Page 34 of When a Highlander Vows (Enemies to Lovers #1)

34

A s Lucas rode home, stopping only once to allow Searbas to drink from a nearby river, he had a smile on his face. A real, true smile. One that reached his eyes as well as all the way down to his heart. He had the eyeglass for Caitlin, called spectacles, and he’d paid a good price, shockingly.

When the peddler had first heard his words, the young man had simply stared at him, shocked. Lucas was sure he’d painted an odd picture, racing up to a lowly peddler, begging him to save his life. But then when he explained again, the peddler understood, and a smile broke out over his face. He could very well have cheated Lucas, knowing just how much Lucas was willing to pay, instead he’d given him a fair price, and the instructions on how to use them.

It wasn’t just two rounded circles of glass with ribbons, which she would use to tie around her head or her ears. The peddler had a number of choices, and when he found out how poorly Caitlin could see, he chose a certain one and said she could wear them as often as she liked.

Now, Lucas was riding home with his gift and with his heart full, but with hardly the right words to say to Caitlin once he approached. He had never been much of a speaker in any sense of the word. Words didn’t flow as poetically as one might hope during a romantic moment, not that he’d had much of those in his life. But he tried his best as he rode along, thinking of just a few words he might say to let her know that he wanted to be with her. Even though he was afraid. Even though he had a tortured past.

He hurried outside the castle after dark, and Searbas was clearly fatigued. When Lucas jumped down, he patted his horse on the neck and leaned against him.

“Ye have done me a service, Lad, more than I could ever repay. Ye will earn yer reward this eve.”

Searbas whinnied, nudging against him, and Lucas knew he was forgiven. A servant hurried from the gates, and he took the horse, greeting Lucas as he did. Lucas didn’t waste any time. He rushed through the entrance door, pulling off his coat, nodding to the guards on the way in. The spectacles were in a small box in the pocket of his kilt, and he brushed a hand against the small package, bolstering his courage. This would be the first time that he would declare love for someone else. A love that both thrilled and terrified him. A love that both filled him and made him feel exposed.

“Where is she?” he demanded to a passing servant once he got into the main entranceway.

“There are guests, Laird, in the main hall. The baker’s lad and the other one. Sittin’ with Paige and Miss Caitlin.”

Lucas growled and stepped past the servant. He would certainly tell Bram where he could go. When he pushed through the doors to the main hall, all he saw was Paige and Martin, drinking wine and standing together near one of the large hearths.

“Where is she?” he asked without greeting, striding toward them, thunder in his eyes.

“Yer grandmaither is up in bed, Lucas. She couldnae stay awake,” Paige said, surprised by his brusque words.

“I mean Caitlin, Lass. Where is she? With that rogue, nay doubt.”

“In the garden,” Paige said, still confused, but then she cracked a smile. “Good luck to ye,” he thought he heard her say as he ran off to the gardens, ready to tear Bram limb from limb.

Once he reached the garden, it was dim. He hurried out into the garden path, searching, listening. Ran all the way to the end and that was when he heard a helpless squeak coming from one of the alcoves. His heart full of fear, he rushed the closest one and there he found Caitlin pressed up against the back wall, Bram in front of her, using a mocking, soothing tone.

“Come now, Lass. Ye have been makin’ eyes at me each time we meet. Ye ken yer feelings, and ye are only bein’ shy about it.”

“Nay, I am nae,” Caitlin said, firmly pushing against his shoulders. “I daenae want ye to dae this. I have nay feelings for ye.”

She pushed again, but Bram stood firm.

“But—” Bram didn’t get another word out before Lucas grabbed the back of his shirt, yanking him from the alcove, fury and rage mixing together and rising to a dangerous degree inside him.

“Ye dare force yerself on me ward? The lass who has come here for protection?! Ye dare force yerself on any lass?” he yelled, his angry voice echoing against the walls of the garden.

Bram’s confident tone had turned to one of begging. “I…I am sorry, Me Laird, I dinnae mean—”.

Lucas hit him before Bram had a chance to say anything. It was one swift punch across the jaw and Bram fell to the ground like a stone.

