I could kill ye meself, lass, if I werenae so relieved that ye’re all right.
“What were ye thinkin’, Beatrice?” he asked, his voice much harsher than he had intended. “Why would ye run off like that on yer own?”
Beatrice pressed a hand to her chest. “Why did I run off?” She pushed the same hand into his torso. “Why didyerun off? Ye left me at the inn. Ye were gone, and I had nay choice but to find me way somewhere else.” Her voice broke.
Leo felt a weight lift from his heart, from his lungs, from his throat.
I made her think I could walk away. When she woke up and I wasnae there, it was easy for her to believe that I had left her for good.
“Nay, it wasnae true.” He drew her back into an embrace. “I didnae mean to cause ye harm, lass. I would never leave ye all alone like that.”
He cupped her face in his hands and stared into those hazel eyes, the mix of brown and green that had caught his interest from the moment he had first seen them.
There was an avalanche of truths he wanted to tell her, a million things he wanted her to understand. Instead, he just stared into her eyes until she reached out a hand and touched the side of his face.
“I didnae ken what to think, Leo,” she rasped. “I should have ken that ye’d be too good a man to abandon me like that.”
“I never would. I never will, Beatrice. Ye have me word, if ye’ll accept something so small from me.”
Tears brimmed in her eyes but did not fall, holding the line as she nodded, silently accepting his offer.
Leo rested his forehead against hers, listening to her breathing as the minute sounds of the forest chattered around them.
“Maybe this is love,” he murmured. “I was away from ye for mere hours, and I felt as if me heart was ripped from me body.”
“When I woke up without ye, I hoped I would die on the road rather than keep feelin’ the way I did.”
“Will ye find out with me, Bea? Will ye see if this is what it means to be in love?”
Beatrice rested a hand against his chest, letting out a soft, watery laugh that broke through her tears. “Ye called me Bea,” she breathed, awed. “Ye finally called me Bea.”
“It feels like the right name for ye,” Leo rasped, pulling her into him as tightly as he could. “Do we dare to find out what the future has in store for us?”
“Aye.” Beatrice nodded. “There’s nay one else in the world I’d like to take this journey with.”
Leo leaned in, and their lips met.
There was a charge, a fire that erupted from a spark, the same way there had been that night in the corridor where she had tripped into his arms. The same way there had been on the terrace as the noise of the cèilidh roared and ebbed behind them.
Like it was under warm sheets at the inn, wonderin’ where we were going from there.
He deepened the kiss, pulling her harder against him. It was as if she became the air he breathed, as if she became his energy and spirit. Her arms wrapped around his neck, and she clung to him as they kissed.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Beatrice had never experienced the fatigue she felt as Leo helped her up onto the back of his horse and led both of them out of the woods.
The bright, surprisingly warm day had faded into a benign early evening, dark clouds gathering over the horizon. They were too far away for Beatrice to worry about them, though she laughed at the idea of once again being caught in a rainstorm, doused and forced into hiding.
But this time, I could enjoy meself properly.
She watched Leo’s stern profile as he eased the horse down a section of the path so overgrown that the poor creature whinnied at the branches and brambles slapping at its legs.
We could both enjoy ourselves properly.
Once they broke free of the woodland’s clutches, Beatrice saw a small group of men pacing back and forth across the expanse of hills. They weren’t going far from the treeline, but they were facing all directions, their horses dancing in place as if it were not in their nature to stand still.
“I was never one to take loyalty for granted,” Leo said as one of the men squinted at them through the greenery, “and I think I’ll be even less likely to do so now.”
