Page 74 of The Laird's Wicked Game
“I promise.” She favored him with a soft smile then. “My place is here … with ye all.”
Ailean blinked rapidly at this admission, his eyes filling with tears, while Lyle started to sniff.
“Och, lads, don’t fret.” Rae joined them then, hunkering down and placing his hand over where Kylie still held theirs. “Everything will be well. We shall be a family.”
They both nodded. Relief loosened Kylie’s chest. They understood—and as she looked on, she marked the excitement that flickered to life in their eyes.
“Will ye still take us on walks?” Lyle asked Kylie, his apple-cheeked face hopeful. “Like ye used to?”
Her lips curved into a smile. “Aye … as long as ye behave yerself.”
With a squeal, the lad surprised them all by lurching forward and throwing his arms around her neck.
Dusk settled over Dounarwyse in a rosy veil. Rae and Kylie went up onto the walls to watch it. Hand in hand, their fingers entwined, they mounted the steps and walked to the western ramparts. The sky in that direction glowed pink and gold.
“I never tire of the view from these walls,” Kylie admitted with a sigh.
Rae cast her a sidelong glance, smiling. “So, ye like Dounarwyse then?”
Her full lips quirked. “Aye … isn’t it obvious?”
Warmth suffused his chest. He hid his worries well, but they were still there. “Well, it isn’t as grand as Meggernie Castle, I’d wager … and I’m no clan-chief.”
She gave a soft snort. “My father’s castle is a large one … but it’s nestled amongst woodland and soft green hills. Ye certainly can’t view the sea from its walls.” She paused then. “Rae Baird Maclean … I do believe ye are looking for compliments.”
He threw back his head and laughed, the deep sound echoing over the walls. “Guilty as charged.” In truth, he was a little embarrassed she’d seen through him so easily. Kylie was a shrewd woman and missed little.
He slung an arm around her shoulders then, and they fell into companionable silence for a short while, watching as the sunset flared brighter still.
“Ye walked into my life at the right time,” he admitted eventually. “I was becoming somewhat of a curmudgeon before ye came.”
She snorted. “Aye, yewereintimidating. Ye have quite a temper when riled, Maclean.”
He pulled a face. “That’s what comes of pushing yer own needs aside, as if they don’t matter … eventually, ye boil over,” He paused then. “Not that it’s an excuse, mind.”
“Ye’re allowed to have flaws, ye know?” she replied with a rueful shake of her head. “None of us are perfect … least of all me.”
His mouth curved. “To me, ye are, lass.”
A faint blush rose to her cheeks at this, and he tightened his hold on her. He wasn’t a man given to empty words. It was the truth.
He cleared his throat then, as emotion swamped him. “It had all become too much … the responsibilities, the worry about the Ghost Raiders … the loneliness” —he paused before adding— “not to mention the tight balls.” He broke off then, snorting a laugh as heat crept up his neck.
Christ’s blood, he hoped his crudeness hadn’t offended her. Despite all the intimacies they’d shared over the past months, things were still new between them.
He needn’t have worried though, for Kylie’s laughter drifted across the walls. Nonetheless, he noted the flush to her cheeks had deepened. “I was lonely too,” she admitted softly, sobering. “I know how it leaves an ache, deep inside.” She turned to him then, her hand splaying across his chest. “No one can see it … but it’s always there.”
“Aye,” he agreed huskily. “We’re alike in many ways, aren’t we?”
Her lips tilted into a tender smile that made his chest tighten. “I noticed that from the first … maybe that’s why we’ve always gotten on so well.” She paused, her gaze gleaming. “I’ve always been able to be myself with ye.”
He smiled back. “Why couldn’t we have met years ago?”
She raised her hand to his face, her fingers tracing his jaw. “Because it wasn’t yet time … life unfolds as it’s meant to.”
“I truly believed I’d never find love, ye know?” he said roughly, his throat thickening. “To my shame, Jack’s good fortune turned me bitter for a time, as did my cousin Loch’s.” He lifted a hand and placed it gently over where hers now cupped his cheek. “But all this while, ye were waiting for me, weren’t ye?”
Her sensual mouth tipped up into another smile that made his breathing grow shallow. The setting sun gilded her proud features and turned her eyes luminous. “Aye, love,” she whispered. “I was.”