He dropped his gaze, then slowly, deliberately, he lowered himself to his knees.
Elizabeth gasped. “Don’t. Don’t do that?—”
“I have to,” he said thickly. “Let me grovel, Elizabeth. Let me kneel in front of ye like the fool I’ve been. Because I was wrong. About everything.”
He looked up at her from the ground, his hands shaking.
“I made ye a promise when I asked for yer hand, that I would be better than every man who ever thought to court ye. And instead, I turned into another man who left. Who made ye feel small, like yer love was a burden instead of a blessing.”
Her throat closed. She remembered that day clearly.
“I never meant to leave ye waitin’ in silence. I should have trusted ye enough to let ye stand beside me, as me equal. I should have come back sooner. I should have told ye everythin’.”
She pressed a hand to her mouth, her heart breaking all over again.
“I daenae deserve ye,” he whispered. “But I came because… I love ye. I love ye, Elizabeth. I think I’ve loved ye from the moment ye looked at me like I was worth listenin’ to. Like I was more than a savage from the Highlands. I’ve loved ye from the moment ye trusted me to help ye. When ye let me hold yer hand and kissed me like ye’d meant it.”
She could no longer breathe.
“I love ye,” he said again, as if it were a prayer. “Not for convenience. Not for comfort. I love ye because ye are strong and kind and clever. Because when I look at ye, I feel like I can be better. Like I already am.”
She sank to her knees in front of him.
“Oh, Alasdair,” she whispered, her fingers brushing his jaw. “You broke my heart, but… but I don’t want it back. I want to give it to you again, even knowing it might hurt.”
“I’ll protect it this time,” he promised. “With everything I have. Even if it takes a lifetime to make up for what I did.”
“I’m still scared,” she whispered. “But I can’t let fear rule me anymore. I want to choose hope. I want to chooseus.”
He blinked hard, as if afraid the moment might vanish if he moved. “Does that mean…”
“I choose you,” she said, her voice stronger now. “Not because it’s brave or because I ought to. I choose you because Iloveyou. I didn’t know what love was until I looked for you and found you gone. I didn’t know it until I feared I’d never see you again.”
A long breath escaped him. His shoulders trembled.
Then, he pulled her into his arms.
They were careful, slow, for his side still ached, and she cradled his head as if afraid the world might break it again. But it didn’t matter. They had found each other again.
When they kissed, it wasn’t wild or desperate. It wasn’t about passion or victory or need.
It was soft. Steady.
It was the kind of kiss that saidwe’re safe now.
The kind that saidwe’re home.
And neither of them needed to say another word.
Not yet. Not when they could simply hold on.
Epilogue
FOUR MONTHS LATER
Redmoor Hall was no longer a place of tragic memories.
Alasdair didn’t have to haunt its halls with pacing and mumbling at midnight. He and Elizabeth didn’t have to hide from the rest of the ton.