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“Nae, Liam.” Emeline shook her head, her hair billowing around her shoulders. The ribbon must’ve come loose while she slept. “Ye’ve been insensate for eight days.”

“Eight days,” he croaked. Eight days?

She speared the bedside clock a swift glance then took in the drawn draperies as she swept her hair over her shoulder, a tremulous smile on her lips. A becoming blushed turned her cheeks rosy again. “I dinna mean to fall asleep. Are ye hungry?”

Was he? He considered the question for a second. “Aye. Verra. And thirsty, too. Will ye join me?”

“Aye.” A radiant smile blossomed on her face. “I’ll order ye a tray and also let yer mother and sister ken ye are awake.”

She made to scoot off the bed.

“Wait.” He still held her hand. Dark purplish shadows framed her eyes, and a trace of gauntness sharpened her features. “I want to ken what happened.”

“Ye remember bein’ stabbed?” she asked softly.

“Aye,” he gave a slow nod, all the saliva in his mouth gone. “Could I have a drink of water?

“Of course. I should’ve thought of that.” In one lithe movement, she slid from the bed. Liam loathed releasing her hand, but he was unbearably thirsty. After filling a glass from a covered pitcher on a side table, she brought it to him.

He greedily drank every drop and sighed as she took the glass. “Much better,” he said.

“Would ye like more?” She held up the glass.

“Nae,” He patted the mattress beside his hip. “Sit down and tell me all. Why do I feel like I’ve been keelhauled and spent a month in the Sahara?”

“’Twas a nasty gash in yer side, Liam. Verra deep, and ye lost a great deal of blood. The doctor said ye were lucky no organs were injured. The wound had to be cauterized.”

Thank God, he was unconscious for that ordeal.

Worry stamped on her refined features, her focus dipped to his bandage. “Ye also caught a fever. Ye fought it over a week.” She averted her gaze, her throat working as if she fought tears. Despite feeling as week as a kitten, his heart soared. “We feared ye’d succumb, ye were so verra ill,” she whispered, her voice quaking.

“And that would’ve upset ye?” The words formed of their own volition.

Dewy mouth parted, she sliced him an astonished look. “But of course. How can ye even ask such a thing?” She flexed the edges of her eyes slightly. “Liam MacKay. Are ye fishin’ for compliments?” Her doe eyes went all soft at the corners and the radiance of a woman in love glowed on her face. “Ye must ken how I feel about ye.”

He lifted her hand and raised it to his lips, placing a kiss on the long fingers. “A man still likes to hear it from the woman who has captivated his heart.”

She went as still as a doe in a hunter’s sights. Wonder shone in her eyes. “I have yer heart? Truly?”

“Aye, Em.” He tugged her nearer, and she came without resistance. “I gave it to ye that day I saved yer life, only I was too stubborn to recognize the feelin’s in me. I let scars from the past blind me to what ye meant to me. What we can be together.”

“Oh, Liam,” she breathed, her eyes sparkling. “Ye have my heart, too.”

“Come, lay next to me. I need to explain a few things.” He drew her down beside him, careful not to disturb his wound. When the soft curves of her body were tucked into his side, her head resting on his shoulder, he ran his fingers through her hair. “I love yer hair. That very first day when I saw it glintin’ gloriously in the sun, it enchanted me.”

She arched a fine brow. “I had a madman pointin’ a gun at me, and ye noticed my bedraggled hair?”

“Aye. And how brave and bold and magnificent ye were.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead, aware he probably didn’t smell all that fresh and badly needed to cleanse his teeth and shave. “I want ye to ken why I married Kristin.”

She shook her head against his shoulder, but he shushed her with a firm squeeze to her waist.

“I need to, lass.”

Searching his face, she gave a half-nod. “All right.”

Staring blindly at the fireplace, he cleared his throat. This wasn’t as easy as he’d believed it would be. “I met Kristin at a house party.” He cut her a sidelong glance, noting the doubt in her expression. “Aye, I used to attend such things.”

When he’d been young and foolish and headstrong.