Page 97 of The Iron Earl

“Heaven to hell, I wasn’t too late. I wasn’t too late.” He gasped the words into her hair.

She managed to turn her face to him, her mouth next to his ear. “Lach—you were nowhere near late.”

He nodded, his face burying back into her hair. Another shudder rolled through his body, shaking him from head to toe. “I couldn’t be late. Not again. I couldn’t lose you.”

“You weren’t. You made it.” She wedged her hands upward, her hands clasping onto his face as she lifted herself enough to hover over him. “But how—how did you find me? After the note he made me write.”

Lachlan’s lip curled, his head shaking. He had to draw a deep breath to steady the frenzy that had taken over his body. “The note. That idiot Molson sent to Vinehill with the note. He broke. He broke easy. Told us exactly where you’d been and where Molson was headed with you.”

Her heart stilled. “You didn’t believe it? The note?”

His bottom lip pushed up in a frown. “Of course I didn’t believe it, Eva. I’m not an imbecile. You may drive me to madness at times, but I’m not stupid enough to believe a half-scrawled note on crumpled paper as the end of us.”

Her head dipped down, her brow landing on his chin as she exhaled, relief filling her chest. Several deep breaths passed, the sound of the churning water below filling the air. Her look popped up. “And I need to thank you.”

“For?”

“For reminding me not to make stupid choices?”

His eyebrows arched.

“I make stupid choices when I’m trapped and you reminded of that.”

“You were going to jump, weren’t you?”

“I was.” She shook her head. “I couldn’t think and it was death. You made me think.”

“And you reminded me not to let blind rage get the better of me and saved me from sending us all over the edge. Not to mention you saved me from that bullet.” He kissed her forehead.

“But hell, Eva.” His fingers tangled in the back of her hair tightened to her head as his eyes closed for a long moment. His look pained, it took seconds for him to crack his eyes open to her. “I cannot lose you. Don’t ever do that to me again.”

“Be coerced to leave you?” Her fingers alongside his face ran upward, diving into his brown hair, her palms along his temples. “He threatened to kill them, Lach—kill the children—I had to leave. I had to write the note.”

“I know. But blast it, Eva.” His eyes opened fully, his look piercing hers. “Those days without you—without knowing where you were, what was happening to you. It was utter madness.” He paused, swallowing hard, his head shaking. “I love you, Eva. More than my own life. More than any man has a right to love.”

Her breath caught in her throat. His words—so raw, so vehement—surged into her heart and sent a pang across her chest. “You…”

“Yes. I love you, Eva.” He said the words with such simple conviction, the depth of feeling behind it vibrated his chest under her.

“Lachlan, you’re not weak. I need you to know that. I never truly thought it of you. I was stupid and I said those things when I didn’t believe any of them and I—”

His fingers untangled from her hair and went to her lips, silencing her words. “I know. I know what you were doing. I knew it five steps from the stable. But I was going to let you stew in it—stew in your words for hours. When what I should have done was storm back in there and make you see reality.”

“Reality?”

“That you love me. But more than that, you trust me.”

Her eyes widening, she smiled. “I do love you. And it is something that I never thought I could do, but I trust you. I trust you with everything I am.”

“Lach.” Domnall’s voice cut into the thick air around them.

Both of their heads turned to Domnall standing at the end of the bridge.

“We should move. We dragged the other two bodies to the river and set them into the current. But we don’t need to be seen in the area.”

“And Molson?”

“We looked, but these waters are angry—they won’t give him up for days.”