“You hurt me,” she said.
He’d go to his knees if he thought it would make a difference, but he stood frozen in place. “I’m so sorry. More sorry than I can possibly express. If I’d known earlier it was your brother I’d killed, I’d have told you immediately, I swear. But I loved you by then, you see—I couldn’t bear to bring you the news that would make you so unhappy. That would part us forever. I wanted those last hours with you more than I wanted my own life.”
Her eyes widened through the tears. But she hugged herself, closing herself off. “You didn’t trust me.” She swiped miserably at the wetness on her cheeks. “And you still don’t trust me. How can you say in one breath that you love me, and in the next that I would be so shallow as to hold an accidental death against you?”
“But—”
“I know Adam’s killing wasn’t intentional, any more than my own killing of Wat.”
A trickle of relief coursed through his blood. Guilt slowly began to fade, replaced by a tremulous hope. “But would you feel the same way if you hadn’t killed Wat?” he wondered. “Would you have understood regardless?”
She shook her head, looking thoroughly disgusted. “See, there you go again. I’m aggrieved you don’t think better of me. Do you remember that night in Newark, when you had the bad dream?”
He remembered. A hideous nightmare and an angel that soothed him. Wearing a ridiculous white night rail. “You said you didn’t fault me. You said you understood.”
“And just what do you think would ever change that?”
He was afraid to believe, but he could see she harbored no anger, no resentment. It wasn’t in her.
“I shall expect more regard from here on out, Jason Chase.”
He blinked. “Does that mean—”
“You’ve left me alone all night, with little to do but think. And I think I will marry you, Lord Cainewood. Never mind that you haven’t asked. But only on two conditions.”
His heart soared. “Anything.”
She climbed from the bed, and he reached to pull her into an embrace. But she skipped out of reach. “You will hear me out.”
“Very well.” He crossed his arms to ensure they’d behave. “I’m listening.”
“One. You will not underestimate me again.”
“You can wager on that.” He risked a small, hopeful smile. “And two?”
Blowing out a breath, she fixed him with a deep blue gaze. “Cameron must have Leslie. The part that came through my mother, I mean. With Adam’s death, he’s already come into the title and small entailed lands. But those lands alone cannot support a man.”
“Cait—”
“Nay. You will hear me out. Cameron hasn’t asked for this, and he would likely strangle me if he knew I was asking for him. According to my father’s will, the vast majority of Leslie becomes my husband’s should I marry. But Cam deserves all of Leslie, Jase—it should have been his in the first place. He was a better son to Da than Adam and then some. So even though Kendra told me you need money, I won’t see Cam go without his due—I won’t take my happiness at his expense. That wouldn’t be fair.”
“And Caithren Leslie is always fair,” he proclaimed. “Now, you will hear me out.”
She sat on the bed, apparently reserving judgment.
“I was only going to say, back when you interrupted me, that Cameron can have the property—the only part of Leslie I need is you. And I do need you, Cait. More than I can say.”
“Oh.” She looked properly chagrined, but a tiny smile tugged at her lips.
“And I have something for you.” He reached into his pocket. “Hold out your hand.” She did, and he gazed into her eyes as he folded her fingers around a flash of green. “When it changes hands, a change of heart,” he quoted solemnly.
“My amulet?” She looked at it, then back at him. “Where—how did you get this?”
“I found it in the square. When I went looking for you. The chain was broken, so I put the amulet on this ribbon until I have time to get it repaired.”
She stared down at it for a moment, fiddling with the narrow black satin ribbon, then slowly held it out to him. “Keep it.”
“Pardon?” He didn’t reach for it, just gaped at her in disbelief.
“I thought that if I wore it I’d be safe. But it brought me more luck when you had it. Then I found the strength to save myself from the Gothards. All by myself, without the emerald to depend on. And it brought me your offer of love and marriage. At least I think it did—you haven’t asked me yet, and I’ve been waiting nearly two days already.”
He dropped to one knee and took her hands in his, the emerald trapped between their fingers. “Will you marry me, Caithren Leslie?”
She pulled her hands away. “Lick your right thumb.”
He was speechless for a moment. “Pardon?”
“It’s a Scottish custom. Lick it.”
“I cannot believe—”
“Lick it.” For emphasis, she licked her own.
Shaking his head, he did the same.
She took his hand and pressed their wet thumbs tightly together. “It’s a bond. Now ask me again.”
He captured her gaze with his. “Caithren Leslie—” His voice broke, and he sucked in a breath. “Will you marry me?”
With a look so radiant it tugged at his heart, she pulled him up and slipped the necklace over his head. When he touched it, almost as reverently as she always had, she smiled.
“Jason Chase, I thought you would never ask.”
And her lips gave him his answer.
SEVENTY-FOUR
“HURRY,” KENDRA urged. “It’s about to begin.”
“I think not.” Her sister-in-law, Amy, grinned. “They won’t be starting the ceremony without the bride.”
Caithren turned from the window, where she’d been watching a small cluster of people gather in the bright sun that flooded Cainewood Castle’s quadrangle. Blinking in the chamber’s relative dimness, she walked to Kendra’s four-poster bed and slid the gold brocade robe from her shoulders.
“There’s no need to
