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He looked into his brother’s eyes, the candlelight dancing in them. His brother’s love, adoration even, was not something Niall ever questioned. Nor did he do so now.

“Will you?” he asked again.

“Aye, of course. That you would ask such a question—”

“You’ve been opposed to us from the start.”

“Because it will be a difficult path for you and for her. What do you believe our clansman will say if you return to Duncraig with a MacKinlay as a wife? ’Twill be difficult for her, Niall.”

“I know it well,” he replied. “Lina does too. But. . .” How to describe a feeling he’d never had before now? “When I am with her, I can breathe easily. When I am not, I think of her. Wish for her to be near. I cannae explain it properly, Brother. There are no words I can give you other than the ones I already offer.”

“There is a word, Brother. And you know it well.”

He shook his head. “We’ve not known each other for long.”

“And yet, it does not seem to matter, does it? When two people are meant for each other.”

“I do not believe in that.”

Kieran laughed. “It matters not if you believe in love, Niall, to feel it. What you describe is certainly your love for Avelina MacKinlay.”

Kieran would know as his brother had been deeply in love with a woman once. All had thought they would marry. “You believe it to be so?”

“Indeed.”

“Perhaps I’d not been in love before as I once thought. This is a feeling I’d not ask for if given the choice. ’Tis much too powerful.”

“And yet, it seems you were not. If there is any woman you should not love, ’tis the very one you seek this night.”

They were silent for a moment and then Kieran asked softly, “You are certain?”

“I am certain,” Niall said.

“Then go to her. We will consider the consequences on the morrow. And when we return home with Lady Avelina by your side. In the meantime. . .” Kieran was as passionate a man as any. His brother smiled. “Enjoy your evening, Brother.”

Niall thought of what it had felt like for Lina to be in his arms, her lips and his joined.

“I intend to, Brother,” he said. “I intend to.”

Chapter Nineteen

Somehow, she knew he would come.

He’d not told her as much. When they parted, it was with barely a word as her brother whisked her from the solar chamber to “speak with you on multiple matters.” Her outburst to their host. She and Niall. If there was anything she did that Ewan took kindly to, it was certainly not on this trip. She loved him and despised him all at once. If only Ewan would be her brother and not attempt to be her father too.

Avelina knew not where Niall slept, but neither would it matter, since he’d mentioned sharing a bedchamber with his brother. Instead, she made use of the hot bath that had been sent to her. With a fresh shift and her hair braided courtesy of the maid, Avelina should have been prepared for bed.

Instead, she stood before the fire, her toes wiggling into the fur rug under her feet, the slippers she’d brought staying unused for now. And when the knock at her door pulled Avelina out of her reverie, she was not at all surprised.

Glad, aye.

Excited, also. But surprised? Nay. Something had shifted between them that eve. So when she opened the door as she had the night before, allowing Niall inside, nothing was more natural than to fall into his arms the moment the door closed. His hands were everywhere at once, grasping the material at her buttocks. Squeezing them, along with fistfuls of her shift, Niall pulled her hips toward him as their lips came together as naturally as if they were made to kiss one another.

When he groaned, Avelina sighed, pulling Niall even closer. He guided them closer to the fire, for which she was grateful, and the chill from under her door no longer crept up her legs. Instead, ’twas warm, even as he lifted her shift up, breaking the kiss. She wore nothing under it, so when her arms lifted to aid him, and Niall pulled it over her head, for the first time in her entire life, Avelina was nude in front of a man.

Yet, oddly, she felt neither shame nor embarrassment.

“By God and his disciples, Lina, you are perfectly made.” Niall removed his sword, still staring at her. “Your breasts are magnificent.”