Ian looked at the sky. “’Tis nae long till the morn. I hurried, dinna want to miss my chance.”
“How are yer wounds?” Craig said.
“I’ll live. If the MacDougall is going to be there, ’tis my chance to get revenge for what he did to me.”
The three Cambels exchanged a look. This battle meant everything to the clan. Owen could pull it off. If only he could keep his heart and cock under control, and stay away from the first woman to make him feel alive.
Chapter 27
The next day…
* * *
Amber watched the courtyard where Owen barked instructions at the men training. His affable expression and easy half smile were gone, replaced by the determined frown of a man who knew what he wanted and was going for it. He walked straighter, and he seemed bigger, as though he’d gained muscle since she’d seen him yesterday at the Bruce’s council.
The gracefulness of his body was the same—the way he swung the sword, the way he ducked and lurched and evaded blows like a predator on a hunt. Collected. In control. Deadly.
She was relieved that the Bruce had let her go after yesterday. The fact she’d stood up for herself and defended her position in front of the most powerful man in Scotland showed she’d changed, too. Owen still had her back and was ready to vouch for her and potentially lose everything he’d been fighting for, and that was life changing for her.
It was magical.
And it had hit her right in the heart.
The world had stopped. The universe consisted of him alone. That handsome, strong, and brave Highlander with the kindest heart and the most beautiful body she’d ever seen. The man who’d stood by her side more times than anyone in her life back in the twenty-first century.
Electricity crackled over her skin just from looking at him. This man had more courage in one drop of his blood than she did in her whole body, despite fighting in a war for years.
The man she loved.
Yes, she loved him. The thought hit her, and she went still as she struggled to take it in. It was like a small, personal sun had been born in her chest and radiated warmth and light into every cell of her body. Like she’d lived in darkness her whole life, and for the first time she’d came out into the light.
She’d finally found what was missing in her life.
Him.
Everything she was screamed that she loved him.
She wanted to tell him. He should know. She wanted him to know.
For the first time in her life, she wanted to be vulnerable and open and tell him. Even if he might not want to hear it. Amber marched towards him, determined. She wouldn’t be stopped.
She’d make him listen to her.
“Owen!” she said as she walked through the muddy courtyard. Men glanced at her. Servants stared. Only Owen didn’t react. “Owen!”
She came to stand by him and took him by the biceps, making him turn to her. His mouth tight, he glared at her, making her stomach drop. Was she completely wrong about him? Wrong about the fact he might have some feelings for her, too?
No, she reminded herself. Don’t be discouraged. Just tell him how you feel.
“What is it, lass?” he said with annoyance in his tone. The man he was training threw a curious glance at her.
Mind your own goddamn business, she thought.
“Can I talk to you, please?” she said.
Owen looked back at his student, clearly irritated. “Can it wait, Amber?”
She was digging her own grave. But she couldn’t stop. “No.”
Her hand was still on his arm, the touch so pleasant, like licking a spoonful of warm chocolate.
Thunder rumbled somewhere in the distance. The sky darkened. A cold gush of wind played with Owen’s hair. It was wet from exercise, but not in a yucky way. In a sexy, masculine, please-take-a-shower-with-me way. She itched to tuck the strand behind his ear and reveal his handsome eyes the color of spring moss.
“Aye.” He turned to the training men. “Lads, continue till the rain starts.”
He reached out and gently removed Amber’s hand from his biceps, making her gut churn.
Not good. Oh man. She was doomed, wasn’t she?
He gestured towards the donjon. He was so cold, so distant, as though they hadn’t lived through life-and-death situations together, hadn’t kissed and told each other about the worst things that had ever happened to them.
She had a really bad feeling about this.
They walked through the courtyard into the tower. There was a storage room on the ground floor, with crates and sacks and barrels. The only light came from three torches on the walls. They stood facing each other.
Two strangers.
A maid came down the stairs. Oh God. Was Amber really going to pour her heart out to him while people were walking around?
“Can we talk somewhere private, please? In your room?”
“’Tis nae proper, Amber. We’re nae marrit. Ye canna be with me alone in a bedchamber.”
Amber snickered. “First of all, you and I have been in much more compromising situations alone. There’s not much you haven’t seen, or that I haven’t.”
Owen’s eyes burned, and his jaw muscle flexed. Finally, some sort of reaction.
“Second of all, I don’t care about my reputation. I’m no virgin, and I have no intention of getting married or whatever it is you guys save your women’s reputations for.”
Owen’s face gained an intensity she hadn’t seen before.
“I just can’t talk to you while people are walking around like this. Please.”
“Aye.”
They climbed up the stairs to Owen’s room, where Amber had been sleeping since they’d arrived at the castle. When they came in, the wind howled and sent a cold rush of air through the single window. It slammed the shutters closed. Another roll of thunder passed through the sky, and the lightning flashed through the slits in the shutters.
Owen looked around. “’Tis dark. I’ll build up the fire.”
He came to the fireplace and put wood in it, blowing on the dying embers. Amber’s hands shook. How could she tell him? Did it even matter? God, was there a way to tell him that wouldn’t result in him rejecting her?
“Owen?” she said.
“Hmm?” He took a poker and stirred the wood. Sparkles flew from the embers. The fire kindled and began burning brightly.
Be brave. Be strong.
“Please, look at me,” Amber said.
Owen sighed and stood to face her, but he didn’t come closer.
Could she say it? Just blurt it out.
Her heart beat against her ribs like a fist, and she rubbed her sweaty and shaky palms against her dress. She was drenched in sweat.
“I…” She took a step towards him and locked eyes with him. His were so indifferent, as if he were looking at a tree instead of her.
“I’m thinking I’d like to build clocks. I repaired one with my mom when I was a teenager, and I enjoy engineering. And it drives me nuts that I don’t know what time it is. So as soon as I know you’re safe after the battle, I’ll leave. Get hired somewhere as apprentice. Go from there.”
He nodded, his face still a stone mask. Only the shadows of sadness appeared in his eyes. “Good. ’Tis a useful craft, Amber. I understand for a woman from the future it might seem normal, but I dinna ken if a man will agree to hire a woman as an apprentice. Besides, ye’ll need to go to a big city for that, or a monastery. Clocks are a rare treasure.”