CONTROLLING HIS EXPRESSION, Max walked inside and slipped his hands in his pockets. Grace realized this was his go-to stance when he wanted to give her space. How had she not noticed that before?

“I’m worried about you, love,” he said, after several tense moments. “But I really will leave you alone if you want me to.”

She swallowed and shook her head.

“What can I do, Grace?”

She raised her head. “Can we just talk?”

“Of course we can. Do you want to go somewhere private?”

“No one’s home,” Grace said. “We can talk here.”

She led him back to the family room and sat on the sofa, her back against the arm and her feet under her bottom. Max sat on the other end, facing her. “That was Charlotte, hmm?”

Grace nodded.

“She seems very nice.”

Grace nodded again. “When she’s not being a pain in the ass, she’s just about perfect.”

“Perfect, eh?”

“Yes. Well, other than her weird obsession with romance novels. The more bodice ripper-esque, the better.”

He chuckled. “What constitutes her being a pain in the arse?”

“Nothing I want to get into right this second.” She itched to touch him, but kept her hands clasped in her lap. “Where did you go after the hospital?”

“I drove around.” He shifted so he was facing her better. “Are you going to tell me what’s really bothering you?”

She took a deep breath. “I find it difficult to believe that you’ll be satisfied being saddled with me for a long time.”

“Baby, don’t say that. I’d be lucky to have you.”

“It’s just you’ve slept with a lot of women, and I don’t know how I could possibly compete. I don’t really even know why me...I mean, you’ve explained it, but it just doesn’t seem real. Plus, whenever you’re upset, you seem to want to solve it by trying to get me into bed.”

“You picked up on that, eh?”

“How could I not?” she pointed out. “I just don’t understand how sex helps you. I mean, I want you to be attracted to me, obviously, but I want to make sure I’m more than just some kind of a distraction. Am I making sense?”

“Yes.” Max took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “For me, sex kept the demons at bay, but when I met you, I didn’t have that outlet available to me anymore, so I’m having to face them. I imagine I’m going to have to start dealing with them.”

“Your sister.”

“One of a few, aye.”

“Tell me.” Grace waited, hoping he’d elaborate instead of shutting down.

He shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. “It was Christmas 1879. It was my fault.”

Grace linked her fingers with his. “Why do you think that?”

“You don’t want to know.”

“I do want to know, honey. I want to know you,” she pressed. “Good and bad.”

He leaned forward. “One kiss.”

She rolled her eyes. “And you’ll tell me everything?”

“Aye.”

She kissed him, realizing quickly that she’d missed him beyond reason.

“Me too, love,” he said, after he broke the kiss.

“I love you, Max. Nothing you tell me is going to change that.”

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Just before Christmas, the young people of the Cauld Ane were invited to stay overnight at the castle after the Christmas ball, and Connall thought that would be a great time for us to take Moira down to the stables. She loved horses, but rarely got to visit the King’s home, as our parents were very protective. Con had just bought a couple of new horses and Moira had asked to see them.” Max closed his eyes briefly and then stared at his hands. “I promised Mum that Niall and I would watch over her, so she spoke with my father and they gave Moira permission to stay overnight also. She was supposed to wait until Connall and I came to get her after the ball to escort her to the stables, but from what I understand, she was anxious to go, and Kinnon offered to walk with her, so she went. After that the story becomes fuzzy. Kinnon was high and didn’t remember where she’d gone after they went to the stables. He passed out in one of the empty stalls. I found Moira. In the carriage house next to the stables...” He stalled, anguish in the tight set of his features.

Grace shifted so her knees were touching his thigh, and laid her palm over his heart. “Tell me.”

“She’d been raped, strangled, and her left ear had been cut off.”

Grace gasped, forcing the tears away. “Oh, Max, I’m so sorry.”

“When I found her, I couldn’t get her to wake up. If I’d gotten there even five minutes earlier, I could have healed her. Could have caught and killed the bastard who did it, but I wasn’t there. I was too busy chatting up the chambermaid who’d cornered me on my way out. Connall forced me away from Moira so that our security could gather evidence, but without DNA, there wasn’t proof. I later learned that a neighbor had paid the maid to seduce me, and I suspect he was the one who’d killed her, but up until a few years ago, I hadn’t been sure.”

“So, he was never put on trial?” Grace asked.

Max shook his head. “Not him, no. One of the locals copped to the murder at the time, and gave enough information to make everyone believe he knew more than he should, but it never sat well with Kade...or me, really.”

“How come?”

“The man who confessed wasn’t right in the head, but he’d never hurt anyone before. He was just the crazy old man who lived in a hut at the edge of the Gunnach land. No one was afraid of him.”

