The Viper Read online

  “You didn’t act alone, Lachlan. I should never have done what I did.” Her cheeks flushed in the darkness. “It was wrong of me to try to persuade you that way. I didn’t give you a choice to push me away; I wanted to make you weak.” He felt her eyes on his face, as if she could dig the truth out of him. “But I don’t understand. If you love me, why did you refuse to help me?”

  He knew he had to tell her all of it. “You know I have some debts?” She nodded. “Some of the money is for the families of the men who died for me that day.”

  She gasped. Her eyes locked on his. “How much of it?”

  He shrugged uncomfortably. “They had large families.”

  “My God, you’ve been supporting all those people for ten years?”

  His jaw locked. “It’s not enough.” It would never be enough.

  “Why didn’t you tell me? How could you let me think you didn’t care about your duty to your clan? How could you let me make all those accusations?”

  “Because I didn’t want you looking at me the way you are now. I’m not a bloody saint, but I pay my debts.”

  Her eyes widened with horror as she realized all the ramifications. “Oh God, Lachlan, I’m sorry. I swear to you I will find a way to make sure you get your money. If Robert won’t … Somehow, I’ll repay you.”

  He stiffened. “It’s my debt, Bella, not yours. I don’t want your money. I’ll find a way.”

  “But—”

  He stopped her with a finger over her mouth. “No.”

  Her lips pursed. “Do you always have to be so stubborn?”

  He lifted a brow. “Do you?”

  Their eyes met and her frown dissolved into a wry grin. “It would be much easier between us if we weren’t.”

  “Aye, but I wouldn’t want you any other way.”

  The broad smile that lit her face warmed his heart. “You wouldn’t?”

  He shook his head. “That stubborn pride makes you strong. It helped you survive. It brought you back to me.” He squeezed her harder against him. “I should have protected you.”

  “You did as much as was humanly possible. But no man is invincible—not even you. We were betrayed; there is nothing you or anyone could have done about that.”

  He started to argue, but this time it was she who put a finger to his mouth. “There are no one’s hands I would rather put my life into, Lachlan. No one. I, too, wouldn’t want you any other way.”

  He cocked a brow in silent challenge.

  She bit her lip, trying not to laugh. “All right, maybe without the crude language.”

  He winced, recalling some of his more choice offerings. “I’m sorry about the things I said. I didn’t mean them.”

  “I know.”

  “But they still hurt.”

  She nodded, eyes solemn. “A lot.”

  He squeezed her tighter against him, pressing his mouth against the soft silk of her hair. “I’m an arse.”

  Her mouth quirked; she shot him a sidelong glance. “You’re starting to repeat yourself.”

  He smiled. That he had. Sobering, he took her chin once more between his thumb and finger and tilted her face to his. She was so damned beautiful. His heart seemed to have forgotten how to beat. “Have I convinced you?”

  He sounded so hopeful, so eager for this to be over, that if it weren’t so serious she would have laughed.

  Was it possible he loved her? She desperately wanted to believe him. Looking at him it was hard not to. He looked so vulnerable, so uncertain. Two things she’d never thought to see on his face.

  But years of disappointment made it hard for her to trust—especially with something as fragile as her heart.

  Could she let herself love him?

  She felt her heart swell in her chest as she gazed into his eyes, and she knew the answer. What a foolish question! As if she could control her heart. Love happened whether she wanted it to or not.

  Of course she loved him. This man who appeared so hard and uncaring on the outside but on the inside was filled with unexpected depths and contradictions. He was a man who’d bellow at her one minute and wrap a plaid around her the next. Who’d walked away from his clan but had done so out of a fierce sense of duty. A mercenary who’d sold his sword to the highest bidder to care for his clansmen. A man who exuded virility but had punished himself with celibacy for ten years. A man who’d claimed his friends meant nothing to him but would race into a burning building before he’d leave one of them die. A man who’d sacrifice everything he’d worked for to help her.

  She’d loved him for a long time. She just thought she could protect herself by not admitting the truth.

  A bubble of joy spread through her, putting a wide smile on her face. “Not quite yet, I’m afraid.”

  His face fell. He looked so crestfallen, this time she did laugh.

  He frowned. “I’m glad you find this so amusing.”

  “Oh, I do.” She grinned.

  “I don’t know what else to say, Bella. I seem to have exhausted my meager supply of love words.”

  She supposed she should be done torturing him, although she had to admit it was fun watching him wriggle and wince with each word like a lad in church clothes. Clearly, talking about his feelings didn’t exactly come naturally to him.

  She reached up and put her hand on his face, feeling the warmth seep through her.

  “Perhaps you’d better show me, then,” she said softly.

  His eyes raked her face, as if he didn’t quite trust his ears—or his interpretation. “Are you sure?”

  She nodded, feeling suddenly shy. “I love you, too.”

  A fierce expression hardened his face. “You don’t have to say that.”

  She smiled. “I know. But it’s the truth.” She paused. “I’ve loved you for a long time, but didn’t want to acknowledge it because I was scared you would never love me back. And then when I thought you’d betrayed me …” Her voice drifted off.

  He stroked her cheek with the side of his finger. “I’m sorry, love.”

  She shook her head. “It’s in the past. All that matters is what we do from here. You’re a hard man to love, Lachlan MacRuairi, but I do believe I’m up to the challenge.”

  “We’ll probably argue.”

  “Aye, it seems likely.”

  “I have a bit of a temper when I get angry.”

  “I’ve noticed,” she said wryly.

  “I can be a mean bastard. I’ll probably say something to hurt you.”

  She laughed. “Are you trying to scare me off?”

  He gave her a rueful smile. “Maybe.”

  “Well, stop—it isn’t going to work. I’m quite aware of your faults.”

  He frowned. “I didn’t say they were faults.”

  She laughed, reaching up to twist the lock of dark hair that had fallen across his forehead around her finger. He was so heartbreakingly handsome, could she ever tire of looking at him? Their eyes met, and all jesting fell to the wayside. Suddenly, the air fired between them.

  “I thought you were going to try to convince me,” she said huskily.

  He leaned down and kissed her, answering her command with the soft brush of his mouth. A kiss so tender and sweet it took her breath away.

  He tore his mouth away with a pained groan. “I don’t know what to do. I’ve never done this before.”

  She would have teased him, but she could see how much this meant to him. He wanted to get it right.

  “Neither have I,” she said softly. Like him, she knew lust, but not love—not tenderness.

  Maybe if she had, her marriage might have been different. Her feelings for Lachlan had given her better perspective on her past and helped her to feel that she could put it behind her, where it belonged. Buchan seemed less the cruel monster of her memories, and more a man to be pitied. He’d wanted her so badly it had become an obsession. Looking back, she could see all the little places her marriage had gone wrong. He’d wanted her to respond, and her defiance only made