The Highlander's Thief

Chapter Twenty-three

"Ye love me." McWilliam rolled onto his side, pulling Rosa with him. She smelt of warm linen and, he realized with a surge of satisfaction, him.

"I..." She nibbled her bottom lip as he had noticed she often did when conflicted.

"Ye can't take it back," he warned, and his voice rumbled in his throat as deep as a lion's growl.

"I don't want to take it back. But it doesn't change the fact that I have to go to Leeds."

He caught her hand, pressing it to his lips. "It changes everything. How can I possibly let you go now I know you love me?"

"Because you know me well enough to know that if something were to happen to Amelia, I'd never forgive myself."

"We'll find her before anything happens."

"Liar." The ghost of a smile.

He kissed the back of her hand again and then each of her fingertips in turn.

"Emily already haunts my dreams. Amelia would be very much louder." She tapped her temple with her free hand. "She always was a cantankerous girl."

Deep down—very deep down, so deep down it could have been the center of the earth—he knew she was right. He'd seen Rosa many times in the grip of her nightmares. She wouldn't be able to survive the death of another cousin, even though it wasn't her fault. Amelia's death would be Rosa's downfall too.

With a sharp tug, her pulled her on top of him. Face to face like this, her toes tickled his calves and her breasts pressed against his chest. She was so light, and yet he could feel every inch of her, skin to skin, forehead to forehead as he struggled to vanquish the space between them. He could even feel the beat of her heart as it thumped in her chest, almost as painfully hard as his own.

And then he told her what she wanted to hear, although it near enough killed him, "We still have three days. If we haven't found her by then...I will let ye go, wee lass."

 * * *

Rosa pressed her eyes closed. I will let ye go, wee lass. She never thought to hear Anndrais McWilliam sound so...crushed. He was the most self-assured person she'd ever met, but he lay beneath her with eyes filled with worry and panic.

It was her turn to press kisses to his eyelids, as she tried to banish his fears. Prison would not destroy her. She was stronger than that. But leaving McWilliam, it would most certainly break her heart.

"It will take me at least three days to reach Leeds," she whispered, saying what had to be said. "I have to leave now if I'm going to get there on time."

"I'll send my lawyer in your stead. He will represent you in court on Whitsunday. And if it's still a jail sentence, then I'll deliver you to the prison myself."

"But you can't afford a lawyer."

"Nay, but there's one who owes my family a favor. And he's a good lawyer. He'll make sure your side of the story is heard."

Just when she didn't think it was possible to love anyone this much, he'd surprised her again and Rosa's heart had swollen with the joy of it.

"I really, completely, absolutely love you, Anndrais McWilliam."

He slipped a hand between their bodies, the calluses on the palm catching and tickling her stomach. And then his fingers were slipped between her folds, touching her there. She was sore, but his fingers moved so slowly, circling her nub, teasing her until she could no long press kisses to his face because she felt as if she was melting against him. She wiggled, her breast stroking his chest as she sought more friction. And she felt his whole body rumble with a very male laugh. His low voice did strange things to her. He had her mind and body spinning out of control. She balled her hands into fists, grabbing at the sheet, digging her toes into his thighs.