Page 109 of Wild Scottish Beauty

“It’s good.”

“It’s perfect,” Ramsay said, stepping slightly forward and grabbing something from the table. “Just like you.”

I swallowed, hope blooming, but not wanting to be led astray once more.

Ramsay fastened something around his waist and tears spilled over.

It was a fanny pack.

A unicorn one at that.

“Why are you here, Ramsay?”

“Because I screwed up. Royally. And I needed to get my head on straight so I could apologize properly.”

“It’s fine,” I said automatically, shrugging it off as was my habit.

“No, it’s not fine. Not in the slightest.” Ramsay stepped forward. “Can I show you something, darling?”

“Sure.” I stepped forward as he motioned me toward the willow tree. He kept a careful distance, not touching me, and I ducked my head as he pushed some branches aside.

My heart twisted.

There on the trunk of the tree, in a scratchy childlike script, was my mother’s name.

Welig.

“Your gran told me this is where your mother had carved her name. I wanted to bring you here, in front of this carving, to say I’m so, so sorry. And I want to promise you, and her, that I will never take you for granted or push you aside like I did after the fire.”

Tears spilled over, and my chest tightened as I reached out and ran my fingers over the carving. A tingle of energy raced through my palms at the touch, and I closed my hand around it, as though I could keep that magick with me forever. And maybe I could. Her blood was as much ofmine and I of hers, and we were forever connected, our roots entangled in this earth.

I shuddered in a breath and turned to look up at Ramsay, his expression pained at my tears.

“You really hurt me, Ramsay. You made me feel like…nothing. Like less than nothing.”

“I know it. And all I can say is that I’m a fecking eejit. Truly. I was just so angry and the only thing I could land on was that I needed to do everything alone.”

“But why? Why do you have to do everything alone, Ramsay? You run a veritable kilt empire. You have employees. You don’t do it all on your own.” I crossed my arms over my chest, lest I dive for him and wrap my arms around his waist and bury my face in his chest and howl like I wanted to.

“I know, Iknow. Guess what I’ve learned recently? Emotions aren’t logical.” A ghost of a smile crossed Ramsay’s lips. “I was gutted when Andrew betrayed me. Absolutely gutted. I’d looked up to my brother my whole life. When he stole from me, from my parents, and took off—it just changed me. Because if my own brother could do that to me? Well, anyone could. Och, it hardened me. I was determined to succeed, but I needed to do as much of it myself, you ken? It took me a long time to take on help, and even then, it was tough. Poor Sheila’s been through it with me, I’ll tell you that much.”

“I don’t doubt it,” I murmured.

“Miles has been a good friend to me,” Ramsay continued, his face set in hard lines as he worked through what he needed to say. Again, this man didn’t talk a lot, but when he did, it just all poured out of him. “A really good friend. Insome ways, he replaced the relationship that I had with Andrew, and his friendship is important to me. When you arrived and he asked me to look out for you, I took that responsibility seriously.”

“I’m notyours, or his, responsibility.” I rolled my eyes. “Do you have some misguided notion that women just flounder about in the world needing male protection?”

“It’s not like that, Willow. We know you’re capable of taking care of yourself, but when your people love you, they want to look after you.”

My breath caught.

He’d just said that he loved me. I wasn’t even sure if he realized what he’d said.

“And so I hated that I looked at you as more than just my friend’s sister,” Ramsay barreled on, clearly needing to work through his speech while I was basically unraveling inside. “Every time you laughed, every time I caught the scent of your hair, every time you bent over in front of me, I hated myself for wanting to dive into you. It was like I’d been living in black and white, and you were this explosion of color in my life. All of a sudden, I was feeling feelings that I didn’t want to, I was thinking things I wasn’t supposed to be thinking, and I found myself looking forward to every moment that I got to spend with you."

"Ramsay," I whispered.

“You’re like this tartan, you ken?” Ramsay held up a piece of the fabric. “You weaved yourself into my life, Willow, and when I thought it was something that I didn’t want or wouldn’t like, it turns out that I’m stronger with you there. Together, we were creating something incredible, and I’m so very sorry that I hurt that, hurt you, and madeyou think you were anything less than incredible. Not only are you the sunshine to my rain, but you’re so very talented, and I loved working by your side. I hate that I might have made you second-guess yourself, in any capacity, because of my cruel words.”

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