Page 68 of When a Highlander Vows
“I dinnae expect him to dae that. It was like he changed into a completely different person.” She looked away from him then, and his courage faltered, but only for a moment.
“Aye, I kenned he was bad news from the moment I saw him. All in the eyes,” he said glumly.
To his surprise after her ordeal, she giggled. The sound made him smile instantly. This time he showed her his real smile, the one that nearly stretched from ear to ear.
“Lucas,” she said, touching his beard again in that way he was growing to like very much. “It seems ye are jealous.”
“I willnae deny that,” he admitted finally, “but I still say he wasnae a good man. Like I said, it is in the eyes.”
“And what dae ye see when ye look into me eyes, Lucas?” she asked, her voice gentle and soft.
All his anger at Bram passed, and he was lost in her gaze. “Come,” he said, grabbing her hand and interlacing their fingers. “I want to talk to ye inside, nae out here in the chill eve.”
Still giggling a little, Caitlin followed him, and Lucas prayed that nothing would stop them on their way to his study. It was finally time that he bared his heart once and for all and saw what happened. He had finally and truly toppled over the side of that fearsome precipice, and there would be no going back.
Caitlin’s heart was thumping, and she gripped Lucas’ hand tightly as they raced through the castle to his study. She hadtaken Lottie’s advice to heart. There were good things in the world. And even though Bran was had pressured her into trying to kiss him, and maybe even more, Lucas had come to save her. Lucas. Her Lucas. For that was what she considered him now. She had been afraid that he did not feel the same way, but when she saw the anger in his eyes, and then the kindness afterward, she knew. He loved her.
She couldn’t stop smiling as she held his hand, and he opened a study door, pulling her inside. Her heart flipped when he locked the door behind her, pressing her up against it.
He leaned in, and breathing in her scent at her neck, he whispered, “I missed ye, Lass.”
“It has only been one day,” she said, but her arms came around him, and his hands gripped her waist just like it had that first day he’d helped her up on his horse.
“Aye, but it was one day too many.” He was still in the crook of her neck, and Caitlin closed her eyes, getting used to being near him, being able to smell him, feel the strength of his body.
But even if she was sure he cared for her, he might still run away, and he might still avoid telling her how he felt, and that was certainly a possibility.
“Lucas,” she said, lifting his face so that they were eye-to-eye, her hand on his cheek. “Ye cannae avoid me question. What dae ye see when ye look into me eyes?”
He let out a breath, and she could tell this was difficult for him, but his gaze did not waver.
“I see the most beautiful, purest, kindest lass in the world. Ye think well of everybody. Ye have made everybody smile. I see the way everyone’s eyes turn to ye when ye enter the room. Ye are everythin’ good in the world.”
He swallowed, and she could see the emotion in his eyes. A finger traced along the side of her face.
“I am sorry that I come to ye like this, with so many ghosts from the past, so much darkness. But I want to try.”
She grinned. Both hands moved to his face.
“Ye will be perfect,” she said, and a second later, he stepped back.
For a moment, she thought he was going to run away again, but instead, he pulled something from his kilt and handed it to her.
Looking like a nervous young boy, he said, “I left yesterday because I wanted to dae somethin’ to show ye just how much I care, to make ye forgive me.”
Taking up the package, she said, “Forgive ye for what?”
“For nae realizin’ that what I was daein’ was hurtin’ ye, runnin’ away all the time, touchin’ ye, and then bein’ afraid.” This time he stepped closer. “I daenae want to dae that anymore.” Pushing a strand of hair behind her ear, he leaned in, but Caitlin pushed him away with a cheeky grin.
“I think I want to open me present first, Lad.”
“Och, very well,” he said, smiling again at her, and sitting on the edge of his large desk.
The smile suited him very well. The glowering, haunted man from the past was gone, and an entirely new man had emerged. She’d been able to see bits of him before, but now he was there in front of her, in full.
Opening the package, she blinked in confusion as to what her present was. It was strange, looking like a sort of tool, but Lucas stepped toward her again, grabbing her hands with his.
“This is an eyeglass, Lass, or rather spectacles, I suppose.”
