Highland Hearts. Eva Hamilton Maria

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      “Don’t despair, Logan.” Cait squeezed his hand. “God will help you. I know He will.”

      They fell silent as they neared the quiet two-story house. Creeping up behind a mound of rocks several feet from the white house, they sought to avoid peering eyes, if any existed.

      “Cait? Is that you?” a whispered voice called out from the darkness.

      Cait called back just as quietly, “Sheena?”

      “Aye.” Logan heard Sheena’s footsteps making their way toward the sound of Cait’s voice. He kept silent. He didn’t want her running away again. He wanted so badly to get near her. To talk to her, see her smile, hear her laugh. He missed her so much. Why did the sight of him at their waterfall send her running away, crying?

      As Sheena’s footsteps grew louder, Logan grew more tense. He desperately wanted things to work out between them. He needed to explain, to do whatever it took to win back her love.

      He kept still and listened to her talk to Cait, waiting for the right time to make his presence known.

      “I’ve been standing guard ever since you slipped out. I left the door open for you to get back in.” Logan smiled to himself. Finally, the Sheena he knew and loved.

      “Sheena, you didn’t have to wait out here. You’ve put yourself in peril for me. But I won’t let my foolishness be the cause of you getting into any trouble,” Cait told her.

      Sheena shrugged off Cait’s concern. “Not to worry. We could stay out until dawn and no one would be the wiser.”

      “If that’s so …” Logan’s voice startled Sheena and she let out a squeal. In a fraction of a second, Logan grabbed her and put his hand over her mouth so that her sound wouldn’t carry to the windows above. His whispered words came out calmly, even though he hardly felt serene. “I suggest you and I take this opportunity to talk, lassie.”

      “I’ll stand guard by the door.” Cait didn’t give Sheena a chance to refuse her offer.

      “Harrumph.” Sheena’s exclamation sent heat into Logan’s hand and he released her mouth instantly.

      “Sorry.” He remained close to her. It took all his willpower not to kiss her. He’d wanted to from the moment he saw her standing on the edge of their waterfall and now with her so close, he wanted her even closer.

      “It’s all right.” Sheena tried to gather her auburn hair and Logan wished she wouldn’t. He liked it hanging loose. “I didn’t know you were here. You could have said something earlier.”

      Logan could see the muscles on Sheena’s face tighten in the moonlight and it made him smile. “So far since I’ve been back, lassie, I’ve stopped your heart two or three times.”

      “Aye.” Sheena pulled her dark blue woolen shawl taut. “You need to learn how to introduce yourself properly.”

      “Apparently.” Logan laughed, even though he did so alone.

      “Thank you for bringing Cait home safely.” Sheena stretched out her hand. But Logan didn’t take it. Even though an excuse to touch her held tremendous appeal.

      “Cait thanked me herself. No need for you to, lassie.” He wouldn’t let this fortunate circumstance end so quickly. After five long years away from her, he never wanted to be away from her again. Not even for five minutes.

      “You must stop calling me lassie. I am not your sweetheart.”

      He leaned toward her. “Since when Sheena? You have always been my lassie.”

      “Since you left. I’ve already told you—everything changed when you left. We can’t keep revisiting the past.” She gave him her back.

      “We can, and we will, until I change your mind.” Frustrated at her rejection of him, he knew he sounded too harsh, but he couldn’t help himself. She’d never talked to him like this before. Never treated him with so much contempt. Had he lost his best friend—the soul mate he felt God had put in his life?

      “You can’t just come back here and expect that nothing changed in five years. There have been battles and death, and so much else.” The wind picked up again and Sheena whirled around trying to tame her hair. It looked as fiery as her temper and just as unmanageable.

      “You left, Mr. McAllister. No one made you. You just left.” Sheena pointed at him and then shook her head. “Nobody comes back from the Americas. Once you left, you were as good as dead to me.” Why didn’t she just stick a dagger in him? It would hurt less.

      But he wouldn’t slink away and give up on her. He would fight for her. He just needed to figure out what exactly to fight. “Sheena, I told you I would come back. Did you not believe me?” Logan inched ever closer to her, fearing she would dart away at any moment.

      “I didn’t receive anything from you. I didn’t know if you were even still alive.” So his absence had scared her, and that angered her. At least she felt something. He could use that, push further.

      “There was no way of sending you information,” Logan pleaded. He couldn’t waste any money writing a letter her mother would probably rip up before it even reached Sheena. He had to stay in the Americas and work an extra two years past his three-year indenturement to be able to save enough money for seven sea voyages to the Americas.

      “But you were only indentured for three years. After that, why didn’t you come home?” Sheena looked impatient with him.

      “I couldn’t.” He knew how bad that sounded.

      “You couldn’t or you wouldn’t?” Sheena crossed her arms, shifting her weight to rest on her left leg, waiting for his answer. If she tapped her right foot, he didn’t hear it.

      Logan hesitated, knowing she wouldn’t like his answer. “Both.” He didn’t lie to her. He’d never do that.

      Sheena’s arms dropped and she shouted, “You could have come home, but you didn’t.”

      “Keep your voice down. Do you want to wake up the whole house?” Yelling in the face of possible detection from her family proved just how deep Sheena’s feelings ran. If she didn’t love him, his indenturement and extended stay in the Americas wouldn’t have bothered her this much.

      But then why did she keep pushing him away?

      “Logan, why are you doing this?” Sheena lowered her voice to a snarl.

      “Why am I doing this? What do you mean? Why did I keep my promise to return? You know me, Sheena. You know I always keep my promises.” He reached out his hands and this time she didn’t step away.

      Touching her gave him more confidence. She let him in. He moved another step closer, pulling her to him. “I’m sorry. It took longer than I thought before I could return. But I never forgot about you.” He brushed a strand of her auburn hair behind her ear, as he lowered his voice. “Don’t turn your back on me.”

      Logan saw emotion flicker across her face. She fought with herself. He didn’t know what she fought, but he knew he somehow got through her barrier. She softened. “Logan, you left before all the fighting broke out. I expected you home in three years. But instead, the year you should have returned, I lost my brother. He died at the Battle of Culloden in 1746.”

      “I’m sorry.” Logan rubbed her arm, but she shrugged it off, turning away.

      “Nay, it’s not your fault my brother died. He supported Bonnie Prince Charlie’s claim to rule Britain and died trying to regain the monarchy for the House of Stuart. But whether he was right or wrong to give up his life for a cause that failed, he was my parents’ only son and his death killed a part of my father.” Logan saw Sheena’s hand reach up toward her face, wiping tears away. “My father never recovered.”

      Logan stepped forward. He wanted to hug her. To hold her and make all her pain go away, but he knew he couldn’t.