If You Dare

"Aye, you are." She looked amazing, more beautiful than he had ever seen her. Had he hoped to find her miserable? Bloody hell, yes, he'd hoped that. Because he was a selfish bastard, and he wanted her to miss him as fiercely as he did her. She never could eat when she was anxious or unhappy, and yet without him she'd put on flesh, making her body softer and rounder. She'd been content. Why was he still here, then? Why wasn't he turning away?

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted her hand flitting in the flowers behind them. He peered over her at the book she was slipping under her skirts. "You're studying Gaelic?"

"Greek or Gaelic. Really, what's the difference?" she said airily, but at his look she added, "Very well. I have no personal co

He flinched.

"You could've written. I would have responded that everything was well and saved you the trip."

"I wanted tae see you."

"You wanted to see me. You can't just go in and out of my life whenever you please because of what you want. You left without even a good-bye. After all we'd been through together, you wished me well."

"If I saw you, then I would no' be able tae leave you. I left you for you."

She tilted her head. "I don't understand."

"I need tae explain something."

"If this is about the curse, then your mother's already told me."

He lowered his voice to say, "She told you about…about the Leabhar?" When she nodded, he said, "It's no' something she has ever talked about since my da's death. Do you know what it says?"

"Yes, I read it."

He couldn't believe Fiona had allowed A

Her smile was cold. "Yet you're here now? What does that tell me?"

"Aye, I'm here. Because something that is in the lines has been proven false."

"What would that be?" A

He was thrumming with some emotion, tense with it. "It says I will no' know love." He stood and ran a hand through his hair. "But damn it, I do."

Her lips parted.

His face was hard, intent, but his eyes…"Above all things I love you." His expression tightened. "I could be out of my mind. I want you so badly that I want tae believe the rest is false. I could be hurtin' you right now." His brogue was thick. "Maybe it means I'll no' know love from another." He winced, apprehension clear on his face. "I had no' thought of that."

He looked so guilty, she found herself easing to her feet and murmuring, "That's false, too."

He took her shoulders. "You told me once. But you were half asleep and hurting, and I di

Her brows drew together. He was nervous. She laid her hand on his chest, curious. The simple touch made him close his eyes.

Nervous. Beneath her palm, his heart was thundering.

With that, the resistance she'd thought she could hold on to slipped from her fingers. The truth left her lips, "Your leaving hurt me. Badly. Even though I was so confused and afraid, I never stopped."

His eyes opened, and she saw they were full of pain. "I wish I had no' hurt you. I never wanted tae."

"I know," she said with a sigh. He'd always wanted her happiness, had always hated the idea of her hurt. How the attack must have seemed, the blame he would've placed on himself…

"I still feel that I ca

"MacCarrick, I really don't believe there's any risk."

He leaned in, putting an arm around her as though to shield her from being struck down. "We ca

She pushed him back to face him. "Then I thank it! But I must respectfully demand its exit from our lives. What we could have together is stronger than anything dire in that book."

He shook his head. "So much of it has come true. None of us with children because the book ends with our generation—"

"It ends with your generation because our children will make their own fate!"

His dark eyes revealed his regret. "A

She took his hand and placed it on her belly.

Court grew very still. "What are you sayin'?" His hand on her began shaking. He'd kissed her there, caressed his fingers over her, and he knew that there to the touch was the slightest rounding.

She pushed his hand away. "I'm saying the book seems to be getting everything wrong when it comes to you. And that you're getting more than you bargained for."

"You're…" He swallowed hard. "You are…"

She put her chin up. "I'm carrying your child."

I bind you to me. The first night—the first night he'd made love to her. He had bound her to him and claimed her. At the same time, he'd felt that everything he was became hers as well. They'd done this then.

She was carrying his child.

He stood, staggered. She was right. He was getting more than he'd bargained for. He'd only had a faint hope today of finding a way to be with her, and yet he'd discovered that she loved him. How the hell she did, he couldn't imagine, but he knew better than to question such fortune.

The babe would be his permission to keep her, and proved that the Leabhar had something else in store for him entirely. He felt the weight of that worry lifting for the first time since he'd read it. Suddenly, falling to the ground seemed like a bloody fine idea.

"Your mother says early spring."

"She knows?"

"Yes. She is very sorry about the past and wants to speak with you soon."

The only way he'd do it would be if A

"Olivia came up with a theory." Impersonating Olivia's accent, she said, "'The ten lines begin with death and misery, loneliness and suffering, et-cet-era, et-cet-era, until the last two, which obviously say all of these unpleasant things will occur, until the blockheaded Scot comes to Andorra to pluck the spoiled little ni

"And what about the man meant for you? Would you want tae be marryin' someone like me?" His voice was gruff.

"I can't say." She turned from him and said over her shoulder, "I need to know what type of life we would live. I won't have you going away all the time risking your life."

"Then I'm retired," he quickly said, striding in front of her.

She gave him a soft smile. "That's what I wanted to know."

But he continued on, "I've got a place in Scotland. Bei

"Are you trying to convince me, Courtland?" She jabbed her finger at his chest. "Do you honestly think there is any way you will be leaving here without me?" He was stu

He felt the corners of his lips curl. "Bei