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Terese waited until he left then barely made it to the door to close it, her legs trembled so badly. She braced herself against it and began to weep. She wished she could scream out her pain, pound at the door, run after him and beg him; beg him to love her—Alyce Bunnock the shrew he had been sent to bring home.
She couldn’t take the chance that he would reject her, and so she sat there crying silently and that was how Hester found her after shoving against the door to open it.
Hester immediately sat on the ground beside her and wrapped her arms around her. “Perhaps you should tell him the truth.”
“And what if he rejects me, what then do I do?”
“It might be a chance worth taking.”
“I don’t know,” Terese cried. “I feel as if I’m being torn in two, but I wonder how bad the pain would be if I told him, and he walked away from me? And then it would only get worse for my father would tear me away from Everagis and everyone here. Whichever way I look at it I suffer.”
“Then tomorrow it will be done; he’ll be gone,” Hester consoled.
Terese closed her eyes for a moment and when she opened them fresh tears began to fall. “He insists we spend one last night together.”
“You cannot,” Hester said, upset for her.
“He insists that if I truly don’t love him, it won’t bother me and that if I can look him in the eyes after we make love and tell him to leave, he will.”
“Oh lord, no, Terese,” Hester said, tears filling her eyes. “How will you ever be able to do that?”
Terese shook her head, her tears continuing to fall. “I don’t know. I love him so very much. I don’t know where I will find the strength to do it.”
The two women sat hugging each other while tears flowed freely, one heart hurting for the friend whose heart broke in two.
Chapter 19
Lachlan snapped and barked orders at his men and not a one made a comment. He was more than angry; he was furious. He couldn’t believe that Terese thought so little of the time they had spent together. And there was no way anyone would ever convince him that she didn’t love him.
He shook his head, not able to make sense of this turn of event, but confident he would change her mind this evening. He had to; he couldn’t imagine returning home to Caithness without her. It wasn’t about making love with her. It was more about making her admit how she truly felt about him, about them.
“You don’t mind that Evan and I remain here?” Andrew asked, approaching Lachlan.
“How many times have you asked me that?” Lachlan snapped. “And how many times must I continue to say no, I don’t mind.”
“I’m sorry.”
“There’s no need to be,” Lachlan assured him curtly. “You need time with Megan as Evan does with Piper. If it doesn’t work out you’re welcome to return home. If it does, then I’m happy for you.”
“That’s not what I’m sorry for,” Andrew said.
Lachlan understood. “Terese will see reason before it’s time to leave.”
“Megan tells me that Terese will never leave Everagis. Never. It is her home.”
Lachlan turned a vicious scowl on him. “I am her home as she is mine. She will realize that and come to her senses.” Lachlan turned and stomped off.
“Leave him be,” Boyd advised with a hand to Andrew’s shoulder. “He has never had a woman deny him anything. It will take time for him to accept this.”
Andrew shook his head. “It makes no sense. You can see how much Terese loves him and he her. Why would she deny the obvious?”
Boyd grinned. “Learn now that women are not sensible creatures, and they work hard to drive men crazy. Keep that in mind when dealing with women and you may, just may keep your sanity.”
Just before sunset Terese went to the stream, washed and donned fresh clothes, a dark blue wool skirt and a white linen blouse. She towel dried her hair, though it remained relatively damp, and slipped on a pair of sandals.
Her mind and stomach had been in chaos since this morning. She hadn’t eaten a thing all day and nor did she want to. How she would get through tonight, she didn’t know. Part of her ached to spend this last night with him and the other part wanted to scream out the unfairness of it all. But then she should be used to that; it seemed to be the way of things for her.
Piper popped out of the woods looking distressed, and for a moment Terese was caught between hoping something would save her from this night and praying nothing would stop her from making love with Lachlan one last time.
