Chapter Twenty-Two
Elspeth rode in the saddle with Logan to the house beneath Ben Nevis. She didn’t want to stay at Tor Castle and see her brother and Helen hang, so Logan took her home.
Home. She hadn’t had a home in six long years, but the house just out of the shadow of the mountain was her home, and the Camerons and MacDonalds were her family.
It still astounded her to think the man sitting behind her, one arm snaked around her waist, holding her close, was the Cameron she had planned on killing someday. Now, she would kill anyone who tried to hurt him.
The cousins rode beside them. The lads really were not so bad.
Apart from eating all the food in sight, they loved Logan.
Now Elspeth understood why. He was a natural leader, and he led with justice, patience, and mercy.
He felt things, maybe even as strongly as she did.
Things like compassion and empathy. Things she had stopped believing in.
Like forgiveness. Elspeth believed she could never forgive again.
But Logan fought all her demons to win her forgiveness.
And win it, he did. Before she knew her brother was the guilty one, her heart was lost to this brave Highlander, who showed her with gentleness how to remember kindness, with patience, how to let go of anger, and with love, how to vanquish hatred.
Logan was a good man, the only man. She would never find another like him, and he was young and very kind on the eyes.
Ealar passed them on his horse and gave her a knowing smile when he noted the dreamy look in her eyes.
Aye, if these men loved Logan for the kind of man he was, then they had to be good men too.
Ewen and Steafan would bring Ismay MacPherson back to Tor, where she would reunite with her husband—and Steafan could be reunited with his dear Alina.
Ealar and Jamie had whined and pouted about riding all the way back to the castle tonight.
They pleaded to stay and Logan gave in, knowing, as Elspeth did, that they were likely doing his mother’s bidding.
She smiled and closed her eyes, feeling safer in his arms than she had in years…mayhap before the murders.
Mayhap she chose not to remember her father and the fire in his eyes when he looked at Roderick.
Elspeth had no idea why her father was so hard on his son.
It had begun from before a time she could remember, which was from roughly age eleven to sixteen.
How many beatings had her father given him before that?
She felt a chill go down her back, lifting the hairs off her neck.
She opened her eyes. “Logan?”
“Aye, my love,” he said, behind her. “What is it?”
“I fergive him. I fergive my brother. My father made him who he was. ’Tis not to excuse him, but to remember that before he became a monster, he was a human being.”
He was quiet behind her, giving her time to count his breath against her back.
“It pleases me to hear,” he finally said in his lowest voice against her ear. “’Tis less weight on yer shoulders. More room fer my kisses.”
He dipped his face to her shoulder and pressed his warm lips there.
“Logan!” she scolded, fighting the urge to laugh. She looked around at the others. They were all watching with amusement. “Stop it this instant!”
He straightened in the saddle and cupped his hands over her ears. “Lads!” he shouted, “Go on ahead. Why are ye loiterin’ aroond me?”
“We’re no’ loiterin’ aroond ye, Logan,” Jamie defended with a pout.
“Good, then go.”
Jamie stared at him as if Logan had just pulled out his dirk and stabbed him with it.
“Verra well,” Jamie brooded and flicked his reins.
Logan watched him and then raked his gaze over the rest. “What are ye still doin’ here? Why is Jamie always the first to obey me?”
“Obey ye?” Ewen mock with a chuckle.
Pressed to him, Elspeth felt his body grow taut. His breathing slowed. He dropped the reins into her hands and lifted both arms over his head to stretch and loosen his muscles. “When we reach Tor—”
“Verra well! We’re goin’! Come now, Steafan,” Ewen warned. “Before the last thought in yer head is of a lass.”
Steafan raced his horse out of there before Logan called him to the practice field. Ewen followed.
Logan shook his head and sucked in his teeth, watching them flee. Elspeth giggled into her hand.
That was another thing. Since when did she giggle into her hand? Since never, that’s when! Was this virile, rock-solid man turning her into a simpleton? She felt like giving her cheek a little slap to knock her back to her senses.
Ealar lingered behind and turned to set his storm-colored gaze on her. “Well? Do ye love him?”
Elspeth had met plenty of intimidating men in her life, but none were more so than Ealar Cameron. He peered straight into the soul with those eyes, not to frighten, but to subdue. Other lasses ought to be careful with the youngest Cameron. He wasn’t born to fight, but to conquer.
