Everlastin' Book 1 by Mickee Madden Page B

very observant of
you.”
    He fell silent for a time,
watching her attempt to brush back her riotous curls with her
hands. “Watchin' yer mither languish—”
    “Why do you keep harping on
her?”
    “— as you did, I can weel
imagine you no' wantin' to ever be dependent on anyone.”
    Anger returned like
thundering waves. “What are you...a closet
psychiatrist?”
    “I've a reliable sixth
sense.”
    “How nice for you,” she
grumbled.
    “You must have resented
her—”
    “Give it a rest!”
    “— hold on you.”
    Bolting to her feet, Beth
turned to escape the gazebo. Lachlan swiftly went to her, the
fingers of a hand cinching one of her wrists in a vicelike hold. He
jerked her around to face him.
    “She took away yer life
for—”
    “Let me go!”
    “— eight years!”
    “Stop it,
please!”
    Lachlan steeled himself
against the tears misting her eyes. “You wanted to free yerself o’
those emotional shackles.” Beth's struggle to escape him
intensified. “But it was impossible. Right, lass?”
    Gripping her upper arms, he
gave her a shake. “Who told you, you couldna demand a life o’ yer
own? Good God, Beth, no one expected you to sacrifice yer all for the
woman!”
    “She sacrificed for
me!”
    “Adopted you,
aye.”
    “You don't understand
anything!”
    “I do. And tis a weighty
burden to bear.”
    Trembling violently, Beth
stared at him in bewilderment. She didn't want him or anyone else
prying into her business.
    Lachlan sighed as a
semblance of calm befell him. “Guilt is a wicked tool, lass. The
hangman's hands.” He smiled sadly. “Tis a means we use to keep
others in toll.”
    “I don't
understand.”
    “I know you dinna.” He drew
her into his arms and kissed the top of her head. “You've always
been beholden to the couple who chose you. They were good people,
Beth. Kind and lovin'. They gave you the emotional and financial
security you needed.”
    “Yes.”
    “You were there to help yer
mother efter yer father died, and there years later when she was
befallen wi’ illness.” Framing one side of her face with a hand, he
prompted her to look up at him. “But she had no right to take away
those precious years. No right at all.”
    “She was
terrified.”
    “Aye. Tis understandable.
But how could she look at you and no' see wha' the isolation was
doin' to you?”
    “I was all she had,” Beth
murmured, staring unseeingly at his chest.
    “No.”
    “Yes. Within a few months
after she was bedridden, her friends stopped calling and coming
over. What little family was left simply ignored us.”
    “Leavin' you to believe it
was all upon yer shoulders?”
    Beth's dull gaze lifted. “I
don't regret taking care of her.”
    For a long moment, Lachlan
became lost in her eyes. When she started to look away, he brushed
the back of his fingers along her cheek. “Wha' else did she ask o’
you?”
    A gasp escaped her. She
tried to step from his hold, but his hands again anchored her upper
arms.
    “Beth?”
    “I need to lie down for a
while.”
    “Wha' did yer mother ask
tha' still troubles you?”
    “Why are you doing
this?”
    “Some gentle persuasion,
perhaps,” he murmured.
    Anger fueled Beth's
struggles to escape his hold. He was asking the impossible of her,
to reveal something so painful she could hardly think of it, let
alone confide in someone else.
    She freed her right arm.
Planting the palm to his chest, she gave a forceful shove, which
didn't move him at all. One of his hands went to the back of her
head, drawing her closer.
    “No, dammit!”
    But Lachlan wasn't
listening. His heated gaze was riveted on her shapely mouth. The
more she struggled, the tighter he drew her against him until he
was vitally aware of her breasts flattening against his chest. He
brushed his lips across hers. Sensing a protest rising up in her,
he captured her mouth in a masterful kiss.
    Warmth suffused Beth,
casting out the anger’s strangulating hold on her. Experiencing a
soaring