Page 64 of The Highlander's Alluring Spy
Magnolia hesitated, then moved a little closer, putting her hand on his arm. “Would you like to go and walk by the lake with me?” she asked. “I like to see the stars when I can, and I’d very much like to see them with you.”
Stop this, Magnolia. You’re just getting yourself further into something you can’t ever keep.
Nathair leaned down and kissed her in response. It was a light kiss, just a brush of the lips, but the passion was just as strong and sweet as each time their mouths had met so far.
When the kiss was over, she slipped her hand into Nathair’s, and they headed out towards the gardens.
“So tell me, Magnolia,” Nathair asked her as they reached the front entrance of the castle. “Dae ye have any brothers? Sisters?”
He knows nothing of me. He doesn’t even know my real name.
Magnolia shook her head. “I had several brothers, but none lived past a week or so, sadly,” she told him. “My Mother had much trouble retaining her pregnancies. She and my Father had all but given up by the time I came along.”
“I see,” Nathair told her. “I’m me parents’ only bairn as well. Me only brother has always been William.”
They walked out into the gardens, turning without even needing to consider the direction, walking towards the loch that reflected the night sky.
“You and William have been such close friends for so long?” she asked him. “Since childhood?”
“Aye, for as long as I can remember. William’s been wi’ me through everythin’, nae matter how bad it gets.” Magnolia loved the soft expression on his face when he talked of his friend. It was pure and straightforward fraternal love, the kind she rarely saw shown openly between men back home.
“I’m glad you’re so close,” she said. She let go of his hand, but it was only to slip her arm around the crook of his elbow. “He seems a good man.”
“Och, he’s a pain in the neck,” Nathair laughed. He placed his free hand over hers, holding it in the loop of his arm. “I’m sure he’d be right flattered to hear ye speakin’ so nicely o’ him, though.”
“He seems the type who would be prone to flattery, it’s true,” Magnolia said with a little laugh of her own. She did like Commander Candlish rather a lot, but he seemed to go out of his way to be genuinely ridiculous at times.
Nathair squeezed her hand. “Did ye ken he was me late wife’s cousin?”
A cold feeling ran through Magnolia at the reference to Catrina. She vividly remembered Nathair’s words from the previous night.
I dinnae need ye to be Cat. I love ye.
Had he said that only in the heat of the moment? Could he possibly have genuinely meant it when he claimed that she was equal in his eyes to his beloved dead wife, the woman who had given him Elaine? It hardly felt possible.
And possible or not, did it matter? She was a spy, an Englishwoman, and a member of the Order. No move she could make would result in anything but betrayal for someone.
Are my only choices pain and more pain? That cannot be true.
“I didn’t know that, no,” she said. “Were they close?”
Nathair seemed to feel her shiver because he pulled her slightly closer as they walked by the shore. “They were close, aye,” he agreed. “Very close. When we met, we were all just bairns. William and I were like brothers long before she came along, so half the time, I felt like he was protectin’ me from her rather than the other way around.”
Though discomfort still roiled, she found herself smiling at the idea of little Nathair, intimidated by a pretty girl and having to be cared for by his dramatic friend.
“I dinnae tell ye this to upset ye,” Nathair continued. As they walked along the shore, the wind gently blew, making the stars on the surface dance like a beautiful ballroom full of angels. “I tell ye because, well, William was the biggest reason I was able to get over my fear an’ marry Catrina despite a’ the pressure for me to dae otherwise.”
“Oh?” Magnolia asked, her eyes trained on the water. She missed dancing. Did they dance like that in Scotland? It seemed strange to her that she had been here so long and she didn’t know for sure.
What do I know about Scotland, really? Am I living in a fantasy?
“Aye,” Nathair agreed. “I dinnae ken if ye’ve noticed, but I can be a bit…reticent.”
That broke Magnolia out of her discomfort as she turned to look him in the face. “Oh,no,My Laird,” she joked. “You? Reticent? Perish the thought. Why, you are as open as any book!”
He chuckled. “Ye’re far too cheeky for yer own good. Ye’re gonnae offend some great Laird one o’ these days.”
“Well, of course, I should strive to avoid such a thing,” Magnolia replied innocently, batting her eyelashes.
