by Diane Darcy
She finally let herself sink against him, breathe him in. Dang, but she loved this man. Having him show up, once again, to save her was messing with her mind. Was she supposed to drop him at the moor now? Say goodbye again? She wasn’t sure she could do it.
“I’m sorry, lass. When one ye trust betrays ye, the pain of it is all the sharper.”
Her arms tightened around him, and she pressed her face into his neck. Was he simply here to finish what he’d started? To guard her until she left Scottish soil? She wanted to ask, but didn’t want to ruin the moment.
“I didnae kill them, or even use my dagger. I didnae cut off fingers or thumbs. I did this to please ye, to show ye I listen.”
She giggled a bit hysterically against the side of his neck. “You did good.”
“If I could have killed them, I’d have been with ye that much the quicker.”
She tried not to laugh. “That’s okay. Better that you leave them alive.”
“Ye didnae answer me. Are ye hurt?”
She shook her head. “I was knocked to the ground, so I’ll probably have a few bruises, but that’s the extent of it.”
He made that growling noise deep in his throat that she loved so much, and tightened his arms around her, and she knew if Garth had been standing in front of them, Ronan would be extracting more vengeance.
“Where are they?”
“The authorities have them.”
A security guard approached and cleared his throat. “Pardon me, but we’re going to be wanting some answers from the two of you, as well.”
Ashley released Ronan and he continued to hold her tight for a long moment, visibly reluctant when he finally loosened his grip.
He stood, helped her up, and when she took his hand, twining their fingers in that familiar way, he finally seemed to relax.
“Best to give them their pound of flesh. Sooner started, sooner finished.”
“I might miss my flight.”
“Aye, ye will. For the rest of yer life, if I’ve ought to say about it.”
Tentative hope bloomed within her. The rest of her life? Was he trying to tell her something? She took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “That would be all right with me.”
They followed the security officer down the hall.
She was very aware of Ronan, his height, the broadness of his shoulders, his green gaze as he watched her. She finally had to know. “Why did you come back?”
“For ye.”
“For how long?”
“Forever, if ye’ll have me, lass.”
She stopped in the hallway and he did as well. They turned to face each other and she swallowed. “You’re staying?”
“Aye. I’ve discussed it with the witch and I’m tae stay.”
Her heart sped until it thundered in her chest. Relief poured through her followed by happiness and she wanted to throw herself in his arms again.
His look, possessive and tender, was melting her on the spot.
But still, after the pain he’d put her through she shouldn’t make it too easy for him.
“Forever? Hmm, I don’t know. That’s a long time. After all, I’ve only known you for two days. And you told me that if something better came along, you’d leave me, remember? I’m not sure I can take that kind of chance.”
His chin jutted and he got that stubborn look on his face that she loved so much.
“Yer to marry me, lass.”
Her jaw slackened and she laughed. “Was that a marriage proposal? If so, it needs some work.”
Stubborn look.
“What about that prize you were going to get?”
“Ye are my prize, beautiful girl. The only one I’ll ever want. My loyalty is to ye now.”
Oh, gosh. Good answer.
They both moved closer, and she lifted her face for his kiss when the security guard cleared his throat again and opened a door for them. “Step this way, please.”
She sighed, annoyed by the interruption. “Let’s get this over with.” Because more than anything else, she wanted to get back to that proposal.
They were taken to security, Ashley and Ronan were both interviewed, and the security officer in charge, a flinty-eyed bull of a man, just shook his head. “Ye had to bring this to our country, did ye? Ye couldnae have sold yer program, and then come here to vacation, afterward?”
Ashley shrugged helplessly, while Ronan stiffened beside her. “Tis not her fault! She was targeted by greedy men, and if I’d not been here, her work would have been stolen, and she might’ve been injured worse than she was.”
The officer lifted his hands in the air. “Calm down, calm down. We have arrested the men and sent the police to interview Lewis Smithy. There will be an investigation. In the meantime, I suggest the two of you continue on your way. Miss Martinez, I am sorry to say that you’ve missed your flight. But I will walk you out to the reservation desk, and we can get you hooked up with another.”
Ronan’s hands tightened on hers. “Are ye to leave me then?”
Ashley stood as well, her heart pounding rapidly. “I don’t want to.”
He released a gusty breath of air, and moved forward to take her in his arms.
“Oh, my, lord! The two of you will vacate the premises, I have your information, Ms. Martinez, if I need to talk to you.”
He looked at Ronan. “As for you, Mr. Finnie, you, I don’t know what to do with. This is the first mention of you in our system, but that’s not my problem. And neither are the two of you. Everybody out, go live your life, and leave me out of it.”
Ronan did not need to hear that twice.
One arm wrapped around Ashley’s shoulders, the other holding her left hand with his, he gently escorted her out of the room, and back into the busy airport.
He saw a bench on the way, and escorted her there. He set her backpack beside her, and then paced in front of her for a moment before he stopped and rubbed his face with both hands before looking at her. “Lass, I didnae want to leave ye, I didnae want tae stay upon the moor.”
