It was impossible. They were impossible.
*
Two days later,Torquil was strumming his lute in the glen that held so many memories—and reminders of what could never be, when movement caught his attention.
Eilidh.
He turned to the movement as a deer stepped into the area. The doe looked at him cautiously, sniffing the air. Sensing nay danger, she began to graze.
Torquil watched her for a long time, until, the doe’s hunger was satisfied, she turned and disappeared into the trees, leaving him alone with his thoughts once again.
With a sigh, he pushed off the ground and walked home. He had just reached his door when he heard a noise and spun around.
This time, it was Eilidh. He swallowed hard. The lump in his throat at seeing her limiting his ability to breathe.
“I found ye,” she said quietly, toeing the ground with her boot, an action he now kenned she did when she was nervous. Her fiddle case slung over her shoulder as it almost always was.
He wanted to run to her. To gather her in his arms and tell her how much he missed her. How much he wanted her to stay. But he could not. To do so would bring the wrath of both of their clans down upon them. He cursed. Angry with himself for letting him take advantage of her.
She closed the distance betwixt them, and smiled widely, as she looked at the exterior of his cottage. “So, this is where ye live? ’Tis beautiful.”
He scoffed. “’Tis small and inadequate.” For a moment he wondered if he was talking about the cottage or himself.
Her brows furrowed, a frown forming on her face. “Is something amiss?”
“Nay.” He shook his head. He should turn her away. Tell her toreturn home and not come back here. But he could not. Not with her blue eyes boring into him. The expression on her face begging for the reason of his sudden change in attitude. It made him miserable.
He dipped his head to her fiddle case. “Are ye ready to play?”
Her eyes twinkled and with a wide grin, nodded her head.
Against his better judgment, he invited her inside, offering her a drink.
She accepted the ale and took a sip afore setting the cup aside and opening her case to retrieve her fiddle and bow. “What song shall we play?” she asked, her eyes dancing, her excitement contagious.
He lifted his lute and sat by the fire. “How aboot we create something of our verra own? A new song that no one has heard.”
She smiled. “A brilliant idea. Ye start the opening notes, and I will join.”
He thought for a moment and then began, strumming soft and slow, initiating a ballad that he put all of his emotions into. The sadness that he could not have what was sitting right in front of him. The anger at those that were in the way of his happiness. The sorrow that he would have to let her go.
Eilidh joined, the solemn cries of her fiddle the perfect balance. They fed off of each other, pouring their hearts into the song.
When they finished, they sat there silently for a long time. Neither of them saying a word. Contemplating their circumstances.
Eilidh stood. “I should go afore I am missed.” She packed her instrument away and turned to Torquil. He couldn’t hide the pain he was feeling. “I ken that what we did was forbidden. But ken this, Torquil MacGregor, I dinnae regret one second of it. I would no’ take it back for aught in the world.”
And she left.
Chapter Eleven
Eilidh paused outsidethe door, leaning on it for strength afore she made her way back home. She kenned she was playing a dangerous game, but she had to see Torquil. What she had not expected to see was the torment swirling in his beautiful green eyes. The full impact of what they had done had come crashing down on her in his cottage.
Their families would rein hellfire down upon them if they found out what they had done.
But the feelings they had for each other were real. She had nay doubt about that. Torquil pushing her away was his way of protecting her. But she didn’t want to be protected if it meant they could not be together.
She pushed off the door, her shoulders slumped as she stepped onto the path. A steady rain began to fall. The drops quickly seeping through the wool of her gown.
