Chapter 34
It was to be her last evening in the castle. Rose would depart in the well-packed carriage at first light. It was crucial that she got her rest for the journey ahead.
Instead, Rose lay awake in her bed since the moment she entered it.
Sleep utterly eluded her; her mind churning over everything that she had said and done, everything that she wished to say and didn’t, every word that she wished to take back.
The room was cold behind the covers where she hid herself, dark with the fire in the hearth long since burnt down to barely smoldering embers.
Rose dared not even let a toe slip out from the blankets, curled into a ball as she was. There was a damp spot on the pillow beneath her head, the steady leak of her eyes making the fabric cool and wet.
Never in her life had she cried so hard without making a sound. Never in her life had she felt this hopeless.
I shall resign myself to the life of a spinster.
It had been a thought that repeated over and over in her mind, along with the endless choppy waves of regret and worry about the future. She lived impossibly in the past and the present, desperate not to think about the present. But in none of the states of time had Rose found peace or solace.
Dominik would ask for an annulment once the Crown released its verdict.
And for her part, Rose would not argue. She would not pursue another match beyond him, either.
It was not something she wished to be known about her—a woman on her third engagement.
And more importantly, Rose did not want to be with another husband, the thought a torture most vile.
Rose had also considered the land. She was unsure if Dominik would keep it as they had wed.
It belonged to him now, didn’t it? And even if it was hers to do with as she pleased, Rose would leave it to Clan MacKay.
They would benefit too strongly from it, and she…
she did not care much about what might aid her in the regrettable future that lay ahead of her.
Regrettable indeed, Rose. And beginning at first light.
Perhaps that was another layer of the situation that kept her up that night.
Rose did not want to fall asleep and usher tomorrow in all the faster.
If it could not come, if she could remain in just this moment, she would not be gone from the castle.
She would not be a woman of divorce, and Dominik would not be under any pressure from the Crown.
If she could just…stay…right…here…
Knock, knock, knock.
Jumping slightly, her heart now immediately racing, Rose sat up in her bed. A shiver claimed her at once as she saw the shifting shadow beyond her door, revealed in the slim crack beneath it. She had truly heard the knock. Someone had come to her chamber so very late at night.
Getting up, she slowly padded to the door, her feet turning to ice as she stepped barefoot on the floorboards.
As she reached for the knob, Rose could not ignore the way her heart hammered, the way her breath rushed in and out of her.
It had been the entire night. Dominik had said what he was on his mind.
Did she still leap so readily to hope for his arrival?
Still, pulling the thick panel open to reveal the Laird hit Rose with such shock. She might have hoped, but no part of her could say that she had genuinely believed that he would come.
Her mouth dropped open, and she could not speak.
“Rose.”
That was the only word uttered for a time, tension and silence thick in the space between them.
Neither of them appeared to find their words, frozen there, one inside the room, one outside, speech and logic failing.
When she started to believe that she would soon go mad from the persistent silence, at last Dominik stepped forward, the floorboards creaking under his feet.
He took her hand; his stare locked on hers.
“Stay.”
And Rose had thought she could not be shocked any further.
My, how wrong she had been. Her brows shot to her hairline as she heard Dominik whisper the single word that she had been hoping to hear.
And there was no mistaking the raw quality of his voice.
The Laird did not lie or mislead. With so many hours spent with him, Rose could hear the truth in even a single word from her husband.
“I—”
But she stopped herself. Did this, in fact, change anything?
Their circumstances remained the same. The Crown would look to hold someone responsible for Lord Egerton’s death.
Rose was still incapable of protecting Dominik or arguing on his behalf if she remained in Scotland.
The rumors surrounding her abduction would not die down even with the Viscount’s demise.
The ton would keep adding fuel to that unruly fire as a form of entertainment.
No, it changes nothing.
And as she shook her head, Rose felt that fissure in her chest grow exponentially, that horrible ache in her throat returning as she fought back the tidal wave of furious sorrow.
“I cannot. I…I simply cannot, Dominik.”
When she looked up, the grief on her husband’s face nearly caused her heart to stop beating altogether. Had she indeed misinterpreted his emotions, his…feelings toward her? But she had been so certain that the man did not love her. He had been cold, so angry and—
Responding in kind to the way she pulled herself away from him.
Rolling his lips between his teeth, Dominik nodded, his eyes shutting as he asked, “Will ye at least tell me why?”
“I hardly think it is important right now. It is the middle of the night, Dominik. I am meant to be travelling by coach in just a few short hours. Please, do not make this harder than—”
“If it is so hard, then why can ye nae remain at the keep? With me?”
She shook her head, the tears too close to the surface. “Dominik, please. You must understand that—”
“But I daenae understand. I daenae understand one bit of it.” He stepped forward, pulling her chin up with his strong fingers so that she was forced to look at him. “Rose, ye must tell me what it is that is forcing ye away. Perhaps there is something that I could do to mend it.”
The very air felt as if it were trying to suffocate her, and Rose pulled herself away, sinking further into her bedroom.
She spun around, putting her back to Dominik.
All she could do was shake her head, tightening her hands into fists until her nails dug into the flesh, an attempt to keep the tears at bay.
“Daenae run from me, lass. I at least deserve an explanation. I have come to speak with ye, and ye willnae even give me the rationale behind your decision to flee the keep.”
That forced her around, and Rose glared at Dominik. She could not stop herself. Shaking, she felt a single tear dribble down her face, and she was quick to swipe it away.
