Page 49 of Stealing a Kilted Heart

Their soaked clothes were almost dry by then, but Fia was chilled to the bone and so Knox grabbed the blanket from the bed, wrapping it around her shoulders. She held it tightly around her, trying to battle the chill, and between that and the fire, the trembling of her body slowly subsided.

It didn’t hurt that she was sitting close to Knox, the two of them sharing the heat of their bodies. It was necessary, she told herself. It was simply so that they wouldn’t freeze.

“I told ye we shouldnae have left the castle,” Fia teased, though there was no real bite behind her words.

“How could I have predicted that it would rain like this?” Knox asked with a small shrug. “Did ye see any clouds in the sky?”

“It’s more about yer shoulder than about the clouds.”

“Me shoulder is fine.”

Fia rolled her eyes at him, but she knew that no matter how much she insisted, he would never admit he was still in pain. Knox was proud like that—or rather, stubborn.

“Why did ye tell them we’re from Duror?” Fia asked, curious to know the reasoning. “They didnae seem like people who would take advantage.”

“Och nay,” Knox was quick to say. “I never thought they’d take advantage. I simply didnae wish to put them in any trouble. When people find out I am the laird, they always go tae great lengths tae please me. It’s better fer them tae think I’m a simple man.”

“That’s… thoughtful o’ ye,” Fia said with a small frown. Even though he was arguably the most powerful man in the clan, Knox seemed like the only noble in there who made any sense to her. He wasn’t like the rest of them, looking down on her simply because she was a peasant. Not only that, but he didn’t want anyone to go into any trouble for him just because he was the laird. He simply wanted to be treated as any other man and that didn’t surprise her as much as it confirmed that he was a good and kind man.

“It’s how me faither taught me,” Knox said. “He always told me we have a responsibility tae other people an’ as the laird, I would have tae choose whether I wished tae be one who flaunted their power an’ their wealth or one who truly made a difference in the world. It seemed only natural tae me tae choose the latter, just like he had.”

Fia hadn’t been lying when she had told him that she would have loved to have met his parents. They sounded like wonderful people and if Knox had turned out the way he did, it was surely thanks to them.

“If ye dinnae mind me askin’… what happened tae them?” Fia said, hoping she wasn’t overstepping.

But Knox didn’t seem to mind at all. If anything, though the grief welled up inside him to remember, he was more than willing to talk about them.

“Everyone says it was an accident,” he said. “But I ken better than that. I ken it was Alastair Gordon. He is the one who killed them.”

Fia gasped, a hand coming up to cover her mouth. How terrible, she thought, to have one’s loving parents snatched away like that. She didn’t know what motive Laird Gordon could have had, but nothing could excuse it.

“That is terrible,” she said. “I’m sorry, Knox… it must have been so painful fer ye. It must still be.”

“Often,” Knox admitted. “But I like tae think about them fondly. I’d rather remember them the way they were rather than think about their deaths.”

Fia could understand that. When it came to Tav, she couldn’t even bring herself to consider the possibility that he was dead. To her and to Bane, he was still alive, still trying to find a way home.

“I never think o’ Tav as dead,” she admitted. “I simply… cannae.”

And still, tears streamed down her eyes every time she spoke about him. When he lived in her thoughts, it was easy to convince herself there was nothing for her to cry about, but now that she had said his name, the tears were unstoppable.

“What happened tae him?” Knox asked, his voice quiet, gentle.

It took Fia several moments to gather her thoughts, to force herself to speak about it, but Knox waited patiently.

“He was taken one day,” she said. “There was an attack in our village an’ along with everythin’ else they destroyed an’ took, they also took Tav. I dinnae ken why… it never made any sense tae us. Why would the raiders take a simple blacksmith? What did they want with him?”

Fia didn’t know, and neither did Bane. They could never figure it out. All they knew was that he still had to be alive. They both believed he was still out there.

“I’m sorry,” Knox said. “It’s a terrible thing, what happened tae him. And not kenning.”

Fia nodded but was at a loss for words. Every time she thought about Tav, it was the same; the same grief, the same despair, the same questions coming to her mind again and again.

“Forgive me… I find it hard tae talk about it,” she told Knox.

With a sigh, Knox wrapped his good arm around Fia’s shoulders and pulled her close, pressing a tender kiss to her forehead. She let her eyes slip shut, wiping the tears off her cheeks with the back of her hand, and in only a few moments, she managed to compose herself again.

For a while, the two of them sat there in silence, simply holding each other. When Fia tilted her head to look at him, though, she saw nothing but love and tenderness in his gaze, and she pressed her lips against his in a soft kiss.