“Then why did you?”
“I had thought I did not have the choice.”
She took a breath, held it, and released it. “Because you’re a ghost?”
He nodded.
“I saw your brothers, you know? Your comrades.”
He smiled at that. “Perhaps yer ghost tour was not such a disappointment, after all?”
She smiled. “Not at all.”
She found herself holding her breath as Ronan continued to pace in front of her, more nervous now than he’d been before.
Finally, he stopped, knelt down on one knee, and took her hands in his. “I’m tae stay, lass, if ye’ll have me.”
She could play a bit hard to get, hold out for a more romantic setting, but why bother? She wanted to lock him down as soon as possible. “I’ll have you.”
“Truly?” He released a breath and pressed her knuckles to his forehead. Finally, he let out a shaky breath, and then looked into her eyes.
“Lass, from the moment I met ye. I felt more for ye, than I’d ever felt for another in my life.” He seemed to consider. “Or in death.”
Ashley placed a hand on his cheek, and he held it there as her eyes filled with tears. She noted several women, and a teenage girl had stopped to watch.
She didn’t care in the least.
She blinked against the tears.
Ronan looked worried. “Are ye all right?”
Still crying, she laughed. “I’m just happy.”
“Oh, good. I was worried ye were already regretting yer decision, but I’ll not be lettin’ ye out of it now.”
She laughed. “I should be, shouldn’t I? I just met you yesterday. And now I’m wanting to spend the rest of my life with you. Do you know what?”
He shook his head.
“From the moment we met, it felt as if I’d known you forever. It felt like I was coming home. So, here I am, wherever you are, home at last.”
He drew her into his
arms, and tucked her head underneath his chin, her face pressed to his neck. “I like that, verra much.” He pressed a kiss to her temple.
“Home, at last.”
Epilogue
Seven months later
Rushing through their Las Vegas hotel room, looking for her necklace, Ashley glanced at her gorgeous husband, who was dressed as the ultimate Highland warrior.
So, same old, same old. Which was a good thing!
She’d thought to dress him as a Klingon, originally. With his size, that would have been awesome! But he rocked the Highlander thing to such an extent, and his Scottish burr was so thick, that she decided it was best to just let him be himself.
Well, almost himself.
Instead of the usual few braids, she’d braided more. She’d darkened the tattoos on his face and arms because, hey, it was cosplay! The guy needed some makeup! Plus, that was all that he’d let her do. He’d balked at mascara and scoffed at blue face paint.
“If anyone asks, just say you’re Jamie. That can refer to Jamie Fraser from Outlander, or Jamie McCrimmon from Doctor Who, one of the missing episodes. Either one will work.”
“I’m to be Ronan Finnie, and that’ll be the end of it, do ye ken?”
When his jaw thrust forward, she couldn’t resist rising on tiptoe to kiss it. Loved his stubborn face. “Aye, laddie,” she teased. “I ken ye verra well.”
And, oh, well. He looked absolutely fabulous. He could be whoever he wanted.
They took the elevator down to the convention and soon as they entered the loud, raucous room, their names were called.
“Ashley! Ronan! Over here!”
Ashley turned to see Monica waving at them from across the conference room, and tugging Ronan’s hand, she quickly made her way in that direction.
On their way, they got a lot of attention as people saw them. A Klingon stopped and pounded his chest, and nodded to her. The ultimate compliment, as she well knew, and she nodded back, gracefully.
Ronan simply eyed the man with suspicion.
They passed Commander Spock as well as Ambassador Spock, and she gave them both the traditional Vulcan greeting.
They had a lot of smiles thrown their way, and as they passed by a green Orion slave girl in a skimpy outfit, Ashley couldn’t help but feel a little bit jealous.
When she tried on a similar Orion outfit for Ronan about a month ago, he’d gone crazy for it. Until she’d explained she planned to wear it in public soon and he’d put his foot down. Well, he’d had a roaring fit, and then put his foot down.
She sighed. Living with her Highlander was amazing, and she was very proud of the quick way he was adapting to modern life.
But apparently, some things never changed, and so now she was dressed as an Andorran with blue skin and antennae, and covered from the neck down.
Oh well, life with a Highlander. What are you going to do?
They reached Monica, and they threw their arms around each other, both of them giggling and grinning.
There’d been a lot of turmoil in their online community in the last months as Ashley’s identity was revealed after her second app had come out.
Unfortunately, all of the ugliness with Garth had been revealed as well. He’d hired three men, with promise of a huge payment, to help him steal her app.
He’d barely gotten a slap on the hand for his part, but his standing in the online community had fallen.
No doubt, a fate worse than imprisonment for him.
He’d written to Ashley, a long rambling email about how he’d found out she was the creator of Space: The Final Conventioneer, resented that she hadn’t told him, hadn’t let him in on it, and at one of their conferences had found out about her newest creation. The little sneak had looked on her computer when they’d all been hanging out in her room! She’d blocked him from her phone and all her social media.
“Oh, my gosh! I love your costume!”
“Thanks! You look awesome, too!” Monica said.
