Page 103 of The Laird's Secret Bairn

It was a fair question. He deserved every ounce of doubt behind it.

“Then ye’ll have every right to leave me and never see me again.” He took another step closer, close enough now to see her pulsefluttering at her throat. “But I daenae mean to give ye cause, lass. Nae ever again.”

She took a deep breath. “Dougal?—”

“I love ye,” he blurted, not meaning to cut her off, but he couldn’t wait any longer. The sooner he got it out, the better for everyone.

Skye let out a gasp. She stared at him, at a loss for words.

It was a rare sight.

Neither spoke. The words hung between them, more terrifying now that they were finally spoken rather than when they had been locked deep down in his heart. He had carried them for weeks now, perhaps from the moment they had met.

Something had always been there. It had taken getting to know her and spending time with her to finally see what was right under his nose the entire time.

He hoped it wouldn’t be the last time either, but it was up to her. She had the power to let him stay and love her, or tell him to go back to his castle and leave her alone, which she had every right to do.

He wanted to break the silence, but he did not, afraid that her answer would break his heart.

38

Skye couldn’t stop staring at his face. Not the scar—she’d long since stopped seeing it as something to flinch from—but his whole face. It was unguarded, every wall he’d spent seven years carefully building finally gone.

It felt like being handed something too precious to hold properly, something she was terrified she might drop.

She had never thought he was going to come here, let alone confess.

“Dougal, I love ye too.”

He made a choked sound.

Their lips met, soft at first, then deepening as though neither of them could bear to be gentle a moment longer.

“Ye daenae ken how happy it makes me to hear ye say that, Skye. I can hardly believe what I am hearing,” he murmured, resting his forehead against hers, both still breathless from the kiss neither had been willing to break. “Tell me what changed. I need to hear it from ye.”

“Ye ken well enough what changed, Dougal.” Her voice came out unsteady, and she hated it, hated how thoroughly he could still undo her with nothing more than his forehead pressed against hers and the low, rough timbre of his voice.

“I want to hear it all the same. I daenae want to guess, Skye.”

She pulled back just enough to look at him properly, trailing her eyes over his face. No mask, no armor left standing between them anymore, nothing hidden.

His hands found her waist and drew her close once more, and she allowed herself to relax.

Skye could hardly believe that this was happening. She was not going to pinch herself again because it would just be silly, and she certainly did not want to embarrass herself in front of the man she loved more than anything else.

“Ye’re nae so bad with words, if only ye’d make up yer mind to use them.”

“Perhaps.” His mouth curved, and she felt it more than saw it, his lips grazing the corner of her jaw. “But there are things I’d rather show ye than say, if ye’ll let me.”

She should have hesitated. A month ago, she would’ve told him about her rule, would’ve built the proper distance again as she’d trained herself to do whenever he came too close to her. But now there were no more rules between them. There was nothing left to be protected, nothing left to pretend.

“Then show me,” she murmured.

He tensed beneath her touch, having waited for her permission all this time, and then he kissed her again.

He took his time, kissing her so deeply and so thoroughly that she struggled to catch her breath. When he lifted his hands to the laces of her dress, she did not resist. She only hugged him tighter, because for the first time in her life, she wanted not to think but to feel.

“I love ye,” he told her again, making her blush.