“It is nothin’ of the sort,” Isla answered as she rose to her feet and faced him. She had her hair loose tonight because she wanted to feel more like her old self since she was returnin’ soon, but seeing Jack now made her heart tingle and that was nothing like how the old Isla felt.
He walked around and took the empty chair beside hers. Isla sat again and crossed her fingers on her lap.
“I have recovered from a near-death experience, and I have wished to sit with ye like this and yet I havenae got the chance because my Clansmen always want my attention.”
Isla looked at him and the light breeze in the night’s sky picked up tendrils of her hair. Jack brushed them away before she could, and the feel of his fingers on her skin created a whole new wave of tension inside her.
Their eyes met, hers slowly drifted to his lips, and she shivered inside.
“I am glad that ye are all right,” she told him before she looked away.
Jack didn’t let her cast her gaze aside completely. He put a finger on her chin and tilted her head back to his. “Stay with me, Isla,” he suddenly said as he leaned closer to her. “I need ye to stay here with me.”
His finger caressed her chin, then moved to her lower lip and teased it. Isla wanted more than anything to give in to his request.
I would give anything to be with him, but I cannot let him suffer for that choice.
“I want ye here with me. These past months with ye have been my happiest and… I dinnae want to exist without ye here. We can be happy here together; we can have a life and—”
“It is an impossible fate, Jack,” she whispered to him, trying to be strong even though the words broke her heart. “Even if I wanted to stay here, it will only cause doom for yer Clan. The Calloways will not rest until they make you marry the woman they have proposed to you.”
“I dinnae care about that.”
“But you do,” she corrected. “All you have ever done is for your Clan, Jack. You have loved them, you have sacrificed for them, you have been wounded for them. If I stay and we wed, then you will lose a lot. If you give out that much gold to the Calloways, then you will lose a lot.
“We have found the treasure of Ardenhill. Gold buried in the caves beneath the Castle, but it takes a good leader to manage such wealth. If the Calloways get too strong, they will covet what you have… if they do then the threat of war looms.”
“You cannot afford another war. Not when your Clan just recovered from the devastation of the past.”
“Is this what happens in yer history books?” he asked as he took his finger off her lips. “War breaks out and it scares ye so?”
Isla swallowed. She needed to make him see why she couldn’t stay. It was the only way out for both. After a deep sigh, she took his hands and tightened her grip on him. “I lied to you once, Jack,” she began.
Jack’s brows furrowed, and his gaze searched hers. “In history, you do not live long enough to father your own children and make heirs. If war breaks, then you will die in the war, and that will be the end of your reign. The Lairdship passes to your cousin after that. I do not want that to be your fate.”
“I do not want that to happen, Jack. I will not be happy here if I know that’s how it ends. We can avert this and save your Clan that you love so much.”
“Isla—”
Her voice strained further as she continued, trying to convince him that she was making the right choice regardless of what they were both feeling.
Isla could barely hear herself. “I must return to my own family too, Jack. My friends must have searched for me for months and my Estate will be unattended. I do not know what has happened in my time… I cannot stay here forever and leave behind those who care for me because of my own selfishness. If there is anything I have learned here, it is that loving others is what makes us human.”
“I never appreciated those who cared for me after my parents’ death because I was too lost in my own sadness. Not anymore—”
Isla’s heart broke as she said the words to him. She fought the tears and the tightness in her throat. This was not the time to be weak. She was making a sacrifice for love, and it was ironic because she had never believed such emotion existed.
Jack’s tormented gaze held onto hers for a long time and the pained look in his eyes tugged at her heart more. Isla shunned the feelings as they crept into her, and she fought the urge to cry that overshadowed every other feeling
You must strong to make the right choice for both your sakes.
“Then we must leave for Birlet Shallows in two days. The fair starts by the week’s end. Once we get there we will need to find the gypsy and make her tell us what we need to do.”
She nodded as she held onto his hand, and Jack switched it, so his larger palms covered hers. “I willnae forget ye, Isla, or all that ye did for me. I willnae forget ye because I love ye.”
I love you too,she wanted to say, but she couldn’t. If she admitted her feelings now then she would never be able to follow through with her plan.
I must do this.Isla convinced herself of what she must do and tried to stay strong.