“Then why did he confess?”

“We don’t know. Well, we didn’t until recently. We found out that he’d been coerced into confessing.”

Grace raised an eyebrow. “What happened to him?”

“The Council had to make a choice, so he was hung and everyone went on with their lives. Very sad, but I suppose it was some comfort that the old man had no family. He didn’t leave anyone behind.”

“What did you mean when you said you didn’t know until recently? Did you find something new?”

“About three years ago, Kinnon confessed that the neighbor, Abbot Martin, had promised to give him drugs if he could lure Moira down to the stables. He took her down there, left her with Martin, and then went and got high, the fucking piece of shite.” Max’s expression went dark for a second, scaring Grace, but then he relaxed his expression and kissed her palm.

Grace cupped his face and made him look at her. “Tell me everything. All of it, even if it’s horrible.”

“I confronted Abbot a couple of years ago.”

“And?”

Max shook his head. “I’ll not put these images in your head, love.”

“Tell me. You need to say the words out loud or you’ll never be free of them.”

Grace watched as Max swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing with the action. “He told me everything he did to her, detail by detail, laughing as if it were a very funny joke. That was bad enough, but then he gave me her ear. He’d kept it all this time, and it still had the earring in it that my parents had given her for her birthday. It was remarkably preserved, actually. It was a trophy.”

Tears filled his eyes and Grace wrapped her arms around his waist, leaning her head against his chest. “I’m so sorry, honey.”

“So, for me, sex kept those demons at bay, at least in the moment, and I had to have those moments. I needed a reprieve from the memories and the nightmares, and it was either whisky or women. When there weren’t enough women, I could always find whisky.”

Grace pulled back, raising an eyebrow. “So, does that mean you’ve been drinking yourself stupid since we met?”

Max shook his head. “Stone cold sober, love. I had a couple of drinks the night you didn’t show for the concert. I would have had more, but Niall removed the bottle from my room. I did have a few the night of Kinnon’s funeral, but other than that, nothing.”

“Do you...um...are you okay about that?”

“Do you mean, do I blame you for the fact that I don’t want to sleep with anyone other than you, and don’t seem to have the desire to drink?”

Grace bit her lip and nodded.

Max shifted, pulling her onto his lap and kissing her. Grace sighed, unable to do anything but wrap her arms around his neck. When he finally broke the kiss, she was gasping for breath.

“I love you, Grace,” Max said. “I know you can’t comprehend the depth of that love right now, but I could never resent you for making me a better man.”

“I don’t want to change you, Max. I want you to be the best you can be, but I do worry that we’ll be bad for each other.” She slid her fingers through his hair. “I don’t want a project, and I don’t think you deserve to feel as though you are one.”

Max chuckled. “I get it. But we’re going to change each other just by being together, and I’m okay with that. I look forward to it.” He kissed her gently. “Will you be patient with me?”

“Will you be honest always, even if you think it’s something I don’t want to hear?”

“Will you stay if I say yes?”

Grace smiled. “Yes, Max. I promise I won’t run away.”

“Will you marry me now?”

She narrowed her eyes. “I don’t know. Do you still have the ring?”

He slipped his hand into his pocket and held it in his palm. “Aye, love. I still have the ring.”

She giggled. “I’ve decided I do want the romance.”

“And I want to prove I’m worthy of you.” He set her back on the sofa and knelt in front of her. “Grace Annabelle Wilson, will you do me the greatest honor and agree to be my wife?”

Grace laid her hand over her chest. “Why, Mr. MacMillan, I do declare, that is the most romantic proposal I have received in quite some time,” she drawled in a thick, southern accent. “I do believe I would be happy to grant you my hand in marriage.”

“Who is my competition?”

“Good lord, no one. I can only handle you.”

Max laughed, slipping the ring on her finger and pushing her back against the sofa, stretching out beside her in order to kiss her properly.

Grace sighed against his mouth. “No big wedding. Justice of the Peace will suffice.”

“Deal.” He kissed her again and then sat up, pulling her back onto his lap. “Now tell me why Charlotte is a pain in the ass. She appears far too lovely to be anything but sweet.”

Grace snorted. “You don’t know her very well. Just wait.”

Max raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

“No, not really. She’s just really logical and asked me a few difficult questions. But I suppose she was right. I should give you more of a chance.” She flashed her ring finger. “I am happy to report, I took her advice.”

“Ooh, I think I love her.”

“Everyone does,” Grace droned. Max laughed, and Grace felt his pocket buzz. “Hmm, that’s a bit of a thrill I wasn’t expecting.”

