Page 101 of My Highland Rogue
“Lady Jennifer,” the majordomo announced, “Mr. Gordon McDonnell.”
Jennifer turned, so slowly that it felt like a dream. She was wearing her cloak, probably thesame garment she’d worn the last time they met. For a second it was like time was replaying itself.
He took a few steps toward her.
In the weeks since he’d seen her, she’d become even more beautiful.
The faint light from the house illuminated her face, hinted at the color of her eyes, and darkened her hair.
She didn’t rush to greet him. Nor did she smile. Instead, she stared at him as if she hadn’t seen him for years. Too many years.
Why the hell hadn’t he rushed back to Scotland for her? Why had he allowed five years to pass before they were together? Pride, that’s why. His foolish, idiotic pride.
He didn’t have any pride right at the moment.
“I saw Ellen,” he said.
“Did you?”
He nodded.
She smiled. “I’m a bastard. Isn’t that the most glorious news?”
A surge of love for her nearly felled him.
In the next instant, she was in his arms and he was kissing her.
She was his friend, his companion, the playmate of his childhood, the woman to whom he had confided all his fears and hopes and dreams.
Ever since Sean’s revelation, he’d thought that he would have to go the rest of his life without her. Now he didn’t. Now it was as if the rain had stopped, and a rainbow stretched across the sky, so accessible that he could reach out and grab the pot of gold at the end.
His love for her was colored blue, red, and green with sparkling silver and gold threads. It encompassed him, shivered through his body, and touched the hooks in his soul. He held her close, feeling her breathe against him in wonder. She’d been everything for him, and everyone, and for too long a time she’d been forbidden him.
His life suddenly made sense. All of the worry, the deprivation, the sacrifices he’d made, the sleepless nights, and hours of planning. All of it made sense as his future slipped into place.
Jennifer made it worthwhile and gave meaning to everything.
She pulled back and looked up at him.
“You belong to me, Gordon. I belong to you. I’m not going to let anything else separate us. We’ve gone through so much already. Five long years apart and then this latest horror, believing that we were brother and sister. No more.”
With that, she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulled his head down, and kissed him.
As a child, she’d been fearless in following him. She was always there, right behind him, when he climbed a tree or explored a cave. More than once, he thought he’d led her into danger, but Jennifer refused to be left behind. As she grew, she became more circumspect, the lectures from Mary taking root, but she’d never lost her courage.
Now she demonstrated it again by grabbing his hand and pulling him with her.
Although he’d never been to Ellen’s homebefore, the layout was not substantially different from his own. Jennifer led the way up the back stairs. He stopped before they reached the second-floor landing.
“Jennifer, what are you doing?”
“I’m refusing to wait one more moment, Gordon.”
She was one step above him, and now bent down to kiss him again.
Heat shot between them, intoxicating and luring. He wanted her as he always had, but where he’d been controlled in the past, he wasn’t sure he could be now.
It would be simpler, better, and wiser if he left for the night and returned in the morning, when they could discuss their future.
