Page 33 of The Highlander's Dare
“Doesna matter. My heart beats faster whenever ye’re around, and the thought of ye going off with Baston, to his bed, to his castle, bearing his children and wiping his bloody face when he’s an old bastard, fills me with rage.”
“’Tis jealousy. I’m merely a means to an end for you.”
“Nay,” he said, his face going serious, his eyes locked on hers in an intensity she felt deep in her bones. “Ye are the beginning for me, Clara.”
She was his beginning.
Clara leaned against the door now, needing the solid support of the wood to hold her up. How could he say such beautiful things to her?
“Graham, I…” Her voice cracked with emotion.
Again, he closed the distance between them. Pressing his hands to the wood on either side of her, he leaned down, his forehead on hers. “Tell me ye dinna want me.”
She opened her mouth, prepared to tell him just that. But the words wouldn’t come because her heart wouldn’t let her.
“Tell me I shouldna kiss ye right now.”
But she couldn’t tell him that either.
“Say something, love, anything.”
“I hate you,” she whispered.
“Ye love me.”
But she didn’t say it. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his neck and brushed her lips to his, showing him how much she did not hate him, telling him without words, how very opposite she felt.
When they broke for air, a tumble of words fell from his lips. “I know what ye heard and how it sounds, but if ye were listening to it all, ye would have heard me tell my brother that I love ye. I fell in love with ye from the first eye roll, lass, and I’d have fallen for ye even if ye were poorer than a mouse. Aye, the coin will help my family, but my brother has secured enough to save the clan. I wantye—I dinna want your coin, and I’ll even tell your da as much if it makes it better.”
Her heart leapt, and she kissed him again, giving him all of her in that one moment. Body, soul. She loved him desperately. Wanted to believe everything he said, did believe everything he said. This was her Graham. Herlove. She wanted him for life. Wanted all the things he offered. Wanted to be his wife. Needed him to declare his intentions right then and there before either one of them lost the nerve. “Ask me, Graham.”
Graham pulled away then, staring at her with an intensity that melted her whole. And then slowly, he bent down on one knee. “Lady Clara, will ye do me the honor of kicking Baston to the side, and taking this poor second son as your husband instead?”
Clara nodded. “Aye, but there are some things you must know first.”
“Anything ye could tell me would no’ change my desire to wed ye.” Graham rose to his feet with her hands grasped in his.
“You’re aware of the betrothal, the dowry.”
“Aye.”
“I believe there might be something more to it.”
Graham’s eyes shuttered, locking her out of his thoughts. “What do ye think?”
“You know something.” She did not ask the question but stated it for the fact that it was.
“I may know something.”
“What?”
He ran a hand through his hair and seemed to be searching for the right words.
“Out with it, Sutherland.”
“I heard a rumor the Ross brothers were part of a coup with Prince John against King Richard.”
Clara nodded. “That makes sense. I am the payment, or rather my father’s coin is the payment, for the Ross army.”
