Page 80 of The Highlander's Temporary Bride
“You have,” she continued as he took a step forward, and she stumbled back. “Or perhaps you mean to drive me to madness? I tell you, My Laird, it is working. You…”
She had to bite back the rest of her words, for she was on the verge of tears, a pressure building in her throat, and she clenched her sweaty hands.
You are meant to marry Helena, and you are breaking my heart by pretending otherwise. We cannot be together.
“I do not understand what more you could want from me,” she added in a broken whisper, one that she did not want him to hear.
“I still await yer reply, Emma Wells,” Grant said. “And we are well past formalities,mo cridhe.” He took another step forward, cautious now, and her eyes narrowed but she did not flee. “You ask me if I am mad? I am—for ye.” His voice grew huskier. “Ihave spent every day, every hour we have been apart thinkin’ that I have been such a fool for nae askin’ ye to stay for as long we both draw breath.”
Emma’s lungs burned as she pulled in deep breaths, but it was a lovely kind of burn, an ache, and she felt a dazzling flicker of hope, before it was swept away.
“This—this cannot be, Grant,” she said, stepping forward, and his eyes lit up.
She knew she should have fled as he closed the gap between them and their fingers brushed, sending sparks up her spine.
“I’ve had moments of doubt, too,” Grant murmured, and his hand reached for her face, his calloused fingers brushing against her cheek. “Doubts of whether ye wanted to stay.”
“Of courseI wanted to stay!” Emma cried, even though she had been pulled into his madness and should have never said such a thing.
She thought she might be turning into fire, for she wasburning, and she tried to turn away, to push away his touch. But he caught her easily.
“I love you, Grant, but?—”
She did not finish, for he kissed her hard, one hand catching the back of her head and the other splaying across her lower back.He pressed her against him, leaving no doubt of his burning desire, and she kissed him back. Tears rolled down her cheeks as he deepened and slowed the kiss with such intensity that she gasped into his mouth.
How did I make it through these weeks without him?
They broke apart, breathing hard, but he kept her close.
Grant smoothed a hand over her hair and smiled at her. “Ye will need to make it up to me for makin’ me wonder if perhaps it was one-sided, Emma.”
“What?” Emma sputtered and tried to pull away. “Wait?—”
“Nay, I have waited too long,” Grant said. “I love ye. I want ye. And I will never let ye go now that I ken ye feel the same.”
“But—but the Queen’s Edict,” Emma protested, even as her heart seemed to soar into the sky, golden light filling every inch of her body.
“I shall follow it,” Grant said, and her eyes went wide. “Only if I get to marry the errant twin of Lady MacLarsen.” He pressed his forehead against hers. “I might have also spun a tale about rescuin’ ye while nae kennin’ who ye truly are, and suggested that if MacLarsen and yer sister Agnes followed their hearts to such success, then perhaps ye and I can do the same.”
Emma closed her eyes and fell against him, breathing in his familiar scent and feeling that she’d come home after too many days of stumbling in the middle of nowhere.
“You—you did that for me?” she whispered into his chest.
“Aye, of course I did,” he said. “I might have implied that I helped the Royal Family, so they should grant us this.”
Emma laughed and looked up at him. “Truly?”
“Aye.” He chuckled. “I might have listened to me maither, too, and paraphrased a bit of Mark’s wisdom at the end.Let nay man or Queen put asunder what God has joined together…”
Emma threw her arms around his neck and kissed him, as it seemed to finally and fully resonate within her.
“We shall never be separated again,” she murmured when she pulled back.
Grant scooped her up into his arms and grinned. “Never—nae even if ye run.” He dipped his head and kissed her again. “Now, may I come in? I am parched after watchin’ ye pretend nae to watch me all day, love.”
Emma laughed, as he did not wait for her answer and strode across Cambarelle’s immaculate lawns and up the fine staircase, with his Lady in his arms.
And she thought that perhaps her aunt’s house had never heard such joy in all the time it had stood.
