Lion of Caledonia(107)

“Explain?” he roared right into her face. “Explain to the lad that ye didn’t mean any of it? That ye didn’t love him like he loved ye?”

“I love him, Cam.” Jen uncurled her fist and laid a hand on his heaving chest. Her pride was nothing compared to what she’d done to this man and his son. Coming into his home and stealing had been bad enough. Still, from the rage in his eyes, she’d stolen his son’s heart, too, if not his own. “I’ll come and visit him anytime you want me to.”

“Visit?” He shook her, then let her go as if the touch of her contaminated him. Turning, he glared at her garden. “Ye think I’ll let ye near Rob again?”

Tears clogged her throat, but she pushed them down. “I’ll do anything you want me to do.”

“Anything, eh?” He turned to look at her, his gaze now dull and glazed. “Then tell me.”

“Anything,” she whispered.

“Tell me if any of it was real.”



She was so pretty, his Jenny. Not average at all.

How could he have forgotten the way the sunlight played in her hair, bringing the gold and honey strands to life? How could he have lost the memory of her misty-grey eyes welling with every one of her emotions? How could he have ever thought the reason he’d come to bloody England had been about yelling at her for taking a bloody ring?

His being here had nothing to do with the ring.

Not one little bit.

His question, a question he couldn’t contain inside himself anymore, seemed to have stunned her. His Jenny stepped back.

She’s not yours, dobber.

Cam clenched his jaw. “So none of it was, I take it.”

“I just told you.” She wrapped her arms around her, as if trying to protect herself from him. “I love your son.”

Kicking a piece of turf, he wished he could kick his son to hell and back. Not that the boy deserved it. His Rob had managed to gain Jenny’s heart, but not him, apparently.

That wasn’t Rob’s fault.

Then, with a blast, the memory returned. In his rage and pain during the last week, he’d forgotten the conclusions Tre and he had come to after the night of the bonfire. “I did nothing with Amanda,” he blurted.

“What?” A delicate frown creased her brows. Yet her eyes told him everything he needed to know. The mist had turned cool.

“That night of the bonfire.” He met her gaze, willing her to believe. “What ye saw was nothing.”

“Who said I saw anything?” Her tone was nonchalant. The whiteness of her knuckles as she clutched her sides told the real story.

“Ye saw Amanda and me having a chat about my not wanting to have sex with her.” His blunt statement fell between them.

“That’s not what it looked like to me.” The mouse wasn’t prone to feisty, but her words were edged with a close cousin.

“That’s why ye blocked me from your bedroom.” He prowled closer, yearning to grasp her in his arms and sweep her up. However, she’d object. He could see the rejection in the thin line of her mouth. “That’s why ye said no to me that night.”

“I said no because I was leaving the next day.” The grey of her eyes went to cold ice. “I said no because we’d had a bit of fun. That’s all.”

He stopped, his heart cooling to a block of ice. “A bit of fun?”

“Yes.” Her crisp accent cut the word and his hopes to slices.

“That’s what Tre told me you’d said.” He managed a casual shrug, while his heart continued to fall apart. “I told him I couldn’t believe it from ye.”

She glanced away, not meeting his keen gaze.

His heart flipped over and began to beat once more. “I don’t believe it still,” he murmured. “I won’t.”

“It doesn’t matter anymore.” She brushed a clump of dirt from her cotton shirt like she were brushing him out of her life. “I don’t expect anything from you. You live for fun and the next adventure, I know that.”

He kicked the turf again. His old doubts rose inside. Maybe Jenny was right. Maybe he would have done something with Amanda given another chance.

No, ye wouldn’t have.

His heart shot back the answer with a solid thud into his soul.

No, he only wanted this fair lady and no other.

The realization beat and beat and beat into a building chorus. His heart shook, knowing that unlike all the other adventures and all the other women, this time, it mattered. This time he had to win the lady’s hand or he’d die inch by inch inside.

“I wasn’t having a wee bit of fun with ye, Jenny.” He felt as if he yanked his heart out and laid it in front of her. The shiver of fear and wonder shot up his spine. “It was more than that for me.”