Page 16 of A Highland Bride Taken
“There is naught for ye to do here.”
“I will stay, Me Laird,” she declared stubbornly, unwilling to be dismissed this time. “I told ye I will do anything for the bairns.”
“Even marry me?”
7
Campbell watched as her eyes widened before she pressed her lips together, trying to act unaffected by his question. He felt a smile tease his mouth at her discomfort and quickly suppressed it.
She had been bold earlier for saying that she would marry him, but now she looked as frightened as a deer.
“I… I…”
“Will ye marry me if it will keep ye close to the bairns?” he asked again. “Ye do ken that marriage is until death us do part, dinnae ye?”
He had tried to think of any other option than the one he was suggesting, but he had seen how good she was with the bairns. Even if he found a governess, he doubted she would be well-suited to the boys, and he would still need her help with them.
This lass was a treasure trove of information on the boys and their preferences. It would take a herculean effort to secure such information from the distance between their clans.
“I will marry ye,” she answered thickly. “I will marry ye for the bairns. It will be nay great loss to me family. I have nay suitors and nay betrothed who will be hurt by it.”
Campbell was surprised by that last bit of information because it had taken him less than a day with her to decide he would marry her. She was a beautiful woman, both inside and out. Even now, without the trappings of her day dress, she was radiant with her hair unbound and eyes that sparked with a depth of knowledge she struggled to express.
She also had a heart to serve others, which was beyond anything he had ever seen from the daughter of a laird. She was willing to put aside her comfort to marry him, despite the rumors circling about him.
He had noticed her studying him as though comparing what she had heard with the man in the flesh. His moniker had not bothered him over the years as it did at that moment. He didn’t want the lass to think him the beast he had been made out to be. He didn’t even know why he cared what she thought of him.
He kept those thoughts to himself and sat straighter in his chair.
Marrying her, while it would alleviate the burden of caring for the boys, would still be a cause of endless troubles for him. Resisting her had been hard enough, even knowing she wouldsoon be returned home. Seeing her constantly, especially caring for the boys the way she did, would be even harder for him.
She was the epitome of charm and grace and warmth, which drew him to her more than he liked. But he would learn to resist her. He would just keep reminding himself he hadn’t married her for his own sake, but for the sake of his brother’s children.
He also needed to remind her of that fact. Every woman dreamed of finding love with her husband, but he needed her to know that it would never happen between them.
“Ye must ken what ye’re agreein’ to,” he told her, rising from his seat to come stand beside her. “There was an intruder after the bairns tonight. If ye marry me, ye may also find yerself in danger…”
She rose from her seat till she was looking him right in the eyes. Her green eyes were alight with steely resolve, stealing the rest of his words from him.
“I told ye I will do anythin’ for the bairns, and I’ll keep me word,” she told him. “I dinnae fear what may come. I will protect them.”
Her firm words tested his already thinning self-control. He stepped closer to her till he could catch a hint of her floral scent, and the urge to lean in and taste her skin suddenly seized him.
“Ye dinnae ken what ye speak,lass,” he warned.
“I do ken, Me Laird,” she insisted. “I keep me word. I will do anythin’.”
“Anythin’?”
He knew he was much too close for what was proper, but she wasn’t pulling away either. It was almost as though she was playing the same game, and the thought sent red-hot lust through him.
Damn.
He was not supposed to be the one losing control here.
Her mouth opened slightly, drawing his gaze to it. He inhaled sharply when her tongue darted out to wet her lips. He bit back a groan, as everything in him itched to pull her closer and taste her perfect lips, to quell his hunger.
He leaned in, entranced, unable to help himself. Her gasp was what made him realize he was a mere hairsbreadth from her lips.
