Page 66 of Don't Give A Damn About My Plaid Reputation
And it wasn’t an empty vow. Everythingwouldbe aright. Kester had promised.
She felt the moment Kester’s feet hit the bottom, because he was able to haul them mightily toward the shore. Robena heaved, and the lassie ended up on her hands and knees in the shallows, her gown and hair clinging pitifully to her.
St. Kelsi’s eardrum, she’s so young! What kind of Da uses a daughter that way?
But…her own father had decided all of his daughters would marry just to determine the next laird. Nay, theirwombswould determine that.
Talk about stupid.
Kester’s arm was around her waist, leading them both out of the shallows. “That was thedumbestthing I’ve ever seen!”
“I ken it!” She was breathing heavily but managed to pull away from him and glare down at Elspeth. “I cannae believe ye’d do something thatstupid.”
“No’ her,” growled Kester. “Ye.”
With a gasp, Robena whirled about, splashing water. Kester was standing with his fists on his hips, looking like some sort of avenging angel, with the water glistening across his wide chest and slicking back his hair.
Goodness, he was handsome, wasn’t he? ‘Twas hard to believe there was a lass out there who didn’t want to marry him.
Focus. He just called ye stupid.
Oh, that’s right. She sucked in another offended gasp and began to cough.
“Breathe, lass.” He didn’t sound amused.
“How— Ye think— Me? Ye thinkI’mstupid?”
There was genuine anger in his blue eyes. “I love ye, Robena!” he roared. “I love ye, and yedeliberatelyput yerself in danger!”
Her jaw dropped open. “Aye, of course I did!” She stomped toward him, one finger waving at his nose. “And I’ll do it again!”
“If ye do it again, ye’ll kill me!” He caught that finger, wrapping it in his large hand. “Idied, watching ye jump off that cliff, ye mad woman!”
Since he hadn’t lowered his voice, she didn’t either, although she felt ridiculous standing there in the shallows in a soaking wet plaid, with a lassie retching behind her.
She shouted, “Let me make one thing perfectly clear, Kester MacBain! I willalwaysjump off a cliff to save a child! And if ye think I’ll be worried aboutyerfeelings instead of the puir wee bairn when I do it, ye’re mistaken!”
His frown had eased as she’d yelled at him, as had his shoulders. Now, he wasn’t exactly smiling, but he wasn’t frowning, either. With his hand still wrapped around her finger, he lifted it to his lips and brushed one kiss across her fingertip.
“Well then,” he finally said, “I suppose I’ll have to teach ye to swim, aye?”
“Aye!”
And then he was pulling and she was falling toward him, and their arms were around each other and the kiss wasdesperate, celebrating all they had and all they’d almost lost.
And it went on forever.
Or, at least until the Murrays skidded to a stop in the sand.
“Elspeth!” the old laird huffed, splashing out into the water to scoop up his daughter. “Elspeth, ye complete idiot, why would ye do something so dumb?”
Robena had pulled away enough to watch and opened her mouth to chastise Murray for such an insult…despite having thought the same thing moments ago.
But Laird Murray surprised her.
After bursting out with that harsh critique, he crushed wee Elspeth to his chest, raining kisses upon her crown, cradling her against him as if she were precious to him.
Obviously, she was.
