Page 93 of Promised to the Forbidden Laird

She drew in a sharp breath to prove him wrong. It stopped painfully beneath her ribs.

Roy’s gaze moved over her face. “Slower.”

Donaldina tried. The air came in fragments. “I cannae.”

The confession escaped before pride could prevent it.

Roy shifted, turning until he faced her more fully. “Aye, ye can. Dinnae force it deep. Take what breath ye are able.”

She closed her eyes. At once, the forest returned. Hooves struck the ground. Cloth pressed between her teeth. Cormac’s arm locked around her body while trees rushed past in darkness. Donaldina opened her eyes with a gasp. Roy was still there. He had not moved.

“Look at me,” he urged.

She did.

“Ye are at Dun Ard.”

“I ken where I am.”

“I ken. Tell me what ye see.”

Donaldina nearly told him the exercise was foolish. Then another tremor shook her shoulders, and defiance became too exhausting to maintain.

“The fire.”

“What else?”

“The bed curtains.”

Roy waited.

“The blue cover Mairi insists is warmer than the red one, though there is nae reasonable difference between them.”

“There is likely a military explanation.”

Despite everything, a broken sound left her which might once have been a laugh.

Roy’s face softened. “What else?”

Donaldina looked at him. “Ye.”

“Aye.” His voice settled over her, deep and steady. “Keep looking.”

She did. She watched the faint movement of his chest beneath his shirt. She noticed the damp strands of hair resting against his forehead, the pale scar upon his jaw, and the new cut near his temple.

Roy was real. He entered the lodge through smoke and steel. He turned from Cormac’s escape because she called his name. He came for her.

Donaldina’s next breath reached deeper. Then the control she had fought so fiercely to preserve failed altogether. A sob tore from her. She covered her mouth, horrified. Another followed. Roy rose at once not to leave, but to sit beside her upon the bed. The mattress lowered beneath his weight.

Donaldina turned away, pressing both hands against her face while her body shook. “I am sorry.”

“Nae.”

“I cannae stop.”

“Then dinnae.”

The simple permission undid her. Donaldina bent forward. Roy caught her before she folded entirely into herself. His arm came around her shoulders, drawing her against his side. For one moment, she resisted. Then she turned into him. Her hands seized the front of his shirt. She pressed her face against his chest, and everything she held within her since the lane beyond the festival broke free.