“I dinna think so. He’s set his own punishment, banishing himself.”
“But will your father agree that ‘tis enough?”
“He’s a fair man, Jamie. I think he’ll agree. Besides,” she added with a grin, “he’ll be so happy, gloating when he accepts your ransom, he’ll probably no’ even ask about Black Gawain.” Jamie gave her a sour look, but laughed despite himself.
Then an awkward silence fell between them. In all the days since he had been hurt, they had not once talked of themselves. Sheena wasn’t ready to. She was still getting used to the fact that she loved this man. It wasn’t supposed to happen, but it had. Only, he had never claimed the same feeling. Wanting her was all he had ever admitted to, and she knew that wouldn’t satisfy her.
The tension was broken by Daphne’s arrival. She was so pleased to see Jamie up and about that she teased him.
“Well, well, so that great hulking body wasna rotting after all!” She laughed at his look and said, “Now I’ve no excuse to stay longer. I’ll tell my Dobbin I’ll be leaving with him.”
“So soon?” Sheena asked.
Daphne laughed. “I’ve my own castle to be seeing to, you know. Though I canna say this visit hasna been interesting. ‘Tis no’ every day my brother takes a wife he doesna know what to do with.”
Jamie actually blushed, and Sheena and Daphne grinned at each other, which caused him to glower. “When are you leaving?” he asked pointedly.
“Today, and we’ll be taking Jessie with us, you’ll be glad to know,” she added. “She’s overstayed her welcome, I do believe.”
“Indeed she has,” Sheena retorted.
Daphne grinned at her again before saying softly, “Jamie, you’ll be surprised to hear Aunt Lydia has expressed a wish to visit me. If you dinna object, she can come with us today.”
Had his sister gone mad? “Lydia‑leave Castle Kinnion? But she has never left here in all these years!”
“I know. Is it no’ wonderful? She claims I do much more entertaining than you do, and’tis time she met new people, time she found . . . a husband.”
“What?”
Daphne giggled. “Can you imagine our aunt wanting a husband at her age? High time, I guess.”
“ ‘Tis absurd,” Jamie grumbled, but his sister rambled on.
“And I’ll be seeing she finds one, too, though I think she’ll manage on her own. These days there’s a peace about her that makes her glow.”
Sheena and Jamie smiled at each other. As Sheena had hoped, Jamie’s aunt didn’t remember any of her confession. But there was still a great difference in Lydia, as if the unburdening of the tragedy, even though she had blocked it out again, had brought her peace.
“Well, I dinna object,” Jamie said. “But ‘twill seem strange with her gone, and no mistake.”
“I doubt you’ll be missing her too much,” Daphne replied knowingly. “And you’ve much to do, now you’re finally up and about. ‘Tis no’ like you to pamper yourself. I was beginning to wonder if you’d ever get out of bed.”
Jamie kept his voice deliberately casual. “I had a dream, you see, when I was recovering.”
“Did you now?” Daphne asked, exasperated by his mysteriousness.
He ignored her and continued, “I dreamed my wife said she loved me. Maybe I stayed abed so long hoping to have the dream repeated.”
Sheena flushed a glowing pink as Jamie’s eyes locked with hers. Could he really have heard her that night when the fever was on him? She couldn’t take her eyes from his.
“Och, well, I can see when I’m in the way,” Daphne said. “I’ll be going now. Take care of your precious jewel, laddie,” she warned her brother sternly.
She kissed them both and was quickly gone. With the closing of the door, Sheena grew exceedingly uncomfortable. Jamie’s eyes were still on her, and she finally lowered her gaze.
“It was a lovely dream, Sheena.”
“Was it?” she asked, not knowing what else to say.
Jamie frowned. She was going to make this difficult. How could he ask her what he needed to know if she turned away from him like that? He shouldn’t have waited so long, he knew that.
He was not a man for tender words, nor did expressing his feelings come easy for him in any case. He had known for a very long time what was in his heart, but he hadn’t got the words out when he’d had the chance. Now there could be no more waiting. He had to know.
“Can you love me, Sheena?”
There. It was done.
