Page 87 of A Highland Bride Disciplined
The letter fell to the table, its ink-stained confession glaring back at them.
Scarlett’s sobs echoed too loud in the chamber. She pressed both hands over her face, as if she could quiet them, as if her grief weren’t spilling everywhere.
Kian didn’t flinch at her tears. He didn’t look away. He only waited, silent and immovable, letting her fall apart in the safety of his presence.
The scrape of his boots against the stone reached her first, then the warmth of his presence settling like a shadow over her. She felt him pause, only inches away, as though testing if she’d break should he touch her.
Then his hand came down, firm and sure, resting on her shoulder.
That was all it took. She fell forward, into him. Her forehead hit his chest, and the sob ripped out of her throat, muffled against the fabric of his shirt. His arms closed around her, tight and grounding.
Scarlett clutched at him, fisting the front of his tunic as if to anchor herself to something solid while the rest of her worldreeled. She hadn’t realized until this moment how badly she’d wanted someone to hold the weight with her. How heavy it had let it become, waiting, wondering, carrying Elise’s life in her arms with no knowledge of what past might come crashing through the keep’s doors.
Now the answer was here, and it was almost unbearable.
“I wish I had found her sooner,” Scarlett rasped against his chest. “If I’d followed her —”
“Stop.” His voice was rough but steady, a command more than a plea. He tipped her chin up with two fingers until her tear-stained eyes met his. His gaze was dark, but not cold. “Scarlett, there’s nay point in guessing about ‘if this’ or ‘if that’. Ye couldnae have kent. Neive chose this. She trusted us with her daughter. That is the truth, and nothin’ ye say will change it.”
“But —”
“Nay.” His grip tightened, his thumb brushing against the damp skin of her cheek. “Ye’ve spent almost two months pourin’ every drop of yerself into that bairn. Do ye think she’d be smilin’ as she does, sleepin’ as sound, if ye hadnae? Scarlett, ye’ve given Elise more than that lass ever believed she could have. That’s the truth. And ye’ll give her more yet.”
The words cut through, steady as the hand on her jaw. Her tears slowed, though her chest still hitched with each breath.
She leaned into his touch despite herself, her eyes fluttering shut as she drew in the scent of him. Solid. Real.
Her voice came softer now. “What if I fail?”
Kian’s brow furrowed. He dipped closer until his breath warmed her temple. “Scarlett Murray, I’ve seen ye face down armed men, seen ye stare me down in me own hall without blinkin’. Ye’ve run this keep as though ye were born to it. Do yetrulythink ye’ll falter at raisin’ a bairn who already kens yer arms as home?”
Scarlett swallowed hard, her throat aching. “But she’ll ask. One day, she’ll ask where she came from.”
“Aye,” Kian admitted. He slid a hand up her back, resting it between her shoulder blades. “And when she does, we’ll tell her the truth. That her maither loved her, but kenned she wasnae strong enough to keep her. That she left her wi’ us because she wanted her to live and thrive. There’s nay shame in that, Scarlett. Nay shame in a bairn kennin’ she was wanted and loved enough to be given a chance at more.”
Scarlett blinked up at him, tears still brimming but no longer blinding. His face was so close, his jaw clenched in that steady way of his, but his eyes were softer now.
“Andifye falter,” Kian went on, his voice dropping low, almost a growl, “then I’ll be there. She’ll havebothof us. She’ll never want for faither or maither. That, I vow.”
The certainty in his tone shook something loose in her chest. For weeks, she’d feared the unspoken. That one day Kian might yet decide Elise was better off elsewhere, that this fragile belonging she’d carved for the child could be ripped away. But here, in this moment, with his arms around her and his vow spoken plain, Scarlett felt the ground steady beneath her at last.
Her lips parted slightly. “Ye mean it?”
Kian’s gaze didn’t waver. “Aye. I’ll never speak again of givin’ her away. She’soursnow. And she’ll stayours.”
Scarlett gasped, the weight of it settling over her heart. She hadn’t realized how badly she’d needed to hear those words until now. Relief broke through the grief, tangled with a rush of gratitude so sharp it made her dizzy.
Her hand lifted, brushing against his chest, not in anger this time but to feel the beat beneath his ribs.
“Thank ye,” she whispered, and though her voice cracked, the words held.
Kian dipped his head to hers and gently pressed a kiss to her lips. It was a soft, tender kiss that lasted only a second before he gathered her tighter, and rested his chin atop her hair. For a long moment, neither spoke. The fire crackled low in the grate, shadows stretching along the walls, and Scarlett let herself breathe in rhythm with his.
For the first time since she’d held Elise in her arms, she didn’t feel as though she was holding everything alone.
When at last she shifted, drawing back enough to meet his eyes, she found no mockery there. No restraint. Only the quiet weight of a man who had chosen, fully and without hesitation, to bind himself not just to her but to the child they now shared.
Kian hadn’t meant to kiss her. Or at least he hadn’t planned on it.
