by Bree Wolf
“Because I wanted to, Lass,” Garrett interrupted her, his eyes holding hers, a wicked gleam in them. “For no other reason, but that I wanted to.”
Smiling, she nodded. “I wanted to as well.”
Garrett’s eyes narrowed. “Is that why ye never let me speak? To get me to kiss ye?”
Again, her laughter echoed through the room. “I’m not admitting to anything,” she said with a twinkle in her eye, reminding him of the woman he had met under this roof almost a year ago. “However, I have to say it is a fairly well-thought out plan. I might consider using it in the future.”
“Will ye then?” Garrett asked, feeling his heart thudding against his ribs. “Share yer future with me?”
Her face stilled, and the look in her eyes sobered. “I want to,” she whispered, hesitation in the way she dropped her gaze. “But I…I need to know what happened. Is this true?” Holding up their marriage certificate, she looked back up at him, her eyes slightly fearful as though she did not dare believe for fear of having her heart broken yet again.
“’Tis true, Lass,” Garrett assured her. “It happened right here at the inn. Downstairs in the taproom. Ye told me about that cad who had abandoned ye here, and I thought to myself I’d better claim ye for myself before another might snatch ye away.” Smiling, he shrugged. “I was certain I would regret it for the rest of my life if I let ye go, so I asked ye to be my wife; ye agreed and we were married by an anvil priest right there on the spot.”
As he had spoken, her eyes had become distant, and he could see that a memory stirred within her. “I remember us facing each other, holding hands,” she whispered slowly, tentatively. “Others were watching and then cheered when you kissed me.” She blinked, and her gaze returned to him, a touch of awe in her blue eyes. “We’re married.”
Garrett nodded. “Aye, we are.”
Rising to her feet, she began to pace the room, her eyes once again distant as her mind worked.
Garrett sat back, watching her, giving her the space she needed to feel at peace with what he had told her, with what her mind had finally chosen to reveal to her.
“You said,” she suddenly spoke, her gaze returning to meet his, “that you were looking for your wife.” A question clung to her words, and yet, she did not say more.
“I did,” Garrett confirmed, rising from the bed to stand in front of her. “When I saw ye at the ball, and ye looked right through me, I…” He shook his head, grasping for words to explain how he had felt in that moment. “It knocked me off my feet. ‘Twas as though the world had turned upside down, and nothing made sense any longer. I couldna believe that ye truly didna remember me.” He sighed, hoping his words would not offend her. “I told myself ye lied because ye had come to regret yer decision and wanted to rid yerself of me. I was angry.”
Inhaling a deep breath, she nodded. “I was angry, too, when I woke up and found myself alone. I thought that whoever I had been with did not care about me. I was hurt, and I felt foolish.” Her eyes narrowed slightly. “Why were you not there when I woke up?”
“I had no intention of leaving ye,” Garrett said, reaching for her hands. “I came to Gretna Green with two of my clansmen to retrieve a couple of lovesick fools who thought that running off together would solve all their problems.” He chuckled. “I dinna expect to lose my heart that night, but ye swept me off my feet, and so my companions were left alone to handle something that was my responsibility.” He sighed, relieved to see her gaze soften. “So, when I woke, I went to see them to apologise−we were set to return home that morning. They laughed and congratulated me. They told me to hurry as Cormag was expecting us back.”
“Cormag?” she asked, a slight frown drawing down her brows.
“Our laird,” Garrett explained. “He’s a good friend of mine, but he has a clan to consider and so I needed to return.” He sighed, remembering his shock when he had returned to their room to find her gone. “I went back to speak to ye and ask ye to come home with me, but ye were gone, without a note or a message. Now, I know why.” Sighing, Garrett shook his head. “But back then, it hit me hard. I mean, I knew ye were safe because it was yer brother who’d come to fetch ye home, but I couldna help but wonder why ye had left without a word.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, her gaze gentle as she looked up at him. “I wish with all my heart that I could have, but…”
“I know, Lass,” Garrett whispered as he pulled her into his arms and held her tightly. “I know that ye couldna. It wasna your fault. Perhaps I should’ve woken ye. Perhaps then we wouldna have lost one another for so long.”
