Chapter 16 #2
The truth hit him like gale force wind. Boyd crumbled, his demeanor transforming into that of a broken man. "My Bella, I'm so sorry! I believed her."
Bella was sobbing now, the epiphany that all their pain stemmed from Boyd's failure to trust her cutting deep.
Anger surged through her grief when she shouted, "I'm the one ye were promised to, and ye could not even ask me?
It was my heart that was yers." She pounded her chest, her voice breaking. "My heart, and ye destroyed it!"
Boyd staggered back as if she'd struck him. "No... what have I done?"
"Ye should have trusted me!" Bella hissed. "Ye should have trusted us, Boyd!"
He moved toward her, reaching out, but she stepped away, needing distance.
"I went to the chapel, Bella," he pleaded. "To confront ye that night. But ye weren't there. I assumed ye had run away with Philip."
"I was at the chapel, Boyd. I waited for ye till the priest could wait no longer. Ye never came."
"I swear it, Bella, I was there! Ye were not."
She shook her head. "No, I waited for hours. Ye promised me, and ye broke yer promise."
Boyd looked confused. "But wait. What chapel were ye waiting at? Because I swear to ye, love, ye were not there."
"The kirk by the northern road. Yer note said plans had changed and I was to await ye there with the priest."
"No, Bella! No plan had changed. It was always to be at the same place, the chapel by the smithy, as we had always planned."
They both stilled and stared at one another.
"I swear to ye, Boyd, I received a message to say that we had to change the chapel so we would not be caught..." She paused, her face turned pale.
"From whom?" Boyd asked.
"Paisley's maid," Bella rasped. "No... I was such a fool!"
The realization that they had both been deceived crashed over her. She looked up and saw the anguish in her eyes reflected in Boyd's. He was staring at her, shaking his head, a single tear sliding down his cheek.
Boyd closed the distance between them and clasped her in his arms. "Bella, dinnae cry, love." His voice shook with emotion. "We were both tricked."
Bella began to shudder in his arms as grief wracked her body. "I thought the message came from ye, Boyd. I swear it."
"I ken it now, love. I do. Paisley made me believe all manner of terrible things that I couldn't think straight. I should have searched ye out directly and not rested until I saw ye face to face."
"I should have fought harder to make ye understand, Boyd. But yer words from the tavern cut so deep."
"No, 'tis my fault, Bella. Because I had not trusted in us... I had not trusted my heart. I failed us both."
"We were deceived, Boyd. Robbed of our future together. Now we have nothing!" she cried.
Boyd roared, "No! My Bella, now we have everything. Everything! I will not let them take any more from us. Do ye hear me?" He grabbed her shoulders and shook her gently.
Before Bella could respond, Boyd pulled her into his arms and crushed his mouth to hers.
The kiss was explosive. A decade of longing and rage and desperate need colliding in a frenzy of lips and tongues and gasping breaths. Bella's hands fisted in his shirt, pulling him closer even as tears streamed down her face.
Boyd's arms wrapped around her waist, hauling her against him, and she came willingly, her body molding to his like it remembered exactly where it belonged.
"I never stopped," Boyd panted against her mouth.
"Never stopped wanting ye, dreaming of ye, loving ye.
I'll be damned if I let them take anymore from us.
" He kissed her again with abandon, pulled away, and rasped, "There'll be no more distance between us.
I want to spend the rest of my days loving ye.
" Then his mouth came crashing down on hers again.
Bella was breathless from his kisses, and she could not resist anymore.
The years melted away and she remembered this Boyd, the gentle blacksmith's apprentice who had loved her more than life itself.
Only different now. Matured. More determined.
She wound her arms around his neck and pressed her body so close to his she wanted to be swallowed up in his embrace.
Then she finally let go and returned the kiss with her whole heart.
"Then love me," Bella whispered. "Please, Boyd. I need ye."
Boyd pulled away, gazing at her with so much adoration. Then he growled low, and that was all the warning she had. The next thing she knew, he had stripped her of her arisaidh, then ripped her kirtle open.
"Boyd! 'Tis a new kirtle!"
"I'll buy ye a new one, love."
Bella gasped at the feral look in his eyes. His large hands were frantic, tearing at fabric, desperate to eliminate every barrier between them before he tore her sheer shift in two. She now stood before him naked, her pretty garments pooled at her feet.
Boyd held his breath as his heated gaze raked over her entire body.
Bella blushed, wondering if perhaps he did not like what he saw, feeling self-conscious until he growled, "Damn it, wife, ye're even more beautiful now.
I'm going to enjoy tasting every inch of ye.
" Boyd felt a surge of possessiveness and relief that all these years, no one else had taken what was his to treasure. No other man had replaced him. Mine!
He kissed her again and rasped, "Undress me, love."
Bella did not wait. She roughly tugged his plaid away, her hand brushing against his hardened length. Then Boyd lifted his arms so she could remove his shirt over his head, while stealing kisses.
Her touch was reverent and desperate, until they both stood before one another without any barrier between them.
Bella gazed at his body, loving every inch. There were several scars now, and he had filled out considerably since the young man she had known. Every inch of him was larger now and she felt flushed.
She felt a surge of relief that no other woman had touched what was hers and hers alone. Mine!
They stood apart, breathing heavily, until their eyes met. Their expressions matching completely. Deep love and longing.
For several heartbeats they stared, until without words they lunged for one another with a passion that had not waned. As their lips and tongues tangled once more, their hands moved with urgency to touch and caress and hold close.
Boyd was ravenous. He pulled away for a moment and rasped, "To have and to hold, till death parts us."
Bella, breathing heavily, repeated the vow. "To have and to hold, till death parts us."
What followed was primal, visceral coupling the likes they had never experienced before. It was raw hunger, pure, ravenous, untamed.
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