Page 123 of Highlanders for the Holidays
“Well, I do no’ ken what ye expect me to give ye. I be as poor as a field mouse.” She bent over, cupped her hands, and waited for another fish to swim by.Daft man.
He was beside her again, laughing at her naiveté. “Well, I can think of somethin’ ye can give me that will be more valuable to me than gold.”
Onnleigh pursed her lips and shook her head dismissively.What on earth do I have that anyone would think more valuable than gold?The man be tetched.“I’ll catch me own fish, thank ye verra kindly.”
A moment later, he was tenderly taking her hands in his. Too stunned to think to utter a word, Onnleigh stood staring into Darwud MacCallen’s dark brown eyes.
“Onnleigh, why do ye think I’ve been visitin’ ye nearly every day?” he asked, his voice soft and low.
In truth, she didn’t rightly know. No one ever came to visit her. “I dunnae,” she whispered, curious, nervous and excited all at once.
He grinned, his lips a bit lopsided, before kissing the tips of her fingers. “I think I might like to marry ye, Onnleigh of Clan MacCallen.”
Her heart bounced to her feet and back up again.Marry? Me?“Now I know yer tetched,” she told him, dismissively. She’d given up the hope of ever having a husband or family of her own long ago. She and her da could barely afford to eat, let alone come up with any kind of dowry. Add those things to their less than stellar reputations, and, well, one could see how she would arrive at such a conclusion.
“Why would ye say that?” he asked, looking hurt.
Uncertainty settled in and she didn’t rightly know how to answer that question.
“Ye be a beautiful lass, Onnleigh. Ye’d make any man proud to call ye wife.”
’Twas laughable, wasn’t it? Mayhap, just mayhap, the clan had forgotten all the rotten things her father had done to them. Mayhap they finally realized it was Grueber who had stolen their chickens, their vegetables, and anything else he could carry away with little effort. Mayhap they were ready to quit blaming her for his sins.
Oh, the possibilities were endless! For the first time in more than a decade, she felthappy — nay, elated!
Somehow she found her voice after swallowing hard twice. “Ye wish to marry me?”
“I might,” he said playfully.
“I have no dowry, Darwud,” she told him honestly. Her happy heart was beginning to pound against her breast.
“I do no’ care about a dowry, Onnleigh,” he said, quite seriously. “’Tis ye I desire.”
“Ye do?”
He nodded twice, his dark brown eyes twinkling in the afternoon sun.
“Ye dunnae jest?” she asked softly. Inner doubt was having an awful battle with her newfound hope and excitement.
“Nay, I dunnae jest. I want ye.”
For the first time in her life, OnnleighingenGrueber of Clan MacCallen, felt beautiful, important, and special, all because of Darwud. Her excitement won out, beating down that inner voice that warned she should perhaps consider proceeding with a good deal of caution.
’Twas her first kiss, a wee bit awkward she thought, but since she had nothing to compare it to, she thought it a most wonderful, sweet kiss. His lips felt warm against her own, her excitement building, soaring to never before experienced heights. Someone wanted her, Onnleigh, the thief’s daughter. Darwud cared not about her father’s reputation, cared not that she didn’t have a dowry or a possession of her own to bring into the marriage. ’Twas her he wanted.
On her tiptoes, she clasped her hands behind his neck and kissed him back.He wants to marry me. He thinks me bonny. He wants to marry me.
One thing led to another, and before she knew what was happening, she was giving in to passions and desires she’d never felt before. Lying atop an old worn blanket on the rocky banks of the wide stream, Onnleigh became a woman in every sense of the word. It hadn’t taken as long as she might have expected, but it didn’t matter. Darwud MacCallen wanted to marry her.
He might just even love her.
