Stolen Vows by Stephanie Sterling Page A

lined up for the position of Lady MacRae.  Isla felt an unexpected stab of jealousy and her eyes grew moist again.
     
    “Isla!” Roan said, so suddenly that it made her jump.  “Nae more tears, all right, lass?” he frowned, reaching for her and wiping away the droplets with his thumb. 
     
    “I’m sorry,” she mumbled, dashing the back of her hand across her cheeks.  “I just - I canna seem to help it.”
     
    “Is there anything I can do?” he asked gently.  “Perhaps - if we waited a few days before leaving?  We dinna have to go today.”
     
    Roan shifted uncomfortably.  Three sisters, and numerous nieces, should have hardened him against the agony of watching a woman cry, but it hadn’t.  He couldn’t stand it.  It made him feel so despicably weak.  Isla looked so heart-wrenchingly unhappily.  Steeling himself to have her shy away, he reached for Isla and pulled her into his arms.  At first she was so tense that Roan could have snapped her like a dry twig, but she slowly softened.
     
    “Better?” he murmured, stroking her back in soothing circles.  She hiccupped against his damp chest, and Roan couldn’t hide a smile.  “Now then, what was that all about?” he asked softly.
     
    “I dinna ken how to make it better,” Isla croaked.
     
    “Make what better, lass?” Roan asked.
     
    “Ye ken what,” she whispered. 
     
    Roan nodded slowly.  He didn’t know if Isla was conscious of the fact, but she was tracing nonsensical patterns over the bare skin of his shoulder with her fingers.
     
    “It would have been better for everyone if ye never found me,” she said, but she was clinging to him as if he was the only thing in the world that could keep her safe.  Roan hadn’t realized until that moment how good it felt to be needed.
     
    “Dinna say that, Isla,” he growled, tightening his arms around her body.  If he hadn’t found her, who might have?  It didn’t bear thinking about.
     
    “But, Roan, I’ve ruined yer life,” she said, and she sounded so achingly certain of the fact that he didn’t know what to say.  He wasn’t ready to forgive her, but he didn’t know if he could stand seeing her so wretched.
     
    “I would nae say ruined ,” he said very carefully.
     
    “What would ye say?” Isla hiccupped again.
     
    The only answer that Roan gave was a heavy sigh, followed by an awkward silence.  He wished that Isla hadn’t pressed, and he didn’t know how to respond.  It was really too soon to tell what overall effect her rash actions would have on their lives. 
     
    A corner of his Roan’s mind did realize that his life didn’t need to change dramatically.  He would still see the same faces, hold the same position in his clan and even sleep with the same women if he chose.  For Isla everything had altered: her name, her home, her clan.  She had chosen this route for them, but Roan was beginning to wonder if it wasn’t going to be harder for Isla to adjust.
     
    “Roan?” Isla said when the silence had drawn out for too long.
     
    “I -” he began, but was interrupted by a knock on the door.  “Come in,” he barked. 
     
    A maid walked in with a large breakfast tray.  She placed it down on a table, then curtsied, blushed, and dashed away when she caught sight of the newly wedded couple in bed, still wrapped in each other’s arms.
     
    “Oh dear,” Isla mumbled, turning crimson as well.
     
    Roan just chuckled.  He started to press a reassuring kiss on the top of his wife’s head, but in the end thought better of it.  He rolled out of bed, reaching for his clothes with a decided lack of concern for his nakedness.  Isla had proven less skittish than he’d imagined.  She just needed to get a little more used to the idea of being married, before he attempted the next step. 
     
    Roan kept his back to her, but it was still more than he’d thought she’d tolerate.  Oh my , he was sure that he heard Isla whimper, but when he turned to