubbling deep in his gut. “I had none.” He replaced the empty buckets in front of the fire and grasped the soap off the hearth, throwing it down into the bath. “I picked a fight with me brothers, kenning they would never let me leave otherwise, then when they were angry enough, I left. I went somewhere I kenned Shay would think I never had the guts tae go... I went tae yer clan.”

He nodded at her. Something shifted in her face.

He leaned slowly on the bathtub, staring at her, closing the space between them by a few inches.

“Yer clan is me home now, Kyven. I was happy there,” he said insistently, wanting her to know the complete truth now. “I have loved being there, and… and…” He sighed. The nervousness he had felt so often about telling Kyven the truth now evaporated. When he was faced with losing her entirely, it was only natural to tell her the truth. “And I fell in love with ye.”

A small, breathy sound escaped her lips as they parted.

She said nothing, but just stared at him.

Maybe she couldnae love me back. Maybe it was all attraction on her part. Whatever she did feel for me, finding out I am a Gregor surely stifled any soft feeling.

“Ye can have the bath first.” He gestured. “I willnae look. I am sure ye dinnae want me tae now.” He walked away from the bath, trying to get near the food they had brought up, but suddenly, Kyven stepped in the way.

He was not prepared for her small body shooting in front of him, nor for the way she reached up toward him. It was so sudden, that he was in danger of falling right over her. Her small hands clutched onto his shirt, and she jerked his head down toward her. She clashed her lips against his, the kiss so sudden that it took him a moment to realize what was happening.

She’s kissing me… wait, she doesnae despise me?

He returned the kiss with vigor, staggering with her toward the bathtub until she was leaning against it and he was bending over her, in the effort to maintain that kiss.

“Ye…” she tried to speak between their kisses. “Ye should have told me.”

“I am nae good with me words.” He rested their foreheads together. “Surely ye ken that about me now.”

“I ken.” She laid a hand on the center of his chest. “But I would have trusted ye. I would have understood.”

“Would ye?” he asked, his voice breathy. “I’m a Gregor. I wouldnae blame ye fer despising every part of me and cursing me name to death –”

She shook her head, cutting off his words as she leaned back an inch.

“I cannae hate ye,” she whispered. “What ye said earlier today, is true. The name of a man isnae the summary of him.” Her breath gasped. “And… and… the man ye are.” She shifted her hand across his chest, so it laid over his heart. “That is the man I love.”

She loves me too.

Such happiness erupted in his chest, he could not stay back from her. Gilchrist moved to kiss her again.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

As Gilchrist’s lips found Kyven’s own, it was slow and sensual, far different to their heated and desperate kisses from the night before. The sensitive and tender kisses were a different kind of seduction, one which left Kyven quite breathless.

Her hands tangled in his shirt, and his hands grasped around her waist.

Suddenly, it didn’t matter to her at all what blood ran in his veins. She had seen the pain in his expression as he talked of his life. At last, she knew everything about him, and she understood. She understood why, when they were alone in that library together, even if he had wanted to tell her the truth, he felt strangled, unable to do so, for he feared she would hate him for it.

He loves me.