Page 101 of A Rogue to Watch Over Me
“If I find ye’ve any thought of taking advantage of the lass, ye will answer to me.”
Anger flashed in Finn’s eyes. He stalked toward Logan. “Has a blasted horse kicked ye in the head? The lass has eyes for ye and ye alone.”
“It’s nothermotives I am questioning.”
“Ye know damned well I would not do such a thing... not to Amelia. She deserves better than a man like me.” Finn scrubbed his hand against his jaw. “Besides, she doesn’t want me. Or any other man, for that matter.” He glared at Logan. “For some confounding reason, the lass wants you.”
“She’s got some blasted fairy tale in her head. The lass wants a bloody poet who will spout sonnets and declarations of love.”
Finn cocked a skeptical brow. “Sonnets? Blast it, MacLain. I’ll be damned if ye’re not the most dunderheaded mule I’ve ever known. Ye’re going to let her leave? Ye’re going to stand here and let her put an ocean between the two of ye?”
“What choice do I have? I can’t give her what she wants. What she deserves.”
“The hell ye can’t.”
“Amelia is a lady. She deserves a gentleman. Not a bloke like me.”
Finn slowly shook his head. “Ye will regret this ’til the end of yer days. The lass loves ye.”
“And I love her.” Logan raked his fingers through his hair. “Which is why I am letting her go.”
Finn stared at him as if he’d sprouted horns. “Don’t try to convince me ye’re being noble. I know better.”
The words plowed into him, but Logan met his cousin’s eyes. Damned if he’d show the bastard he had hit his mark.
“She deserves a better man than me.”
Finn’s scowl eased. “She deserves a man who loves her, ye bloody dolt.”
“In time, she’ll find a respectable gent who can give her the life she wants.” Logan stared down at the ground. “It’s for the best.”
“Ye’re a blasted fool.”
With the words echoing in his ears, Logan turned and marched away. Finn was right. He was a fool. He never should’ve come here. How could he have believed he could simply bid farewell to Amelia, as though the lass had been little more than an acquaintance? When she left, she would take a piece of his heart.
But he’d meant what he had said.
Itwasfor the best.
He stormed through the doors of the Rogue’s Lair, marching straight up to the bar. Murray regarded him silently, his weary eyes saying enough.
“Do not start on me,” Logan said, keeping his tone low and even despite the emotion coursing through him. “Finn said enough.”
Murray shook his head as he wiped down the bar. “Evidently,notenough. If he had, ye wouldn’t still be standing here. Ye’d bedoing everything in yer power to stop the lass from sailing off to America.”
“Ye know bloody well why I can’t stop her.”
Murray’s bushy brows knit together. “I know why ye think ye should let her go. I also know ye’re dead wrong.”
“We both know I’m not the man for her.” The words tasted bitter in Logan’s mouth.
“I know someone did ye wrong. But that was a long time ago. Ye need to remember—the lass is nothing like the woman ye’d planned to marry. I’ve seen how Amelia looks at ye. She’s not eyeing a title. Or a fortune. She’s looking at a man—a man who’s a blasted idiot if he stands back and lets her sail out of his life.”
The words slammed into Logan like a blow. “We both know I cannot give Amelia what she needs.”
“And what in blazes is that?” Murray regarded him for a long moment. “Do ye love her?”
Logan knew lying to the man who’d known him since he was a lad was pointless. He’d speak the truth, no matter how it clawed at his chest.