“Lucas!” Caitlin cried, and she rushed to his side, grabbing at his arm.

Bram struggled to stand, and Lucas leaned down, picking up the boy’s arm roughly, pulling him close to his face.

“I daenae want ye to miss a bloody word of this, Lad, but if ye ever touch this woman again, if ye ever look at her in a way I daenae like, then I will cut both yer hands off, and ye willnae subject anyone else to yer disgustin’ ways.” Lucas spat on the ground after he spoke and pushed Bram backward.

The lad’s nose was bloody, and Lucas could see he was now cowed. “Aye, aye, Me Laird,” he stuttered and then stumbled away through the garden and out through the corridor.

“Good riddance,” Lucas said, still bristling with anger, but he could also still feel Caitlin’s soft hands grasping his arm.

It helped to cool the anger and fear he’d felt when he’d come upon them. Turning toward her, he lifted a hand to her cheek.

“Sunshine, are ye all right?” he asked. “Did he hurt ye?”

She was breathing hard, but her eyes were looking straight into his. He brushed a hand over her chin, his eyes looking down at her mouth.

“Nay, he dinnae. Thank ye, Lucas. I wasnae sure what to dae.”

“Ye should never have to feel that way. I am sorry I wasnae here.”

“I dinnae expect him to dae that. It was like he changed into a completely different person.” She looked away from him then, and his courage faltered, but only for a moment.

“Aye, I kenned he was bad news from the moment I saw him. All in the eyes,” he said glumly.

To his surprise after her ordeal, she giggled. The sound made him smile instantly. This time he showed her his real smile, the one that nearly stretched from ear to ear.

“Lucas,” she said, touching his beard again in that way he was growing to like very much. “It seems ye are jealous.”

“I willnae deny that,” he admitted finally, “but I still say he wasnae a good man. Like I said, it is in the eyes.”

“And what dae ye see when ye look into me eyes, Lucas?” she asked, her voice gentle and soft.

All his anger at Bram passed, and he was lost in her gaze. “Come,” he said, grabbing her hand and interlacing their fingers. “I want to talk to ye inside, nae out here in the chill eve.”

Still giggling a little, Caitlin followed him, and Lucas prayed that nothing would stop them on their way to his study. It was finally time that he bared his heart once and for all and saw what happened. He had finally and truly toppled over the side of that fearsome precipice, and there would be no going back.

Caitlin’s heart was thumping, and she gripped Lucas’ hand tightly as they raced through the castle to his study. She had taken Lottie’s advice to heart. There were good things in the world. And even though Bran was had pressured her into trying to kiss him, and maybe even more, Lucas had come to save her. Lucas. Her Lucas. For that was what she considered him now. She had been afraid that he did not feel the same way, but when she saw the anger in his eyes, and then the kindness afterward, she knew. He loved her.

She couldn’t stop smiling as she held his hand, and he opened a study door, pulling her inside. Her heart flipped when he locked the door behind her, pressing her up against it.

He leaned in, and breathing in her scent at her neck, he whispered, “I missed ye, Lass.”

“It has only been one day,” she said, but her arms came around him, and his hands gripped her waist just like it had that first day he’d helped her up on his horse.

“Aye, but it was one day too many.” He was still in the crook of her neck, and Caitlin closed her eyes, getting used to being near him, being able to smell him, feel the strength of his body.

But even if she was sure he cared for her, he might still run away, and he might still avoid telling her how he felt, and that was certainly a possibility.

“Lucas,” she said, lifting his face so that they were eye-to-eye, her hand on his cheek. “Ye cannae avoid me question. What dae ye see when ye look into me eyes?”

He let out a breath, and she could tell this was difficult for him, but his gaze did not waver.

“I see the most beautiful, purest, kindest lass in the world. Ye think well of everybody. Ye have made everybody smile. I see the way everyone’s eyes turn to ye when ye enter the room. Ye are everythin’ good in the world.”

He swallowed, and she could see the emotion in his eyes. A finger traced along the side of her face.