“Deserve? Deserve? And do you not think that I deserve to be happy? That I deserve just an ounce of goodness in my life. I’d thought I finally found it here, and Lord Egerton saw fit to take it away from me.
Again! Even with his death, that man is still managing to pull me away from the place I feel most at home.
I am doing everything I can to keep him from further harming you!
Don’t you see that? The Crown could condemn you!
And what am I to do? Allow the man I love to go to prison or worse! ”
Dominik stopped in his tracks just a foot from her, having followed Rose as she threw her hands up in the air and paced.
He met her rage with wide eyes, and for a moment, she did not understand what had shocked him so much.
Dominik had heard her yell and say a number of things much worse to him than that.
“Ye…love me?”
His voice was small as he spoke, but the words held the force of a musket round. Bloody hell, had she said that? Panic rushed up from the very bottom of her feet to the top of her head, and her hands flew up to cover her mouth.
It was a second, maybe less, and then Dominik launched himself at her, pulling her against his chest and crashing his lips down upon hers.
The heat and taste of him were everything she had been trying to forget, and even just a brief glimpse of it was enough to make her forget the frustration and fall ever more in love with the man.
He claimed her mouth so thoroughly, there was no duty or obligation behind the kiss. It was raw, it said everything, and still, Dominik pulled back, cupping her face and looking down into her eyes—his that magnificent shade of green—and he spoke to her.
“I love ye, Rose. I love ye so fiercely I can scarcely breathe without ye. It is nae about duty or politics, nae the land or even me clan. I love ye for only what makes ye the incredible woman I have watched these past months. Daenae leave, lass. We will meet the future together if ye’ll have me. Please, Rose, daenae leave.”
Tears that would not be held back a moment longer rushed to her eyes. Rose pressed her lips to Dominik’s and nodded, unable to care about all the reasons she should still go to London.
Dominik did love her, and nothing else mattered now.
Through her joyful sobs, Rose looked at her husband, losing herself in the emerald depths of his stare.
“I do love you, Dominik. I am so terrified for what the Crown might say, but…But I would stay with you. I would grow old with you, watch our children play. I would have a life with you because you have seen me for who I am, never a stepping stone or means toward a greedy end. If you believe we can stand up to the Crown, then—”
“I believe together we can stand up to anything, lass. Even the devil himself.”
A ridiculous laugh left her, and Rose threw herself once more into Dominik’s arms, letting go, letting the future change because they willed it so. And Dominik met her right there, rising to her kiss and demanding more.
The rising need swelled inside her—inside them both—and Rose reached for the fastening of Dominik’s kilt, the only thing he wore besides his shirt.
Her husband’s hand gathered up the bottom of her shift, hoisting it so that he could pull it over her head.
In moments, they were laid bare to each other, and it was not solely to do with their lack of clothing.
Dominik saw her and saw into her. She saw into him. This was their act of union beyond all previous moments—open, without restraint, not concerned with duty. This was their love, and together they would face the rest of their lives. They would rise above, boats buoyed by the other’s presence.
Her husband brought her to bed, lying them down, his wide hips spreading her legs as his erection brushed against her. That potent fire in her veins was flaring brightly, and she arched against him, kissing Dominik with all that she possessed.
“I need you. I need you within me.”
Dominik grinned against her lips, one hand on the back of her neck, while the other was planted on the bed near her hip.
He teased her, dragging his length back and forth over just the outside of her, the sensitive skin that longed for him.
Rose wrapped her legs around Dominik, urging him to move quicker.
“My sweet lass, brave and so verra beautiful. I will fill ye till there is no space between us at all.”
And he did, sheathing himself inside her deep and completely.
Rose felt exquisitely full, her entire soul lifting to the joy of their connection.
Dominik loved her, and she loved him. Nothing would change that.
She was sure of it, and in this moment of union, Rose allowed all the pretense and propriety to fall away, giving herself over to the pleasure as they began their dance.
In and out, back and forth, they found a rhythm between them. Perfect, pure, and so long overdue. Rose held onto her husband, clutching his neck, and her body surged, squeezing around his length as he stimulated her in ways no one else had or ever would.
“Ye are the divine, lass. I shall lose meself to the glory of how ye feel.” Dominik nuzzled into her neck, pumping quicker, harder. “Ye willnae leave me. Ye willnae be parted from me ever again.”
“Ah!” Rose cried out from the intensity, Dominik reaching a spot within her that both throbbed and lit her up. “No. I will…n-never…leave you.”
Her words came out in a breathy jumble of syllables, the pleasure blinding and all-consuming. She was right on that edge once more, the tipping point looming ahead so close that Rose could taste it. Sweat clung to them as they both worked tirelessly, rising and falling, giving and taking.
“That’s it, lass. Aye, let me feel ye.”
She felt herself tighten, the bundle of nerves at her tip buzzing and tingling. Rose’s breaths were erratic and shallow, her core slick and warm, begging for Dominik to rush her to the precise of climax and beyond.
“Oh, Dominik. Please, oh, please, please, please!”
“Anything for ye, lass. Anything.” He grunted low, the sensation of his already impressive length thickening all the more inside her, “I give ye me verra soul.”
Warmth flared into her, the edge there and disappearing behind her as she unfolded into bliss.
Rose’s body bloomed, burst like something wild and new.
She took off into the stars and further past them, knowing with certainty that they would tackle every obstacle that might find them, that she would be with her Dominik, her rugged, loyal Scottish Laird, for all her days.