Page 61 of Highland Seduction

“If no’ for the feud,” she said hesitantly, “I’d no’ have fallen in love with my husband.”

Of all the responses she imagined, her strong warrior’s eyes filling with tears was not one she’d considered. And yet, they did. Tor’s smile started at the corners of his mouth but spread upwards. He looked as if she’d just given him a precious gift instead of just a handful of words.

“God, Ainsley, if ye knew how much I loved ye.”

His kiss, the most tender of all, made her own tears fall. For such a happy moment, Ainsley marveled, there were many tears.

“I’d worried,” she said, “what ye might say.”

“The only worry ye will have from this day forward, Ainsley, is whether or no’ I will make love to ye once or four times each night. I want yer days consumed with the thought, wondering, as it were, which number it will be.”

“As yer brother’s second, I dinnae believe ye will have time to make love to me four times each day.”

For the first time since they’d met, mentioning his role did not elicit a frown. Instead, ’twas just the opposite.

“Ye underestimate me, my love.”

My love. The words held a greater meaning now than she could have imagined.

“I’ve no’ done so since the day we met,” she promised him. “Ye’re more of a man than I could ever ask for as a husband. And I will spend the rest of my days loving ye, Tor.”

It felt as if her words replaced the vows she was forced to make. Those words, unlike the first ones, were not coerced but were, instead, from the heart.

“And I vow,” he said, as if thinking the same, “to protect ye, honor ye, and love ye all the days of my life, Ainsley.” His smile was a secret one, and she wanted to know what it meant.

“Why do ye smile so?” she asked.

“I made another vow,” he admitted. “To myself. To seduce my own wife. To make her love me as I did her. And . . .” He beamed. “It appears it worked.”

“Seduce me.” She laughed. “Ye did that, for certain.”

“Aye, my lady, that I did. Though I’d no’ spend our last nights, if they are to be so, in Berwick celebrating my seduction.”

“Nay?” she asked. “Then how would ye spend them?”

Tor was atop her so fast, Ainsley could not believe a man his size could move so quickly. “I would show ye rather than tell ye, love. If ye’re ready for me?”

“Always,” she said.

Chapter 36

Ainsley watched him expectantly.

Tor shook his head.

He made his way toward his wife through the hall of the inn on their last day here in Berwick. No words were necessary.

He sat, grabbed the already-filled mug, and drank deeply. The innkeeper had made some inquiries, but they’d yielded naught. Having said their farewells to McGreghere at the docks, telling him to let them know if he heard aught further, all leads they’d pursued were now dead. It was as if Marta and Ian had disappeared twice. First, from their homes. And again, in Berwick. They’d been here. Tor was sure of it. But for reasons they might never know, the couple decided not to board a ship they’d paid for already. That they could be injured, Tor needed to put out of his mind.

There was naught they could do. He and Ainsley must return home to tell Royce and Rhona their mission had failed. They must be prepared for the king’s next move before the full moon.

“I am sorry, lass,” he said finally. “I’ve failed us in this.”

Ainsley reached across the table to take his hand. “We fail, or succeed, together, Tor.”

“Aye.” He squeezed her hand. “But I am sorry still.”

He finished the ale and looked around the hall. Tor would carry a fondness for this place as the one where he fell in love with his wife. “Someday, we will return here. We’ll visit McGreghere. To tell him that our clans have united.”