Page 30 of In Love With the Wrong Highland Sister
“Good. I consider myself very privileged.” Then he looked at her dress again. “I have ruined your dress.”
“I will continue to wear it for tonight,” she said nonchalantly, shrugging. “I have never cared what others thought of the clothes I put on. It can be washed.”
“You are a remarkable woman,” he answered, his gaze dropping to her lips.
“I think I will enjoy being your friend,” she replied, taking a step closer to him.
For a moment, they were completely lost in each other before Laird MacLean came to separate them. He looked at each of their faces and smiled inwardly. He knew love at first sight because he had experienced it himself.
* * *
“We were married two months later,” Laria went on, “and he was my first and only lover. He was the kindest man I ever knew, and I loved him with all my heart.” She paused for a moment to wipe her eyes, which had begun to leak tears again. “When the fever came, it infected me first, and he stayed by my side almost every day until I was better. I will never forget his face…so worried, so concerned. When he became sick, I thought that he was such a strong man that nothing could kill him, but day after day, he became weaker and weaker, until eventually, he died. When I pulled the sheet over his face, I wanted to die myself.
“I fell to pieces for a while. I was sad, but most of all I was so angry, and I never really stopped being furious. I was sick for a few days afterwards, and I asked the healer if I could be with child. She examined me, and that was when I was told I was barren. Then my courses began again, and I became even more angry. I never really stopped feeling that way. Until today.” She raised her head to look up at him again, her eyes wide with disbelief.
“Perhaps you never really let it go,” he answered gently. “I know that when my grandmother died, my mother was grief-stricken, but she never wept properly until one day she accidentally broke her favorite vase and she completely went to pieces. She cried on and off for days, and after that…I will not say she was a different person, but she seemed much happier, as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.”
“I hope so,” Laria whispered. “I don’t like the bitter person I have become, Jamie—”
“You called me Jamie!” he said in astonishment. “You have never done that before.”
“I am sorry,” Laria apologized. “Should I call you James?”
“No.” He laughed softly. “I prefer Jamie.”
“So do I,” Laria told him, smiling.
“I think you are the most wonderful woman I have ever met,” he said tenderly. “I care about you more than I have ever cared about any other woman in my life. Can you not find it in your heart to care for me too?” His voice was hopeful, almost pleading.
“Why would you want me?” she asked incredulously. “I cannot give you any children. You surely want to have sons and daughters of your own.”
“Of course I do,” he replied, stroking her hair. “But that is not as important to me as you are, Laria. If I have you, I have everything. I love you.”
“You love me?” Laria asked incredulously. She could not believe what she was hearing.
“More than anyone else in the world,” he answered huskily. “Your happiness is all I care about, and I only want you. This marriage is more to me than a contract between two families, but if you do not love me, then I will not force you into it, despite our contract. I would rather see you happy with someone else than miserable with me.”
Laria stared at him for a while, then put up a hand to rub his bristly cheek. She never wanted to move out of his arms, but she knew that she had to. Yet, at that moment, their lips were so close that the kiss was inevitable.
She plunged her hand into his hair and moaned softly as she felt its thick, silky texture between her fingers, then she moved it to his chest to feel its muscled hardness. Laria felt drugged, as though she had been given a dose of poppy milk to help her to sleep, and she could have sat in James’s arms with his lips on hers until the end of time if it was possible.
For his part, James was hardly able to believe that this was happening, and he sighed against the soft lips pressed against his own, wondering if it were all a fabulous dream. When they drew apart and he saw the face that meant so much to him, he smiled. “My beautiful girl.”
“I know what you said about not wanting children,” she said gently, “but perhaps you would change your mind about that if you saw all your friends with children of their own and regret the choice you made. I do not want to deprive you of them, Jamie.”
“How many times do I have to tell you?” he asked desperately. “I do not care about them. Having children will never be as important to me as having you, Laria.”
“Are you sure?” Her voice was a whisper. “You would not want a nice, innocent virgin like Eloisa?”
“Very sure,” he answered. “She is a lovely young woman, but there is no comparison between you and her.”
“Can you give me some time to think about it?” she asked. “I know there is a contract, but would you let me go if I really wanted you to?”
James was swept by a wave of disappointment, but he pasted a smile on his face. “Of course, sweetheart,” he replied. “Take as much time as you need.”
“I was furious about the contract at first, you know,” she said, laughing softly, “but now I know why you did it.”
“Why did I do it?” He was curious.
