Page 127 of The Highlander Steals a Virgin
He stepped closer. “Never?”
Her heart skipped. “How can I?”
The look in his eyes stole the rest of her breath.
Rhys reached into the pocket of his doublet and pulled something small and glinting in the morning light. A ring.
A thick silver band with a single polished moonstone set in its center.
“Me faither gave this to me maither before they ever wed. Said she reminded him of the moon—bright, soft, but impossible to ignore.” He held it out to her now, the stone flashing pale in the sun. “I always meant to give it to someone I couldnae forget.”
Amara’s throat went tight. “Rhys…”
He took her hand, slid the ring onto her finger without ceremony. “Will ye marry me?”
She stared at the ring, then up at him, stunned. “Are ye serious?”
He blinked, startled. “Aye? That was the idea.”
“I’m standin’ here in a soot-stained dress. Ye're covered in bruises. The keep’s fallin’ down around our ears.”
He grinned. “And yet I cannae think of a better time.”
Her heart swelled until it hurt.
A laugh bubbled from her lips—half disbelief, half relief. “Aye,” she whispered. “Yes.”
His hands came up to cradle her face and his kiss was both a promise and a sigh of homecoming.
Behind them, a familiar screech echoed from the wall.
“I knew it!” Daisy shrieked. “I told ye, Mabel! He’s gonna marry her!”
Rhys laughed against her mouth.
Amara pulled back, cheeks burning. “Well, that’s one way to spread the news.”
“She’s louder than the bells in the chapel,” Rhys muttered, smirking.
“She’s yer daughter.”
“Exactly.”
They turned to see Mabel standing with Daisy on her hip, beaming from ear to ear. “Do I need to start sewin' gowns, then?”
“Not just yet,” Amara said, but Rhys turned to her and whispered in her ear:
“I’ll marry ye today if I can find a priest.”
She chuckled, resting her forehead against his chest. “Let’s at least clean up first.”
As Mabel carried Daisy off to share the news with every breathing soul in the castle, Amara looked up once more into Rhys’s face.
Hope had returned to his eyes. Faint but burning.
She knew hers mirrored it.
They would rebuild.
