Enraptured (44 page)

“I want to be with you, too.” Violet moved closer, bringing their linked hands up to her chest and cradling them to her.

“I'm glad.” His blue eyes warmed. “I know you dinna want to marry me.”

“Coll, I—”

“No, wait, let me finish. I'm not asking you to. But I want . . . more than this. I want to be with you in every way. To live with you. I want to sleep with you in the same bed and wake up with you in the morning. I know you dinna belong to me. But I need to belong to you.”

“Coll!” She drew in a sharp breath, and tears glimmered in her eyes.

Seeing them, Coll rushed on. “I have no interest in ruling you. I dinna want to own you or have rights over you. But I do want—I want very badly—to have the right to be with you. I hope that I can give you what you want, be what you want in a man. But I must be what I can respect as well. I love you. I love you more than anyone or anything in this world. I want to say so before the world. I want to pledge myself to you, to commit myself to you and to our children, to give you my vow that I will be with you always, loving no one but you. I want to join my life to yours.”

She squeezed his hands, swallowing hard, love rushing up in her so fast and strong she could hardly breathe.

“And I'm asking you to pledge yourself to me, as well. I want to know if you feel the same. If you will give yourself to me as I give myself to you. Not for the law or other people or the church or anything else. Just for the two of us.”

Tears ran down Violet's cheeks. She was so filled with emotion that she could not talk, could not think, could only let the tears spill over in crystal drops.

“Nae, love, please . . . dinna cry.” Coll smoothed his thumbs across her cheeks. “I dinna want to make you sad.”

“I'm not. I'm not sad. Really. Oh, Coll, I cannot speak!”

“Now there's a wonder.” He smiled and pressed his lips
to her forehead. “There is a ceremony they used to do here: a handfast.”

“I know.” Violet nodded. “We talked about it once, when I first saw the stones.”

“That is what I am asking you to do. To pledge ourselves to each other at the Troth Stone, as they used to.”

“Oh, Coll.” Violet pressed her fingers against her lips. She began to cry in earnest.

“I've upset you. Dinna fear.” He brushed his hand over her hair, his face etched in sorrow. “I will not push you.”

“No! Oh, no, Coll, I am not crying because I don't want to do it. I'm—I'm just so very happy!” Violet threw her arms around him and clung to him.

“Happy?” His arms curved around her, and he leaned his head down to hers. “I don't understand.”

“I don't either!” She sniffed, wiping at her cheeks, and smiled, going up on tiptoe to kiss him. “I love you.” She smattered kisses all over his face as she rattled on breathlessly. “There in the tomb, when you held me, I knew that none of those things mattered. All that mattered was that I love you. I can't separate myself from you; you have my heart. I am yours. I want to be yours. And you are mine,” she added fiercely. “All the time you were gone, I was working out what to say, how to tell you I would marry you. In a church or at the Troth Stone, I don't care. Whatever you want.”

“Oh, Violet, my love, my love.” Coll laughed and squeezed her to him. “All I want is your love.”

“That you already have. I pledge myself to you, forever and always.”

“And I to you.” He bent to kiss her. “Forever and always.”

T
hey were joined the next
month at the Troth Stone, when Coll's sister and the earl had returned to Duncally. With Isobel and Jack on one side and Meg and Damon on the other, Violet and Coll stood and clasped hands through the ancient stone and spoke their vows in sure, firm tones.

People came from all over the glen for a celebration afterward at Duncally, to join in the dancing and laughter and joy. Alan McGee played for them, and Coll was persuaded to sing a song to his bride. For that he earned a kiss from Violet. Old Angus insisted on a dance with her.

Meg, glowing and more beautiful than ever, stood with Coll and watched as the crusty old man circled the floor with Violet.

“Who would have thought it would happen like this?” Meg sent her brother a sparkling glance. “That I, the wicked woman of the glen who vowed never to marry, would marry
my love all prim and proper in a church—and you would be the one to live handfast.”

“Och, I've always been the wild one, Meg.” Coll grinned, his eyes going back to Violet. “It just took the right woman to let me be what I am.”

The party was still in full swing when Coll took Violet's hand and whisked her unnoticed out a side door.

“Coll . . . we cannot just leave,” Violet protested, laughing. “Surely we should say good-bye.”

“Nae, it's the only way. Otherwise, they'll carry us over to the house and plague us to death. You dinna want to see it.” He curled his arm around her shoulders, and they strolled to the gatehouse, too happy, too full of love, to mind the cold.

At the door, Coll swept Violet up in his arms and carried her over the threshold. “There's our luck for life.” He closed the door and lowered the bar. “And that will hold them all at bay.”

“And now?” Violet smiled up at him, linking her arms around his neck.

“Ah, now . . . now we have each other. It's all I want.” He bent to kiss her. “
Mo cuishle
.”

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