Page 99 of The Highlander's Accidental Wife
“Are people vexed?” she asked as she fell onto the sofa and curled up next to him, her head on his chest. His strong arm wrapped around her, and she thrilled, snuggling closer. “Should we feign contrition?”
Damien huffed a laugh. “Nae at all. Everyone was worried about ye. And they dinnae mind.” His face fell. “We have folk to mourn, who we lost last night. And we must recover.”
“Oh,” Helena said and put a hand to her heart.
“Then, there will be more feastin’, more parties. Ye ken that Maither will be in her glory once we return.”
“I see,” Helena murmured and closed her eyes.
“Ye must be hungry,” Damien said a moment later, even as his arm tightened. “While I am enjoyin’ this, yesterday was a lot.”
“Hmm, another minute,” Helena said, and then her stomach growled. “Drat.”
Damien laughed and let her go, but as she stood up, he caught her hand and kissed it. “I love ye.”
Her heart nearly burst out of her chest and into the sky. “Not as much as I love you.”
He nipped her knuckles, then said, “Cheeky thing. ‘Tis nae a competition.”
“You saved my life.”
“Ye saved mine, too.” Damien squeezed her hand and gazed into her twinkling eyes. “In every way. So, I assure ye, ye have nay idea how much I love ye.”
“I think I have an idea,” Helena said as he let her go, and she smoothed her hands down her sides. His good eye flashed with heat. “Later.”
“Tease,” Damien muttered as he went back to his book.
After Helena had supped and was feeling much more alert, she had the nagging feeling that she was forgetting something. When she said as much to Damien, he bit his lower lip to suppress a diabolical grin.
“What?” Helena asked. “What did I forget?”
“I want to assure ye that we already have people lookin’,” Damien said slowly, and her mind flashed to every possible thing she could think of. “And yer faither’s connections to the Navy worked out, after all.”
Helena sucked in a breath and nearly dropped her mug. “Bartholomew.”
“Aye, the great dobber either went below deck or hid, and he is now on the high seas with a bunch of hungry pirates.” Damien grinned to himself. “Such a shame he’ll miss the wedding, eh?”
For a moment, Helena felt for her stepbrother, but she could not help but feel amused that his actionsfinallyhad landed him in consequences he could not easily wriggle out of.
“Oh, yes, how shall we carry on?” she snorted.
“Yer faither means to leave tomorrow if ye are alright with it.”
Helena stared at Damien, who gave her a far too innocent look, and she narrowed her eyes at him.
“Well, he tried to leave today, but we convinced him to wait and see what ye wanted.”
“Is he takin’ Sophia?”
Damien snorted. “Christ, nay.”
“Let him go,” she said. “He also brought this calamity upon Barthy and himself. Let him deal with it and the Fanwrights. And I shall be happier without his shadow here.”
“Are ye sure?” Damien asked quietly, setting aside his book and leaning forward.
“Yes,” Helena said. He shook his head but said nothing, and she smiled. “You can speak your mind, my soon-to-be-husband.”
“Och, it’s just that I wish the bastard could appreciate ye—and Sophia, for that matter,” Damien said. “It isnae right.”