“I am sorry that I come to ye like this, with so many ghosts from the past, so much darkness. But I want to try.”

She grinned. Both hands moved to his face.

“Ye will be perfect,” she said, and a second later, he stepped back.

For a moment, she thought he was going to run away again, but instead, he pulled something from his kilt and handed it to her.

Looking like a nervous young boy, he said, “I left yesterday because I wanted to dae somethin’ to show ye just how much I care, to make ye forgive me.”

Taking up the package, she said, “Forgive ye for what?”

“For nae realizin’ that what I was daein’ was hurtin’ ye, runnin’ away all the time, touchin’ ye, and then bein’ afraid.” This time he stepped closer. “I daenae want to dae that anymore.” Pushing a strand of hair behind her ear, he leaned in, but Caitlin pushed him away with a cheeky grin.

“I think I want to open me present first, Lad.”

“Och, very well,” he said, smiling again at her, and sitting on the edge of his large desk.

The smile suited him very well. The glowering, haunted man from the past was gone, and an entirely new man had emerged. She’d been able to see bits of him before, but now he was there in front of her, in full.

Opening the package, she blinked in confusion as to what her present was. It was strange, looking like a sort of tool, but Lucas stepped toward her again, grabbing her hands with his.

“This is an eyeglass, Lass, or rather spectacles, I suppose.”

“Spectacles?” Caitlin couldn’t breathe, and when she looked up at him, he was nodding.

“Aye, I had heard about them, and I went to find them. They will help ye to see better.”

Caitlin could feel a new hope rising. It had leaped free from its cage and was now rushing, growing by degrees. She knew she had to be careful, for it was unwise to let her hopes get away with her.

“Help me to see,” she repeated stupidly.

“Aye, Sunshine,” he said, lifting them from her hands toward her face. “Will ye try them on? See how they work?”

Caitlin’s breath was now coming fast. It sounded fantastic, this tool that could help her see? She’d always thought there was no hope, no way that her eyesight could ever improve. But now it was here, the chance right in front of her, and she remembered Lottie’s words. It was so easy to doubt. To feel the dark bad feelings, especially when things around one did not go as hoped. But this was a chance for something new, something exciting, and something she’d never thought possible.

After she nodded, he placed the spectacles on her eyes, and then he turned, taking the strands of ribbon and tying them around the back of her head. When her eyes first looked through the circles of glass, she gasped and put a hand over her mouth. She started shaking with happiness as the things in Lucas’ study were clear.

“So, does it work?” he asked, coming around again, and then he saw her face. “Och, I guess so.”

“Lucas,” she said, wrapping her arms about his neck and pulling him close. “What a beautiful, wonderful gift.”

He wrapped her in his warm embrace and kissed the base of her neck. “I am glad ye like it.” They hugged for a little while, and he whispered in her ear, “I am nay perfect, but I want to be with ye, Lass. I need time to gain the courage to share all, but I daenae want there to be any confusion. I daenae want another Bram comin’ to sniff around here. I want a future with ye.” He kissed the edge of her ear, and she pulled back to look him full in the face.

“And I ye. Dae I look terribly ridiculous in these?” she asked, about to say something romantic but fearful that it would not work while wearing these new spectacles.

“Nay,” he said with a chuckle, reaching up to touch the ribbon around her head. “Ye could never look less than what ye are. The most beautiful lass I have ever set eyes upon. I kenned it the first time I saw ye in yer house, starin’ out of the window. The light had hit ye just perfectly, and ye took me breath away.”

Caitlin was going to cry again. “Aye?” she said with a smile, reaching to the back of her head to undo the ribbon.

“Aye, I would never tease about that. False compliments I daenae give.”

Laughing, she removed the spectacles and laid them on his desk. “I would never think it of ye.”

“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Ye daenae wish to wear them?”

“Nae right now,” she said, wrapping her arms about his neck again, pulling their faces close. “At the moment, I would rather we nae discuss spectacles. I think I want to stay with ye a bit. Who kens when ye will jump up and leave again?”

“Nay for as long as I can help it,” he said, smiling against her mouth and grabbing her to him before he kissed her.