My Heart's in the Highlands by Angeline Fortin (ebook reader screen TXT) 📕

on the surface and saw onceagain the past. “Do you know what every other man I ever met saw?”she asked rhetorically. “They saw my father. His wealth, his title,his connections. They saw a chance to align themselves with him.They saw me not as a person but as an asset. A thing. My beauty,”she sneered the word, “was merely a bonus. I was never courted bysomeone who wanted me. Just me. Robert asked for my handafter meeting me but twice. He wed me without knowing me at all.Afterward, over the years, we became friends but there was neverthis romance, this desire. You might think me dull-witted, my lord,but how is one to recognize something when it is the first timethey’ve ever encountered it? Courting? I thought this only aseduction, though I am clearly lacking in experience there aswell.”

Ian sighed impatiently and turned to lean hiships against the rail. With his arms still crossed over his chest,he frowned sternly down at her. “Hero, did I not clearly tell youthat I was courting you?”

“You did say that but …” Hero bit her lip butIan just waited. “I suppose that I thought you meant only to courtme into your bed.”

“I believe I was also quite clear in sayingthat this,” he continued, waving his hand between them, “was notsomething that could be exhausted in a day’s time.”

Hero frowned, recalling his words. “You did,but I thought perhaps you meant an extended affair.”

“I told you that I loved you,” he pointed outwith noticeable exasperation.

“I thought you were only saying that becausewe were going to die.”

Tilting back his head, Ian groaned withevident frustration before sliding a hand around the back of Hero’sneck and forcing her to meet his gaze. “You think too much,” hegrowled, his fingers curling into the hair at her nape.

Embarrassed and feeling foolish, Heroresponded with a grimace. “I’m sorry.”

“Ugh!” Ian pulled her to him, delivering abrief but fierce kiss that conveyed not only his aggravation but acurious amount of affection. “Come here.”

Ian opened his arms and Hero slid into them,wrapping her arms around his waist. Resting her cheek against hischest, she sighed deeply with an odd mixture of relief andcontentment. Ian rested his chin on top of her head, his armscoming around her to hold her firmly against him. “I have nevertold a woman I loved her before, but for my own mum. In truth, Ihad never thought to say them at all, much less feel this way. Isuppose in a sense you are right. My confession was prompted inpart by our situation, but only in that the fear of losing you mademe accept the truth far more quickly than I might have on my own. Ican be a fairly obstinate man from time to time. A soul-baringadmission, but there it is.”

His fingers stroked her back, the heat of hisbody warming her through the thin lawn of her riding habit. Herofelt his lips against the crown of her head, against her temple andthen her cheek. “So you’re saying that you do love me then?”

She felt rather than heard his chuckle. “MustI grovel at your feet to convince you of it? Such a drastic stepwould exacerbate my male pride far more than tender words do.Besides, you should have more confidence in your own value, mylove, and you need to develop some faith in me, as well. As I havein you,” he whispered huskily in her ear. “I never doubted yourwords of love, never thought that you might have said them hastilyor without truth and I still don’t. Believe that this was meant tobe. Destiny, if you will.”

“Destiny?” Hero asked, pulling away to lookup at him curiously. “I’ve read Plato’s thoughts on the matter.That humankind were once androgynous creatures split in half tocreate man and woman and that we move through time with somethingmissing in ourselves, seeking what will make us whole. That‘destiny’ will draw you or lead you to your other half. Your soulmate. Are you speaking of that sort of destiny, or something morebenign? Because, given what you have told me of your life, it isn’ta philosophy that I had thought you would embrace.”

“In truth, I never did. The idea gratedagainst my very masculinity.” Ian shrugged. “I was always a farmore avid advocate of Plato’s lesser known philosophy that ‘love isa serious mental disease.’”

Chuckling, Hero shook her head. “Truly a moreacceptable ideology for a bachelor.”

Ian laughed as well, the warm affection inthe sound and the embrace that accompanied it somehow as profoundas his words of love. “Aye. But I won’t be a bachelor for muchlonger, will I? I will be a husband in love with his wife, firmlybelieving that fate brought me to Cuilean for you and thinking thatPlato might have been far more clever than I ever gave him creditfor.”

Hero sighed happily, reaching up to caresshis cheek. “You once asked me why I wanted to come back to Cuilean,and there was much more to my answer than anticipation alone. Ialways felt, from the moment I saw this place, that whateverawaited me in life I would find here. The anticipation was inwaiting for whatever that was. I was waiting for you.”

Turning his head to kiss her palm, Ian drewher close and bent his head to kiss her gently. The words emergedeasily this time, “I love you, Hero.”

“And I love you.”

“Now that we have gotten that all straight, Ithink we should …”

A pained bellow broke the silence around themand Hero felt a bolt of fear seize her. She looked around her,seeing nothing but peaceful nature. Suddenly frantic, she toreaway, spinning from side to side. “Papa? Ian! Where is myfather?”

Chapter Twenty-Four

“Papa!”

“Harry!”

Hero could hear Ian shouting in the distanceas she hurried up the stairs of the pagoda, searching each flooranxiously while Ian circled the area on foot.

Where could her father have gone? Oh, sheshould never have let him out of her sight! How long had they beentalking while he wandered away? How far could he have gotten? Thatyell hadn’t sounded too far off.

She reached the