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She smiled through her tears, and he thought he’d never seen anything so lovely in his life.
“I love you, Jamie Campbell. I love your ruined castle and your ridiculous ghosts and the way you keep fixing things for people who never asked you to. I love that you pretend you don’t care what anyone thinks when you care so much about everyone in this glen. And I love you even when you’re being a complete, infuriating nuisance.”
“Then we’ve a fair bit in common.”
She leaned closer until their foreheads touched.
For a moment neither moved. Jamie could feel the warmth of her cheek beneath his palm, the soft brush of her breath against his mouth, and the steady pressure of her fingers where they rested over his heart.
He’d wanted to kiss her from the day they’d met. He’d imagined it beside the hearth, on the road to the coast, and once, to his considerable embarrassment, while Alasdair had been lecturing him about the proper temperature for a mash. Yet now, with Olivia close enough that he had only to lower his head, he found himself waiting.
“Jamie?”
“Aye, lass?”
“Are you ever going to kiss me?”
He smiled. “I was beginning to think ye’d never ask.”
His hand settled against the side of her face, his fingers slipping into the soft hair at her temple. He lowered his head slowly enough to give her every chance to draw away, but Olivia rose toward him, closing the last little distance herself.
Her lips met his, warm and wonderfully soft, and Jamie forgot the ache in his shoulder, the rain against the windows, and every sensible reason he’d ever invented for keeping his distance.
He’d meant to kiss her gently, to take his time now that he finally could, but Olivia’s fingers curled into the front of his shirt and she kissed him again with such determination that he felt himself smiling against her mouth.
“Lass,” he murmured.
“Don’t you dare stop.”
“I wasna planning to.”
He drew her closer with his good arm, careful of his wounded shoulder, and kissed her as he’d wanted to for weeks, lingering over the astonishing pleasure of having her in his arms at last. She made a small, happy sound when his thumb brushed her neck, and he thought he might spend the rest of his days trying to hear it again.
When they finally parted, Olivia stayed close, her forehead resting against his while she caught her breath.
“Well,” she whispered.
Jamie opened his eyes.
“Well?”
“That was…”
“Aye?”
She looked up at him, and the smile spreading across her face made him suspect she was about to say something that would torment him for years.
“Worth waiting for.”
He laughed, then winced as the movement tugged at his injured shoulder.
Olivia immediately drew back. “Oh, Jamie! I’m sorry. Did I hurt you?”
“Aye, terribly.”
Her face fell.
He caught her hand before she could move farther away.
