Page 59 of Awoken
Leanna understood.
“He’ll never stop hunting me,” she whispered. Her eyes gleamed as tears rose. “If I go home, it’ll only bring his wrath down upon my uncle … and I won’t do that to them.” She paused then, a groove forming between her eyes. “I know war is a way of life for this isle, but I’ll not be the cause of another blood feud. I need to leave Skye.”
Ross’s mouth quirked. “Aye … we both do.”
She watched him, her expression turning pensive. “Will ye help me, Ross?”
He turned from the stream and shifted over to Leanna’s side. She rose up onto her knees to meet him. He placed his hands upon her shoulders, seizing her gaze with his. Then he leaned forward.
They were so close, their breaths mingled.
Ross was surprised to discover that his heart was racing. “I will remain by yer side till the last breath leaves me,” he murmured, his voice husky now. “We shall find a boat that will take us away from here, and search for a quiet corner of Scotland where we can make a life together.”
Leanna’s eyes grew wide at these words, but Ross rushed on. He had to keep speaking, before his courage failed him. He’d never felt like this before: an overwhelming, chest-crushing need to protect this woman, to remain at her side.
“I love ye, Lady Leanna MacDonald of Sleat,” he continued. “And if ye will do me the honor of becoming my wife, we shall be wed as soon as we reach safety.”
Leanna stared at him, her rosebud lips parting at the shock of his admission.
Ross didn’t blame her; frankly, he couldn’t believe what he’d just said. It hadn’t been rehearsed. He’d simply acted on instinct, and without realizing it, he’d just revealed what lay in his heart.
And now that the words were out there, he felt strangely unburdened.
They’d been growing in him for a while now, he realized—since long before he made the decision to help Leanna escape Dunan.
But he’d understand if she spurned him. Circumstances had thrown them together, and she’d given herself willingly to him. That didn’t mean, however, that she wanted to become his wife.
Long moments passed, and then a soft smile curved Leanna’s lips. “It would be my honor,” she whispered.
Surprise and then joy flowered within Ross, a fierce warmth that exploded under his breastbone and spread up to his throat and down to his belly. Wordlessly, he drew her to him, his mouth slanting hungrily over hers. Leanna responded eagerly, her arms linking around his neck as she drew him against her. She kissed him back, her lips parting and her tongue sliding against his.
A low groan escaped Ross, and it was with great effort that he eventually broke the kiss and shifted back from her. “I could easily lose myself in ye,” he told her, watching as Leanna’s eyes darkened with desire, “but we’re not out of danger yet.”
She nodded, although the limpid look in her eyes still tempted him. She had no idea how much he wanted her; it took every ounce of his willpower not to throw her back onto that mossy bank, spread those creamy thighs, and sink deep into her velvet heat.
Ross’s groin started to ache at the thought.
Mercifully, Leanna moved away from him then, severing eye contact. He watched her rise to her feet and brush off her skirts. When she spoke, her voice held a husky edge that made Ross’s breathing catch. “So, we need to head to the coast … and find ourselves a boat.”
“And we will,” Ross replied, not moving, “but we need to catch our breaths a while longer … or neither of us will make it there. Rest while ye can, my love.”
Leanna nodded, before sinking back down onto the mossy ground with a soft sigh of relief.
“Kyleakin would be the best choice of port,” Ross murmured. His gaze shifted back toward the way they’d come. Although he couldn’t see in the darkness, he knew that the wall of rugged mountains they’d passed through thrust up from the valley floor. “But I’d rather not travel back onto MacKinnon lands … or retrace our steps.”
Leanna shuddered. “Me neither.” She met his eye then. “There’s a village on the south coast called ‘Knock’. I visited it once with Da … merchants often bring their boats ashore there, with supplies from the mainland. We could find passage at the port.”
Ross nodded, the tension within him loosening slightly at this news. The truth was that, not being a native of Skye, he didn’t know this side of the isle well at all. He was glad that Leanna did.
“How far is it from here?” he asked.
Leanna glanced around, her face screwing up as she tried to get her bearings. “My father used to go stag hunting in the mountains we just crossed,” she murmured finally. “They’re around half a day’s ride from Duncaith … which means we are nearly a day’s journey on foot to Knock.”
“Right then.” Ross lay back on the bank, his gaze taking in the wide swathe of starry sky above. “We’ll rest a little longer and then head for the coast.” Fatigue lay upon him in a heavy blanket, and his leg muscles ached. His body cried out for sleep, yet it wouldn’t be getting any—not yet. They had to keep moving. Even at Knock they wouldn’t be safe.
MacKinnon would be stalking them, and many of his men would be on horseback. Night provided some protection from their hunters. But, as soon as dawn broke, he and Leanna would have to watch their backs.
He turned his head, his attention settling once more upon his companion, and saw that she was watching him, her gaze resolute. Yet a gentle smile lay upon her lips. Warmth filtered through Ross once more. Despite everything, the lass could actually smile. He adored her resilience; it was something he’d noted from the first day of their acquaintance.