“Well,” she looked down at her blue hands. “It’s not Orion slave girl, but it’s okay.”
Monica chuckled. “You look great anyway.”
She stood back and looked Monica’s costume up and down. “You are rocking the sexy Deanna Troi look.”
“Thanks. Ronan looks great.”
The two girls admired him, as he stood off to one side, searching the crowd, as if looking for danger.
“No doubt they all look like a suspicious bunch of characters to him,” Ashley said, and they both giggled again.
“How’s married life treating you?”
“Awesome.” Ashley couldn’t help the grin spreading across her face.
“Ugh. You’re such a witch.”
“Meow, meow.”
Both girls laughed again.
“Any prospects for you show up today?”
“Well, you know the guy I’ve been talking to online? At the last minute, he decided to come and meet me, and so I will be meeting him at 5 o’clock in the bar. He seems really nice.”
“That’s great!” Ashley was happy for her friend. After the fiasco with Garth, Monica had been terribly depressed, and worried that Ashley would blame her somehow for Garth’s actions.
She hadn’t of course, and if anything they’d gotten closer.
“Do you need backup? I could come along if you like?”
“No, thank you. Number one, if you show up on your own, then I don’t need the competition. And number two, if you show up on your own, then Ronan won’t be far behind, and if he sees you talking to men at the bar, my new boyfriend could get hurt.”
Ashley chuckled. “Oh, come on. He’s not that bad.”
Monica shot her a look. “Right. You just keep believing that. All I’m saying is that I’m looking at him right now. And as two guys and a girl are chatting him up, he’s ignoring them and staring at you.”
Ashley laughed.
“Did I mention that the girl is on the verge of falling out of her star trek uniform? And he’s staring at you, in the equivalent of a nun costume.”
Ashley grinned. “Well, as he’s the one that chose this outfit, he’d better keep his eyes on the prize.”
Monica rolled her eyes. “I assure you he’s doing just that.”
The music in the background switched, signaling that the cast members were about to make an appearance.
There was cheering as everybody headed to the stage area of the conference room.
Ronan slipped an arm around her waist. “So, we are to meet the crew in person?”
“Only if we want to stand in line.”
Ronan’s jaw set hard. She’d done her best to turn him into a Trekkie, but her admiration of the characters, the male ones in particular, had simply made him jealous.
He’d done his best to point out, in a myriad of ways, that not one of them could have ever beat him in hand-to-hand combat. He sneered at their weapons, and thought them all cowards.
Ashley had had to look up the actors on the Internet, and show Ronan what they look like today, older, out of shape, and unimpressive in many cases.
He’d finally calmed down, and stopped sharpening his sword in anticipation of this event.
Still, Ashley chose to stand in the back, rather than move her way up to the front, as she’d done in years past.
Standing back, arms wrapped around each other, she couldn’t believe how much life had changed in such a short period of time.
Ronan had needed identification, so while they’d waited for the Scottish government to come through, they’d stayed in Scotland for a few months, traveling to Glencoe to see Ronan’s childhood home where he’d surprised her with a handfasting ceremony at his favorite spot in the mountains. When his credentials had arrived, they’d married at a little parish church in Kinross surrounded by her family. Her parents loved him, of course. And, in the end, her little trip to Scotland had turned into a honeymoon.
She’d ended up licensing both apps to Photon Torpedo, and in the en
d it had been something of a relief as she’d been so busy. She never did have that flash of inspiration to make the app better, instead she’d come up with a brand new idea.
They’d purchased a small home on the shore of Loch Leven and Ronan had hired himself out for various jobs, and last month planted a garden while Ashley continued to maintain her website business, and work on her next super secret app, Highlander vs. Alien. Ronan loved it and had added tons of authenticity to the Scottish warrior end of the project as they’d talked ideas, fighting, and weapons, endlessly.
They’d traveled all over Scotland, and Ronan had been relieved when he’d realized she could simply enjoy the sights, without searching for more ghosts. Hey, she liked history too! After all, what was more historical than him? He’d liked that, a lot.
So, best honeymoon ever!
She blinked up at her husband, and he sent her a searching glance, as if to ask if everything was all right.
It was more than all right.
She hadn’t told him yet about the tiny life growing inside of her and knew, good and well, he’d have refused to leave hearth and home if he knew she was expecting.
Time enough to tell him after they went back.
The crowd around them was happy, enjoying the presentation, and the jokes.
Ashley laughed along with the inside jokes, as Ronan stood stoic by her side, always searching the crowd for danger.
Leaning against him, she wrapped both arms around his waist, as they introduced the cast members.
She glanced up to see his attention was on the Klingon who’d spoken to her earlier and the two were glaring at each other. The Klingon, no doubt, was joking around. Ronan was not.
“Did you know that Scotland’s motto is no one provokes me with impunity?” she murmured the words.
He glanced down at her and chuckled, the tension leaving his body.
She absolutely adored life with her Highlander.
But, that didn’t mean she didn’t have to keep her eye on him.
Up next!
Watch for THE BLACKSMITH next!