Arran squeezed her hand. “Aye,” he said. But he suddenly let go of her hand and sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and bracing his hands on either side of his knees.

Margot sat up. “What’s wrong?”

“The same that’s been wrong for far too long—I donna trust you.”

Margot blinked, surprised. “Surely now you know I had nothing to do with it.”

He shook his head. “You donna understand me. We’ve existed, you and I, these long weeks, aye? You’ve done your best, God knows you have, but now, Margot, now you’re a rich woman in your own right, are you no’? And I’m a Highlander. You might do as you please and I... Diah, to this day, I donna know that it pleases you to live as a Highlander’s wife.”

“But I—”

He stood up and stalked to the window, as if he didn’t want to hear what she would say. He opened the window to the night breeze. “I’ve loved you since the moment I laid eyes on you. You’ve astonished me, you have. You’ve become a woman I never thought you’d be, aye? A Diah, it only makes me love you more. But you are free now, Margot, and I donna trust you to stay true to me.”

Her heart squeezed with trepidation. “Are you... Are you sending me back to England?” she asked disbelievingly.

“England?” He turned from the window and looked at her over his shoulder. “Do you no’ understand me yet?” He suddenly came back to the bed and went down on one knee before her, his hands clasped together on the bed almost as if he was praying. “I’m no’ sending you away, Margot, no—I’m on my knee, begging you no’ to leave me. Never leave me, do you hear me? No man will ever love you as I do. No man will ever honor you as I will all my days.” He groaned and closed his eyes, anguished. “I will always love you, but I’m begging you now to release me as I’ve released you. If you donna mean to remain in Scotland, then donna torment me. I canna live my life fearing that you will go.”

Margot pressed her clasped hands to her mouth. Her heart was racing, and with a silent sob, she leaned over this man and stroked his face. She could see the terror in his eyes—she recognized it because she was feeling the same terror. It had struck her the moment she saw riders approaching—the terror of living a single day without this man. When she had seen them coming, she knew how much she loved him. “I understand,” she said, and Arran’s eyes welled with tears. “But, Arran, my love, you will never love me as much as I love you.”