“To begin with, aye, but I soon recognized he was the best choice for you.”
“Matthew suffered such deep depression. He should never have passed away from the small arm wound he’d taken in training, but it festered and he succumbed so quickly.” She’d never told another soul, but she’d caught Matthew deepening his wound with his own dirk, almost slicing right across his wrist. He’d been deep within a fever at the time and thrashing about in his sickbed. In his hazed grief for Elspeth, he’d looked at her and even called her by his dead wife’s name. His last words had been a promise to his beloved, that he’d join her now and not wait another day. Then he’d stabbed himself right in the belly and with his immense strength, she’d been unable to halt his hand. His blood had flowed like an endless river across the grooves in his torso, then trickled from his mouth. Tears had burned behind her eyes. She’d failed Matthew.
Her pain and heartache from that day swarmed her now.
Living without the one their heart desired was sheer torture, and she had no desire to continue living an empty and lonely life without Coll any longer. “I want you, Coll. You hold the other half of my soul, just as I hold the other half of yours and even Cherub, our fae princess, has declared that is so. She visited me here, mere minutes ago, even left me a basket of treats from her chosen one’s twenty-first century time.” She gestured to the basket. “I didnae leave Carron Castle with that.”
“Cherub’s truly been here?” He lifted a brow, his brown eyes darkening. “As in the guardian to our fae people? You’ve truly seen her?”
“She is real, and told me ’twas time for you to accept your destiny, that since I’ve begun the hunt, you must see the chase through. Please say you believe me.”
“I proposed to another woman. If I was mated to you, I’d never have been able to do so. That is the only truth that matters.”
“I understand you wish to secure a stronger alliance with the Chief of MacRae, but surely there is another way.”
“The only way is through marriage vows, and I’ll be speaking them with Elizabeth by the week’s end. The future safety of our clan depends upon it.”
“And what of my feelings for you?” She stepped around him, tugged his war coat off his shoulders and down his arms.
“What are you doing?” His muscles tensed, biceps rippling under the thin white cloth of his tunic.
“Undressing you. I need to show you how very deep my feelings run. I wish to seduce you.” She dropped his coat on the ground next to her satchel. “We can complete the bond here if you wish. Duncan and Ella willnae return unless one of us calls out to them.”
“I willnae allow any form of seduction to occur between us, and I meant it when I said there was no bond.” He reached for his coat but she stepped into his way.
“You are so terribly stubborn.” She gripped the dangling ties of his tunic where the deep V collar lay loosely laced and tugged on them. “No more fighting, Coll. We’ve denied this bond for years, but no longer can we do so. You’re the only one I’ve ever desired.”
“That desire is called lust, no’ the mated bond.” The breeze lifted his shirt hem and gave a mouth watering show of his golden skin and the roped muscles either side of his abs.
“Kiss me.” She leaned into him, brushed her chest against his. Seduce him she would, without another moment’s delay.
“I intend on taking you back to Ardan where you can stay with Duncan and Ella. You’re not to continue on to your father’s home since he’ll have you wed to another man afore too long. You’ll be safe with Duncan. He’ll never allow any harm to come to you.”
“I said kiss me.”
“You’re no’ listening, Fiona.” He pushed her back against the tree and shoved his heavenly body up hard against hers. “There is no bond.”
“All I understand is that you’re saying one thing with your mouth, and another with your body. You clearly wish to keep me close. Put your hands on me, anywhere you please. My body is yours, my heart is yours, and my soul will be yours throughout all eternity. I give myself freely to you.”
“My betrothal is as binding as a marriage contract can be.” Such agony crossed his face, and his pained emotions slammed into her, over and over. Never had he allowed her to sense his feelings so deeply before, and it meant the world to her that he now did. She would try and ease his agony, and with the truth no less.
“You are all I’ve ever desired, all I’ve ever wished for. Never have I understood Matthew’s great pain so deeply until now.” She too would never survive his death should it occur. “Make love to me, claim my body and fuse the golden strands of our mated bond fully together.”
“I’ve signed a damned agreement and there is naught I can do to end my betrothal.”
“Are you asking me to let you go again?”