Hamish’s sword hissed as he arced it above his head. Gooseflesh swept over her body and fear made her tingle, but she took a deep breath and shoved off from the ledge as hard as she could.
The fall was fast and dizzying. Her body hit the water with such jarring force that she cried out, her words swallowed up by the loch that pulled her into its depths. For a moment, she froze, feeling her body sink into the darkness. Which way was up? Blackness surrounded her. Desperate to live, to see Alex and tell him she loved him, she began to kick and push her arms through the water, not sure whether she was headed toward air or down to her death. Her head pounded, and her lungs protested the lack of air.
Her body was suddenly sluggish, and it was hard to move. The certainty that she was close to death sent a burst of anger through her, giving her the strength to kick harder than she had before. When she swept her arm above her head and felt air on her fingertips, relief flowed through her, but just as her head popped above the water, something splashed down so near her that she felt it brush past her. For one moment, confusion blanketed her mind, and then a hand clasped around her ankle and jerked her under the water. Arms encircled her waist, and she knew without a doubt that Hamish had jumped in after her and intended for both of them to die this day.
Alex threw his sword to the ground and dove into the water, splashing and arrowing under the surface. Stark fear clawed at him as images of the moments that had just passed flashed in his mind: Lena jumping from the cliff. Her body disappearing into the loch. Her hand appearing above the water a breath before her head broke the surface. Powerful waves of emotion slammed into him: Terror. Joy. Then disbelief as Hamish dove into the loch and Lena disappeared once more, as if she’d never emerged.
Alex swam fast toward the last place he’d seen his wife. His arms cut through the water and his lungs cried for air, but he ignored the need, kicking his legs and imagining Hamish’s face in front of him. Alex would choke the life from the man if there was any left.
Alex propelled himself forward with a hefty thrust and ran into something—bodies, he thought—arms and legs struggling. Blindly, he reached out and grasped the arm in front of him, the slenderness of it telling him he had a hold on his wife. She jerked and fought like a wild cat, clawing at him and kicking out, but she stilled when he tugged her violently to him and cupped her face. Did she know it was him? A hand clamped on his arm and another around his neck, separating him from Lena. He prayed to God she’d swim away and save herself.
He twisted around in Hamish’s hold, driven by rage beyond anything he’d ever known. Alex’s hands found Hamish’s neck, and he squeezed it, even as the man did the same to him. Something brushed his leg, and then Hamish’s grip suddenly lessened, giving Alex the advantage. He squeezed so hard his fingers and lungs burned, and only after Hamish stopped fighting him and finally became unmoving, did Alex consider releasing him. Yet, he waited several more breaths, wanting to be as certain as he could that Hamish would not live to come after him or Lena. But finally, his own lungs screamed with the need for air, and to save himself, he had to release Hamish. For a moment, Alex floated under the water, uncertain which way was up, but then a hand found his bicep. It ran down the length of his arm to take his hand, and he and Lena swamp up, her guiding his way. They broke the surface of the water together, the only sound that of them greedily gulping air.
Then Fardley called to them from the shore. “Laird! What shall I do?”
Once they emerged from the water, Alex waved the man off. “Stand watch at the water’s edge. I believe I killed Hamish, but I need to ken for certain.” With those instructions given, he drew Lena far enough away from Fardley that the man would not hear them speaking. Alex turned her in his arms and cupped her face once more. Her eyes locked with his, and gratitude for her life being spared stole his speech.
“I love ye, Alex,” she said, her voice hushed and almost shy.
“I love ye, too, lass. So much so that to imagine my life without ye even for a moment strips me of my ability to breathe.” He captured her mouth, devouring its sweetness, her breath, her very essence. When he broke the kiss, he could not contain what he felt. “Ye’ve entered my mind and my heart, taking my soul for yer own. I am yers.” He kissed her fiercely. “I only pray I dunnae disappoint ye.”
She buried her head in his neck as she wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed him. “Ye likely will,” she said gently, “and I am certain to disappoint ye. But that is life, and if the love we have is true, it will grow and thrive. It can be the kind of love to sustain us through our failuresandour triumphs.”
He pressed a kiss to her head and hugged her tight, knowing her words were true for him and praying they would be for her, as well. His secret past lay heavy in his mind, but tonight was not the time to think on it. Tonight, he felt stripped bare and raw, and only Lena’s touch could calm the storm that almost losing her had brewed.
