Page 136 of The Highlander's Christmas Bride

“Well,thatis exactly what I took it to mean.”

“Then you assumed incorrectly,” she said in a haughty voice.

“This is a ridiculous conversation,” Alec complained. “You’re not making any sense.”

“They’re making perfect sense.” Edie struggled to pull Donella’s tight sleeve up over her shoulder. “You’re just too thickheaded to understand.”

“Edie—”

She rounded on her husband. “Donella is making it clear that she will not be forced into marriage simply because we discovered them in a private moment.”

“She’d damn well better marry the bastard, or else.”

“Keep your voice down,” his wife ordered. “You’ll bring the entire house down on us.”

“Of course I’m going to marry her,” Logan said. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you from the moment you stormed into the bloody room.”

“You might tryproposingfirst,” Donella said in a freezing tone.

Logan stopped glaring at Alec long enough to take in her angry flush and the stubborn tilt to her jaw. But behind the irate expression, he saw shame in her eyes and, worst of all, an uncertainty that made her look achingly young.

That almost broke his heart. That she could still be uncertain of him . . .

He crouched down and took her hands. They were trembling, and her fingers were cold.

“I’m sorry that I got it backward, love,” he said gently. “But you know how I feel about you, and you know what I want.”

She gnawed her lip. “I don’t, actually.”

He raised his eyebrows.

“Very well. I’m quite certain about the second part,” she said in a grumpy voice.

“I want it all, Donella. I wantyou.”

She shook her head. “Not like this. Not when neither of us is given a true choice.”

Logan mentally frowned. He understood her embarrassment but got the sense that something else was holding her back.

“That’s because you don’t have a choice,” Alec barked.

Donella suddenly batted Logan’s hands away and rushed to her feet. “How dare you lecture me, Alasdair Gilbride? I caught you in theexactsame situation with Eden.”

Logan stood. “That was worse, since you were engaged to the idiot at the time.” He flashed his teeth at Alec, who was steaming like a kettle about to boil over.

“You must admit the irony is rather thick on the ground, dearest,” Edie said to her husband.

Alec fumed a bit longer before capitulating. “Oh, very well. But this has got to be dealt with. And it has to be tonight, or I will kill Logan.”

“I do wish you would stop making outlandish threats,” Donella said. “It’s annoying. And nobody is forcing me—or Mr. Kendrick—to do anything tonight.”

Now it was Logan’s turn to feel frustrated. “Donella, your cousin may be an idiot most of the time—”

“That’s rich, coming from you,” Alec interrupted.

“But he’s right about this,” Logan continued. “We need to announce our betrothal as soon as possible.”

Her chin went up again in that stubborn tilt. “I’m not doing anything until I’ve had time to consider it fully.”

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