Highlander Most Wanted (The Montgomerys and Armstrongs #2)(91)

She’d searched his chamber, but found it barren. Nor was he within the keep.

She found him standing on the hillside, staring over the vast expanse of Montgomery land. She slowed her steps as she neared him, suddenly hesitant.

He heard her approach and turned, his eyes flickering as his gaze found her. Wordlessly, she flew into his arms, holding him tightly as they embraced.

“I would not go without saying farewell to you,” she said.

“I’ll be there when you ride out,” Bowen assured.

Still, she hesitated. “I said terrible things to you, Bowen. I was angry and afraid. Mostly afraid. I was so fearful of facing my family after all that has happened. It was foolish of me to ever think they’d turn their back on me. I want to thank you for sending word to my father. ’Tis not something I would have had the courage to do, and that shames me.”

He put his finger to her lips. “Shhh, lass. There is no reason to be sorry. What you endured is unthinkable. ’Tis understandable that you had fears.”

“I’ll never forget you, Bowen Montgomery,” she said, her voice nearly breaking as she tried to say all that was in her heart. “I did not think a man such as you existed.”

He smiled and lowered his mouth to hers. “And ’tis the truth I did not dream that a lass such as you existed. I do not want to let you go, but ’tis my selfish desires that fuel my reluctance. Your family has been deprived of you in a most horrible way. I cannot imagine the grief they’ve endured all this time.”

She kissed him back, a kiss filled with heartbreak and desperation. She was torn between the impossible. A reunion with the family she loved above all else, and a man who had rescued her from the very depths of despair. A man who had looked beyond the scars on her face and soul to the very heart of her.

“Be happy, Genevieve,” he whispered against her lips. “ ’Tis all I ask. I can live and die a content man as long as I know you are happy and well cared for.”

She clung tightly to him, his arms wrapped around her as the sun rose higher in the sky. There was naught to say. Their hearts were heavy with the knowledge of what could not be—and of what was.

Finally, Bowen gently pulled her away and stroked a hand over her face. “ ’Tis time for you to go. Your father and mother will be looking for you.”

He went blurry in her vision as her eyes swam with tears. “I love you, Bowen. I would not leave without telling you so. I will never love another. You will always hold a place in my heart and I’ll think of you often, in my dreams and in the waking.”

He palmed her face and kissed her fiercely, his lips moving with heated desperation over hers.

“And I love you, Genevieve. For all my days will I love only you.”

No longer able to bear the look in his eyes, she turned and ran back toward the keep, leaving him on the hillside, a lone figure outlined by the rising sun.

Bowen watched as Rorie and Eveline noisily said farewell to Genevieve. They wept and clung to her as though they’d known her forever.

Graeme hovered close to Bowen, his expression worried and grim. ’Twas obvious he wanted to offer sympathy but had no idea what to say to his brother.

It was just as well, because Bowen had no desire to open the wound further. He offered his farewell to Laird and Lady McInnis and assisted Lady McInnis into the litter that would bear her and Genevieve back to McInnis Keep.

When it came time for Genevieve to take her leave, he stood stiffly to the side as she gave her farewell to Graeme. Then he offered her his hand to assist her into the litter.

She slid her fingers over his and lifted her gaze to his. They stared at each other for a long moment, their hearts in their eyes. Then she whispered her thanks and a farewell and climbed up beside her mother.

“Be well,” Bowen said as he took a step back.

“And you,” Genevieve murmured softly.

He took another step back. And then another. He had to put distance between them, else he’d haul her from the litter and never let her go.

Laird McInnis gave the order to move out, and the procession of horses began the journey from Montgomery Keep.

Bowen stood watching until the last of the horses disappeared in the distance. His heart was heavy, and a part of him died as Genevieve McInnis rode out of his life and back to her own.

“Be happy, my love,” he whispered. “Be happy.”

Chapter 45

“ ’Tis so good to have you home, Genevieve,” Sybil exclaimed as she bounced onto Genevieve’s bed.

Genevieve smiled. “ ’Tis all you’ve said these past weeks.”

“It can never be said enough. I missed you so.”

A look of sadness crossed her friend’s face, and Genevieve reached to squeeze her hand.

So much had changed in the time Genevieve had been gone. Sybil had married and remained on McInnis land with her new husband, who acted as Laird McInnis’s second-in-command.

Grief had altered her mother and father. They both looked older than Genevieve remembered. There were new lines on her father’s beloved face, and wrinkles around her mother’s eyes.

Not a day went by that her parents didn’t cosset her endlessly. They worried over her comfort, her happiness, whether she was plagued by unpleasant dreams or memories of her time with Ian McHugh.

Genevieve didn’t discuss the matter much, and her parents respected her wishes, not prying when she didn’t volunteer information.