Page 122 of The Laird’s Sinful Claim

They lay together in the firelight, the world outside their solar temporarily forgotten. Tomorrow would bring new challenges. The Duke would still be there, watching and assessing. Langley would still be out there, plotting.

But for that moment, they had each other.

And that was enough. More than enough.

It was everything.

"David?" Elinor said eventually, her voice drowsy.

"Aye?"

"Do you think it will always be this hard? Proving ourselves? Fighting to keep what's ours?"

He was quiet for a long moment. "I dinnae ken. Maybe. Maybe the fight never really ends. "

"That's exhausting."

"Aye. It is." He kissed the top of her head. "But if I have tae keep fightin' fer the rest of me life, at least I ken what I'm fightin' fer now. And that makes it bearable."

"What are you fighting for?"

"Ye. Us. This." He gestured vaguely at the space around them. "A life where we get to choose. Where we're nae controlled by kings or faithers or anyone else. Where we're just us."

"I want that too." Elinor's eyes were growing heavy. "So much."

"Then that's what we'll have. I promise ye."

"You can't promise that. You don't know what will happen."

"Nae. But I can promise I'll never stop tryin'. Never stop fightin' fer ye. Fer us." His voice was fierce. "That's a promise I can keep."

Elinor believed him. Despite everything, despite all the reasons she shouldn't, she believed him.

Because he'd proven himself, over and over. He'd defended her. Protected her. Given her freedoms and choices. Let her in when it would have been easier to shut her out.

He'd become her partner in truth, not just in name.

And that was worth fighting for.

Worth everything.

“Now rest. Tomorrow's another day, and we'll face it taegether."

"Together," she echoed, the word becoming a promise.

A vow. A declaration of everything they'd become to each other.

And as she drifted off to sleep in his arms, the Duke temporarily forgotten and the world's problems pushed aside for a few precious hours, Elinor felt something she hadn't felt in a long time.

Hope.

Real, genuine hope that maybe—just maybe—they were going to make it through it all.

That their love was strong enough to survive whatever came next.

That together, they were unbreakable. She didn't know if it was true. But lying in David's arms, warm and safe and loved, she let herself believe it.