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“Me?”

“Yes. You. I forgot to tell you that I’m not going anywhere unless you go with me or I with you. And if you don’t trust me, you will. I’ll stay and cook and clean and do anything until you start to believe that there’ll never be anyone more loyal to you than me. Your wife.”

Craig’s head spun, his mind as hazy as if he’d drunk several cups of uisge. She’d come back. She sounded like she wanted to stay. She sounded like she wasn’t going anywhere.

“So ye came back?”

“I came back. Because I love you and I belong with you. And I’m going to prove it to you, however long that takes.”

Craig laughed. “Ye don’t have to prove anything, lass. I was a fool to let ye go. I never should have. I’ll have ye in any way I can, as long as ye’ll have me.”

“Oh, Craig,” she whispered.

She kissed him and he wrapped his arms around her, drawing her closer. He inhaled her scent, the woody, herbal scent of nature and flowers and spring. And her. She tasted as divine as he remembered. Their bodies and tongues entwined, he kissed her without reservation, as though this was the first and the last time.

Because mayhap it was.

“I will never let ye go again,” he mumbled against her lips. “I hope it doesna sound like I’m locking ye up.”

“You can lock me up as long as you want,” she said. “As long as you’re with me in the same room, naked.”

“Oh, aye, lass. Then consider yerself my captive.”

And as he kissed her again, to the delighted sighs of the villagers, he didn’t think he’d ever been happier.

Epilogue

Epilogue

Inverlochy Castle, June 1307

Amy poured sauce over the crust of the boar roasting on the spit. The fire answered with hissing and filled the kitchen with the most mouthwatering aroma. She was already hungry, thanks to her pregnancy. But she wasn’t nauseated like many women would probably be.

She was ravenous.

All the time.

She glanced back at the busy kitchen. Cooks and kitchen maids chopped vegetables and kneaded bread. No one was looking at her. She took a knife, cut a tiny piece, quickly blew on it and put it in her mouth.

It burned her tongue a bit, but she chewed, her eyes closed in sheer bliss.

Oh-oh. She’d better get out of the kitchen before she ruined the food for the feast and made a poor impression on her father-in-law.

“Everything looks great, team!” she said.

The kitchen staff answered her with cheerful exclamations.

“Dinna worry, lass,” Fergus said, looking up from the fish he was cleaning. “The feast will be successful.”

She smiled. “Thank you, Fergus.”

Amy went outside, where warm summer air full of the scent of flowers enveloped her. In the courtyard, tables and benches that had been carried out of the great hall were decorated with bouquets of wildflowers and covered with plates of cheese and bread. Chattering voices filled the space, and a lyre played in the background. The gate of the castle was wide open.

Craig and she had decided to hold the feast in the fresh air, to enjoy the summer and because they’d fit in more people. The whole Cambel clan had come as well as the villagers from Inverlochy and some representatives of allied clans who weren’t essential to the war.

The castle was now fully repaired and ready for whatever would come. Robert the Bruce had recovered after his sickness and managed to destroy the Comyn clan in the east, his biggest enemy besides the English. Thanks to that, the Cambels could come back west for a short while and attend the clan gathering.

Craig caught Amy’s hand, whirled her around, and wrapped his arms around her waist.