In the beginning, Finn had wondered if it had been Ian’s doing. If it had been their love that had made her feel at home in the Highlands in such a profound way. However, lately, Finn had begun to have doubts.
Truth be told, Ian looked far from happy these days. His comments with regard to Garrett’s situation proved that all the more.
“Perhaps I should go with ye,” Finn heard himself say when he and Garrett returned to the cart.
Garrett frowned. “Go with me? To England, ye mean?”
Finn nodded, heaving a deep sigh as Emma’s image drifted into his mind. “Aye, to England.” At first, it had only been Ian who’d been married and become a father, but now that Garrett, too, had lost his heart and married, Finn began to dread his own future with each passing day. For to him, it seemed that he would be forever doomed to yearn for a woman who did not want him. Would he never marry and have children of his own? Would he remain alone forever?
That thought sent a cold chill into his bones. As much as he wanted Emma, he knew he could not have her. But perhaps he could try and lose his heart to another. Somewhere, out in the world, there might be a woman who would could sweep him off his feet the same way Garrett’s English lass had done for him.
Perhaps.
So far he had not found her during his visits to Clan MacKinnear. Was that because she was waiting for him in England? Or right here at home?
“Why?” Garrett asked, breaking into Finn’s thoughts. “Ye’ve never spoken of going to England before. What brought on this thought?”
Finn sighed, “I…I…To tell ye the truth, I want what ye’ve already found,” he told Garrett honestly. “I listen to the way ye speak about yer wife and I know that…”
Garrett nodded, grasping Finn’s shoulder as he turned to look at him. “I understand what ye mean. Love’s powerful.” Shaking his head, he laughed. “It claimed me whole in a single night, and I tell ye honestly I didna see it coming.”
Finn smiled, wishing his heart would simply have hope instead of reminding him of that one morning seven years ago when he had first noticed Emma.
“What about Emma?”
At Garrett’s question, Finn flinched, wondering if Garrett, too, had developed the ability to read another’s mind. Swallowing, he tried his best to pretend that his heart had not just danced wildly in his chest. “What about her?”
The corner of Garrett’s mouth curled upward into a suspicious grin. “Dunno pretend that ye dunno care for the lass.”
As his muscles clenched in shock, Finn tried to swallow the sudden lump in his throat. “What gave ye that idea? I barely know her.”
Garrett laughed, “And I had never met my wife until the night of our wedding.” He shook his head. “Nah, love doesna care about time, or right and wrong. It simply is…or not.” For a split second, he glanced at Ian, and Finn wondered if he knew more than Ian had shared with him. “What about that kiss?”
Again, Finn flinched, annoyed with his inability to maintain a calm exterior. How did Cormag do it? Or did he truly never feel anything remotely resembling that which currently waged war in Finn’s chest? “What kiss? Ye mean that quick peg seven years ago? That wasna a kiss! ‘Twas nothing but a dare.”
The moment the grin slid off Garrett’s face, Finn wanted to kick himself for saying more than he had meant to.
“A dare?” Garrett asked, straightening as he had only just now leaned down to pick up another log. “Ye never told us that. How long have ye known?”
Finn shrugged, looking down at the snow-covered ground as the memory of that morning returned fresh and clear. “I’ve always known.”
“Ye followed her that morning,” Garrett mumbled, and Finn could feel his friend’s eyes on him. “Did she tell ye that?”
Sighing, Finn met Garrett’s gaze. “Nah, I overhead her speaking to her friends. She only did it to win the dare. ‘Twas nothing more.”
Garrett’s gaze narrowed. “But ‘twas for ye, was it not?” Finn scoffed, ready to deny his friend’s suspicions with all the vehemence he could muster, but Garrett cut him off. “Why else would the lass affect ye so? Why else do ye keep glaring at her as though she’s put a hex on ye? Why else do ye interfere with her life?”
Too thunderstruck to think straight, Finn gawked at his friend. “What?” was all he could manage.
“Last year,” Garret supplied helpfully, his gaze narrowed as he watched Finn with a Cormag-like intensity, “ye told that fellow from Clan MacKinnear…what was his name?…Hamish, aye…ye told Hamish MacKinnear that the lass was promised. Why did ye do that when ye knew full well that it wasna true? Ye didna like the way he kept looking at her. Ye didna like it one bit. The glower ye always have about ye when she’s near was never as dark as then. Admit it, ye care for her.”
Overwhelmed at having all this pulled out into the open, Finn retreated a few paces when Ian drew near and reached for another log. Again, he glared at them before ploughing on through the snow to the next cottage while Cormag led the horse and cart a bit farther down the road.
“So, ‘tis true then?” Garrett asked, a bit of a smug smile on his face as he stepped up to Finn. “Ye care for her? If that is so, why do ye wish to leave?”
“I never said I cared for her,” Finn hissed under his breath as his hands curled
