Page 57 of Saved By the Highland Beast
“Sophia.” She looked up with a tear-stricken face as Luke stirred. Dean still lying motionless in her arms. “Sophia,” Luke repeated quietly when she didn’t respond. “Please come here.”
“No!” she cried in anger and held on tighter to Dean’s body. “I will never go near you ever again! Or forgive you for taking the man I love away from me!”
Luke shut his eyes as a trickle of blood ran from the side of his mouth. “I’m sorry, Sophia,” he said quietly. “I never meant to hurt you. You have to believe me. My only intention was to love you the way you deserve—” He coughed, spraying drops of blood over the snow and his face. “I thought I was being romantic with the notes I sent to you. I never meant to scare you or make you think that I wanted to harm you in any way.”
Sophia struggled to feel sorry for the man as he uttered his last words. How could she, when the man she loved lay still in her arms? Luke’s sincerity was lost in the depths of her own grief and sorrow.
“I truly believed that I was doing the right thing by fighting the laird for your hand.” Luke turned his head to look at her and Dean. “I can see now that your heart belongs to him.” He managed a smile as his breathing slowed. “I’m sorry, Sophia. I love you, even if you will never love me back.” His breathing stopped with a final gurgle as his head flopped to the side.
Hot tears ran down Sophia’s cheeks as the wind once again picked up, blowing strands of her dark hair over her face. Looking down, she stroked the stubble on Dean’s cheek as she whispered, “I love you,” and shut her eyes.
Her eyes suddenly shot open as she felt the warmth of his hand covering hers.
“I love ye too,” Dean whispered with a faint smile on his lips. “From the moment I saw ye playin’ around in the water like some kind of beautiful Selkie. There never was and never will be a woman as enchantin’ as ye for me.”
“I would hardly call fighting off men as playing in the water.” She laughed and cried as a wave of relief poured over her body.
Sophia wasn’t sure if she was shaking from the cold or the mix of emotions that ran through her body.
“Why is it that I’m always fightin’ off men where ye are concerned?” he asked with a groan as he stirred in her arms.
Laughing again with relief, she kissed him deeply.
Dean returned her kiss, wiping the tears from her cheeks. “I think I’m going to keep ye locked in yer room until we are wed, an’ then I’ll make sure that ye have the biggest ring anyone has ever seen in their life. Men across the Atlantic will be able to see that ye are mine.”
“Lock me up for as long as you like,” she said happily and gripped his hand in hers. “As long as I’m yours, you can lock me away for the rest of my life if you like.”
“In a tidy room?” His smile broadened as he looked into her eyes.
“That might be asking for a bit much.” She laughed happily and helped him sit up. “I was so scared that I would lose you, Dean,” she said more seriously as the tears continued to roll down her cheeks. “I thought I would die of a broken heart when I saw you lying there in the snow beside Luke.”
Dean turned his head to the side and looked at the lifeless body of Luke Johnson.
“No,” she quickly said and gently turned his head back to her. “All that matters is this now.” She placed his hand over her heart and held it tight with hers. “You and me, nobody else.”
“I don’t think Cillian will agree with that.” Dean smiled. “He begged me to come after ye an’ bring ye back so that our lives could be complete again,” he teased. “Ye might have a hard time explainin’ to him an’ Nessie that it will only be ye an’ me.”
“Of course, Cillian will be there too.” She laughed happily and leaned in for a kiss. “You, me, Cillian, Nessie, Hamish, Anthony, Duncan…” She paused with a grin. “And even Amalthea. That’s the lengths I am willing to go to for you, my laird.”
“Maybe not with Amalthea.” He pursed his lips and shook his head before drawing her down for another kiss, gently parting her lips with his tongue and searching the depths of her mouth. “My Sophia forever,” he whispered against her lips.
EPILOGUE
Dean ledSophia into the castle as Libby came rushing forward with the rest of the family at her heels. “What happened?” she asked frantically as she gripped her daughter’s hands in hers. “You look as if you’ve been attacked by a pack of wolves!”
“I am all right, Mama,” Sophia said as soothingly as she could. “It’s just a few scratches. I ripped my clothes when I was trying to escape.”
Libby let out a breath. “I was terrified when Anthony came in and said that Dean had gone after you,” she said tearfully as she drew her daughter in for a tight hug.
“Glad yer back in one piece,” Anthony said as he came forward and grasped Dean’s hand in his. “I was about to go after ye, my laird.”
“Ye of little faith,” Dean said with a smile but lowered his voice so that only they could hear. “There’s a body in the forest. Send the men in the mornin’ to retrieve it. We will notify the man’s family that we have his remains.”
“Understood, my laird.” Anthony nodded with a solemn look.
“Thank you,” Sophia mouthed to him over her mother’s head.
Dean nodded and winked at her as Libby drew back and gently touched his arm. “Who was the man that had been sending the notes?” she asked with concern, looking from one to the other.
