Page 104 of The Highlander Steals a Virgin
He didn’t deserve it, but he was going to protect it with everything he had.
“Ye — ye’re comin’ back? When?” he asked, not trusting his own voice.
Amara nodded once. “I’m nae endin’ this chapter just to leave behind the reasons I chose to do so.”
Rhys shifted, uncomfortable in the best kind of way. “Ye have a strange way of showin’ affection.”
“I learned it from a man who kidnapped me, insulted me, and then rebuilt me,” she shot back, eyes twinkling.
That earned a smirk. “Sounds like a right arsehole.”
“The worst.”
He chuckled, and the tension between them eased just enough to breathe again.
He pulled her into him, then.
The hug was tight — a full-body sort of embrace that made her breath catch. His arms were solid around her back, his chin resting briefly against the crown of her head.
After a long moment, he pulled back just far enough to look her in the eye, then pressed a warm kiss to her hairline. Her hands lingered at his sides.
“Ye’ve changed everything, Amara Hall,” he murmured. “Whether ye meant to or not.”
Her throat bobbed as she swallowed, a silent weight passing between them, before she chuckled, “Sounds likeI’mthe right arsehole, now.”
“Och! The worst,” he teased, mocking her, and the tension between them eased just enough to breathe again.
Rhys turned and offered his hand once more. She took it, and he helped her back into the saddle with quiet efficiency. Then he mounted his own horse beside her, casting one last glance down the wooded path they had taken to arrive here.
He urged his horse forward and she joined him. They rode in silence.
The road climbed in front of them, the shadows thinned, and the castle finally came fully into view. Its walls were slick with old moss, and no banner flew from the turret. A foreboding kind of silence hovered around it.
Rhys’s smirk died. “I daenae like this.”
“I ken,” she said quietly, a slight grin playing at her lips as if to challenge him.
He raised a brow. “Have ye forgotten that ye’re mine? And, as ye have intention to return to me after this, ye goin’ in therealoneis out of the question.”
She met his gaze directly.
He squinted up at the sun, gauging its angle over the trees. Midday was coming.
“I’ll wait for as long as I can,” he said finally. “Then I’m comin’ in after ye, and I daenae care who stands in the way.”
Amara gave a breathy laugh. “Aye, I believe ye.”
“I mean it,” he said, the steel returning to his tone.
She forward in her saddle, reaching across the space between them. Her fingers grazed his arm gently.
“I ken ye do.”
Then she clicked her tongue and nudged her horse forward.
Rhys dismounted as she disappeared into the trees ahead, that scarf Daisy had embroidered fluttering behind her. He walked toward a familiar clearing. It was the one where he’d once tied her up for safekeeping, never imagining this would be how it all turned out.
He stared up at the keep, one hand resting lightly on the pommel of his sword.
