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“Even if it hurts me?”
“I would nae enjoy it, but no, I will nae lie.”
The lies I’ve told him scorch my heart. I want to tell him everything, to be honest with him, but he would never believe me. And if he did, what then? He would never accept me. A sharp, hot pain stabs into my chest.
Why does that realization make me hurt so badly?
“Let me start by saying something that has been on my mind since I first laid eyes on ya.”
I swallow hard, unable to take my eyes off his. “What?”
“You are the most beautiful woman God above has ever allowed to walk on the Earth.”
“Flattery.”
“Flattery is a lie, dressed up in niceness. It is not flattery. It is the truth.”
My lips touch his. A spark jumps between them, numbing mine, but the warm softness of his soothes the ache. His mouth moves on mine as the cool highland breeze blows across us. His arms enclose my body, pulling me closer.
Damn it. I’m falling. Falling into him.
Falling in love.
Chapter Twenty-Two
His kiss feels natural, as if this is what we’ve always been meant to do. All our interaction before this kiss, even the last time he kissed me, was only a preamble to this. In some strange way, it is as if we’ve been locked in some time-travelling, millennia-long foreplay. Having done this before and knowing we’ll do it again in time.
When at last he pulls back, we’re both panting. I stare into his gorgeous eyes, losing myself in them. He sees me. The real me, beyond the facade I present to the world.
“Duncan,” I say, touching his cheek. His stubble is rough and poky, but I like it. “I have to tell you something. Will you listen? Please?”
“Ya make it sound right serious.”
“It is. Deadly serious but I need you to listen. Hear me out.”
“Aye, of course.” He smiles easily.
“This proclamation, from the King—”
“Ach, don’t worry yourself about that. We’ll handle it.”
“No, you won’t,” I say. “It’s bad. Worse than you can possibly imagine.”
“Quinn, I know it seems scary but ya can’t let fear grip ya, lass. We’ve been to war before. We’ll go to war again. It does nae matter but I’ll tell you true, we will nae allow the Colquhouns or those bastard Campbells to manipulate us or steal our lands. Not again.”
“Again?”
“Aye.” He nods. “They tricked us out of our rightful lands once before. Alisdair will nae allow it again. We’ll be fine. We’re smarter than they are.”
I close my eyes and swallow hard, trying to force the lump in my throat back down to wherever it came from. He’s so confident, cocky even, and I like it. Certainty is always attractive in a man, but in this case he’s wrong. Dead wrong.
“You promised to listen,” I say, reminding him.
“Aye, lass, go ahead.”
He shuts his mouth and sits in silence while I try to collect my thoughts enough to say what I want to say and not sound crazy. Which is a much harder task than it has any right to be.
“It’s going to be bad. You must believe me when I tell you, it’s going to be so awful they’re going to—” I cut myself off from saying that his name itself will be banished. “They’ll not only kill the men. They’ll kill your families, women, children even. There has to be some way to stop this.”
