Page 84 of Beyond Dreams

“As has been explained to me, there is naught to be done about that, nae unless the...the witch can regain her strength enough to bring him back.”

“Yeah,” Holly said. “Apparently, it saps all their strength, transporting people through time.”

“Which should,” Duncan said through his teeth, “instruct them in some way that it shouldn’t be done at all.”

“You would think.”

Duncan sighed again. “I canna comprehend it all, lass. I dinna even ken where to start. And truth is, I dinna want to. I dinna want this kind of...sorcery in my life. I aim to live simply, to take care of my people, to defend Thallane, to fight for freedom, that is all. I just want peace.”

Having convinced herself that she wasn’t in love with him, she was therefore unprepared for the chest-tightening, gut-wrenching pain that assaulted her as did his words. She couldn’t say that she actually blamed him. Still, rather horrified by his confession, she stared straight ahead at the fireplace. “I see,” she said, her voice breaking, scarcely able to conceal the pain of this revelation. “I get it. If roles were reversed, I’d feel the same way. It’s a bit much.” She felt suddenly unimportant and terribly insecure. A rush of white misery consumed her.

“Now ask me what I’m doing here if that be the case?”

Mechanically, mindlessly, she responded, “What are you doing here?” Her gaze remained on the flickering flames in the hearth. With all her might, she willed herself not to cry.

“I’m here because in spite of everything, the deception of our beginning and the truth about you as I ken it now, I dinna imagine I want to live without you.”

Holly was so startled that even a gasp was beyond her. She turned her gaze back to him but couldn’t say what she saw, what his expression might have said to her. The words replayed in her head but didn’t sink it properly, not right away.

Without moving in the chair, he said, very mildly, almost as if he were lost in thought, “It’s new, I ken that. There’s plenty to learn and ken. We might find out we’re nae suited after all but I...Holly, I was nae ever happy, nae ever ken any true happiness, nae until I met you. I dinna even ken it was missing. I sought out gratification, in body and spirit, but it nae ever fulfilled me, nae for long. I was chasing the wrong things, Holly. But I ken now, what is most important.”

He paused and Holly’s vision cleared. She saw clearly his beloved green eyes, severe as ever, fixed on her.

“I was happy with you for all those days. I want more of that. You’re the only one who can give me that.”

Still stunned by this turn, Holly said nothing.

“I ken even as I was issuing the order to Graeme to take you away that it was a mistake,” he said. “I told myself I’d get over you, I’d survive it. But Holly, I dinna want to. I dinna want to get over you. I want to be with you.”

To embrace hope, as he seemed to want her to do, was yet dangerous, with his cruelty still fresh, and he sitting over there, not touching her. She chose resiliency instead, guarding her heart. “We still have the small matter of my predicament, which I hope to have sorted out soon. As soon as Sidheag is well enough, I want to go home—”

“Come home with me.”

Stiffly, she said, “I only wonder if you’re saying this because—"

“I need you, lass. Come home with me.”

Holly did gasp now. Fate, or magic—destiny?—was hard to ignore in this instance, not when he’d just used the exact same words he had at the broch on the very day she’d been thrown back in time. To him. Her heart fluttered and her mind raced. Could this be real?

As her senses began to return, she looked at him, really looked at him. He was, as ever, still, the man of her dreams.

“Say it again,” she invited, her voice made clear by the hope she allowed to rise, “so I know I’m not dreaming.”

He did not , not right away. He stood from the chair and closed the distance between them, taking her hand and drawing her to her feet. Holly stood mutely before him, staring into the liquid tenderness of his green-eyed gaze while tears brimmed in her own. When he laid his hand against her cheek, she closed her eyes and leaned into his touch, joy bubbling inside her.

“Come home with me, Holly,” he asked again. “Give us a chance.”

She nodded and lifted her face to his kiss.

***

Duncan and Holly hadn’tyet departed Newburn three days later. They’d stayed with some hope that Sidheag’s weakness might improve, that she would be strong enough to fetch Graeme back from wherever she’d sent him.

It wasn’t looking too promising. The woman with whom she stayed, Goldie, had expressed some concern that she wasn’t sure the ancient witch had the strength to love let alone perform magic.

He knew a wee guilt for knowing and reaping such happiness with Holly while Graeme’s fate remained unknown, and then found himself assuaging Holly’s guilt over the whole affair, as she still considered Graeme’s predicament her own fault.

“But Duncan, what if he never—?”

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