Page 75 of Claimed by a Highlander
Then you have your answer.Her mother laughed. If he’s a good man, this is not a bad thing.
“Good heavens, Iwantto marry him,” Sybil admitted for the first time. That frightened her more than anything. It gave Rory the power over her happiness, the power to disappoint her, the power to cause her untold pain.
Sybil squeezed her eyes shut as she tried to hold on to the comfort of her mother’s presence. Her mother had seemed so real, but she was slipping away like a wisp of wind. Was it her mother’s spirit, or was her memory of her mother so vivid that her mind could conjure up exactly what her mother would say?
If ye marry him, there ought to be honesty between ye. Before ye say those vows, tell him what you’ve been keeping from him.
Sybil did not know whether the voice was her mother speaking to her from the grave or her own conscience, but she understood the message well enough.
Sybil jumped at the sound of a knock on her door. This was no ghost. She tucked her pendant back inside her bodice and smoothed her gown while she gathered herself.
“Come in,” she called.
Her heart skipped a beat when the door opened and Rory filled the doorway.
“How are ye settling in? Have the servants provided ye with everything ye need?”
“They’ve been most attentive, thank you,” she said, her voice coming out unusually high.
He hovered at the door, as if torn between staying and leaving.
“We’ve had no time to speak alone since we arrived,” she said.
“I’ve had much to do.”
“I know, but the wedding ceremony is almost upon us.” Desperation rose in her throat. “Please, we must talk.”
“Of course.” He closed the door and stood before it with his hands clasped behind his back. Now he definitely looked as if he would rather leave.
“I’d feel more at ease if ye sat beside me," she said.
He heaved a sigh and came to sit next to her on the bed. He must sense she had something terrible to tell him.
Unless lightning struck her down, she was going to enter into a true marriage with Rory before the day was out. She needed to set things right with him.
She needed to tell him the truth.Now.The tension mounted between them as she debated how to tell him. Before she could find the right words, he spoke first.
“I’m sorry if ye regret consummating our marriage and committing yourself to me,” he said.
“I—”
“What’s done is done,” he said, holding his hand up. “But I hope the celebrations tonight will please ye.”
Sybil took his hand and pressed it against her heart. “I don’t regret what we did.”
“Just the consequences.” He pressed his lips together in a tight line.
“I confess that I wasn’t sure about it before,” she said. “I had dreaded marriage for so long that it was difficult for me to consider that it could be anything other than odious. But I’ve come to see that marriage to you will not be like that.”
“The prospect of being my wife is less than odious.” He tilted his head. “Ye flatter me, lass.”
“What I’m trying to say is that I do want to be your wife.”
“Ye mean that?” Rory examined her with piercing eyes, as if he were trying to see into her soul.
“No one could be more surprised than me,” she said. “But I want this marriage.”
“Don’t tell me that because ye know it’s what I want to hear,” he said. “The one thing I cannot abide is deceit.”