“Hold that thought.” Max kept his arm firmly around her waist as he fished his phone out of his pocket. “This is Max. Hi. Really? Aye, that’s great. I’ll find out and ring you back. Thanks, Sam.” He hung up and grinned.

“What?”

“Samantha is developing a trial for different blood-related diseases, and she thinks she’s onto something. I asked her about Maggie’s Leukemia and Samantha has asked for more information. If your family agrees, and Sam thinks she can help, Maggie could be invited into the trial.”

“What kind of trial?”

“We don’t get sick, not like humans, and Samantha has been doing research to find out why. Cauld Ane’s don’t get cancer and have never been known to have any type of blood disorders, so she has been working to develop a trial that could potentially cure humans of blood-related diseases like leukemia, hemophilia, sickle cell, and others like them. She thinks she has a pretty convincing case and she plans to take it to the American FDA for approval if the trial goes well.”

“Will the trial be here?”

Max shook his head. “No, in Scotland. But there will be no cost to your family. Obviously, my plane will be at your disposal, as will my home. And if the trial happens in Edinburgh, Niall’s home is large enough to accommodate all of you...and more.”

“Maybe you want to ask him if it’s okay before you offer his home up?”

“He won’t mind, sweetheart. I promise.”

“I love you.”

He grinned. “I love you too.”

“Can we get married before we leave? I mean, will anyone be upset from your world if we don’t have a wedding there?”

“Not at all. They will expect a party to celebrate, but that can happen after the ceremony.”

“Really?”

Max nodded. “Yes. Really.”

“Are you okay with doing that?”

Max chuckled. “Baby, I’d marry you this second, if I had my choice. You set the day and the time, and I’ll be there.”

“You said you want to bind me at home. Do you mean in Scotland?”

He nodded. “Yes, but at my actual home. The biggest reason is that your body will go through a painful conversion, and I want to make certain someone is there to help you through it. Samantha, preferably.”

“How painful?”

“I can’t answer that specifically. Pepper said that it’s somewhat like childbirth, only without the option of drugs.”

Grace frowned. “I’m not sure how I feel about that.”

“I don’t have to bind you, love. We can be married, and not go through the ritual.”

“How does that work?”

He shrugged. “Well, we have the human ceremony and forego the Cauld Ane one.”

“But, will we be able to...you know...consummate the relationship?”

“Aye.”

“So, you’ve slept with human women, then?”

He grimaced. “Aye.”

“And their bodies didn’t change?”

He shook his head. “No, sweetheart. Our bonding ritual has to have three elements in order to take effect. The first one is that we are mates. Then the words, then the consummation. If we leave out the words, the conversion can’t happen.”

“You don’t have any illegitimate babies out there somewhere do you?”

“Grace,” he admonished.

“What? It’s not like it’s an out-of-left-field question.”

He rolled his eyes. “No, baby, I don’t have any illegitimate children out there. I have always been extremely careful.”

“Okay, I don’t need the details.”

Max chuckled. “The only person I want to have bairns with is you.”

She grinned. “How many?”

“A rugby team.”

“How many are on a rugby team?”

“Fifteen.”

She gasped. “You want fifteen kids?”

He chuckled. “No?”

She laughed. “Let’s start with one and go from there.”

“Fair enough. But can we agree on at least two?”

Grace grinned. “Yes, God willing, at least two.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re going to be tired at that rate, you realize that, right.”

He waggled his eyebrows. “In the best of ways.”

“We should probably talk about where we’re going to live,” she said.

“Ah.” He stiffened. “How do you feel about living in Scotland?”

She giggled. “Well done, baby.”

“What do you mean?”

“You posed that carefully...and as a question, not a demand.”

Max grinned. “Well, I wasn’t entirely sure how you’d react to the fact we really can’t live anywhere else, at least for most of the year.”

“Honestly, I’m a little nervous about living in a place without my family, and then there’s Charlie’s aversion to traveling, but if we could maybe do the holidays here, I’d feel better.”

“Christmas, you mean?”

She nodded. “And Thanksgiving, oh, and Halloween when we have kiddos.”

Max chuckled. “I believe that can be arranged. Perhaps we’ll buy a home here for the colder months.”

Grace clapped her hands. “Yes, please.”

He kissed her. “Your wish is my command.”

“Thank you.” She stroked his cheek. “Not just for us, but for organizing all of the stuff for Maggie and being so much more than I deserve.”

Max grinned. “I think I’m the lucky one.”

“You know what? You’re right. Keep thinking that, baby. It works in my favor.”

He laughed. “Aye, I suppose it does.”