They were quiet in the taxi to Logan’s hotel, Logan holding her hand and absently running his thumb across her knuckles. The street was dark and the night chilly as Logan ushered her into the small building and up the narrow stairs. She half expected the same dismal accommodations she had at her hotel, but the room turned out to be surprisingly cozy, dominated by a large canopy bed with lavishly curtained sides. Olivia was inspecting the decidedly feminine-looking bed when Logan caught her eye and smiled.

“All the rooms have them. The curtains, I mean. Not all inns had central heat back when this one was built. What looks romantic now kept those sleeping from freezing.”

He came to stand in front of her, his hands on her arms. She felt the warmth of him reaching her skin, even through the thick sweater.

“I see you’ve gone native already.” He fingered the wool of the garment.

She looked into his eyes, longing to see the smile reaching them again. But it was still absent. “I was unprepared. And cold. I left in a hurry.”

“Olivia...” Logan sighed, his eyes locked on hers. “Can we get back to where we were? It was all so new. So fragile, before. Is it too broken to fix? Did I ruin everything?”

“No.” Olivia shook her head. “It’s not. As long as you believe me that there’s nothing between Ryan and I except his delusions. There never has been.”

“Aye. I believe you.” Logan’s voice caught. “And I’ll not be doubting you again.”

He pulled Olivia into his arms, then, gentle, but still obviously impatient to have her near in a way that made warmth bloom in Olivia’s chest. For the first time in too many days, his lips found hers.

That same familiar longing was there in his kiss, and she wondered again what he really wanted, if she was it, or if there was something else he was searching for. But the thought didn’t linger long. The gentle curve of his lips against hers, his hands on her body banished all rational thought. She let herself fall into the kiss and thought of nothing but how much she wanted him.

Together, they worked to get through the layers of clothes, Logan laughing softly at the struggle to get Olivia out of her new sweater. Her chilly fingers struggled with the buttons on his shirt, the zipper on his jeans. But once they were naked, lying on the big bed, Logan grew serious.

“I thought I’d never see you again,” he said, the pain returning for a moment to his eyes. “Never have this again. I’d never kiss these lips.” He leaned over, kissing her softly, briefly. When he looked up, he was smiling again, though it was a solemn sort of smile.

“I’d never see these again.” His fingers trailed slowly over the soft mound of one breast, slowly circling its nipple. Olivia sighed, her body moving under his touch as he trailed his fingers lower, over her stomach, sliding between her thighs.

Olivia arched her back, letting her legs move apart.

“And I thought I’d never be here again,” Logan said, stroking the very tips of his fingers over the soft folds of her sex. “Never be inside you again, feeling you surrounding me.”

He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her, this time lingering. Slow.

“That song I sang tonight, it was about going home. How no matter what, home will always be there waiting for you. But I almost lost mine.”

His dark, earnest eyes looked down at her. “Will you have me again, Olivia, after I’ve been such a fool?”

Olivia smiled. She stroked her hands over Logan’s face, tracing the contours of his lips with her fingertips as he kissed them softly.

“You’re allowed to be foolish, Logan. Just stop running away. Trust me. Trust us.” She pulled him to her. This time, the longing was in her kiss. “I want you, Logan. More than anything. And I love you.”

“Aye. I love you too, Olivia, more than you know.”

Looking into those dark eyes, Olivia made a decision. She smiled. “You’re going to love me even more in a minute.”

Logan’s eyebrows lifted, but before he had time to do more than look at her with a question in the tilt of his head, she was pressing her hands to his shoulders, pushing him back to the mattress. She swung one leg over his hip and then, as his eyes went wide and his pupils filled them with black, she sank down on his length.

He groaned, his hands grabbing for her hips. Olivia echoed the sound with a breathless moan.

Everything she’d ever wanted she’d found in Logan. And everything she felt, as she moved over him, as he moved with her, was more than she’d ever thought possible. Every minute shift of his hands against her skin felt like it was the first time she’d even been touched that way.

She leaned down, her hair falling loose over her shoulder, and kissed him. Logan surged up into it, one of his hands leaving her hip to cup the back of her neck. It felt good, to be in control. To have him underneath her, his body rocking against hers, the rhythm of them pulling them both into a place where nothing mattered but skin against skin and the sounds they could pull from each other’s lips.

Pleasure rose in her center, warmed her from the inside out. Both of them were panting for breath. As she bent again to kiss him, he whispered words against her mouth. She was taut, muscles straining, every nerve on edge. He was close to his own release; she could feel it in the way his hands gripped her, in the hitch of his hips. His boy moved with purpose against hers. So many emotions flooded through her. So many sensations. All of them driving them toward the edge of her own cliff.