She was not other lasses. “Should I not tell him in private before I tell ye?” she asked.
He studied her for an eternal moment and then let out a little chuckle that was surely known to make some petticoats drop. “I think my brother has chosen well.”
“Thank ye fer approval,” Logan mocked. “Now go to the house.”
Ealar gave them one final look of approval, then pulled on his reins. His horse rose up on its hind legs, muscles bulging. Ealar’s thighs tightened around the beast, keeping him almost straight up.
A moment later, he brought the horse down and took off.
“Finally, alone,” Logan breathed into her hair.
Her cheeks burned at the dozen images racing through her head.
She snuggled her head into the crook of his shoulder and closed her arms around his waist.
“How long have ye loved me?” She knew, but she wanted to hear him say it.
“Since the first time I saw ye in that hidden glade.”
“But how could ye love someone ye had never met?”
“I dinna know, but when I saw ye, I couldna remember ever seein’ anyone like ye before. I knew I never would again. Ye entranced me, Elspeth, laying siege to my pitiful heart.”
Och, but she never dreamed anyone would speak to her with such tender, passionate words.
And never ever had she considered they would come from her enemy.
Nae! She had to stop thinking of him as her enemy, past or present.
He was…she thought about all the things he had become to her; her mountain that could bear the beating of the cold wind and icy storms, that kept her safe even when she made foolish decisions.
A man with tender gazes and an even softer touch, who kept her near because he knew she was afraid of being alone.
“Logan,” she said softly.
He leaned in closer to hear her.
She lifted her hand behind her and cupped his bristly jaw. “Ye are…my beloved.”
He lowered his lips to her neck and kissed her in several different places, leaving trails of his hot breath like burning paths to what he treasured.
Her body felt strange in ways it never had before. It was as if he was awakening every part of her. Her blood singed her veins and sparked fires in places she’d felt faintly, like below her navel. But only when she was with him.
“Logan, what are ye doing to me?” she asked earnestly.
He moved his lips to her ear. “Ye desire me.”
She did! And something about the deep cadence of his voice, laced with such male confidence, made a little groan escape her lips.
Nae! She had to stop. They were on a horse!
She sat up straight and turned to look over her shoulder at him. That was her first mistake. Eclipsed by his wind-blown waves, his gaze was dark and meaningful.
“The first time I saw ye,” she began, her gaze moving over his visage, “ye were covered in blood and being dragged into the keep. I had to help ye. I had helped others in the village who were ill, but never anyone like ye. I needed to know if ye were close to death, and if there was anything I could do to stop it.”
She swallowed a gulp of air but then marched on. “I risked everything by putting the guards to sleep to get to ye. If they had all lived, I would have been cast out by my father, hated by his guards.”
He slowed the horse and stared at her, his eyes gleaming with unshed tears. “Why would ye do that fer someone ye dinna know?” he asked.
She shrugged and shook her head. “I dinna know, but when I saw ye, my heart reached out to ye.”
He chuckled and she was rocked almost out of her slippers.
“What is so humorous, my lord?”
He grew serious again. “What is this my lord speech? ’Tis too formal. Call me husband, or dearest, most beloved. Names like those.”
She held her hand to her lips and gave a short, silent burst of laughter.
He stared at her, looking insulted, which made her laugh all the more. Watching her, he gave in and laughed with her.
When their mirth faded, she swung around again and leaned her back against his chest. She breathed in the fresh, pine-scented air and laid her hand over his, curled around her waist.
Looking south, she saw the mountain range. She loved always knowing which way was home because no matter where she was, she could see Ben Nevis.
“Do ye still want me to be yer wife…” She gave him a black look. “My darling?”
He laughed again, a bit softer this time. “Even more than before.”
She quirked her brow at him. “Are ye certain ’tis Ealar with the silver tongue, and not ye?”
His smile widened. Any moment, he was going to laugh again. It made her want to laugh more too. She needed him in her life.
“Come,” she urged. “Yer mother is likely waiting to see ye.”
He did not move himself or his horse for a moment that stretched on endlessly. But then he flicked the horse’s reins and they started moving again.
Instead of riding directly to the houses, he took them to the nearest village. After half a day greeting the villagers and eating with some, he requested the presence of their priest.
It didn’t take them long to bring Father James to him.