Page 44 of Taming the Scot
“I would do it again, lass.” His heart lurched at the idea of her leaving, of him never having met her. “I want to do it still. If ye would only confide in me.”
“My parents.” She pressed her hands to her face and shook her head. “They got into debt with some bad people. And those people decided to collect.”
“Is that…what happened to them?” he asked, imagining the horror she must have endured at finding out that her parents had been murdered and then the fear in thinking she might be next. Good God, she must have been terrified.
She nodded. “Aye.”
He hoped she hadn’t had to see it—that she’d been spared that at least. “And ye had to run?”
“For a time, they said I could pay them off, which I was. I was working verra hard to do so.” Every word she said came out quickly as if she needed to get it all off her chest. “But then they decided that was no’ enough, and so they were coming to take me. To…to…”
Euan’s stomach twisted with rage. If the men had been before him now, he would gut them from neck to navel. “Ye need no’ tell me the rest,” he said, trying to ease her discomfort. “I can well imagine what it was they planned. And so ye ran?”
“Aye. But I never wanted ye to know. I do no’ expect ye to help me. It is best if I leave now.” She implored him with her gaze. “Ye can understand why I can no’ go with ye to Edinburgh.”
“Lass, I will protect ye.” He took both her hands in his and pressed them to his chest. “I promise. Why do ye no’ let me?”
Bronwen sighed but didn’t pull away. “I know ye may want to. But ye have many sisters to protect, too. And I’ve made it this far on my own. I can keep going.”
“Aye, but this is a road ye need no’ travel alone.”
“Ye’ve already done enough for me. I can no’ ask ye to do another thing.”
“I want to. Do ye no’ understand that, my wee lass? I want to.” It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her how he felt, but he held back. They were talking about her right now, and the last thing she needed on top of her current worries was to be burdened with his declaration.
Her head fell back as she blinked up at the ceiling, and this time she did slip from his grasp, though there was reluctance in it, he could tell. “Ye must concentrate on your family,” she said. “Ye must concentrate on your duties.”
There it was again—the reminder of the many responsibilities that weighed on his shoulders and the fact that he didn’t want to wrestle with them alone anymore. He wanted to be wrestling them with Bronwen Holmes at his side. Neither of them needed to shoulder the burdens alone.
“I’ve been doing that well enough for over a decade, lass. Neither of us should have to be alone. Ye are a part of us now. Ye must know that,” he said. “We need ye in Edinburgh. Let us bear some of your burdens. If ye think it is a job we can no’ handle alone, I’ve friends in powerful places we can call on.”
Doubt sparked in her eyes. “I can no’, Captain. It is a matter of pride, of honor. I can no’ expect anyone else to bear the shameful burden my parents have left me with. They were…no’ the best of citizens.”
“Their actions do no’ reflect on ye, lest ye embrace them as your own. I can understand honor, pride. And it would be my honor to help the woman who has so graciously helped me. Ye might have been seeking refuge, lass, but ye provided me and my sisters with so much when ye came into my home. Let us repay the favor.”
Bronwen gazed into his eyes, searching, no doubt, for the answers only she could give herself.
“Please,” he added.
She let out a lengthy exhale. “All right. I will come to Edinburgh with ye, but ye must leave well enough alone. I’ll stay out of sight, and they should no’ be able to find me. And when ye’ve found yourself a worthy bride—” She paused to swallow as if even saying the words was as painful as it was for him to hear them. “When ye’ve made a match, ye’ll release me.”
God, why did this have to hurt so much? He wanted her to come with them. Wanted to show her that he loved her. But at the same time, if what she wanted was to leave, to disappear from their lives, then he had to let her go. Nearly choking on the words, he said, “Lass, I’ll release ye if that is what ye truly wish.”
Bronwen stared into his eyes, and he right back at her. There was so much more he wanted to say. Wanted to pull her into the circle of his arms. To kiss her again and pretend that neither of them had anything else to worry about other than what they sincerely wanted.
“That is what I wish,” she said at last, and he felt his heart shatter at that moment. “After ye find a bride.”
“Then I say it is done.” His words were as hollow as his chest.
A thump at the doors had them both turning around just in time to see the door open, and several of his sisters tumble into the ballroom, one on top of the other in a poof of muslin and ribbons.
“So sorry,” Skye said, with a grimace as she climbed out from beneath Lillie, trying to straighten her hair that had fallen lopsided on her head. “I happened to be walking by, and I tripped, and…fell.”
“Aye, she tripped over me,” Lillie confessed, standing up and lending a hand to Esme, who also had tumbled. “Our apologies. We are so clumsy.”
“Och, the lot of ye,” Maggie said, marching into the ballroom. “Euan knows verra well we were spying on him and Miss Holmes.” She turned her gaze back to them both, but it was Skye who spoke next as she slinked into the ballroom too.
“So ye’ll be coming with us to Edinburgh, then?” Skye said.
