Page 46

S words clashed, and Aidan threw himself into the fray, not caring if he was maimed or killed, though the latter was preferable. Steel met steel in a clash so intense his hand ached.

He did recognize that he needed to feel something—anything. A piece of him died the day Reilly carried Emma away. He doubted he would ever fully recover, but to fulfill his duty, he had to ensure the MacWilliam clan was safe from outside threats.

Nioclas swore. “Aidan, get yourself out of there and let my guards train! I don’t want them worrying about killing you, with your mind in places it ought not to be!”

Aidan shrugged. “If they kill me, it’s just practice, Nick. Accidents happen. I wouldn’t hold it against them.”

“Don’t let my wife hear you speak as such,” Nioclas warned. “She’ll string you up by your toes until you take the words back. Come, let’s walk.”

“I’ve no need of exercise.” Aidan sheathed his sword.

“Let me rephrase. I order you to walk with me.”

Aidan rolled his eyes. “Aye, I’ll go. But only if you drop the laird act. ”

“We’re going back into the forest.”

Aidan braced himself. “For what purpose?”

“Your heart is broken,” Nioclas announced.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“I didn’t think you were ready before,” Nioclas explained. “But now, ’tis time to have speech.”

Aidan swore under his breath but followed his laird out of the castle walls.

“This reminds me of how you acted when you were ten-and-three, and didn’t want to clean out the stables,” Nioclas chortled as they walked. “You were so angry at me. Thought you knew everything.”

Aidan smiled at the memory. “You never lost your patience with me.”

“I never did,” he agreed.

“I owe you everything, Nick. I don’t think I ever thanked you for saving me. From our sire, or from myself.”

Nioclas’s eyes looked suspiciously wet. He started coughing and muttering about the inordinate amount of dust in the air.

“If you had the chance to go back, would you?” Nioclas asked, wiping his eye under the guise of scratching it.

“Moot point.”

“’Tis more than your heart that’s broken, Aidan. It’s your soul. I have tried to put myself in your shoes, and I must admit, the pain I imagined was too much for me to bear. I cannot fathom how you’re managing.”

“I don’t have a choice,” Aidan said hollowly, “so I make do.”

“When you disappeared all those years ago, it nearly destroyed me. And when you returned, I thought that, were I to lose you again, I wouldn’t be able to survive it.

But I was wrong, Aidan. Seeing you like this, so broken, is much worse.

” He stopped walking and grasped Aidan’s shoulders.

“If given the chance, I need to know that you would take it. That you would return to your other world, live a long and happy life together with your mate. That you would make a family, create a clan, live in peace…I need to know, Aidan.”

“Aye,” Aidan choked out, “Of course I’d take it, you bastard.”

A noise behind him had him spinning, his hand on his sword. Reilly leaned against a tree, ankles and arms crossed.

“I will pay dearly for this, MacWilliam, so for you to make up for that, you will vow to your brother, here and now, that you will spend the rest of eternity making that woman feel loved. Every. Single. Day.” Reilly held out his hand, fingers splayed open. “Vow it, and I’ll bring you back to her.”

Aidan locked eyes with Reilly , his heart constricting in his chest. He slowly nodded his head. “I vow it.”

He looked at Nioclas. “I want it noted that I’m doing this for Emmaline, not this arse.”

Nioclas managed a smile. “Aye. Duly noted.” He looked at his brother. “Godspeed. I wish you well. May we see each other in the next life.”

They were gone immediately.

Aidan saw Emma first, and his heart pumped faster, harder. His breath came in short gasps, and he tried, in vain, to steady his breathing.

She was here.

Emma sat on a flat outcropping. The winds of the North Atlantic whipped the loose strands of her hair. Her arms were wrapped protectively around herself, and all Aidan could sense was her loneliness.

As he approached, the wind carrying his footsteps away from her ears, his concern skyrocketed.

He saw her closed eyes were swollen from tears, and her nose and cheeks were red.

Her frame was smaller; whether that was from the injury Reilly told him she had sustained or the fact that she was barely eating, he didn’t know, and with a start, he realized it was more than loneliness that enveloped her.

It was grief.

Even over the roar of the wind and the crash of the waves below, Aidan could hear his heart shatter. He had done this to her. If he had left her alone from the start, she wouldn’t be sitting here, outside his house, overcome by emotions she should never have to feel.

He re-avowed, then and there, that if she let him, he would spend every day of the rest of his life making it up to her.

He swallowed past the sharp lump in his throat, and sent a prayer flying that she would find it in her heart to forgive him for his transgressions.

He knew he didn’t deserve her, and she certainly deserved better than him, but he couldn’t imagine living without her in his arms, or his bed, or his life.

He needed her more than he needed to breathe.

She drew a shuddering breath, tearing him from his thoughts, and her eyes fluttered open. She blinked and slowly turned her head.

He saw her take a breath, and he held his own in response.

Emma caught sight of a man standing to her left. She turned slightly, and her breathing stopped.

The wind tore at his black hair, his eyes a stormy, tormented green. His jaw had at least a week’s worth of scruff; his hands were fists at his side against a blue and silver léine, and as the wind whipped into a frenzy, her heart stuttered.

His name came out of her mouth, and she felt her world spin dangerously out of control. Her breath returned in short gasps, and she clutched herself even tighter, unsure if he was a figment of her imagination .

If he was, she never wanted to see reality again.

Then he was next to her, his arms open, and she launched herself into him with a guttural cry, her sobs muffled against the soft tunic. He was stroking her hair, whispering Gaelic in her ear, and she couldn’t formulate any thought beyond—

He came back.

His lips found hers, and she was crying, kissing him, practically climbing him. He leaned back, let out a loud laugh, and then gazed down at her, love shining from his eyes.

“Are you really here?” she choked, furiously wiping her tears away so that she could be sure.

“I am,” he confirmed.

“How?”

“Turns out O’Malley isn’t as big of an arse as I thought he was.”

Emma grinned, then wrapped her arms around Aidan and pressed her lips to his. He kissed her hard, then led her back toward his—their—cottage.

“There’s a storm coming,” he noted, looking over his shoulder at the dark clouds gathering in the distance.

“I know just what we could do until it passes,” Emma shouted over the wind.

“I thought you would want to talk?” Aidan replied, a grin spreading over his face.

She threw her head back and laughed. “You’re really here!” She stifled another sob. “I thought I’d lost you forever.”

“You will never lose me, love.” He kissed her nose as the first fat raindrop landed on her shirt. “I’m yours forever.”

“About that…it seems we’re married in this time, too,” Emma managed to get out. She drew a deep breath, trying to control her emotions.

His eyes twinkled. “Ah. You received my letter. ”

She nodded, and when he opened his mouth to speak, she placed her fingers over his lips, silencing him.

“It’s all in the past, Aidan. You showed me that I’m finally ready for a future.” Emma gazed at him. “I let myself fall, Aidan. You’re ready to catch me, right?”

He swept her into his arms and rested his forehead against hers. His green eyes blazed as he stared into hers. “I’ve been ready since I met you, Emmaline. Don’t you see? I’d wait an eternity for you.”

“You don’t have to,” Emma whispered against his lips. “I’m yours. Then, now, and forever, Aidan. I love you.”

His lips captured hers, and he carried her home.