Page 71 of An English Rose for the Highlander
And as she shook her head, Rose felt that fissure in her chest grow exponentially, that horrible ache in her throat returning as she fought back the tidal wave of furious sorrow.
“I cannot. I…I simply cannot, Dominik.”
When she looked up, the grief on her husband’s face nearly caused her heart to stop beating altogether. Had she indeed misinterpreted his emotions, his…feelings toward her? But she had been so certain that the man did not love her. He had been cold, so angry and?—
Responding in kind to the way she pulled herself away from him.
Rolling his lips between his teeth, Dominik nodded, his eyes shutting as he asked, “Will ye at least tell me why?”
“I hardly think it is important right now. It is the middle of the night, Dominik. I am meant to be travelling by coach in just a few short hours. Please, do not make this harder than?—”
“If it is so hard, then why can ye nae remain at the keep? With me?”
She shook her head, the tears too close to the surface. “Dominik, please. You must understand that?—”
“But I daenae understand. I daenae understand one bit of it.” He stepped forward, pulling her chin up with his strong fingers so that she was forced to look at him. “Rose, ye must tell me what it is that is forcing ye away. Perhaps there is something that I could do to mend it.”
The very air felt as if it were trying to suffocate her, and Rose pulled herself away, sinking further into her bedroom. She spun around, putting her back to Dominik. All she could do was shake her head, tightening her hands into fists until her nails dug into the flesh, an attempt to keep the tears at bay.
“Daenae run from me, lass. I at least deserve an explanation. I have come to speak with ye, and ye willnae even give me the rationale behind your decision to flee the keep.”
That forced her around, and Rose glared at Dominik. She could not stop herself. Shaking, she felt a single tear dribble down her face, and she was quick to swipe it away.
“Deserve?Deserve? And do you not think that I deserve to be happy? ThatIdeserve just an ounce of goodness in my life. I’d thought I finally found it here, and Lord Egerton saw fit to take it away from me. Again! Even with his death, that man is still managing to pull me away from the place I feel most at home. I am doing everything I can to keep him from further harming you! Don’t you see that? The Crown could condemn you! And what am I to do? Allow the man I love to go to prison or worse!”
Dominik stopped in his tracks just a foot from her, having followed Rose as she threw her hands up in the air and paced. He met her rage with wide eyes, and for a moment, she did not understand what had shocked him so much. Dominik had heard her yell and say a number of things much worse to him than that.
“Ye…loveme?”
His voice was small as he spoke, but the words held the force of a musket round. Bloody hell, had she said that? Panic rushed up from the very bottom of her feet to the top of her head, and her hands flew up to cover her mouth.
It was a second, maybe less, and then Dominik launched himself at her, pulling her against his chest and crashing his lips down upon hers. The heat and taste of him were everything she had been trying to forget, and even just a brief glimpse of it was enough to make her forget the frustration and fall ever more in love with the man.
He claimed her mouth so thoroughly, there was no duty or obligation behind the kiss. It was raw, it said everything, and still, Dominik pulled back, cupping her face and looking down into her eyes—his that magnificent shade of green—and he spoke to her.
“I love ye, Rose. I love ye so fiercely I can scarcely breathe without ye. It is nae about duty or politics, nae the land or even me clan. I love ye for only what makes ye the incredible woman I have watched these past months. Daenae leave, lass. We will meet the future together if ye’ll have me.Please, Rose, daenae leave.”
Tears that would not be held back a moment longer rushed to her eyes. Rose pressed her lips to Dominik’s and nodded, unable to care about all the reasons she should still go to London.
Dominikdidlove her, and nothing else mattered now.
Through her joyful sobs, Rose looked at her husband, losing herself in the emerald depths of his stare.
“Idolove you, Dominik. I am so terrified for what the Crown might say, but…But I would stay with you. I would grow old with you, watch our children play. I would have a life with you because you have seen me for who I am, never a stepping stone or means toward a greedy end. If you believe we can stand up to the Crown, then?—”
“I believe together we can stand up to anything, lass. Even the devil himself.”
A ridiculous laugh left her, and Rose threw herself once more into Dominik’s arms, letting go, letting the future change because they willed it so. And Dominik met her right there, rising to her kiss and demanding more.
The rising need swelled inside her—inside them both—and Rose reached for the fastening of Dominik’s kilt, the only thing he wore besides his shirt. Her husband’s hand gathered up the bottom of her shift, hoisting it so that he could pull it over her head. In moments, they were laid bare to each other, and it was not solely to do with their lack of clothing.
Dominik saw her and saw into her. She saw into him. This was their act of union beyond all previous moments—open, without restraint, not concerned with duty. This was their love, and together they would face the rest of their lives. They would rise above, boats buoyed by the other’s presence.
Her husband brought her to bed, lying them down, his wide hips spreading her legs as his erection brushed against her. That potent fire in her veins was flaring brightly, and she arched against him, kissing Dominik with all that she possessed.
“I need you. Ineedyou within me.”
Dominik grinned against her lips, one hand on the back of her neck, while the other was planted on the bed near her hip. He teased her, dragging his length back and forth over just the outside of her, the sensitive skin that longed for him. Rose wrapped her legs around Dominik, urging him to move quicker.
