Page 28 of Saved by the Cruel Highlander (Lairds of the Loch Alliance #1)

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

H olly opened her eyes and wondered for a moment whether she had gone to Heaven or was dreaming. Two angels, close together, stood next to her, watching over her as she slept. The smaller of the two faces had a worried smile, and the larger one was mouthing something.

There was a ringing in her ears. She tried to say something, and the larger of the two faces above her moved, replaced by a third feminine face.

A cup was brought to her lips, and she felt someone behind her helping her up. She sipped the cold water in the cup, and her throat burned as a result. She had trouble swallowing the water, and some of it dripped from the corners of her mouth.

She looked around her. She was scared and didn’t know what was going on. Her body ached, especially her neck, and it hurt to breathe.

The larger face returned to her side, and she felt her hand being taken, even though her body was numb. There was comfort in him holding her hand.

“Elias,” she muttered.

“I’m here,” Elias said.

She coughed to clear her throat, but the pain returned, and she gasped. The woman, Cassandra, brought the cup back to her lips, and Holly drank from it, finding some relief this time.

“Cole,” she whispered. “Why are ye lookin’ so sad? Did ye nae want me to wake up? Are ye glad of the peace and quiet without me around?”

“Nay,” Cole screeched. “I’ve been right here all this time, waitin’ for ye to wake up so I could give ye a hug. Ollie, too. He willnae leave yer lap, nae even for food. Cassandra has to bring it to him, the wee scamp.”

“Aye, he is a scamp,” Holly agreed.

She looked up past Cole and into Elias’s eyes. It all came flooding back to her. She could still see the look in Alice’s eyes as she had pinned her down on the bed to stab her, and then the Laird bursting in and hitting her over the head with a chair. She didn’t remember much after that.

Holly stared into Elias’s eyes and saw the answer—Alice had been taken care of. She couldn’t bring herself to sigh, but she felt relief wash over her.

She was safe, and she could finally be with the Laird.

“How are ye feelin’?” he asked.

“Braw,” Holly said with a smile. “Me body is in pain, but me mind is at rest now that everythin’ has been taken care of.”

Cole still had that worried smile on his face, and Holly wanted to do everything in her power to remove it. She would be fine, even if her voice betrayed that. It would take time for her to recover after she had almost been strangled to death.

“The one thing that would make me feel much better right now is a hug from ye, Cole,” she said.

She still struggled to breathe, but she was breathing, and that was all that mattered.

Cole looked up at Elias, who nodded at him. “If Holly is fine with it, then up ye go. But be gentle, aye?”

Cole nodded and then carefully crept up onto the bed beside Holly. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her. Holly wrapped her arms around him, clinging to him. When she had been dying, it was not her life she had worried about, but his. It would destroy him if she was taken from him after his parents left him all alone.

She smelled the sweet scent coming from his hair and drank it in. She had only said it would make her feel better to placate him, but it really did help. She breathed him in again and felt his warmth. It was magical, and some of the pain melted away.

Between them, Ollie moved a little but tolerated the boy on the bed with him.

“This is braw,” Holly said, “but I need to talk with the Laird. Do ye want to go and play for a while? I’ll come and see ye soon.”

“Aye, all right,” Cole said.

He leaned in and placed his head on Holly’s shoulder, hugging her a little tighter but not too tight, and then he let go and got up from the bed.

“I’ll go with him,” Cassandra offered. “Make sure to keep sippin’ water, Holly, and I’ll be back later to rub more ointment on yer neck.”

“Thank ye,” Holly said.

The Laird waited until Cassandra and the boy had left the room before he leaned down and kissed Holly on the forehead.

“I thought I had lost ye,” he said.

“It’s goin’ to take ye a lot more than that to get rid of me,” Holly said with a smile.

Elias leaned down again and kissed her on the lips. His kiss brought the same warmth that Cole had brought with his hug, and she really hoped they could be a family together.

“Thank ye for savin’ me,” she said. “I kenned if I held on long enough, ye would come for me.”

“It’s a miracle ye held on for so long,” Elias said. “Ye took quite the beatin’ in yer room.” He tenderly touched two fingers to her neck.

“She tried to strangle me with the ribbon I gifted her,” Holly said.

“So, ye kenned her?” the Laird asked.

“Aye, I did,” Holly said. “Her name was Alice, and she was the daughter of the man who had me kidnapped when I was fifteen. The man who killed me faither, and the man me faither killed. I didnae ken it at all, but she blamed me for it.

“I spoke to her a few times, and I thought we suffered together—and we did, but nae in the same way. She spent all this time blamin’ me even though it was her faither who was in the wrong the entire time. How could she blame me?”

She had to stop talking when her throat felt raw.

“I cannae figure out people after all these years,” Elias said. “Me braither blamed me for livin’ me life, and maybe me parents favored me, but that was nay reason to kill them or try to kill me. Even kennin’ why he was so angry with me didnae help me understand why he did it. He told me why he meant to kill me, and I still dinnae understand it to this day. The woman who tried to kill ye did it for the money, but it doesnae make it any easier to understand.”

“Then how are we to understand people?” Holly asked.

“I dinnae ken if we do,” Elias admitted. “I ken people as a whole, the clan, and I want to ken the people in me life like ye and Cole, and I dinnae need to ken anyone else. As long as I ken ye, that’s all I need for now.”

There was a look in his eyes that told her there was more to Alice and Felix’s story, but he held back from telling her to save her the pain for now. She might ask about it later, but for now, she was happy to be with him and out of danger. Whatever it was, he had taken care of it.

“When I was bein’ attacked, I could only think of Cole,” Holly said. “I was worried that if she killed me, she would go after him next, and that kept me goin’.”

“Aye, I worried about him, too,” Elias admitted. “When I heard the screams, I ran straight to his bedroom to make sure he was safe.”

“We’re goin’ to have to talk about him sooner rather than later,” Holly said.

“Aye, we are,” Elias said.

Holly was having trouble thinking after almost being killed, but she saw a flicker of hope in the Laird’s eyes.

“Do ye really feel all right?” he asked.

“I’m sore, but I ken I’ll be fine.” Holly held up her arm, noticing the bandage for the first time. “Aye, I remember I got cut with the knife. It was sharp.”

“Come on, move over a wee bit,” Elias said. “I cannae lie on top of ye to embrace ye.”

“Nae yet, but soon,” Holly said with a smile.

Elias chuckled and helped her roll over on the bed. Then, he gently climbed onto the mattress with her and wrapped his arms around her. Cole had brought her warmth, but Elias brought her much more than that. His arms cocooned her and made her long for a life with him.

“If ye arenae feelin’ up to it, we can postpone the weddin’,” Elias whispered from behind her.

Holly put her hand over his, on her breast. “Nay,” she protested. “Nay, we will go ahead with it because I want to be wed to ye as soon as possible, Elias.”

“Aye,” Elias said in satisfaction.

“Do ye really nae want to bring a family into this world?” Holly asked, feeling sleepy in his arms.

“I always thought I didnae,” the Laird admitted. “However, I dinnae ken if I think that anymore. Ye make me want to do things I never wanted to do before.”

Holly smiled. She smiled wider when she felt him kiss the back of her neck. His kiss stopped the throbbing in her neck. She wondered if she should talk to Cassandra about the healing properties of Cole’s cuddles and Elias’s embraces.

“I love ye,” Elias said.

Holly didn’t know why she was so startled by the proclamation when it was all she wanted. Her heart beat furiously, and her breath came in sharp bursts.

She realized she hadn’t said it back yet. Not because she did not want to say it, but because she was unable to until she composed herself.

“I love ye, too,” she returned, a smile breaking across her lips.