Sheena didn’t know what to do. Should she tell him the truth? Tell him she already loved him? But she was afraid to make herself that vulnerable. This powerful feeling was new to her, and it was frightening. So instead of answering, she asked him the same question.
“Can you love me?”
He went to her and cupped her face in both of his large hands. His kiss was tender, yet so full of love, like the man she had come to know. Sheena was left breathless, clinging to him.
“Do I have to be telling you, Sheena? Did it ever really need saying?”
“Aye, it did,” she replied solemnly.
“Sweet Mary!” he sighed. “I love you. There! Now dinna expect me to say it again.” Then he inquired nervously, “And you?”
Sheena gave him a brilliant smile. “I love you, Jamie. I do.”
He laughed with relief and joy, holding her tightly. “Och, sweetheart, you canna know how happy you’ve made me.”
“I’m no’ feeling so poorly myself,” she teased him, as happy as she had ever been.
Chapter 42
THEY sat at the laird’s table in the great hall at Tower Esk. The meal was nearly over. It had been a pleasant time‑and a great relief to see Jamie and her father getting along so well. Still, Sheena was anxious to retire to the guest chamber she and Jamie had been given.
They would be leaving Tower Esk in the morning. Sheena had seen so little of Jamie during their visit, and she was feeling a bit jealous. It was not the same as when they were at Castle Kinnion, where he felt more at ease. After wanting for so long to get back to her home, now she wanted only to return to her new home.
Would it lessen in time, she wondered, this wanting to be with him every moment? Well, the desire didn’t worry her. Wanting to be with him was not a bad feeling at all!
Sheena touched his bare knee below his plaid. Jamie grinned, his eyes twinkling.
“Do you know what you’re about, lass?” He leaned over to whisper in her ear.
“Aye, I think I do.” She grinned as she moved her hand upward along his leg.
Jamie caught her hand, then stood up abruptly. He made the appropriate excuses before escorting Sheena out of the hall.
Once out of sight of the others, they ran like children, laughing all the way to their room. Inside, behind the closed door, Jamie tumbled Sheena to the bed. Their passion was wild and tender and, as always, wonderful.
“If it wasna so cold, I’d take you to your little pool in the morning,” he told her between kisses. “For memory’s sake.”
Sheena sat up abruptly and demanded, “Who told you about that? Niall?”
“Nay, lass. Your brother’s told me many things, but he didna have to tell me about the pool in the glen. I saw you there myself, in the spring.”
“You saw me?” she gasped, blushing. “Jamie, you didna!”
“I did.” He teased her without mercy. “And may I say, sweetheart, there was never a more bonny kelpie than you were that day. Truly, I didna think you were real.”
“But . . . you saw me!”
Her indignation only spurred him on. “Just like this,” he said, kissing her bare breasts. “The image of you in that pool never left me. Now do you see why I was so surprised the day I found you in Colen’s room? I’d had no luck finding you, and suddenly there you were‑with my brother.”
“Finding me?”
“Aye, lass. You never left my mind. I came back many times, hoping to see you again. Did yo
u never wonder why I was alone when your father’s men found me?”
Her eyes widened. “Then you were captured because you came looking for me?”
“Aye.”
She considered that for a while, then said. “Serves you right! You came to spy on me!”
“If I had found you, I assure you I wouldna have settled for just spying,” he told her.
She giggled. She just couldn’t stay angry very long anymore. Especially when he was kissing her all over, as he was doing just then.
“You’re a devil, Jamie, but then, I always knew that.”
“Did you now?” he murmured, glancing up.
“Aye. And I wish you had found me again at the pool,” she added impulsively. “I wouldna have known who you were, and you wouldna have known who I was, and we might have been making love that much sooner.”
Jamie chuckled, delighted. “Och, sweetheart, but I do love you.”
“And I thought you wouldna say that again.” She grinned.
“Well, I like saying it. But no’ as much as I like showing you. Can I show you again?”
Sheena sighed happily and wrapped her arms around him. “If you dinna, Jamie MacKinnion, I’ll be greatly disappointed, and no mistake.”
Johanna Lindsey, A Gentle Feuding
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