She had done it for him. Sorcha had wageredher future against inconceivable odds … for him. And she had doneit from the beginning when she had opened the door to her car andto her life for him back in Spokane. Not for the pity she hadclaimed she had for him. Not because it was the right thing todo.
She had done it for the one reason she hadyet to voice.
Because she loved him.
Her sacrifice was born from love. The samelove that burned within him and demanded that he sacrifice the samefor her. That he give up all for the promise of her future. It waswhat had driven Hugh all this time. He loved her. Hugh rubbed atthe poignant ache spreading across his chest. “Nae, I cannae gowi’out her.”
Danny groaned loudly. “God, I never thoughtI’d ever meet anyone more stubborn than my sister. I cannot imaginehow you two managed to get along at all.”
For some reason, that summoned a ghost of asmile to Hugh’s lips. Aye, it was what made things interesting,that constant battle between the swagger and chest beating of thepast and the self-reliance and independence of the future. Still …“Would ye hae her ruin her life, Danny? For me?”
“Would you stop her from saving what lifeshe has left?” Danny countered. “I’m not saying this is thesmartest move on her part, but if this is the only possible way tostop them from hounding Claire for the rest of her life, would youtake it away from her?”
Hugh’s heart clenched at the lad’sreasoning, turning what Hugh knew with certainty was an act of loveinto a selfish one, implying that Sorcha had acted in her ownself-interest. That she had done it to save only herself.
No, Sorcha had taken on a role that fewwomen he had ever known would have considered in endeavoring to bethe heroine of their particular story, and—though it wounded hismale vanity not to act, though his inherent masculinity demandedthat he hasten to her rescue—Hugh was unexpectedly proud of herbravado. “Nae, Danny. I’m nae so petty as tae ruin her life for thesake of my pride.”
“Then respect her decision. Don’t make it aworthless effort.”
Which Hugh knew translated to “let her go”and never see her again.
His heart slowed, thuddinghard against his ribs as his blood roared in his ears, and a littleof him died inside at the thought of yet anothernever to bear … thisnever considerably more heartrending than the other.
The city outside the windows was a loomingmonstrosity of glass and metal draped in a dark haze that seemed todiffuse the rays of the sun. The whole of it was bleak and cold.Unwelcoming.
Was this what Edinburgh had become as well?Glasgow? Even Inverness? A metallic nightmare hung with a graymiasma of misery? Hugh had been anticipating a return to hishomeland, picturing the lonely moors and deserted beaches. Would henot even have that to comfort him in the years to come? The verythought brought the bitter tang of bile to the back of his throat,and Hugh swallowed it back. It served no purpose to wish and hopeand long for things to be different; that sour lesson had beengrudgingly absorbed these past weeks and months. He might beat hischest and howl at the moon, cursing Fate and God, withoutexpectation for this future to change once more. Regrets werenaught but wasted time, but they stirred in him anyway, compoundingthe painful ache that lingered in his heart.
And then there was Sorcha. A balm to hissoul, Hugh had called her and thanked God again for providing thatone consolation to banish the gloom. When he had thought he wouldhave her by his side in the days ahead, he had not dreaded thefuture so. Where Sorcha was, there would always be light, but hewould dwell in darkness forever for one last kiss.
“I cannae dothat.”
“’Course you can,” Dannysaid. “What is it the Brits always say? Keep calm and carryon?”
“Nae, Danny, I cannae leave her. Sacrificeor nae, I cannae,” Hugh said, for there suddenly seemed nosacrifice greater than leaving her behind. “Ye will take me taeher.”
But Danny was already shaking his head. “Noway. Claire would kill me if I did.”
“And I might if ye dinnae.”
“Sorry, man, I’m more afraid of her than Iam of you.”
The response prompted an inward smile, butHugh still glowered darkly at Danny. “Do ye think that’s wise?”
“If you have to ask that, you must not havesisters,” the lad said in a dire tone that did provoke a silentchuckle from Hugh. Aye, he did have sisters, more than enough ofthem—all older than he—to appreciate Danny’s reluctance. “Deathwould be cleaner than getting on her bad side. Like when Matt cameto pick her up for prom dressed in a tux—I mean, it was like theirsecond date—and I kept asking if he was going to marry my sister. Iran for my life, man.”
Hugh couldn’t stifle a smile then. “Yet yecontinually provoke her.”
Danny shrugged. “I have to. She’s my bigsister. What a paradox, huh?”
“Aye, and another paradox would be myrefusal tae do the one thing I know I hae tae,” Hugh rejoined. “Iwillnae leave until I hae assured myself that she is safe.”
“Crazy, stupid, stubborn people,” Dannymuttered under his breath as he carried his cereal bowl over to hisworkstation. “This is exactly why I like computers better thanhumans. You’re being completely irrational.”
“Then I believe that is what it must meantae be in love,” Hugh said softly, his brogue so thick with emotionthat he wouldn’t have been surprised if Danny didn’t understand himat all.
But the lad must have, because he sworeunder his breath with great detail before falling silent, his browfurrowed. “How about a compromise, then?”
Never in all his years as Duke of Ross hadHugh ever forsaken his own will for that of another as often as hehad so recently. There might have been a lesson there that nobilitydid not necessarily beget governance, and as much as Hugh loathedthe insult of bowing to another’s dictate, he was discovering thatthe legacy of manly dominion passed to him by his ancestors