Sighing, she snuggled closer into his embrace, her head resting against his shoulder, her hands soft on the front of his shirt. “You said you were looking for your wife,” she whispered, the fabric of his shirt muffling her words. “Did you come to England to look for me?”
Her shoulders tensed, and Garrett knew she was holding her breath, waiting for his answer. His heart rejoiced to know that she cared that much, that she had wanted him to come and find her. “Aye,” he finally said, and she inhaled a deep breath.
Lifting her head off his shoulder, she smiled up at him. “I wish I had known.”
Garrett nodded. “I wish I had known about ye as well, Lass. I…” He sighed, remembering months of wondering, of not knowing, of fearing the worst. “Well, frankly, it took weeks for the issue with the runaways to be resolved, and I couldna go to look for ye before ‘twas. Cormag asked me to be present and use my influence to help find common ground. ‘Twas a delicate matter, and it took longer than expected.” Taking his wife’s hand, he walked back to the bed and bade her sit down next to him. Then he simply held her hand in his, feeling the soft beat of her pulse as he looked up and met her eyes.
“When I went to England,” he began, remembering only too well the hope he had harboured in his heart, “’twas as though ye’d vanished, Lass. No one seemed to know where ye were. I even went to yer brother’s estate and asked for ye, but I was told ye were travelling.” He shook his head. “Where were ye, Lass? ‘Twas as though the earth had opened up and swallowed ye whole. Ye weren’t even in London for the beginning of the Season. A friend of mine helped me navigate the treacherous sea of London upper society and invited me to accompany him to many events. He said ye’d be there. Everyone I spoke to said ye’d be there. But ye weren’t. All of London was abuzz with yer absence, whispering about ye and that cad who’d abandoned ye here. It drove me mad to listen, not knowing what was true and what not.” Squeezing her hands, Garrett sought her gaze. “I know ye did not remember me or what happened between us, Lass, but where on earth were ye?”
Chapter Twenty-Two – A Fateful Night's Second Revelation
Touched that he had searched the whole of England for her for so long, Claudia inhaled a trembling breath. Never would she have thought, dared to dream to be that important to someone, that he would still come for her after all this time. Never giving up.
Hanging her head, she remembered the past year and all that had happened. Of course, no one had told Garrett where she had been as her brother had kept her under lock and key in order to hide her condition. She had even left Farnworth Manor after Christmas and retreated to a smaller, remoter estate toward the end of her pregnancy. Crestwood House had been in the middle of nowhere, and it had served her well. No one had found out that she had given birth there.
At least no one of London’s upper crust.
However, someone had to have found out. Someone who had then stolen her child and was now leaving bread crumbs for her to follow. Would she ever see Aiden again?
Glancing at Garrett, Claudia knew she ought to speak to him about her son. Their son. The thought pulsed through her being like a wildfire. Garrett was Aiden’s father. He was her son’s father, and he was her husband.
Ready to tell Garrett everything, Claudia suddenly froze when−belatedly−her mind put two very important pieces together, and the puzzle suddenly looked nothing like it had in the beginning.
Garrett was Aiden’s father and her husband. They had gotten married here in Gretna Green almost a year ago, and Aiden had been born nine months later.
Claudia’s eyes closed, and the air rushed from her lungs.
Her son was not illegitimate! He was not a bastard! He had not been born out of wedlock!
Claudia’s hands began to tremble when she realised how differently her life−all their lives−would have turned out if she had known. If only she had known!
Never would she have had to give up her child. She could have been happy. They all could have been. After all, they were a family. They belonged together.
Her chin quivered when she turned to look at Garrett. Concern and incomprehension covered his face as he watched her, watched all these emotions play over her face. And yet, he remained quiet, giving her the space she needed to make sense of them.
Then doubt suddenly claimed her heart.
