Page 23 of Pretty in Plaid
“Eyes up here, ye rogue,” she teased.
They hurried through splashing water on their faces and other private matters before slurping down some stew and hopping on their horses. The temperature had improved some, though it remained frigid.
Late afternoon fell into night, and still they rode, only stopping when necessary until they finally reached the small fishing village and the ferry. Not just any ferry—this one was a well-kept secret. A rebel ferry that continued to thwart the dragoons’ attempts to capture them and control all rebels.
They rode their horses onto the deck, and Sorley passed the boatman the required coins. They did not speak, only communicating in a flash of rings, nods and coin. Within minutes, the ferry was moving, the wind on the loch picking up and blowing the hair on their heads.
Sorley tucked his arm around Kenna instinctively and without thinking. She leaned against him, a welcome reaction.
“Are ye cold?” he asked.
“No’ anymore.”
In the moonlight, he could see her smile up at him. “Are ye ready to marry me yet?” she asked.
He gave a slight shake of his head, expecting to see her smile falter, but it did not. Instead, her lips took on a mirthful twist.
She laughed. “Your gesture says nay, but your eyes say aye. I was jesting anyway.”
“How is it possible ye know me better than people who’ve been acquainted with me my whole life?”
“I canna answer that, but ’tis the same for me.”
“All I know is that from the moment I met ye, every waking and dreaming moment, my thoughts are filled with ye. And I want to kiss ye and never stop.”
She bit her lip and wrapped her arms around his waist. Then she shook her head again, the wind whipping her hair from the confines of the pin. She let go of him, fixing her hair with the dagger in place.
“And that dagger...something about the way ye protect yourself makes me want to protect ye all the more.”
Kenna leaned into him again. “I confess when ye marched up the stairs in the face of danger, I was a bit taken.”
“I need to be honest with ye, lass. I’ve never felt this way before. My chest feels...tight, and yet fully swelled at the same time.”
She glanced up at him. Concern etched in the corners of her eyes. “Are ye unwell?”
“Lass, I confess, I think I’m in love with ye.” The words were out of his mouth before he could put them back in their walled-off dungeon. One didn’t simply utter words like that aloud.
Kenna gasped, and he loosened his hold around her shoulders, afraid she might want to run to the other side of the ferry, and he wasn’t going to stop her.
“If that feeling in your chest is love, then I confess I may be afflicted with the same malady.”
“Then, perhaps we should marry.”
“I think perhaps ye only wish to marry me now to bed me.”
“Och, but I want to do that too,” he chuckled, tipping her chin up, so she looked him in the eyes. “But the truth is that when I think about arriving at Dunvegan and the two of us walking in different directions, I get a sick feeling in my gut and a twisted rage that makes my whole body tremble, just as it does before I go into battle. I want ye, lass, for more than kisses and touching. I want ye to be mine, all of ye. Mind, body, soul.”
Kenna wrapped her arms around his neck, her fingers tangling in his hair. “Your attempts to persuade me are working.”
“I dinna want to persuade ye. I want ye willing.”
Kenna lifted on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his chin, and then he dipped his head to kiss her.
“I’m more than willing, Sorley. But I’m also scared.”
“What are ye scared of?”
“Everything.”
