washed over her, commanding, but with a thread of need, of wanting to know what she thought.
“I never thought that I’d fall in love with you.” Kenzie met his gaze. Never had she been so exposed. Her heart was before a pointy dagger and Ben could either remove the threat, save her, or pierce her stone dead.
What will he do?
Ben had never thought to hear such words uttered to him. Aline certainly had never loved him, although they’d cared for each other a great deal. It was never this soul consuming joy that coursed through him at her words.
Once, he’d thought such emotions only made a man weak, soft even, but not anymore. Having the love from such a strong-willed, intelligent, kind woman only made a man even more strong. “Come here, lass.”
She all but ran across the room and threw herself into his arms. Having her against his chest was right, exactly where she should be. Ben breathed deep the scent of roses that wafted from her hair, kissing her temple.
“I’m sorry, lass.”
She pulled back, the soft pad of her finger against his lips stopping his words. “No. I’m sorry. I should’ve been honest from the day we met, even if saying such a thing would be hard to hear. And there is something else that I’ve thought of that worries me, Ben.”
He smoothed out the frown between her brows. “What else, Kenzie.”
“There hasn’t been any threat, and I’m worried that my being here has perhaps changed the course of that threat. Late May is when it happens, but what if it happens tomorrow? You’re not prepared when you could’ve been. Maybe my being here is the reason you’re killed. What if my coming back is actually what sparks your demise?”
Tears welled in her eyes and he pulled her against him, hating the pain in her eyes. “Lass, you’re thinking too much, reading and worrying about things that are not in our control. If God almighty has me marked for a date late in May to meet him, then that is what will happen, and nothing ye say or do will alter that.”
“We have to alter it. I cannot lose you.”
Ben paused at her words, rocking her a little. “Kenzie, you’re going to lose me either way. You’re not staying.”
She stilled in his arms, as if his words brought her back to sense. “I don’t want to go back.”
Her words, muffled against his shirt were almost inaudible, but he heard them as if they were shouted across the room. “This isn’t ye time, nor do I wish it to be. As much as I care for ye, want ye to stay. I’ll not allow it. The world in which ye come from sounds as magical as you are. A place where ’tis easier to live, a place where ye have family and friends waiting for ye. Here ye have a man that loves ye as much as I fear you love him, but nothing else. ’Tis not enough.”
Kenzie looked up at him, her eyes wide and as emerald as the grass on the Highland mountains. “You love me, too?”
Och, he loved her. Would miss her to the day he died with a fierceness beyond anything he’d ever known. How he would go on once she left was anyone’s guess, and he would forever wonder if she’d return. Come and see him again. If he survived the attack in May that was due to happen. If history was indeed set in stone.
“Aye, I love ye. Too much to put into words.”
“How will I live without you? I don’t want to.” A tear dropped down her cheek and he wiped it away with his thumb, cupping her face to look at him.
“’Tis a burden we’ll both bear.”
He kissed her then and Kenzie was lost. To be in his arms was where she belonged, and she couldn’t face not living in a world where he did not. He was everything to her, and she couldn’t lose him now. Not after she’d just found him.
Coming back to seventeenth century Scotland was not where she’d expected to find love. Nor had she been looking for it. She was young, she had a business to run, and a huge renovation project to look after. She had not thought that falling in love with a medieval Highlander would make her question her life, what was important to her. But Ben did that.
He made her question everything.
Ben stripped her of her gown and chuckled when he spied