Garrett MacDrummond was a wonderful man, but did he love her? Had he truly come because he could not live without her? Or had it been more of an obligation?
Inhaling a deep breath, Claudia finally dared to admit to herself that her heart beat for him. He was the one man who had ever touched her in this way, made her feel like a rare woman and never tried to restrict her, to change her. No matter how aggravating he found her, he had never once demanded she be someone she was not.
Did that mean that he loved her?
“Lass?” he whispered, his hand gently squeezing hers. “What’s on yer mind? Do ye not wish to tell me where ye were?” His eyes darkened, and Claudia could see pain and suffering, doubt and regret as well as the determination to hold them at bay and not demand she give him an answer.
Clearing her throat, Claudia rose from the bed and took a few steps back, needing room to breathe. “Before I can tell you,” she began, “there’s something I need to know.”
Holding her gaze, he nodded.
“Why did you come for me?”
His eyes narrowed, and a dark frown descended upon his face. “Because ye’re my wife.”
Claudia swallowed, her hands tense as she wrung them. “I see,” she mumbled, her gaze dropping from his as she tried her best not to keep her hopes up. “So, you came because we’re bound to one another?”
Again, Garrett nodded, a hint of suspicion in his eyes as he slowly rose to his feet.
Nervous, Claudia took a step back. “I mean, you came because it was your duty to see to your wife, to−”
“I came,” he said, and his voice was like a flash of lighting cutting through the clouds, “because ye’re my wife, Lass.” His gaze grew heated as he stalked toward her. “I came because every day that ye were gone, I felt as though half my soul was missing.” His hands reached for her then, pulling her back into his arms. “I came,” he whispered as his fingers grasped her chin once again, forcing her to meet his penetrating gaze, “because I love ye, and I have since the moment I first saw ye. I wondered if it might wane over time, but it hasna. I want ye today as much as I wanted ye then, if not more.”
Staring up into his face, Claudia felt her knees go weak, and her heart beat so wildly in her chest that she feared it might break through her ribs. Could this be true? Was it possible to be this happy? To feel this complete?
The only one missing now was Aiden.
Against all odds, his parents had found one another again, and now, they needed to find him and bring him home. And then, Claudia vowed, they would never lose sight of each other again.
“Garrett,” she began, her voice shaking as she fought for control. “There’s something I need to speak to you about. There’s something you don’t know.” Blinking back tears, she cleared her throat and took a step back so as not to have to crane her neck. Then she took his hands into hers and held his gaze. “I need to tell you about Aiden.”
Instantly, the light vanished from his eyes and his hands tensed.
***
Garrett felt her words like a blow to his body, and his heart shrank away from the name he had come to loathe.
And yet, his wife’s face was glowing as though she was bathed in sunlight. Utter joy rested in her eyes, and her hands squeezed his tightly, full of strength and hope.
Garrett hung his head. In the very moment he had confessed his love to her, all she could do was think of another man.
Steeling himself for what lay ahead, Garrett met her gaze, determined to know the truth once and for all. He would no longer hide and hope, no longer accept half-truths and believe what he wanted simply because it was what his heart desired. No, here and now, he would accept the truth−whatever it was−and then he would find a way to live with it. “Do ye love him?” he asked, surprising himself with his boldness, and yet, it was the one question that would determine his life from here on out.
When her smile deepened, Garrett released her hands. “I do,” she whispered, awe in her voice as though her love for that man had surprised her as well. “I love him with all my heart and soul. He is my life, and I should never have given him up.”
Gritting his teeth against the pain and disappointment that shot through his body, Garrett wondered why on earth she would look so elated when speaking to him of her love for another man. Could she not see what this was doing to him? Did she not know that this was destroying him? A moment ago, she had seemed so terrified of hearing that he did not love her, that she was only a duty to him, that he had only come because it was a husband’s responsibility to look after his wife. Was it possible that he had misunderstood her?
“Garrett,” she whispered, her face still glowing as she stepped toward him.
