The words rocked him. He refused to let her see.
“No. I dinna want to hear that.”
“Well, I want to say it. Now, when there are no obligations. No threats hanging over my head. No lies to protect. I love you, Logan. Somehow . . . It began before I knew you.”
“That doesna make any sense.”
“I know it doesn’t.” She smiled. “But it’s true.”
“No.” He caught her face in his hands and held her tight. “It isna true, and you know it. I’ve had enough of falsehoods.”
“I love you, Logan. That’s not a lie.”
He clenched his jaw. “Those words are always a lie.”
Perhaps those words weren’t false for everyone. But they were always a lie when spoken to him. Everyone who’d ever claimed to love him had deserted him. Disclaimed him. Left him for dead.
And she was no different. She’d given him a false demise on the battlefield, and when he’d forced his way back into her life, she’d found another way to worm out of his grasp.
Right this moment, her trunks were packed. She was planning to leave him in the morning.
And now she dared to chase after him and tell him this?
He bent his head and pressed his brow to hers. “Stop.”
“You don’t think I’ve tried stopping? For that matter, I tried mightily not to start in the first place. Neither strategy succeeded.” Her fingertips grazed his jawline. “I can’t help it. And I can’t deny it any longer. I love you. Whether anything comes of it or not, I want you to know.”
He would not let those words into his heart. He would not believe them.
But he would use them to his advantage, any way he could.
She kissed his mouth, so softly. Then his cheek. Then his temple.
“Remember the first night we made love?” she whispered, sliding her arms around his waist. “It was Beltane. Everyone was gathered around the bonfire, and we slipped away in secret.”
“Aye.” The word slipped out as a moan. He could feel himself giving in to the sweet warmth of her. “I remember.”
“Remind me what happened next. Did we spread your plaid on the heather and make love beneath the stars?”
He shook his head, nuzzling her throat. “We almost did. It was tempting. But I wanted our first time to be in a proper bed.”
“Oh, that’s right. I recall it now.”
She stared up at him, waiting.
Enough with teasing. He needed to know.
Logan made his voice grave. He framed her face in his hands and gave her a mild shake to be sure she was paying attention. “If you dinna want this, tell me now. I know you’re curious. I know you have desires. And if a bit of exploration’s all you’re after, there’s no shame in that. But that’s not what will happen if we do this tonight.”
Her lips parted, but she didn’t speak.
“I mean to make you mine, mo chridhe. Touch all of you. Taste all of you. Learn you from the inside out. Once I’ve held you like that, I’m not going to let go. Ever.”
And in response, she spoke a single word:
“Good.”
Very well. He’d tried to warn her. He’d given her every chance to demur. She’d asked for this.
He did what he’d been threatening to do since the very first night. He picked her up and slung her over his shoulder like a sack of oats.
And carried his bride home.
To bed.
It might have seemed strange, Maddie supposed, for a woman who was currently slung over a Scotsman’s shoulder with her hair and feet dangling in the night wind to claim that moment as any sort of triumph.
But victory was exactly what she felt.
At last, she was getting the man of her dreams. On her own terms. And unless her Highland lover meant to expose himself as a shameless liar . . .
Tonight was going to be verra, verra, verra good.
The castle was completely dark. Every fire had been extinguished. Moonlight got them as far as the courtyard, then Logan was forced to set her down. They gathered a candle and flint from the table in the entry hall and, after a bit of cursing and fumbling in the dark, managed to light it.
The small yellow light glowed like a promise.
It wasn’t a spark carried home from the bonfire, but it was one they’d created themselves.
A new flame. A fresh start. Nothing in the past mattered any longer. There was only the future now.
And the future was theirs for the taking.
Maddie placed the candle in a holder, and together they climbed the stairs to her bedchamber.
Their bedchamber.