Redeemed (Heroes of the Highlands) - By Kerrigan Byrne Page 0,42

but he didn’t pull away. “You know everything about… how I died, do you not? My torment was revealed to you.”

He didn’t answer her, but she sensed a change in his intense emotion. His head turned toward his shoulder.

“I know what they did to you, Daroch. Perhaps not all the details but Cliodnah told me horrible things, ordered me to kill you, and then made me what I am.”

Daroch met her eyes then. Without her slightly improved Fae sight, she wouldn’t have been able to make out the greens and golds shot with rust and brown as he intently contemplated every detail of her face.

“What are ye going to do?” he asked in an expressionless voice.

Kylah put his fingers against the roughness of his jaw and pulled his mouth close for a gentle kiss. “I’m going to help you get the justice you deserve.”

His eyes narrowed. “Why?”

“Because the Faerie Queen threatened my family,” Kylah said matter-of-factly. “And because I love you.”

Daroch leapt to his feet and Kylah again admired the speed and grace with which he moved. No mean feat for a man of his size and strength.

“Nay,” he insisted in a trembling voice. “Ye doona.”

Kylah also got to her feet, but she padded to the wood pile, affording him some much needed space. “I do,” she insisted gently as she fetched a few logs to set atop the glowing coals. “I have from the first night I set eyes on you in the Laird’s keep, though I only recently realized.”

His wild look was so absurdly out of character that Kylah had to stifle a pitying smile. Poor man, this would take him a while to digest.

“Ye doona know what ye’re saying, woman. Y-Ye’re not making any sense.” He stammered.

“Love isn’t supposed to make sense.” Lord but men were so dense at times.

His features darkened and he shook a very paternal finger at her, as though gearing up for a lecture. As he was completely nude, Kylah wanted to inform him that the effect was ruined, but decided against it. “Ye know how I feel about love,” he thundered. “Try and be logical.”

“Now you’re just being silly,” she admonished with a patronizing shake of her head. “Love isn’t logical. It cannot be measured, contained, or aptly described or recorded. It is simply powerful, undeniable, pure emotion. And is as necessary as any sustenance the body craves. Only it is also craved by the soul.”

“Nonsense,” he blustered, the color in his face draining as though he came to a frightening realization.

“Oh?” She continued building a fire in front of him. “Prove it.”

He started toward her, then apparently thought the better of it and his feet remained planted on the furs. “I’m not the one making a claim, the burden of proof lies with ye.” He crossed his arms over his chest.

“Fair enough.” Kylah forced herself not to jump back as the kindling caught fire and licked at the larger dry wood she’d placed in the pit. Light flared between them and illuminated his glorious nakedness. For such an intelligent man, he was quite oblivious. It was one of the many things she loved about him.

Skirting the fire, Kylah went to him. He regarded her approach as one might a dangerous predator, but stood his ground. She cupped his jaw in her hands and felt it clench, working over the strong emotions vibrating from his very core. “I do love you, Daroch McLeod, and I will prove it.”

“How?” Kylah never believed that such a large man could produce such a small whisper.

She shrugged. “I haven’t figured that out just yet, but I’ll get to it. Vengeance is a good place to start.”

“Nay. How can ye know… and still love—” his voice broke on the last word and her heart shattered along with it. Though nearly imperceptible, the words were full of shame, of pain and torment compounded by a century of isolation.

“Daroch, you removed my chains and my shame. Held my defiled bones in your hands. No matter how many clothes you shed in front of my eyes, no matter what I discover about your past, you will never be so exposed, so naked as that.” She pulled his face closer to hers. “Do you understand?”

His eyes glittered with the flames behind her, but burned with something from so deep within him she was shocked he’d brought it to the surface for her to see.

“You never have to cause to be ashamed before me,” she smiled gently and touched her forehead to