Page 39 of Taming the Highland Beauty

Callum nodded. “I will.”

Any further conversation was made impossible as Mrs Honey and her staff entered the room, carrying platters heaped with even more food to add to the already overburdened tables. Callum held out Gille’s chair before taking the seat beside her. Soon, the solemn conversation she’d had with her mother was replaced by good food and levity. When all had eaten their fill, the tables were cleared and then pushed back to make room for dancing.

The musicians who had been warming up earlier began to play, weaving a sparkling refrain through the chamber. Voices hushed as a dulcimer, a lute, a harp, and a bagpipe chimed a steady beat. A cheer rose up as they began a country dance, and two lines formed. Men and women joined in pairs.

Callum grimaced at the sound of the bagpipes. “Why do they always bring in the pipers?” He stood.

“Are you going to get your mandolin and show that piper how it is better done?” Gille said with a laugh.

He shook his head and extended his hand. “Let the piper have his moment. I have something far more important to do.”

“What is that?”

“I want to dance with you.” His expression was tender, his voice warm and engaging. She placed her hand in his and allowed him to lead her into the lines of dancers just as the music started. The steps were easily learned, but when she misstepped, Callum helped her find her footing.

The room spun before her in a whirl of colours. She drew a deep breath and let joy flood her spirit. She could feel the heat of Callum’s presence as he took her arm in a promenade. And felt her own cheeks warm as she let the rhythm of the music move through her body. A swirl of air caused by the dancers brushed against her fevered cheeks. She had missed so much of what life had to offer, both while she had been imprisoned in Fairyland and while banished to the forest. She did not want to miss out any more on the simple joys of living.

After three country dances, Gille was about to ask for a respite when the music changed its tempo to a more soothing and much slower pace. Callum held his arms open and Gille walked into them. His right arm slid around her waist, bringing her close against the solid strength of his body. The music swelled and the rhythm of the dance lent itself to fluid, sweeping motions. His left hand closed around her fingers, engulfing them, and suddenly she was whirled around the chamber as if they had not a care in the world.

Gille felt a warmth spreading through her, a contentment and peace she had never experienced before. She wanted to hold on to this feeling, to forget about tomorrow, or the sunrise after that. But darker thoughts intruded on the moment. Was her destiny to become a part of that to which she had been banished?

Her steps faltered. Callum did not seem to notice, as he continued to twirl her about the chamber. The candlelight overhead suddenly became glaringly bright, the sound of the music too loud.

She had fought destiny before when Oberon had sent her to the Shadowlands to die. It was her strength of will that had helped her survive, to avoid the dangers lurking there, and to reach the human realm where she had met Callum and the MacLeods. The fighter in her began to rally one more time. At first light, they would go to the shores of the loch to see Minerva. If the selkie queen yet avoided them, then they would find a way to force her out of hiding. For Gille was not about to give up the life she had recently found, not without a fight.

She would meet her fate head-on for herself, for Callum, and the MacLeods. She would use her strength, her determination, and her love to break her curse. Gille startled at the thought, not of breaking the curse, but of the idea of love. A smile came to her lips. Love. She did love Callum. Had loved him since she had first seen him in the forest, despite his demands and his arrogance. He had braved her beastly exterior and asked for her help. And when she had been threatened by the villagers, he had stood beside her.

Joy cascaded through her, rippling, forming circles of radiance. The dangers ahead did not matter, not if the outcome was that she could be a part of Callum’s life beyond two more sunrises. Love.

She bit down on her lip, studying Callum as they made another sweeping circle around the room. Should she confess her feelings? After another series of twirls, Gille decided that her emotions were still too fresh to verbalise, but that did not mean she could not show him what was in her heart. Even so, she manoeuvred the two of them out of the centre of the chamber and towards the side of the room, until they were alone.

“Callum.” There must have been something of her feelings in her eyes, because his movements ceased and the world narrowed to the two of them, standing before each other. “Take me abovestairs.”

A silent moment passed, then another. She put everything into her glance. That which she could not yet put into words. That which told him all she hoped for, wanted with all her heart and soul and body. What she knew she needed regardless of what the future brought.

His fingers, wrapped around her own, suddenly trembled. “Are you certain?”

“I have never been more certain of anything in my life.” Drawn to him, Gille held her breath and pressed up on her toes, bringing her face closer to Callum’s.

His arms tightened around her possessively. His smouldering gaze dropped to her lips, and Gille felt her body ignite at the same moment his lips captured hers. His hands urged her even closer, to meld her pliant body against the rigid contours of his.

With a silent moan, she slipped her free hand up his chest, her fingers clutching his broad shoulder, her body arching into his. A shudder shook his powerful frame. A heartbeat passed before he lifted her into his arms and carried her from the great hall, up the stairs, and into his bedchamber. With his foot, he shut the door behind them then carried her to the bed, setting her gently atop the coverlet.

Over the thunder of her heartbeat, she gazed at the man before her, gilded by the firelight, with desire in his eyes, and committed the image to memory. In case this moment was all she would ever have . . .

Chapter Sixteen

Callum read the desire mixed with a hint of desperation in her eyes. He stepped closer. “Are you afraid?”

“Nay. I want to be here with you.” Gille’s features softened as desire lit her eyes.

“There is nowhere else I would rather be than with you right now.” He drew a deep breath of the earthy scents of heather, pine, musk that were uniquely hers. And he wanted more. He wanted so many things when it came to Gille. He wanted her trust. He wanted her companionship. He wanted to wrap her in his arms and protect her. And right now, he wanted to touch her as he never had before.

As though reading his thoughts, she smiled, and all reservations he might have seen in her eyes vanished. “I want you to touch me. I want you to love me.” She lifted her face to his and laid a soft kiss upon his lips. Her fingers fumbled with his jacket, his waistcoat, then his shirt, until he stood bare-chested before her.

He drew her to him and with a groan raided her mouth. He tasted her thoroughly, leaving no doubt that he wanted more. Heady with desire, he loosened the stays of her dress and slipped it over her head before sending it to the floor. When he moved to loosen her petticoat, she stopped him, removing a silk pouch, which she placed beneath a pillow. “The moonstone,” she said. “I want to keep it near us.” She shrugged. “To be safe.”

“I had hoped you would do such,” he said as his fingers returned to her petticoat. He released the bow, then grabbed the fullness, pulling it over her head and sending it to the floor atop her dress.