Logan’s hips snapped up against hers, filling her. His hands pulled her close. The shock of it—the unexpected, jarring pleasure—sent her on a dizzying upward spiral, riding the crests of wave after wave of increasing passion. And then a soundless explosion of ecstasy. Everything else faded away.

When she opened her eyes, Logan was holding her, rocking her against his body. He murmured something that could have been a lullaby, could have been Gaelic. She sank boneless against the support of his chest, warm and safe, her body full of the ebb and flow of their love-making. Logan brushed a kiss against her hairline, his lips warm against her flushed skin.

“If you’d like to do that more often,” he said, warm amusement in his voice, “I’d not be complaining.”

“I’m sure something could be arranged.”

* * *

LATER, OLIVIA LAY IN the quiet dark, listening to Logan’s soft breathing. She was relaxed, but not yet asleep, drifting in a haze of contentment. Logan was warm beside her, and for the first time in days she was at peace, the constant anxiety that had been eating at her finally at bay. She snuggled beneath the eiderdown comforter, closer to Logan, and he stirred.

“Am I keeping you awake? I’m sorry.”

He shifted, pulling her closer, and she rested her head on his shoulder, her hand on his chest.

“No. I wasn’t really sleeping. Just enjoying having you here with me.” His fingers brushed against her ear, sliding down to cup the nape of her neck. His lips found hers in the dark. They stayed like this for a moment before he settled back against his pillow.

“Logan, you said something earlier.” The memory had crossed her mind as she lay almost dozing, and she’d realized that he had never explained his words. “What did you mean that you couldn’t go through this again? That you ran away before?”

He was quiet for a long moment, his arm tightening around her. Finally, he took a deep breath.

“There was a girl, a long time ago. From here. From home. We were engaged. We had a tiny flat in the center of town. Nothing much for furniture, but it was ours.”

Oliva could hear the old hurt in his voice. She snuggled closer, trying to comfort him.

“We’d been on tour. Nothing like what we have now, just mucking about in Glasgow for a few weeks playing out the pubs. I’d come home, I guess earlier than she thought. She was there, with my best friend, in our bed.”

“Oh, Logan. I’m so sorry.”

His gentle laugh startled her. “No you’re not. Not really. If it’d worked out, we’d not be here now. But thank you for saying it all the same.” He squeezed her shoulder briefly.

“I can be glad you’re mind now, and sorry that you were hurt,” Olivia pointed out. “If it meant that you had never had to go through that, I—”

This time he laid a finger over her lips. “Sweet as that is, I don’t think I want to hear you say that you’d give me up for the sake of my cheating ex.” His voice grew serious again and he went on. “I didn’t know what to do. I was so happy to be home, to see her. So tired from driving all night to get to her. And then I was so angry. I wanted to hit him, hit her, do something. Anything. So I punched the wall. Damned near broke my hand. She screamed. He jumped up, searching for his pants. Before anyone could say anything, I was gone.” He paused there, his hand sliding into hers and tangling their fingers together. “I spent a week in a pub, unless it was closed, drinking myself stupid. Angus finally found me and dragged me home with him. I was a wreck. Vowed never to get involved again with a woman.” He squeezed her hand. “Until I saw you. Even half drunk and crying, you were the most beautiful person I’d ever seen. I couldn’t walk away.”

Her heart broke for him. And then for the sweet words he’d said about her. No one had ever said that to her. No one had ever made her feel the way he did. And she still felt like she was only scratching the surface.

Logan turned toward Olivia, arms around her body, pulling her close. “You’re still the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen. And I love you. I should have trusted you instead of listening to my fears. I shouldn’t have run away.  I promise you, Olivia, I’ll never run away again. Whatever it is, I’ll be right there beside you through it. Always.”

She touched his face in the dark, felt the warmth of tears on his cheeks.

“I promise too. Right there beside you, always.”

He kissed her, slow and gentle, broke it to whisper words against her skin. “’S ann leatsa a tha mo chridhe gu brath, a thasgaidh.”

They weren’t words she knew. She curled closer to Logan. “What do they mean?”

“They mean ‘My heart is yours forever, my darling.’”

Olivia smiled in the dark.

* * *

THEY STAYED IN INVERNESS another day, Logan talking her on walks around the town, along the River Ness. They stopped at sunset on the Young Street Bridge, watching the setting sun coloring the undersides of the scattered clouds in pink and brilliant orange. Logan told her the names of the churches along the banks, and she watched the wide river flowing toward the sea. The air was crisp and clean, and Olivia closed her eyes, drawing a deep breath.

She turned at the sound of Logan’s gentle laugh beside her. “If it’s clean air you’re looking for, I’ll take you up in the Highlands sometime. There’s no petrol fumes there to muck up the air.”

“This is clean, compared to New York. I’d take this in a heartbeat.”

