Page 34 of Loving Her

But when the steed finally came to a stop, dust clouds billowing around his legs, Nicola looked up at Declan and all thoughts fled her mind. She wanted only to remain safe in his arms, trusting that he would always protect her from danger.

He put a finger under her chin and lifted it higher so that he could meet her frightened gaze with his sober one. “We’re safe for now, lass.”

“But?”

He sighed heavily. “But we cannae go home to Inverary. More of that Low Country despot king’s men will come for you. Your father is too important to his cause, he’ll do anything to keep the man happy. I cannae keep you safe in Scotland.” His eyes darkened. “And ‘tis my duty to keep my lady safe.”

“Only duty?” she blurted out without thinking.

Declan blinked. “Nay, Nicola. ‘Tis also out of love. Surely by now you believe me when I say it?”

After all the trouble she’d caused, she couldn’t quite bring herself to believe she deserved it.

Ruby slapped her laptop screen down. Behind her, Natalie jumped away at the vehemence of the gesture. “Dang, Rubes. Don’t get so hostile on your laptop. Remember the bill last time when you cracked the thing holding the screen in place?”

Burying her hands in her hair, Ruby could only let out an incoherent, guttural… noise, in response. Something between agroan and a shriek and a growl. It felt like it came up from the deepest pits of her stomach to rip its way through her throat.

Moving carefully, Natalie approached the desk again and lifted the laptop lid. Before Ruby knew what she was up to, Natalie had her hand in hers and was pressing her finger to the keypad to unlock it. “Hey!”

“I just wanted to see what you were writing that pissed you off so bad… ah.” Natalie clucked her tongue. “Got some home truths emerging and hitting a little too close to the heart?”

“Something like that,” Ruby mumbled.

Nat backed up from the desk, grabbing the back of Ruby’s desk chair and swiveling it around to face the end of the bed, where she plopped her bottom down next to Winston. She pulled the chair close and took Ruby’s face in her hands, forcing her to look her in the eyes. “Ruby, you deserve love. You didn’t do as much wrong as you think you did. It isvalidto need time to think about what you want. Do I need to get one of those airplane guys to write all this in the sky for you?”

“No! Yes. I don’t know. Does it matter?” Ruby sat back and threw her hands in the air, annoyed. “Sashastillwon’t talk to me.”

“She’s going to talk to you tonight,” Natalie announced, leaning back on her hands and grinning smugly.

Ruby could only look at her like she was crazy. “Huh?”

“You said you trusted me, right?” Natalie was ruffling Winston’s ears but kept her merry eyes and smug little grin on Ruby. “With your life and your little dog, too.”

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to know what’s going on.”

Nat shrugged. “Not much. Esme gave Sash two days to decide if she was going to talk to you again. Well, not so much if as when, but I don’t think Sasha knows it’s as mandatory as that.”

“Is she cominghere?” Ruby grabbed frantically at her hair, two days past needing a wash. She cringed at her grubby and very ratty yoga pants and vintage Paula Cole t-shirt. “When?”

“I’m taking you to her, relax.” Natalie grabbed her hands and patted her down. “After the Lounge closes. You’ll have time to clean up, but that’s not the important thing.”

Ruby sniffed in the general direction of her armpits and grimaced. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, dummy! The important thing is, do you know how you feel? What you want to say?”

“I want to tell her I’m sorry. That I miss her. That I do love her, and being without her has been awful.” Ruby pulled a long, deep breath in through her nose and let it back out again. “This week… I realized I felt differently about her than about any of the rest of you. I didn’t understand that was love.” She looked down at her hands. “I still have a lot to figure out, but I don’t want to do any of it without her.”

“Andthatis partnership, baby.” Standing up, Natalie pulled Ruby to her feet and propelled her towards the bedroom door with a hard shove. “Now! Go wash off your depressed writer stink. Winston and I are going to order pizza and when you get clean, we’ll work up a game plan.”

The Lounge had been closed for an hour, and Sasha was almost done mopping the kitchen floor. It was a task normally left to the rest of the kitchen staff, but for the last week and a half, she’d preferred to do all the scut work herself as much as possible. It helped to tire her out so she could sleep at night.

It also kept her out of Esme’s sight. It was the end of the second day she’d been given to decide if she could forgive Ruby.Esme hadn’t come near her all day and Sasha was hoping she’d forgotten, because she still felt tender and afraid. She felt able by now to at least face Ruby, but what could she say? It was terrifying to think that anything she said could be greeted with the snappish, standoffish attitude of rejection that still made her stomach twist.

But she did miss Ruby. For all the hurt and bewilderment at the end of the New York trip, she missed what they’d had before, and what they’d developed along the way. They just had to get on the same page, somehow. Sasha wondered if she would ever be brave enough for that.

As she dipped the mop into her bucket and twisted the handle to wring it out, she heard music start to play out on the dance floor of the Lounge. Cocking her head, she paused to listen in wonder.

Because it was her favorite song.

---