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“Did you miss me?”
Her query stunned him, though he regained his composure fast enough and with a smile sat beside her and admitted, “I missed our morning chats.”
“I’ve grown accustomed to sharing the sunrise with you, Lachlan,” she said, keeping her glance steady on the brightening horizon.
At the sound of his name spilling from her lips, he felt his heart catch as if for a brief moment a hand had squeezed it.
“You are an interesting man to talk with.”
Interesting?
Most women found him charming, but none had ever found him interesting.
Woman? She’s a nun! The warning resonated like a church bell clear and loud in his head.
“Where have you been?” he asked, wanting to distance himself from such wicked thoughts and wanting answers to several pending questions.
“To assist pagans who needed our help.”
“Why didn’t you let me go with you?”
“The pagans are a strange lot. It took much work to have them accept us,” she said.
Her explanation seemed reasonable enough, yet it didn’t satisfy him. “You could have given it a chance.”
She turned then and smiled at him, and he thought his heart would stop beating. The sun was just rising and its brilliant glow illuminated her face. He was struck with awe by her beauty.
“Your tongue charms easily enough, but the pagans look for more in a man.”
“And you don’t think there is more to me?”
“I think there is much more to you,” she said, “though you let no one see it.” She scrunched her brow. “Why do you hide?”
“I don’t hide,” he objected.
“You do,” she nodded. “You hide behind your calculating charm, afraid to let people know you are a truly selfless and caring man.” Her smile returned. “Is it a way for you to be different from your brothers, in a sense your own man?”
He laughed. She was too astute for her own good.
She laughed along with him. “I knew it. I’m right.”
“Two older brothers and a favored younger one, what was I to do?” he asked with a shrug and a smile. “I had no choice. I had to find something that would make me stand out, while allowing me to be me.”
Her smile broadened, and she nodded slowly as if she truly understood him and her reaction encouraged him to continue.
“I discovered that I could coerce with words. Even my brothers were susceptible to my charm, and once I learned that…there was no stopping me.”
“Did you ever think it wasn’t your charm but perhaps your honorable nature that did the coercing?”
He paused to give her suggestion thought. He recalled how often his father discussed pending clan matters with him and asked for his opinion. Afterward, he would tell Lachlan that he admired his perceptive nature and that he should use it more often instead of relying on his charming tongue. His mother, in her own way, had advised him to be who he was.
“You’re thinking on how right I am,” Sister Terese said confidently.
“You are an insightful woman.”
“It is needed in my position,” she said.
How I wish you weren’t in that position. He almost cringed at his thought, but managed to remain composed.
“You have much responsibility,” he said, reminding himself of his own responsibility.
“I enjoy it,” she said, scooting her knees up to wrap her arms around. She breathed deeply and raised her face to the morning sun. “Sunrise is so very beautiful.”
“Beautiful,” he whispered, looking at her, for her beauty truly astounded him. He felt a punch to his gut as if someone attempted to remind him of his manners.
She turned to him again. “I was wondering if perhaps you could offer George, Gelda, and their children a home with your clan? I know if they are with you, they will remain safe.”
That she had such confidence in his ability to protect made him all the more intent on protecting her. Actually, it was a necessary need in him to make certain she remained safe, though it didn’t lessen his guilt about seeing that he would be the reason she and the other sisters were returned home.
But wasn’t Everagis their home now? They certainly had worked hard to make it so. And if they could not remain here, where would church officials send them? Would they separate the women who seemed as close as blood sisters? And more so, after his time here was done, would he ever see Terese again?
He chased such questionable thoughts away and answered her. “They are welcome at Caithness, home of the Sinclares. I believe there is even a vacant farm that needs a tenant.”
Terese laid a gentle hand on his. “Beatrice is right. You truly are a hero.”
Her warm palm tingled his flesh, but then her innocent touches always did. He knew they were meant to comfort, nothing more, but that didn’t matter; his body responded anyway. Whether she laid a hand on his hand or on his shoulder, her touch sparked something inside him that he could not deny. He had known many a woman’s caress, but none, not one, had the power to stir his passion so easily.
