Page 37 of A Highland Duke to Claim Her Heart

Her eyes lit up, and another smile stole across her lips. “What is it?” she asked, but he shook his head.

“You will just have to wait and see.”

She laughed, a glimmer of hope igniting in her chest. This playfulness from Ewan was new, and perhaps it meant that his heart was beginning to open.

Chapter 14

“Where are we going?” Cassandra laughed, as Ewan pulled back another branch that was blocking their path. They were somewhere in the woods behind the castle, on an overgrown path that looked as if it had been formed by animals rather than humans.

The trees also desperately needed to be trimmed back. She felt as if she were going deep into the dark, dangerous woods in some kind of fairytale, rather than toward whatever surprise Ewan had planned.

But she was happy to go along with him.

She liked an adventure, and so far, most of her walking throughout the Highlands had taken her into wide open valleys and hills, rather than into the woods.

“It is just a little bit farther,” Ewan grunted from ahead of her. “I apologize, I did not realize the path would be so rough.”

He stopped and waited for her, and she caught up with him quickly. As usual, he seemed too large to belong, a giant among the trees. But it reassured her. If there were any dangerous animals lurking here in the woods, she was sure they would be as scared of Ewan as she was of them.

As if reading her mind, Ewan said, “It is not as though there are bears in the Highlands. You have nothing to fear here.”

“What about brigands?” she asked, and he laughed.

“They know better than to stray onto my lands.”

The way he said it stirred something in her chest. He sounded so sure, as if anyone would be a fool indeed to cross him.

They continued down the path, until they reached a large log that had fallen in the middle of it. He offered her his hand to help her over, and she took it. Her skin heated and the warmth rose moved through her body; she could not look at him until he released her hand and they continued down the path. She hoped that he had not seen the blush on her cheeks. Certainly he could not hear the pounding of her heart, which sounded louder than ever to her, in the deep silence of the woods.

“Ahh, here we are,” Ewan announced after another minute, and then they stepped off of the path and into a large clearing of wildflowers.

Cassandra stepped forward and looked around. It was beautiful and peaceful, full of daisies and wild heather. Right in the center was a hawthorn tree.

She turned back to Ewan, who was watching her carefully.

“It is beautiful,” she said, “although I am still not sure I understand why you brought me here.”

“It is for you,” he said, spreading his arms wide to indicate the clearing. “For you to create the herb garden that you once had at your home in Cornwall.”

Cassandra stared at him. It took her a full thirty seconds at least to understand what he was talking about. Meanwhile, his expression became more uncertain, and he dropped his arms.

“That is… If you, er… If you like it…” He cleared his throat. “I was envisioning that you could do the herb garden over here,” he said, pointing to the far edge of the clearing, “and that we could put in a vegetable garden here. A raised bed would work, and I could build you an irrigation system as well, so that the excess rain runs off and you can be sure it will not be overwatered in the winter. It is a serious problem here. The rains start in September and do not let up until… until…”

He trailed off, staring at her. She was having trouble putting what she was feeling into words, just gaping at him, and he shifted with discomfort.

“I am sorry,” he stammered. “I should have checked with you first before suggesting this. It was a stupid idea, you do not like it—”

“Do not like it?” she interrupted, finally finding her voice. “I love it!”

For several paralyzed seconds, he did not respond. And then, slowly, his face broke into a smile. “You do? Truly?”

“Of course I do! No one has ever done something like this for me before. It is so thoughtful.”

She took a step toward him, unable to hold herself back. “No one has ever listened to me like that before,” she breathed. “You remembered my interest and thought of a way to bring it into my life here.”

“Well, I have been worried about you,” he said quietly. “I know that you have moved to this strange new place, that you know no one. And I wanted you to have something of your own to work on. A project.” He also moved closer to her, and his eyes were very tender now. “It helped me after Margaret died to have a project. And I know that you are running the house. But the house is not just your own. I think it is important to have one’s own interests and pursuits.”

She nodded, too emotional to speak. All her life, she had done whatever her parents told her to do to make herself into a desirable young woman. Never once had they asked her what she enjoyed or encouraged her to have a project of her own.