God, she’d missed that accent. The man could read the phone book and she would never get tired of listening to him.

‘What’s three hours or so?’ he dismissed.

‘I took the hire car back. I don’t have a car anymore,’ she said, realising he was once again using her own words to make his case.

‘I do,’ he countered.

‘You have a farm to run,’ she pointed out.

‘I also have new employees.’ He shrugged.

‘Did you come prepared with arguments for everything?’

‘Absolutely. What kind of solicitor would I be if I wasn’t prepared to defend my case?’

Her smile turned serious. ‘What happens if, after six months I decide to go back to Australia?’ It hurt enough to say goodbye last time after only a handful of days, she couldn’t imagine how painful it would be after that long.

‘Elle, I’m planning on making sure that by that time you’ve fallen so madly in love with me you won’t be able to say goodbye,’ he said simply, but his eyes held a probing, almost pleading look that managed to crumble the last of the barrier she’d hastily tried to build around her heart.

‘It’s too late,’ she said and saw the hope in his eyes start to fade, before reaching up to place her free hand on the side of his face. ‘I’m already madly in love with you.’

She saw his throat work briefly, and his eyes darken with a look so full of tenderness that her own eyes stung with the fresh sheen of tears. When his lips took hers, she felt all the broken little pieces inside her begin to repair themselves as the missing parts came back together.

EPILOGUE

Epilogue

Long ago in the Highlands of Scotland, a girl from the clan MacCoinnich and Stormeil Castle fell in love with a boy of Clan MacColuim and Tàileach Castle. Their deaths would end a bitter war and reunite their clans. But their love … oh my darling, their love would transcend time.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Acknowledgements

Jaki Gardner, John Scrudis, Rosie Robertson, Jade from Jez Art for her insightful help with all things arty. Morven Steen and her mum in Scotland, Anne Lane, Joyce Campbell. A big thank you to Ilana and Sylvia from the Haunted Palace blog for their help creating the family legend of Iona and Gavan, and the MacLeod Estate team at Dunvegan Castle.

Like Elle and Gran, I also have a long-term love affair with Outlander. I read this book over twenty years ago and I’m pretty sure it was the fire that lit my desire to start seriously writing after years of dabbling. Jamie is the man that has shaped every male hero I write—there aren’t any redheaded Scottish warriors from 1743 in my books, but his core values and his ability to love so wholeheartedly stuck with me long after I read that first book.