Page 67 of Highlander's Sinless Nymph
“Yes, Edward,” she said, gently. “To hear you say that… It would have made the perfect ending to our journey, if only we had been able to stay here unmolested.”
Edward’s eyes at once blazed with a keen and determined light. He leaned in and kissed Charlotte hard on the mouth, sending shivers through her body. For one glorious moment, there was nothing but that kiss.
Then they broke apart.
“I’m goin’ to be very busy over the comin’ days, lass,” he told her.
As if on cue, there came a tentative knock on the door.
“Edward?” came Agnes, the maid’s, voice. “Edward, the Laird requests ye come to him at once.”
Charlotte saw the muscles in Edward’s jaw working.
“Aye,” he replied wearily, “I’ll attend him right away.”
He got to his feet, but carried on talking in a low voice. “I’ll be busy tryin’ to sort this mess out, tryin’ to stop a war escalatin’ between yer faither and me own.” He gave her a rare smile then, and Charlotte caught a glimpse of how much warmth was hidden under that tough, rugged exterior.
“I swear to ye, lass, that I shall make sure that if ye are to marry any MacQuarrie clansman, it shall be me,” Edward said. He bent and kissed her one more time. “We’ll have that perfect endin’, ye’ll see.”
Charlotte watched him leave. She smiled sadly to herself.
He knows much, but he does not know everything. It is a shame that things in life rarely work out perfectly.
* * *
Charlotte spent the next seven days at MacQuarrie Castle in relative isolation. She was not a prisoner––she was allowed the run of the castle, took her meals when and where she pleased, and was attended by a pair of maids–– but there was never any doubt that she was, indeed, an outsider.
She chafed to see Edward, for she wished to expound upon their feelings for one another. However, it seemed that he had been gone for many weeks and his movements and what he had seen were of paramount interest to the Laird.
She saw him during the evening meals, but there was never any time for her to talk with him. All they managed to do was exchange a few pleasantries, and she was able to assure him that she was being treated well and was gaining some much needed rest.
On the fourth evening, Charlotte was walking back to her chambers, when she was yanked quite unexpectedly into a deserted room off of a main corridor.
She gasped, as a big hand clamped itself over her mouth, firmly but gently. A second later, she realized that it was Edward.
“You scared the life out of me!” she hissed, slapping his chest. Then, she comprehended that they were alone. She grabbed the Highlander around the neck with a confidence that she had never felt and pulled him to her.
She felt his lips meet hers, felt the roughness of his stubble against her own face, felt his tongue touch and twine with hers.
“Sassenach, as much as I would love this to continue, I must tell ye somethin’,” Edward said, managing to break away from her.
“What?” Charlotte asked demurely.
Edward’s face fell, as far as Charlotte could see in the dim light.
“Me faither is nae budgin’ on allowin’ me to marry ye. He is convinced that it must be some other man,” he said.
Charlotte sighed and leaned against his chest.
“Ye are safe to stay here,” Edward continued, his lips brushing her curly hair, “but we cannae be together, not in any way that presents itself to me just yet.”
“Isn’t loving each other enough of a reason for him to allow it?” Charlotte asked, speaking into Edward’s muscled chest.
Edward sighed. “His hatred fer yer faither clouds everythin’,” he said.
“I don’t want to lose you. I don’t want to losethis,” Charlotte said.
“I’ll fight fer it, as best I can,” Edward assured her.
