Page 101 of Desiring the Highland Laird
“They are coming,” he said, confirming her fears. He didn’t want to scare her, but he wanted her to know what was ahead. “A thousand strong heading this way.”
She pulled him to a stop and gaped at him with wide eyes. Her face paled. The wild beat of her pulse throbbed in the long column of her throat.
“A thousand? What will you do?”
“Fight,” he said. “Defend the keep.” He paused, taking her hand once again. “And keep ye safe.”
She swallowed hard. “I’m not leaving you.”
She suspected his plan. The only way to keep her out of Rory MacDonald’s hands—and the stone—was to send her away.
“Evie—”
“No, Callum. I’m not leaving.” Her tone was firm as her eyes glistened with tears. “I’ll hide in the larder if that’s what you want, but I refuse to leave this place. I refuse to leaveyou.”
His heart thundered hard in his chest. On impulse, he gathered her to him and held her tight, her head tucked neatly under his chin. As he held her, he felt the pounding of her heart against him. She was determined to stay with him no matter what. He would have to find another way to make sure she was safe.
“We willna talk of this anymore today,” he said. Then he pulled back, holding her at arm’s length and giving her a faint smile. “I have men to greet and no lady wife to help me receive them.”
She flushed, her cheeks turning a pale pink. She shifted from one foot to the other. “If you wish for a lady wife…” She paused, taking a deep breath and letting it shudder out of her. “You have only to ask.”
He stared at her in shock. He hadn’t meant it to sound as though he were in need of a wife. It was a comment in jest for the most part. She looked up at him with those eyes he was so fond of.
Callum gripped her hands in his. He lifted one and kissed the tips of her fingers. He thought of her desperation to return to her time, to find her sister and wondered when her feelings had shifted.
“I thought ye wished to return home,” he said.
“I thought I did, too,” she said. “But I seem to have fallen in love with a Highlander.”
His heart thudded. “So, ye mean to stay then?”
She moved closer, pressing her small body against his as she tipped her head back to look up at him. “I do. I mean to stay with you.”
He smiled down at her. It seemed like the sensible thing to do. “I’ll marry ye, Evie Sinclair, if ye’ll have me.”
She grinned. “I thought you’d never ask.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
It wasn’t theproposal she had dreamed about. But he was definitely the man of her dreams.
Callum was insistent they not wait. He left to find an officiant to marry them as soon as possible in the keep’s chapel. He said it would be a traditional handfasting ceremony—they would be together for a year and a day. When he returned, he would be with the local bishop and they would marry at once.
She recalled that Jamie and the MacDonald woman were handfasted. She wondered if she would give Callum a child within their year and a day and felt giddy at the prospect.
While he was gone, it took all her focus as she cut lengths of flowers from the garden. Then she wove them together in a circle to wear on her head. She hadn’t any idea what she would wear to marry Callum and, truthfully, it didn’t matter to her. She was never the girl who had a dream wedding with a fancy gown. She thought she would marry someday, of course, but that was nothing more than a wish and a thought.
Now it was a reality.
She placed the finishing touches on the crown of flowers and placed it on her head to check the fit. It would do. She gazed at her reflection in the mirror and grinned. She was pleased with her handiwork especially since she wasn’t crafty in any way.
A knock sounded on the door.
“Come in.”
Roslyn pushed open the door and paused there, gaping at her for a long moment. She sniffed as a wistful expression crossed her face.
“Och, lass, did ye make that yerself?”
