Page 44 of Wild Highland Rose (Time After Time #4)

"Well, I'm glad you do. Because I don't. I don't see anything at all. I've betrayed Lindsey, I've betrayed you, and maybe worst of all I've betrayed myself."

"Lindsey." She said the name, hating the sound of it. "Is that her name?"

"Yes."

"And you love her?" She didn't want to ask the question, but the words came anyway.

"I do, Marjory. I asked her to marry me."

"Is she who you were dreamin' of, then?" She felt tears prick her eyes. Hadn't Grania warned her?

Cameron nodded. "I don't understand it. I can't even remember it properly.

Maybe it's a prophecy of some kind. Or maybe it's already happened.

Either way, I'm certain that Lindsey is in trouble.

Serious trouble. And I've got to help her.

Don't you see, Marjory, I've got to go back.

" His eyes pleaded with her, his heart laid bare.

He didn't want to leave. It was there on his face. But he had to. He had obligations. And she knew better than anyone about obligations. A part of her wanted to scream, to beg, to plead with him to stay, but she knew it wouldn't change things. "Aye. You have to follow your heart."

"My heart is here with you." He said the words, then flinched as if they'd hurt him. "At least a part of it is."

"And part of it is there, with Lindsey. And she's the one who needs you."

He nodded, the pain on his face a reflection of the turmoil in her heart. "I've made such a mess of everything."

"Nay." She crossed over to him, her only thought to erase some of his pain.

"You didna remember her, Cameron, which means that you were no' betraying her, at least no' in the way you're thinking.

What happened here happened because you didn't know who you were.

Now that you do, everything is clearer."

He shook his head. "But that's just it—it isn't clearer."

"What I see," she said, surprised at the calm she felt, "is a man tormented by a situation that is no' of his making. Cameron, you couldn't have known. You just couldn't."

He reached out to trace the line of her cheek, his touch sending shivers racing through her. "You're a magnificent woman, Marjory Macpherson."

She leaned forward and curled a hand around his neck, bringing his mouth to hers. Their breath mingled as their lips brushed together. With a groan, he pulled her to him, and the kiss ignited. She opened her mouth to him, her tongue reaching for his, desperate for the contact.

Her hands ran down the smooth contours of his shoulders, her body tightening with longing.

He tangled his hands in her hair and tilted her head.

His tongue plunged into her mouth again and again, as if he, too, were desperate for the taste of her.

She felt her nipples bead into hard balls of desire and arched against him, a low moan escaping from her throat.

Suddenly, he pushed away, setting her free. "We can't do this." He sat back, his breath coming in gasps. "I told you, everything is different now. I have another life, a fiancée…" He trailed off, his face reflecting his guilt.

"You're a man o' honor. I canna fault that. 'Tis one of the things I love best about you." She tried to smile, but knew the gesture fell short.

"You humble me with your faith, Marjory. I'm just a man and I've made my share of mistakes."

"Perhaps, but you're still no' like the men o' my world." Her thoughts turned to Torcall, and the real Ewen, and she shuddered, wondering if Cameron's return would mean Ewen's as well.

"I honestly believe he's dead." Cameron reached for her, reading her mind, pulling her close, his words whispered against her ear.

"I pray that it's true. But even so, there's still Torcall to be reckoned with.

" Just speaking his name aloud sent anger coursing through her.

It was his fault in part that she was losing Cameron.

Had she never been forced to marry Ewen then Cameron could never have come.

Twisted logic perhaps, but it was something to hold onto.

"Marjory, you can't keep holding onto this anger. The hatred is eating you alive. You have so much to give. So much to offer. And you're wasting it all on bitter recriminations against a man who has lost as much as you."

"What has he lost?" she spat.

"His son. Whatever his faults are, Marjory, he loved Ewen. And now he'll have to lose him all over again."

"To my way o' thinking, 'tis no' much o' a loss."

"You don't mean that." He grabbed her shoulders, turning her to face him. "His loss is as real as yours. And Ewen's death on top of Cait's will no doubt fuel his hatred as well."

"Who is Cait?" She frowned, trying to remember the name.

"His wife." Cameron blew out a slow breath, as if he weren't certain if he should speak.

"And how is it I've never heard of her?"

"She died when you were quite small. Your father supposedly killed her."

In the stillness that followed his words, Marjory could hear the fire pop, and the wind whistling through a crack in the window. Everything seemed to slow down, as if frozen in time.

"That canna be. My father wouldna kill a woman."

"I don't think he meant to. But it happened just the same. The Macphersons were stealing cattle, and Torcall and Cait stumbled upon them. In the chase, your father cornered them, and spooked Cait's horse. She was thrown and died."

"And Torcall never forgave him."

Cameron nodded. "And her death set off a never-ending circle of hatred and revenge. And one of you is going to have to stop it. Before it destroys you both."

Marjory pulled away from him, her thoughts tumbling through her mind like sparrows in the wind. "I dinna understand why my father never told me."

"Maybe because he wanted to spare you. To protect you. To keep you from the ugliness of reality. He loved you, Marjory. Just as Torcall loves Ewen."

"It's all too much." She waved a hand through the air as if she could simply brush it all away. Cameron, Lindsey, Torcall, Ewen. Everything that had been real suddenly flipped on its side, the world as she knew it changed forever.

He was beside her again, this time with his arms around her. "Let me hold you. Make it right for at least one more night."

She leaned against him, letting the warmth of his body soothe her. His smell now familiar, comforting. "We shouldna be together."

"I know," he whispered, "but if things go as planned, I'll be gone tomorrow. And I want to hold you one last time. Just hold you, Marjory."

She allowed him to pull her down beside him, her cheek resting warm against his chest, the rhythm of his breathing a final link to a life she'd never know—happiness that had once more alluded her.

Within minutes, his even breathing signaled his descent into slumber, and she lay in silence, staring at the ceiling, reveling in the warmth of his body against hers, agonizing over the fact that he loved someone else.

The words bit into her heart, cutting deeply. She had to accept the fact that he had a covenant with Lindsey, and she knew, without a doubt, that Cameron was the kind of man who would honor his promises.

She swallowed back tears. He'd never made promises to her. In fact, he'd been clear from the beginning that there could never be anything permanent between them. He was going back, back to Lindsey, back to where he belonged.

It was for the best. He'd no doubt be safer there as well.

She tightened her arms around him, feeling the warmth of his breath against her hair, and shivered. At least for tonight, for this moment, he belonged to her. Tomorrow… She sighed. Tomorrow, she'd have to let him go.