Page 92 of The Laird who Craved her

She swallowed. "You did all that..."

He nodded once. "I had to."

Her eyes burned. "Finn..."

"I couldnae sit beside yer bed knowing I'd left the work unfinished. I would never forgive myself if another man crossed these borders while I was holding yer hand."

Claire looked down, blinking rapidly. "You dinnae have to carry all of that alone."

"Aye." His answer came quietly. "I did."

She looked up again. "Why?"

Finn let out a long breath. "I've spent most of me life believing a laird should carry everything alone." He walked past her toward the fire before turning back. "When me father died..." His gaze settled on the flames. "...I told myself I'd never make the same mistakes."

Claire remained silent. He had spoken of his father before, but never like this.

"He loved me mother. Aye. He loved her fiercely." A faint smile touched Finn's face. "I remember thinking there was nothing stronger." The smile faded. "When he died... I decided love had weakened him."

Claire stared at him. "He died protecting his family."

"I ken. But I was a frightened boy trying to make sense of losing everything." He laughed quietly at himself. "I convinced myself that marriage clouded judgment. That affection made men reckless. That duty had to come before everything." He looked directly at her. "I believed distance kept people alive."

The words lingered in the room, then his voice broke. "It nearly killed ye."

Claire's eyes filled. She crossed the space between them before she realized she was moving. "You sent me away because ye thought I'd be safe."

"I sent ye away because I couldnae bear the thought of losing ye." His jaw tightened. "And I almost did."

She reached out, very carefully. Her fingers brushed the healing cut along his cheek. He closed his eyes for a heartbeat beneath her touch.

"I should have trusted ye."

"Nay." Claire shook her head. "I never blamed ye."

His eyes opened again. "Why?"

She smiled sadly. "Because I kent ye."

He frowned. "I shouldnae have."

She gave the smallest laugh. "Every day... ye gave me another reason to trust ye. When I was frightened, ye never laughed. When I doubted myself, ye listened. When I challenged ye... ye challenged me back." She laughed softly. "I've never once felt safer than I did riding beside ye."

Finn looked away. "Ye were kidnapped under me protection."

"And ye still came." Her voice was quiet. "I ken ye would. Ye never promised, and ye never had to. I ken."

Silence settled once more, and the fire cracked softly behind them. Finn reached for her hand, his fingers closing around hers with surprising hesitation, as though he still wasn't certain she was truly standing before him.

"I've tried every sensible reason I can think of to explain what happened." Claire waited. "I told myself it was responsibility. When that stopped making sense, I called it loyalty." He smiled faintly. "Then friendship." He shook his head. "I was wrong every time."

His thumb brushed gently across the back of her hand. "When I thought I'd lost ye... nothing else mattered. The land. The title. The castle. None of it." He looked into her eyes with a vulnerability she'd never seen before. "I love ye. I love ye, Claire."

A tear slipped down her cheek. She didn't wipe it away. Instead, she stepped closer until barely a breath remained between them.

"So do I." Her voice trembled. "I think... I think I loved ye long before I understood what I was feeling."

Finn smiled then. Not the careful smile of a laird. Not the restrained smile of a man carrying a clan on his shoulders. Simply Finn. And for the first time since she had arrived at Rosewood... he looked completely at peace.