Page 105 of A Torn Allegiance
His hand held hers. He didn’t think he’d let go since the pub. They’d ridden back in his carriage. If possible, he would never lose her hand in his. He drank in the strength of her, the joy that seemed to beam from her body, and the love.
Her expression changed, and the deep anguish that plagued her eyes tore at him. He wished to kiss it away, but he knew they must discuss it first. “Forgive me,” she said, repeating her words from the pub.
“I forgive you.” There. He did. He forgave her the deception and the heartbreak of hearing of it through someone else’s mouth. It hurt. It still hurt. But he forgave her. And in so doing, the burden lifted. He trusted her. They could move forward. If she’d have him.
“I don’t deserve your kindness.” Her lip quivered as she turned her face away. “I’m going to do everything I can to begin anew with you so you will forget... my less-fine moments.”
“I could never forget a single thing about you. But all moments, both pleasing and difficult, only bring you closer to me. Perhaps one day I’ll even thank your father.”
She looked up at him in surprise.
“I am in earnest, for if he hadn’t been so suspicious of me, we would not have had so many experiences together. I might have seen you for a single set at a ball here, perhaps a walk there, but I might have missed the most important part of my travels to England.”
Her eyes welled with tears. “You are too good.”
“Oh, come now. I’m not too good. You were acting in your father’s behalf, abiding by his requests. But you were sincere. In some instances, at least, I know you were sincere.” His one eyebrow wiggled, urging a laugh from her.
“Oh, and how can you know?”
“Some things cannot be pretended.” He pulled her close.
“And might I have the pleasure of knowing which those are?”
He nodded and resisted the softness of her lips no more. His murmur against her mouth was lost even to him. He might have said something about her not pretending to enjoy his kisses or not pretending the glorious love that shone from her eyes, but words were no longer needed. In so many instances, they never had been. The unity that flowed from him to her and back while he explored her mouth was singular and joyous, and he pulled her even closer. He tugged on her lips, pressed them again, urged and asked and loved with every motion until he thought he and Elsie might be taken up into the sky to join the wind as it rushed over the Scottish plains.
When at last Hayes—regrettably—paused, he looked deep into her eyes. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
The very heart of Scotland seemed to beat at him through the soil. “How can I take you from all of this?”
She did not look away, her gaze steady and full of loyalty and love. “I love you more than this.” She swallowed. “And I don’t have to choose, do I? Scotland will always be a part of who I am.” She looked again out over the land. “I don’t think you can separate a Scot from her land, no matter how far she roams.”
“That is quite poetic.”
When she turned to look at him again, the tears in her eyes surprised him. “What is this?”
“I’m not saying I won’t miss her.”
He nodded and wiped each tear with his thumb. “I have another homeland for you to love, perhaps, as much.”
Her expression held hesitation for a moment, as though she didn’t believe such a thing to be possible, and then surety filled her face. With her gentle nod, his heart surged.
He dropped down to one knee, studying her face all the while. He hadn’t thought it possible to love someone as much as he loved her. “My dearest Elsie, would you do me the greatest honor and consent to be my wife?”
Her tears flowed freely now, without an attempt to wipe them away. Her smile grew. “Yes. Yes, I will marry you, and I will strive every day to be the kind of woman you and your country need.” Her eyes flashed with a hint of fear. “I pray I will live up to the task.”
He stood and pulled her back into his arms. “I have no doubt you will be the best of us. Oldenburg will remember always that the greatest legacy King Hayes brought to their country was Elsie of Argyll.” He kissed her lips once more to prove his sincerity and then swung her up into his arms. “I declare, on this sacred and blessed land, that as Elsie has agreed to marry me, I too will be connected here.” He laughed and spun them in a circle before lowering her again. “I am giddy. I have the strangest urge to run out across that great expanse of green until I cannot run any farther and then drop to the earth and look up at the sky until it darkens.”
Elsie laughed. “That is exactly what I used to do as a child.” She laced her fingers once again in his. “I pledge to stand by you as you stood by me today. Thank you for your words to Lamoreaux and to the landholders.”
“These are my people and my land now too. I felt it when I was talking to the landholders.” He squeezed her hand. “No matter what, we will face everything together now.”
The strength that flowed through them astounded him, and in that moment, he knew together, their accomplishments would be great.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Elsie sat at her writingdesk in her favorite room of the house. It overlooked the rolling hills of green and the thick stone walls rising and lowering in all directions, as well as the blue sky, as blue a sky as she’d ever seen. And from her vantage point, she might as well have been sitting on top of the world. Every time she thought of Hayes, she smiled.