Unable to look at her, Garrett dropped his gaze, trying his best not to feel the way her hands ran over his chest and then up his neck. Her hands cupped his face, and he could feel her breath brush over his skin.
“Look at me,” she whispered, her hands urging him to comply.
Swallowing, Garrett lifted his gaze.
The blue of her eyes deepened, and she smiled up at him. “Aiden is my son. Do you hear me? He’s my son.” Tears pooled in her eyes, but she blinked them away. “I know you thought I had given my heart to another, and I let you believe that to keep you at bay, but now,” she swallowed hard, “I need you to listen to me.”
Staring down into her eyes, Garrett felt suddenly numb. “Yer son?” he whispered, overwhelmed by this sudden revelation. Had she ever mentioned a son? Had he simply been a dolt and not been listening? Or had she truly kept this from him? How could she not have told him? “Ye have a son? Ye never mentioned−”
“He’s yours.”
If lightning had struck him in that moment, Garrett could not have been more stunned.
All the tension that had held him before suddenly fell from him. His arms were dangling limply by his sides. His jaw went slack as he stared at her, and his heart seemed to have stopped altogether. “Mine,” he whispered, trying to swallow the lump that had settled in his throat. “How?” Blinking, he tried to focus his mind.
His wife heaved a deep sigh, and her voice was thick with emotions as she began to tell her tale. “After returning to England, I soon realised that I was with child. I told my brother−I didn’t know what else to do−and he kept me hidden so that I could give birth in secret and then return to society as though nothing had happened.”
Garrett’s eyes widened as his mind began to catch up, slowly realising what she was trying to tell him.
“I was unmarried and with child,” she said, sobs rising in her throat, “the ton would have eaten me alive. I would have been ruined. My son would have been a bastard, never to be received anywhere, always looked down upon.” With pleading eyes, she looked up at him. “I didn’t know what to do. But I knew I couldn’t be reckless again. I had to think of what was best for him, of his happiness. He didn’t deserve such a fate. As much as I wanted him, I couldn’t do that to him, and so I agreed. I tried my best to keep myself separated from him throughout the pregnancy. I tried not to think ab
out him, not to feel him. I tried not to care, but…but I couldn’t.” Tears poured down her face, and she let them fall. “No matter how hard I tried, I came to love him. I couldn’t help it. Still, it didn’t change what was, and so I brought him into this world, and then…I let him go.” Her jaw quivered, and Garrett felt his own heart break. “I returned to London and tried to forget. I tried to pretend that nothing had happened, that he had never been.” Shaking her head, she clenched her teeth. “But I couldn’t. I couldn’t forget him. He’s my son. How could I’ve…?”
She broke down then, all her heartache pouring out of her. Garrett caught her as she sank to the floor, and together, they sat on the wooden floorboards, wrapped in each other’s arms, and mourned the loss of their son.
Chapter Twenty-Three – Nothing But the Truth
Sinking deeper into her husband’s arms, Claudia allowed herself to break down as she had never done before. All her defences came down, and her heart ached with such acuteness that she thought it surely must break. All the pain and loss of the past year came pouring out of her, sobs wrecking her body as she clung to Garrett.
Dimly, she heard his voice, soft and gentle, as he murmured words of comfort into her hair, his hands brushing over her back and down her arms as he held her to him. Like in her dreams, she felt a sudden wave of warmth and love wash over her, and her sobs began to calm.
Brushing at her tears, Claudia lifted her head and her gaze swept over Garrett’s face, seeing an answering look of pain in his eyes that she knew to be in hers as well. Shock still clung to his features, and he looked tense and rather pale as he tried his best to work through the chaos into which her revelations had plunged him.
For a long while, they sat on the floor, eyes locked, not saying a word. Then Garrett cleared his throat, one hand gently brushing over her cheek. “Where is he now? Yer…Our son,” a gentle smile came to his face, “where is he?”
Bowing her head in defeat, Claudia swallowed hard as fresh fear squeezed her heart.