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Father looked up at the altar but otherwise said nothing.

“You don’t approve?”

His expression unreadable, Father Simon offered only silence. His inscrutable, knowing expression was likely to drive Aidan mad.

“You believe I’m making a mistake. Putting a target on Clan Scott for the sake of a woman?”

Still, silence.

“Graeme supports me in this. Father, she offered herself to the church only because she had no other way to escape her father. But she has another choice now. I love her and cannot lose her.”

Again, nothing.

Finally, Father Simon looked at him.

“And what makes you believe you will lose her?”

A chill ran through his body, the words sticking in his throat.

“Aidan?”

He’d have uttered a blasphemy if he wasn’t in the company of a priest. Finally, the words came out. “I believe she is still considering your offer.”

Father Simon waited.

“She believes the risk is too great. She’s agreed to marry me, but . . .”

“But?”

“She feels guilty for all that has transpired. But Father”—he warmed to his argument now—“you do not know Clarissa as I do.” Aidan then found himself telling the priest all that he had told Allie, and more.

“She feels badly for telling her father about us,” Aidan said, finishing his tale. “He has made her feel inferior, which clearly she is not. And Lord Stanley . . . she needs to understand that the decision is not between staying here and being loved or leaving and keeping us safe.”

“Is it not?” Father Simon asked, his expression still unreadable.

“Nay,” he said, standing. “Clarissa must decide between living a new life with me, with Clan Scott, and joining the nunnery to escape her father. This is not about Caxton or the border clans. It is about choosing love over fear. Over her father’s hate.”

He needed to speak to her.

“Indeed,” the priest said.

“Thank you for your guidance, Father,” Aidan said, leaving the priest to his prayers.

The last thing he noticed was a slight smile on the priest’s face. Sometimes, it seemed, saying nothing was more powerful than speaking.

He had to see Clarissa and end this torment.

Now.

Chapter 23

Clarissa shifted on the hard stone bench, staring at the walkway and thick hedging that surrounded it. She’d wandered into the garden unintentionally. After a fitful sleep filled with dreams of Aidan, she’d risen early. She’d considered visiting Lewis again, but Clarissa decided she wanted to be alone, just not in the small chamber that had begun to feel like a prison in truth. Gillian’s words of welcome to their clan weighed on her despite their intended effect.

When she’d first come to Highgate Castle, Clarissa had been content to hide away, safe from her father. But now, thanks to Aidan, she wanted more. To be a part of everything Highgate had to offer. To be with him. She simply had to tell Father Simon she could not go with him because she wished to become Aidan’s wife.

So why did she hesitate?

“There you are.”