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…shethought 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 hadall 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.