After it was certain that Hamish was dead, and Alex and Lena had seen to Greer and Baldwin, they walked, fingers interlaced, to Alex’s bedchamber. He instructed the chambermaids to bring up a bucket of steaming water, and then he and Lena removed each other’s clothes, slowly and silently. When they stood flesh to flesh, Alex encircled Lena in his arms. She pressed her cheek just above his heart, feeling it thunder beneath his skin. The emotions she’d been holding back rose, and she found herself sobbing in her husband’s arms.
“Shh, Mo chailin chalma,” he whispered, running a gentle hand over her head repeatedly until her sobs gave way to soft sniffling and then to silence. Alex traced his fingers up and down her spine. He pressed his lips to the top of her head and hugged her. “I have ye now, and I vow to keep ye safe, even if it is from yerself, ye wee reckless, stubborn, beautiful lass.”
She pulled back, wanting him to understand what she was feeling. “I was nae crying because of fear. Though, I’ll nae deny I was scairt. My emotions overcame me just now because I realized ye have given me the greatest gift a person could give another.”
When he gave her a baffled look, she rose on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his. It was clear he didn’t even truly know what he’d done for her. He had helped her heal and find her inner strength once more. She was no longer the scared woman Findlay had made her.
She slid her hands over his powerful shoulders and down his thick arms. “Ye have given me back my courage. Ye have shown me I can still be strong, and braw, and free to love—”
“Free to love only me, aye,” he cut in with a teasing growl. He grinned.
“Aye,” she answered, glad to see him light and happy but fretful that her next words would darken his spirit. “Ye have given me true love.” She ran a finger over his strong jaw. “But for our love to flourish, ye must trust me and share yer heart with me.”
Immediately, he scowled. “I do trust ye,” he said, his words slow and even. “But it is my task to defend ye. Ye are my wife, and I would lay down my life for ye.”
Her heart swelled at the devotion he was displaying, though she knew she had to make him understand what she needed from him. “And I would lay down my life for ye,” she said. “Ye cannot expect less of me. To do so makes me feel helpless, as if I am broken and weak.”
His eyes widened. “I dunnae see ye as helpless,” he said, “and I ken ye have grown strong. But I have failed to keep people dear to me safe before, and I will nae allow that to happen again.”
Though he had not said he would relent even a bit on being overprotective, his mention of his past gave her hope. “Who did ye fail to keep safe?” she asked, deciding to focus on that rather than dwell on the fact that her husband was likely not going to bend this night.
He leaned down and brushed her hair off her neck, then placed a feathery kiss there that made her shiver. “I dunnae wish to rattle the bones of my past, Lena. It haunts me enough as it is.” His lips traced a teasing path over her collarbone and down lower to capture one of her buds in his mouth.
Desire instantly shot through her, and her belly clenched as her breasts grew heavy with need. He was distracting her so that she would not continue to question him. She knew it well, but with his tongue lavishing wicked attention to her breast and the rapidly growing heat spreading through her body, her thoughts turned from all she wanted to know and longed for him to share to her need for him. They could have died tonight, and in this moment, she wished nothing more than to touch him, taste him, feel him inside her, and prove they were truly alive. Perchance even create a life, God willing. The hope was there, however small.
His ministrations moved from her right breast to her left and then down to the juncture of her thighs. All logical thought fled as he hoisted her up onto the bed in one fluid movement, then crawled between her legs to bring her pleasure that left her panting. When she’d found her release and her body felt spent, he came to hover above her, his thighs braced on either side of her. He slid his hands beneath her buttocks as she reached behind him and gripped his, too. He lifted her as he entered her, filling her as only he could.
Their joining started slow and sweet but grew frenzied, driven by the need to claim life over death. Lena found herself ravenous for her husband, offering bruising kisses and raking her nails over his chest and back. When he flipped her over and drew her up onto her knees with one hand braced under her belly and the other fisted in her hair, she did not feel one breath of fear. Wild, uninhibited passion pounded through her with every thudding beat of her heart. They found a rhythm that stole her breath and made every muscle in her body clench, and when she felt Alex’s fingers curl into her belly and his body thrust harder into hers, she cried out her pleasure as they found bliss together. They collapsed as one, a tangled mass of arms and legs, joined in body and spirit.
Alex rolled onto his side, brushed her hair out of her eyes, and looked at her with a solemn expression. She tensed, knowing he was about to send her away. “Lena—”
She pressed a finger to his lips. “I ken ye wish me to depart—”
