Page 99 of The Dragon Laird’s Obsession

Gordon went utterly still, his back still turned to her. He finally turned, his face drawn into a tight line that she hadn’t seen before. “What did ye just say?”

Ailis swallowed, a shiver racing down her spine as her stomach sank. “I said, I willnae run,” she clarified, even though her voice shook a little this time.

The words felt frightening once they were spoken aloud. Yet they were true.

She had spent weeks imagining herself fleeing this place, finding some road beyond the mountains and disappearing before anyone could put a ring upon her finger.

But she had stayed. She had stayed through the games, through the arguments, through the strange tenderness that had begun to grow between them. Most frightening of all, she had begun to want to stay.

And want him to want me too.

She could not explain how it had happened, or how Gordon had somehow made her forget her plans to ensure he refused the marriage between them. All she knew was that she wanted to be here, in his keep, with these people she had come to cherish.

“I was afraid before,” she admitted, moving closer to him so his body’s warmth seeped into her again.

Gordon’s expression softened for a moment, the crack obvious in the way his eyes trailed down her face. She tried to touch his arm, but he backed away from her.

“I am still afraid now.” Her fingers tightened against her skirts. “But I am brave enough to stay. It is me duty, and I promised me sister I willnae run from it. I wanted ye to cast me out on yer own, but that didnae happen and…” She trailed off and exhaled the pent-up breath building inside her lungs as her truth soared through her. “Now I have nay other choice, Gordon.”

I have nay other choice because I want ye.

Ailis drew a shaky breath, and she swallowed hard.

“I can do this, Gordon. I can take upon me the duty I was given. I can be yer wife. I can bear yer bairns—I already love the people here, Marion, Jane, even wee Lileas… I cannae bear to be apart from them now.”

The words faltered for a bit as she could not say the rest.

I cannae bear to be apart from ye.

Gordon said nothing as he stared at her for a moment longer, his chin hard.

Ailis watched the change come over his face and felt her courage falter, but she stepped closer anyway.

“Gordon? Say somethin’.”

His gaze settled upon hers. “Ye shouldnae stay here because ye feel obliged to do yer duty.”

The words struck her like a blow to the chest. Her stomach tightened with it, and her heart sank because there was no warmth in his eyes.

“I—”

“I willnae perform me duty to ye simply because ye have decided to perform yers to me. If ye daenae wish for this marriage, then ye should leave.”

The warmth drained from her all of her, and her hands moved up, wrapping across her chest because she felt the need to hold herself.

“What?”

“Ye deserve the choice ye were never given,” he said quietly. “Ye deserve to paint. To fall in love. To have the wee lass with ribbons ye always dreamed of. Ye deserve a man who can offer ye those things. I am nae that man.”

“Gordon…”

He interrupted her without a pause. “And I cannae give ye that life.”

Her heart began to pound, but it was not the reckless kind that made her excited to be around him. This one hurt, and it wrenched at her like a piercing ache.

He probably did not notice her pain even as she whimpered to catch her breath.

“I didnae want this marriage either, Ailis. And now that ye have decided to accept yer responsibilities, I see that I must finally do what I should have done from the beginnin’.”