“He’s dead,” she answered. “It’s over. Jamie came with some guards to take his body out and your chamber was cleaned.”
Jack’s shoulders slumped with relief, but his heart did not ease. His cousin… the last family he had… was his enemy all along and he had missed it.
Could he ever forgive himself? Especially after losing Elliot?
Isla moved closer and hugged him. He let himself enjoy her embrace while his turmoiled thoughts ran free.
“I am so glad you are safe,” she whispered as she tightened her grip around his neck and dragged in a shaky breath.
“Why did ye return?” he asked when he finally pulled back from her and stared into her eyes.
He used his thumb to wipe her cheeks, and she sighed before responding. “I could not leave, Jack… not when my heart is here. I found the gypsy and she told me that the door I searched for was beneath the caves of your Castle, so I had to return here… I found out about Elliot’s death after I arrived, and then while I was in the caves, I overheard some guards talking about killing you tonight—
“I had to come back.”
He framed her cheeks with both hands and stared deep into her eyes as she spoke. “I had to come back because I love you, Jack, and I never want to be anywhere else but at your side.”
Her words made him blink. His heart had been melting inside him since he woke up and saw her, but her confession left him breathless, and in that second, his own words failed him.
“I love you, Jack,” she repeated. “I am solely and utterly in love with you, and I… I wanted you to know that. I could not return to my time knowing that you would be hurt. I would never be at peace that way.”
Jack kissed her as his response. He couldn’t say anything because his throat was too tight, but he needed to feel her lips on his and enjoy her taste first.
When he withdrew, they were both breathless and he couldn’t think of anything else to say to her than what he was feeling.
“I love ye too, Isla… I wanted to tell ye that, but I feared that if I said the words then I would beg ye to stay and ye would remain unhappy here.”
“I could never be unhappy here… not when I am with you,” she replied and moved closer to him on the bed. She put her hand on his chest and lowered her lashes until her gaze dropped to his lips and made his insides tingle.
“I feared that ye would be, so I could never tell ye how much I loved ye… I couldnae keep ye here against yer wish.”
“I want to be here,” she quickly added, and a smile tugged the corner of her lips open. “I want to spend my life here with you, Jack.”
Isla took his hand and put it on her chest. “My heart now beats for you, Jack, so nothing else matters.” Her touch was as tender as ever, and the warmth from her skin warmed his.
“Ye will stay?” he asked, his voice a light whisper. When she nodded, he added. “I love ye, Isla, and I will always love ye.”
They shared another passionate kiss to seal their professions of love, and it made Jack feel at peace in that moment. Everything else would fall in place, he was certain of it.
Now that his shadow enemy was dead, Jack had a lot to work to do. He planned to find every man and woman loyal to Aideen and make sure they paid for what they did to his brother, and his people.
Whatever happened next, he had Isla by his side and that mattered to him more than anything else. He never expected to fall in love, but here he was, completely in love with the strange woman he had saved months ago.
Nothing else mattered in that moment but their passion, and Jack hoped it would last a lifetime.
38
Jack recovered quickly over the next few days, but nothing was the same in his Castle after the incident with Aideen in his chamber.
Jamie gathered every guard in their Clan and while they displayed Aideen’s body for all to see, he had announced his intentions to hunt and kill every man who had supported Aideen’s schemes to kill Jack and take over the Lairdship.
“Jamie’s measures are drastic,” Jack said to Isla as they strolled the garden. Three days had passed since Jamie threatened the guards and every servant in the Clan and Jack was still grieving, not only from losing his brother but from losing his cousin… the one person he had thought he could trust.
Jack’s blind trust in Aideen was earned because they had grown together. Aideen had saved his life numerous times in battle, and he had done the same. Thinking back to the past now, he realized it was possible Aideen did everything he did back then just so Jack could trust him and let his guard down.
Never again, he swore as he nursed the hurt of his cousin’s costly betrayal. It had cost Jack his brother, and many innocent lives. He did not think he could ever forget or forgive Aideen for what he did.
Ever.