Quest of the Highlander (Crowns & Kilts #5) - Cynthia Wright Page 0,112
that did not mean he had been unfaithful to Nora! Just the opposite, for those thoughts of Betsy had given him no pleasure, only a sense of loss for the woman he truly loved. “I will say that Father had a plan for that as well, but I could not do it. None of it felt right, no matter how sorry I felt for Father’s empty life or how rewarding it was to make him smile again. In the end, it wouldn’t have been fair to either of us.”
“You have told him how you feel?”
“Aye. I was plain with him.” Lennox felt anew the pain of disappointing the duke, whose hopes had been so poignantly high. “He assures me he understands. I know we will see each other again. I care for him.”
Nora’s eyes shone. “Do you know, now, where you belong?”
“Aye.” He traced the delicate line of her jaw with his fingers. “I belong right here, love, with ye in my arms. My identity doesn’t rest on the name of my father, whether it’s MacLeod or Hastings. I can take a bit from both of them and make a new family.”
“You are a splendid man, Lennox MacLeod.” Eyes shining, Nora moved closer so that they could embrace. “But…what of my baby?” She rested a protective hand on the curve of her belly.
“With all my heart, I will be a father to this babe. I’ve learned well enough that what matters is not who plants the seed, but who loves and nurtures the child. I love ye, Nora Brodie, and I want us to make a life together.”
Tears spilled from Nora’s eyes. She pressed her face to his chest, and he held her so tightly he could feel their heartbeats mingle.
“I believe you,” she murmured at last. “And I love you, too.”
“I want to take you back to the Isle of Skye, to meet the people of my clan.” Lennox thought of the last time he’d seen Magnus, when he had told Lennox he couldn’t change the past, only try to do better going forward. Love for Da welled up in him, bittersweet with the promise for healing. “I want to find my place among them at last. How they will love ye, lass.”
“Oh, I want that, too.” Nora lifted her face, gazing at him soberly. “But… I have accepted an assignment with the Great Wardrobe, overseeing a group of weavers who are making a new tapestry. It is an honor to have been selected by Master Mostinck for this project.”
Their eyes met in the moonlit shadows. Even as Lennox considered asking her to put it aside, to return with him to Scotland where they could begin a new life, he remembered every word she had ever spoken to him about her passion for tapestry-making and her dream to one day become a master weaver.
“I am deeply proud of ye, lass,” he said, his voice husky with love. “Perhaps we might live together in your little house in Cockspur Court, until your project at Whitehall Palace is finished.”
“You would do that for me?”
“Anything ye desire, lass. I can sketch and paint again. And perhaps we can create new art together during those weeks.”
“Oh, I would love that! You’ll never know how often I’ve remembered our time at Duart Castle, working on the tapestry you designed.” She was beaming at him in wonder. “I’ve been endeavoring to make something new, for the baby. I still have so much to learn about sketching a pattern. Will you help me?”
“Aye, of course. What subject have ye chosen?”
“A lion.” She laughed softly. “With a friendly face, of course.”
Lennox closed his eyes, holding Nora tightly, remembering his ma’s habit of calling him her golden lion. How happy she would be to see this new path for his life.
“Clearly, we have many plans to discuss, but it is late.” As he spoke, he turned Nora back into the pillows, his mouth hovering just above hers. “I propose we stop talking for the rest of this night. Starting now.”
Nora wrapped her arms around his wide shoulders, parting her thighs so that they fit together in a way that was keenly, exquisitely arousing.
“Mmm,” came her reply, muffled but happy. As his mouth captured hers, an intoxicating heat began to build between them.
It was, Lennox realized, only the beginning of a lifetime of kisses.
Chapter 32
Isle of Skye, Scotland
May 1542
Nora followed Lennox up the narrow, twisting stone steps that took them high into the tower his grandfather, Alasdair Crotach, had