Hand in hand, they walked back through the city center, to a small pub where they had dinner, talking about everything and nothing. Over dessert, Olivia finally brought up the lawsuit.

“We need to talk over your case, Logan. There was a letter just before I left, Ashton’s attorney talking about filing a counter suit. He’s claiming breach of contract on your part, that you used Revival’s name and materials in your solo venture, and that by doing so it damaged his ability to earn royalties.”

“That was expected, no? Nothing unusual about that. Ashton would want his date in court, not settle out of it. And that’s all bullshit about using Revival’s name or songs. Ashton was the one who set up those deals, set up the contract. He’d have known then it was a breach, if it was.”

Logan snorted in disgust. “Talk about playing both sides against the middle. That man would sell his own grandmother for a dime, if he thought he could get away with it. Listen, for now, as long as we’re in Scotland, let’s not talk about Ashton. We’ll have a long time on the plane back to figure out what to do. Let’s just enjoy our last night here. Pretend the rest of the world doesn’t exist.

Olivia looked across the table at Logan. The smile had come back into his eyes. At least until she’d brought up Ashton.

“Okay. Yes. I agree. No more Ashton. At least not until we’re in the air and over the Atlantic.”

After dinner, Logan led her back through the dark streets to his hotel. She’d checked out of her run-down little inn, moving into Logan’s room. The resulting chaos of her belongings strewn about the place had them both tripping over luggage and shoes and clothing.

“Sorry about the chaos. I’m taking over your room with my things.” Olivia knelt on the floor, rummaging through her suitcase in search of her toothbrush.

Logan laughed. “You are. But other than the occasional stray shoe underfoot, I’m not too fashed.”

“Fashed?” Olivia cocked an eyebrow up at Logan. “I’m not sure I know that one.”

“Troubled. Worried. Bothered. It’s temporary. And if I had known you were going to track me across the Atlantic, I’d have gotten a larger room. But as it is, this is fine. We’re only here one last night, you know.”

Stepping around her open suitcase, he crossed the narrow room. “I promise from now on I’ll get rooms big enough for the two of us.”

He pulled her up from the floor and held her, brushing a strand of hair from her forehead.

“I meant what I said on the bridge. I’d like to bring you back here, on holiday, take you up into the Highlands.”

Olivia relaxed against Logan, the search for her toothbrush long forgotten. “I’d like that.”

“There are places I’d like to show you—wild places—lochs and hills and caves.”

“Caves?” Olivia shuddered. “Not sure I’d like a cave. You’re not talking spelunking, are you?”

“No, not that sort of cave exploring, though you can go inside. It’s not particularly large, though. Legend has it a man, James Fraser of Foyers, hid in the cave for seven ears to evade the British after the Battle of Culloden.”

Logan held her close. “It’s part of the history of the place and, if nothing else, Scots love their history.”

His hands had grown restless as he talked, and they roamed over her, exploring her back, sliding down to cup her ass. He pressed himself against her, and it was clear where his thoughts were heading.

“We have a monster too, ye ken.”  He’d deliberately emphasized his accent, and one corner of his mouth quirked up in a devilish grin.

“You do? Where?”

“Well, they say as it’s in Loch Ness, but...” He pulled her against him, his hips pushed against hers. “I think we’ve got one in the room with us. Would you like to see it, Olivia? I’d be happy to show it to you.”

She was laughing when his lips captured hers, her giggles lost in his kiss. His hands held her close. After a moment, she broke away, a little breathless, and looked up at him.

“I think you’d better let him out, then,” she said, reaching down to rub her palm up the length of him through his clothes. “By the feel of things, he’s a persistent little monster.”

Logan snorted. “Little? Woman, have you not been paying any attention?” He took a step forward, forcing her to take a step back to match him, pressing until her knees hit the bed and she fell back onto the mattress. “I’ll show you little.”

His hands tugged at her jeans and his. Olivia, laughing, was very little help. But that laughter changed to other sounds as he finally removed enough clothing, flipping her onto her belly and sliding into her. His chest pressed warm against her back as he moved over her, and his mouth trailed bites and kisses along her shoulders and the nape of her neck. The noise of their pleasure filled the little space around them.

When they were done, lying spent and gasping, Logan lifted up on one elbow. His dark eyes were alight with such a range of emotions. She saw love there, and the teasing glint that she had so missed, gloriously welcome after the pain and sadness that had lingered there after that night in her apartment.

“Have I gotten your attention yet?”

Olivia struggled to sit up on arms that still hadn’t quite regained their function. “Hmm. I don’t know. I think I might need another demonstration, just to be sure.”

It was Logan’s turn to laugh. Gathering her into his arms, he pulled her in close, one hand slipping down between her thighs. He kissed her hard.

“Lucky for you,” he purred against her ear. “I’m very thorough.”

They did no more talking.