I looked down at the pile of pebbles I held in my hand and realized. He thought I’d thrown Morna’s rock. My heart started beating rapidly, and it frightened me just how quickly my mood shifted. I went from heartache to hope in the flick of an eye. I hadn’t been wrong after all.
I shouted after him, but the waves were coming in so strong that he couldn’t hear me. Reluctantly, I slipped off my leather footings and started to step into the water. I would get his attention no other way. There was no point in hiking up my dress, I would get soaked through anyway. Instead I just walked straight in, grabbing onto his arm as I reached him.
“Baodan.” He didn’t seem to feel me, his arms swinging wildy, his eyes wet. “Baodan, stop. What are you doing?” I knew, but wanted him to say.
When he finally registered that I stood next to him, he latched onto me, crushing me against him as he wrapped his arms around me. “Ach, Mitsy. How are ye here, lass?”
“What do you mean? Why wouldn’t I be here?”
“The rock. I saw ye throw it, and ye just told me that ye were leaving.” He carefully kissed the top of my head and stroked my hair, now frizzy and damp from the spray of the ocean.
“No, you didn’t. I didn’t throw Morna’s rock. I just chunked a bunch of pebbles into the ocean.”
“What?” He leaned back and grabbed both sides of my face, turning my head upward so that I looked straight at him.
“You heard me. I didn’t throw it, but what do you care anyhow? You didn’t seem to mind that I planned to leave.”
He kissed me then. A soft and short touch, but my heart danced in response to it.
“Ach, lass, I did care. ’Twas for that reason that I found meself too frightened to tell ye. I have been a fool.”
I shivered uncontrollably. The water was freezing, and the windy night made it even cooler. “Can we get out of the water? Then you can tell me what a complete and total moron you’ve been.”
I don’t think the chill of the water bothered him at all. He looked surprised when I said it and then noticed my trembling arms. Before I could protest, he bent down and lifted me, carrying me like a babe out of the roaring ocean.
Once on shore, he carried me up to a nook in the high towering rocks that blocked the wind quite well. We didn’t have anything dry, but he rubbed his hands up and down my arms to warm me and pulled me close to him once again.
I wouldn’t be warm until I got into some dry clothes, but I wanted to finish our conversation before going back inside the castle. “Ok, you can continue now. You were telling me what a fool you are.”
He chuckled and I delighted at the rise and fall of his chest as he did so. He was so sturdy, so beautiful.
“Aye, I was. I canna tell ye how sorry I am, lass. I know that I doona know ye well, but I doona believe I’ve ever cared for someone the way I do ye. ’Tis a different feeling, an unusual one, and I doona know what to do with it.”
He was right. It was different, the feeling that spanned between us whenever we were near one another. “What do you mean you don’t know what to do? You don’t do anything, just let it come naturally.”
“Aye, I wish it came so easily for me. I still doona know if I am capable of allowing someone into me life, but I would like to try. Please, doona leave.”
I was so thrilled at his openness, I beamed all over. I knew what a step it was for him. “I’m not going to leave. Not yet, anyway. I never planned on it. I heard you outside Bri’s door and I said it to get a reaction. When you gave me none, I became so angry I could have spit fire.”
He surprised me by pinching me hard on the rear. A step for him as well. “’Twas a dirty trick. It broke me own heart to hear ye say that ye wished to leave with no a thought of me.”
“Will we stay here a while?” I knew he wouldn’t feel like he could.
“I canna do so. There are things at home that need me attention. Will ye come with me and stay at the castle? I know ’tis verra much of me to ask ye to return to the castle while Niall is there, but ye will be safe as long as I’m with ye. He willna be allowed in the castle any longer after I arrive.” He shifted nervously. “’Tis no verra customary, but I doona care, and ye doona seem to me as the sort of lass who would mind it.”
I would have loved to stay with Bri longer but she would understand. I couldn’t pass up the chance of seeing where this led. “Yes, I’ll come, and you’re right. I don’t give two squats about what’s customary.”
Chapter 22
Approaching Cameron Castle
The goodbyes were hard but not nearly as difficult as they would have been if I’d been going back to my own time to return to Texas. At least now, I knew I would see Bri and Adelle again. Even if I did eventually decide to leave here, I would make sure to see them before I left.