The Highlander's Dark Seduction (Secrets of the Darroch Clan) (7 page)

“Where is she?” Magnus pushed past him, not waiting for an answer.

He knew she would not sleep in the tower. Only the master’s chamber lay at the top of the stairs. He raced to the back of the keep and the skidded to a stop at the guest quarters.

He did not need to pound on the bedchamber door. It was open. His brother stood in the antechamber, Elizabeth beside him. A candle flickered nearby on a stand, illuminating tears on Elizabeth’s face. Her hands covered her lips as if she’d just spoken words she wished she could take back. Magnus watched in disbelief as Alexander’s form started to fade right before his eyes. And hers.

“Alexander?” she called out, her voice confused. Nervous.

She spotted Magnus then and her gray eyes grew even wider. Her jaw dropped to see one twin fading as the other stepped over the threshold to take his place. She was so beautiful with her tangled blond waves and her delicate curves.

“What is happening? What have I done?” she whispered, shaking her head slowly. “Magnus? I didn’t mean to—”

“You did nothing wrong.” He stepped closer, needing to reassure her. “What did my brother say? Why did he wish to see you?”

He kept his voice steady, not wanting to alarm her any more. Her skin had paled. Her hands trembled as he picked them up and folded them in his own.

“He said he was worried about you. That you took great risks tonight and that he—” She shook her head. “He said he would never be able to find his own destiny if you did not find yours.”

“He has a gift for clever speech that I do not.” Magnus did not wish to rush her in the retelling. He needed every last detail to understand what had happened tonight. To him. To Alexander. And what consequences it would have for all the Darroch clan. “Did he ask anything…about me?”

Elizabeth bit her lip as she nodded. “He asked if I had developed an attachment for you.”

An attachment. What a weak word to describe the bond Elizabeth and he shared.

“And?” he prodded, sensing that Iain paced nearby in the corridor. Probably Lillian as well.

They would have all sensed something amiss in the air tonight when Magnus had been released from his wandering.

“I told him the truth.” She said it softly, her eyes meeting his. “I spoke the words when he encouraged me to. I did not think—”

“Elizabeth. I must know.” His heart slowed. His body tensed. Waiting. “What did you say?”

Her lips parted though no words came out.

Magnus squeezed her hands. “Please.”

“I love you, Magnus Darroch.” She confided words that changed everything. Words that meant everything. “I did not understand there was a risk if I said it even—
here
. To him!”

She was all his. For all time.

He could hardly comprehend what that meant. He tipped his head to hers. So grateful for her fearless strength and tender heart. He laid a kiss on her forehead.

“You did nothing wrong. My brother was determined to make you speak it.” He lifted his head to shout into the ceiling and call to Alexander wherever he might be. “You had no right to do this, Alexander, damn you,” Magnus called out to him, feeling Alexander’s essence still close enough to hear him.

They had been cursed together for one hundred years and twins even longer. He did not need
sidhe
magic to know his brother’s heart and mind.

“Just as you had no right to choose for me,” Alexander answered in a voice loud enough—real enough—that even Elizabeth could hear. “I will find my own way. I will break my own curse and I will be true to our vow to free our sister. You know that if my love had come to these woods before yours, you would have done the same for me. Our bond is that true, brother.”

With a last whisper of farewell from Alexander, Magnus felt his twin fade with a laugh they’d shared so many times as children. He understood Alexander was right. There was no choice once Elizabeth stepped into these woods. This was their destiny. The battle might be more difficult alone, but no Darroch brother would surrender. Ever. Alexander would prevail long enough to find love and break the last bond of the curse for their sister.

Magnus had not cried today. Not once. Not ever. Even though he had lost the woman who was his destiny. Even though he’d had to break her heart.

Now though, when everything he craved most was handed to him by his brother, he did not try to hide the tears in his eyes.

“I am so sorry.” Elizabeth stepped closer to him, her voice a strangled whisper. “I only meant to ask his advice. I did not think that…” She dropped onto a small bench beside an ancient tapestry.

Magnus swiped a hand over his face before he reached to touch her. She was so real. So solid and strong and blessedly mortal. He felt it in her as much as he could now feel it in himself. His curse had been broken.

He cupped her face and savored the feel of her. She was his again.

“You declared your love for me, even if I do not deserve it. I am blessed.” His thumb traced her cheek. “I love you, Elizabeth Harrison. With all my heart and all my soul, for as long as I can lead a mortal life.” He took her hands in his and kissed the backs of them. Then flipped them over and kissed the palms. “My brother knew what I’d done—denying our love so that I could share the burden of the curse. And he would not allow it. He told me what he’d planned before he came to Invergale.”

He shook his head and folded her in his arms. Kissed the top of her head and continued, “One day, I will tell you every facet of what happened. In fact, I will spend my whole life filling your ears with stories too strange for you to believe. But for now, I want you to know how much I will love and cherish you every day.”

Elizabeth’s lips worked soundlessly for a moment. The corners of her eyes crinkled with confusion. Happiness. Disbelief. All the same things he had felt this night.

“I will find the perfect woman for Alexander,” she vowed. “And I will see that happen, if it is the last thing I do on this earth with your help as you tell me all about him.”

Her voice rang with a confidence and strength he loved. One day, if he had any business in London, he still might skewer the idiots who made her doubt herself for so much as an instant. His sword had not faded into
sidhe
lands, after all. It still rested in the sheath on his back. For now, it was enough that he got to touch her and hold her and make her happy for the rest of his days.

“I believe that you will.” The knowledge of her love resided inside him as surely as the curse once had. He rubbed his hand over his chest now, holding that gift she’d given him right where it belonged.

“I mean it. Alexander has given me my heart’s desire.” She kissed Magnus’s cheek. His lips. “He has brought me you and a happiness I would never have dreamed back when you rescued me from that hellish carriage ride.”

Magnus pressed a kiss into the palm of her hand, and then the other, overwhelmed yet again at the soft sweetness of such a warrior woman. “You can love all the Darroch men you wish as long as it is me you marry.”

Outside the doors, he knew his brother Iain was pacing about, wanting to hear the story of what had just happened. But before he shared this incredible night with Iain or Lily, he wanted to know what Elizabeth had to say to his proposal.

“I can’t wait to be a part of the Darroch clan. I will throw away all my pearls, defy my father, and learn how to ride bareback across the lands you call home.” She smiled with the same fierceness that saved him from death. The same fierceness in the way she loved him. “I cannot wait to be your wife.”

Outside the door, a feminine eavesdropper squealed happily.

Elizabeth laughed as she raised her voice. “You may enter, Lily!”

Magnus clutched her tighter as he chuckled. “And you too, Iain.”

While Lily rushed in with Iain at her side, Magnus sealed the deal with his future bride.

He kissed her like a man who had all the time in the world. A man free to love her forever.

While working on her master’s degree in English literature,
Joanne Rock
took a break to write a romance novel and quickly realized a good book requires as much time as a master’s program itself. She became obsessed with writing the best romance possible, and sixty-some novels later, she hopes readers have enjoyed all the “almost there” attempts. Today, Joanne is a frequent workshop speaker and writing instructor at regional and national writer conferences. She credits much of her success to the generosity of her fellow writers, who are always willing to share insights on the process. More important, she credits her readers with their kind notes and warm encouragement over the years for her joy in the writing journey.

ISBN: 9781460334065

THE HIGHLANDER’S DARK SEDUCTION

Copyright © 2014 by Joanne Rock

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