Page 75 of Enchantment of a Highlander

He should be tired.

His lips brushed the sensitive spot just below her ear and his body stirred with renewed vigor.

He slid his fingers through the strands of her hair and marveled at how it separated between his fingers like a silken waterfall.

She’d laid open several layers of softness he’d never seen before.

And he wanted more.

“I wish I could see through to yer thoughts,” he said quietly.

She glanced at him over her shoulder. “What of my thoughts do you want to know?”

He let her hair fall through his hands and sift down to the curve of her naked back. There were so many things he wanted to say. He wanted to know why she never spoke of her past, why she was so guarded, why she had run before.

“Why did ye no want me before last night?” It wasn’t the most pressing of his questions, but it was the one that emerged from his mouth.

She turned her head from him and stayed that way, just long enough to make him curse his own stupidity before she rolled over to face him. “I thought you were dead.”

Her lashes swept down, concealing a flash of vibrant emotion he wished she’d let him witness. “I thought I’d never see you again.”

“And before ye thought I was dead?”

A slow smile spread on her lips with the same glorious ease as the sun rises. “You’re trying to get me to say I wanted you before.”

He couldn’t help his own smile. “Aye.”

“Because you want to know I wanted you as badly as you wanted me.”

“Aye.”

“And you want me to sing your praises to make up for all the time we missed together.”

“Well, it wouldna hurt.”

She studied him a moment longer and her smile faded into a look of seriousness. “When I first met you, I thought you were arrogant and stubborn.”

“I am arrogant and stubborn.”

The skin around her eyes tightened, as if she should actually see what was there. As if she could see all the things he kept locked away.

She wanted to know him more too, he realized.

But he would not shy from it.

Not with Celia.

“Aye,” she agreed slowly. “You are. But you’re also so much more. The more I learn about you, the more there is to like, to admire. When we first met, I thought you were going to be just like your father.”

Something cold and ugly spiked Alec deep in the gut.

Her eyes widened. “I’m sorry, I know you fear you’re like him, but truly, I don’t think you are.”

“But Celia…” He stopped. He’d never told anyone about the darkness before. It was foolish to do so. He’d only just reclaimed Celia.

Confessing to her might make him lose her forever. After all, she’d run away after his last admission.

Heaviness pressed upon him.