Page 50 of Highlander's Runaway Seductress
After pressing a nose to her hair, Damien said. “Aye, I think his life would be easier if he were back in Inverness—but about that. I told him a few days ago that I wasnae goin’ to ask the Laird for the reward money in findin’ ye.”
“Truly?” she asked.
The arches of his cheekbones turned pink, and Damien shrugged lightly.
“It dinnae feel right doin’ somethin’ that would only be morally right. Ye were taken from yer family and anyone with a speck of human kindness would have realized that was more important than money.”
Closing her eyes, Amelie felt a different strain of pleasure run through her—she was delighted how Damien had thought about more than the money.
“And…” he sighed. “I am sorry for how I treated ye, Amelie. I felt that I was constantly walkin’ along the brink of a cliff when I’m with ye, and if I was on the verge of tumblin’ into the unknown. It was terrified, lass, knowin’ that I was gettin’ closer to ye than I had been to anyone else.”
His words seemed to hold a strange other meaning to him, and Amelie tried to figure what he meant. When she did piece through the words, the only conclusion that she had come to felt ridiculous, but she had to ask anyway.
“Damien…” she hedged, “…are ye tryin’ to tell me, ye love me?”
His hold tightened. “Aye, but if ye daenae feel the same I will understand.”
20
After the words had left his mouth, Damien wanted to take them back. Never had he imagined that those words would have left his lips, but as they just had, his heart clenched. Amelie had said repeatedly that she loved him, but he was not sure she truly meant it.
The truth that he was the only man she had known was lingering in his mind, and with the hundred other men who were better than him in almost every way, Damien still held in his reservations.
Amelie reached out to him and laid her hand over his jaw. “I love ye, believe me when I say it; ye are the only one.”
Holding her closer, Damien kissed her hairline. “Thank ye, Leelee. What do we do now? Shall we go back to the castle tomorrow?”
“Aye,” she nuzzled into the crook between his jaw and shoulder. “We’ll talk to Ben and go back there. Faither wants to meet ye, because he told me himself that he owes the one who brought me to him—which would be ye—more than he can ever pay. I daenae think he will deny me when I tell him that I want to marry ye.”
“I hope he willnae dismiss me, because I plan to tell him the truth when I meet him,” Damien raked his fingers through her hair. “I’m goin’ to admit it all, Amelie, that I only found ye because I wanted the silver reward, but how I fell in love with ye along the way. I willnae lie to him, come what may.”
Her hand trailed over his stomach. “I think he’ll appreciate it. I havenae spent much time with him but I get the sense that he doesnae like it when people try to lie or deceive him.”
“So, at dawn, we’ll take Ben and go to the castle,” Damien sighed. “I’m glad ye came to see me tonight, lass. I was ready to go back to Inverness by the mornin’ if I had nae heard from ye. I would have sent word, but I thought it would be best if we left. Ye were with yer faither, after all and that’s all I wanted.”
“Only for me to be with me family?” Amelie asked.
“Aye,” Damien said. “It felt wrong to carry ye here and collect the money, as if I were bein’ paid for carrying cattle or other goods. Ye are worth more than that.”
While she rested on his chest, and her head was turned away from him, Damien felt her smile. “I ken it—I ken ye were a good person.”
Massaging the back of her neck, Damien grunted. “For ye aye, just daenae tell anyone else.”
They were about to drift to sleep when someone knocked on the door and Amelie lifted her head, her eyes heavy and sated. “I’ll get it.”
After stepping away from the bed, she fished up her thin cotton shift and pulled it over her head. Damien’s eyes liberally traced over the supple curve of her spine, to the round globes of her backside before all her creamy skin was hidden from him.
She opened the door and spoke. “May I help ye?”
“Mister Murdoch sent it up for ye,” a lady said. “Tis mead.”
“Erm, thank ye,” Amelie said, while taking the goblet and closing the door. She stood there, sipping the drink a little before coming back to Damien. “Faither gave me a glass of mulberry wine, a day ago. I havenae taken to the taste. Ye can have some if ye want.”
Shaking his head, Damien said while shuffling up to sit against the wall behind the bend, gently taking her back to rest on his chest. “Nay, Murdoch sent it for ye, so ye should have it. Just sip it until it’s done.”
With her nestled against him, nothing else mattered. He was contented with having her with him and he drifted to sleep.
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