Page 51 of Taming the Heiress
He blinked at her. "The what? The kelpie legend that I've heard about?"
She nodded. "My grandmothers are convinced that I should be with you... well, forever."
Dougal tipped his head in bewilderment. "They think I am the kelpie of Sgeir Caran?"
She shrugged. "Thora is not so sure, but Elga is certain of it. You've more than proven it in her mind."
"How?"
"Norrie told her that you rose up out of the sea when we went out to the rock the day you were diving. And you wanted to take the children from her that day you met us on the beach. Stop laughing," she told him. "And you rescued Iain and sent the shark away."
"I seem to have misrepresented myself," he said, and chuckled.
"And my grandmothers think—" she paused.
"Come now. Tell me," he coaxed. "I have not told you anything less ridiculous than you could confess to me."
"They think you are already my husband," she blurted.
He leaned back, folded his arms. "Now this I must hear."
"Mother Elga and Grandmother Thora sent me out to the rock that night," she explained. "It is an old tradition on Caransay for a maiden to spend a night out there, once every hundred years, to wait for the great kelpie to arrive and make her his... well, bride. They told me I must submit to him, and gave me a whisky potion to ease my fears and make me... bold."
"Aye, well," he said, "you were bold enough."
She poked him playfully. "Our legend says that when the great kelpie of Sgeir Caran claims his bride, he will bestow good fortune on her and the people of Caransay. We needed good fortune then, for the previous leaseholder of the island was about to evict everyone and replace the tenants with sheep farmers and bring in English flocks. So I went to the rock to make the appeal to the... and there you were."
"And a lucky man, to be mistaken for the kelpie," he drawled, laughing as she pushed at him. "Your grandmothers never told you that the kelpie might be nearly drowned, did they?"
She giggled, and they settled together, his arm around her shoulders. "I was hazed, as you were, by the herbal potion my grandmothers had given me," she went on. "So I believed you were magical. And besides, you had no clothing. You did not look like a man washed up from a shipwreck." She plucked at his shirt.
"I took off my clothes to keep from sinking. I'd rather wash up naked on some beach for all the islanders to see, than die clothed and decent for the fishes."
"I was lucky to find a beautiful naked man ready to do all my will, instead of a slimy, wretched sea monster ready to give me nightmares." She smiled as he laughed.
"Aye, you were lucky," he said, and he kissed her. "Did the kelpie bestow good fortune on you afterward? Or, now that he's back, are you waiting to find out?"
She smiled at his jest, but inside she trembled. The whole truth hovered on her lips, but there was too much she could not tell him, here and now, about Iain, herself, and now Frederick. Wanting desperately to tell him, she resisted, unable to spoil this magical night for both of them.
She shrugged. "We were not evicted, as it turned out."
"Lady Strathlin bought the island's lease? Very good luck, indeed. You had the blessing of the kelpie after all."
Gulping, she could only nod.
Growing quiet, he traced circles on her shoulder. "Girl," he murmured, "you are so good, so honest and pure in your character. And I am deeply sorry that you believed I was a wretched monster for so many years." He kissed the top of her head. "You have such integrity and strength."
She shook her head, torn by guilt. "I am not what you think."
"I never want you to feel ashamed of what we did that night or what we have done now. Listen to me. That night was very powerful. I do not believe what we did was wrong. We saved each other that night. And I will take the responsibility for it upon my shoulders. You were an innocent then, and to me you are innocent still, no matter what has happened between us." He touched her hair, kissed her brow.
She ducked her head against his chest.
"Meg MacNeill, look at me." He tilted her chin upward and kissed her mouth gently. "Meg, I want to marry you."
She gasped and felt tears begin to gather in her eyes. "Do not... feel that you have an obligation to me."
"I do have an obligation to you. But that is not why I am asking this. I want to marry you, if you will have me. Let me take care of you and your family."
