Chapter Thirty-six #3
“Your cousin is taking care of that. He called for the magistrate. There will be a report sent to the King about Murdoch’s attempts to raise another rebellion.
He tried once before, you know. He was arrested, but later released.
Raonaid has agreed to provide any information that will help to keep the peace in our country.
I believe the King will reward her for her efforts on his behalf, for she brought down the leader of a new rebellion. ”
Catherine snuggled into the corded muscles of Lachlan’s chest and breathed in the intoxicating scent of his clothes and hair and skin. All she wanted was to lie with him forever.
“But Raonaid and Murdoch were lovers,” she said after a time. “She must be grieving, in some ways.”
“Aye, but she’s a survivor, like you are.”
Catherine pondered that. “I suppose we have more in common now than ever before. We will have much to talk about.”
Lachlan nodded and rubbed a hand over her shoulder. She was grateful for the warmth of his arms as he cradled her.
“I am sorry for everything,” he said. “For all the pain I caused you. I never meant to hurt you.”
She tried to rise up on her arm to look into his eyes, but the pain in her side would not permit it. She had no choice but to lie very still against the softness of his tartan. “I can forgive you for anything, Lachlan. All I need to know is that you care for me.”
“Ah, lassie. If you only knew the half of it.”
“Well, I don’t know,” she told him, sounding more irate than she intended. But she loved him. She needed to know what he felt. “Please Lachlan, you must tell me.”
He cupped her face in his hand and kissed the top of her head, then sighed heavily.
“You have no idea how I suffered when I saw you tumbling down that hill. I knew you were hurt, and when I saw the blood on your gown, a part of me didn’t think I could do this again.
But the alternative—to deny my love for you—was worse than anything.
In that moment, I knew that a single day spent loving you was worth any price—even the future loss of you.
What is the point in living, if I cannot enjoy the passion that exists between us? ”
She held back a cry of relief. “What are you saying, Lachlan?”
“That I want to be with you forever. I want to make love to you, make babies with you, give you everything that you could ever desire. I never want to leave your side again. I want all the things you said you wanted, when you walked out on me yesterday. You were right to do it. I needed a good kick in the arse.”
He leaned up on an arm and pressed his mouth to hers. It was a warm and tender kiss, filled with affection and desire.
“I’m not doing this right,” he whispered, drawing back.
Slipping out of the bed, he dropped down to one knee.
“I love you, Catherine Montgomery, and I want you as my wife. I will live anywhere with you, be anything you want me to be. I will give up my sword if you ask me to. I’ve had enough of this wandering warrior’s life.
I want to be your lover now. Just yours.
No one else’s. You are my angel and my love. Will you have me?”
Tears pooled in her eyes, and she laughed out loud with joy. “Of course I will have you.”
He was beside her again in a heartbeat, holding her close, but gently, so as not to hurt her.
His mouth covered hers in a sweet, heady kiss that made her forget all the pain in her heart and body.
He belonged to her now, and she would never have to say good-bye to him.
He had pulled her from the bleak abyss of her life and shown her who she truly was.
She had a sister now, too.
“Where will we live?” Catherine asked as his soft lips grazed her earlobe and his hand cupped the side of her face.
“Anywhere you want, lass. I’ll go anywhere to be with you.”
“What about John? Do you think he will object?”
Lachlan looked at her. “Will it matter?”
“No,” she replied with a chuckle, ignoring the pain in her arm and her side, so that she could touch him all over. “I am of age. I can do what I want.”
“So you always said.”
He was smiling when his lips met hers, and she felt their shared joy within the magic of the kiss; then at last he took her mouth with a savage intensity that sent her reeling.
It was divine ecstasy, every moment in his arms, and she clung to all of it, embracing the promise of a new life.
“I hope you will heal quickly, lass,” he said, “because I owe you a proper shagging. I’ll want to do everything for you next time we make love. I’ll not hold anything back from you, not ever again.”
“Well then,” she replied with a playful grin of seductive allure. “Your words have given me great reason to recover as quickly as possible.”
He brushed the hair away from her face, and when she expected him to say something seductive in return—because he was a man of astounding sexual prowess—his expression grew serious and he spoke the only words that really mattered.
“I love you, Catherine Montgomery,” he whispered. And a tear fell across his cheek.