The certainty hit her as soon as she saw him. Hit. Her. Hard. So hard, she caught her breath and froze in the archway opening into the great hall.
Ramsay stood on the dais at one end of the cavernous meeting room that sprawled the length and width of the keep. The great hall, as it was known by all, comprised the center core of the stronghold—and Ramsay now reigned supreme over it.
Formidable. Imposing. Arresting. All those adjectives fell short when it came to describing the mesmerizing man who had obviously not only found his element but totally embraced it.
He clutched his spear at his side like a king—no like a Greek god, like Zeus himself holding his scepter as he surveyed Olympus. A different breastplate from the one he’d worn earlier covered his chest. This one reminded Katie of the one Ramsay’s father had worn back at the altar. Highly polished iron and brass pieces shaped into what she was certain were meaningful symbols were inset into the piece of thick leather armor that had been dyed black and oiled to a fine sheen that reflected the light from the torches and the candles.
Wide stance. Broad shoulders thrown back. Head held high. A heart-stopping leader overseeing all his subjects. When his piercing gaze landed on her, Katie swallowed hard and an involuntary shiver of damn rippled through her. This wasn’t Ramsay, the sweet, hesitant introvert of Brady, North Carolina. This man was Ramsay, the fearless warlord.
He smiled. A real smile that proudly shone from his eyes, then he held out his hand and waited.
A gentle but firm push nudged at the small of her back. “Go to him, m’lady,” Flora whispered from behind her. “Dinna fash, I’ll be a standin’ to the side of the pedestal if ye have need of the slightest thing.”
Oddly enough, the knowledge that the mere slip of a girl that she’d just met would be nearby did make her feel somewhat better.
Katie stepped into the room and the rumbling undertone of the multiple conversations evaporated, leaving behind a nerve-jarring silence. She swallowed hard and kept her focus locked on Ramsay as she made her way to the dais and took his hand.
“Yer breathtaking,” Ramsay said as he beamed at her with a look she’d never seen on any man’s face before. It was a shiver-inducing mixture of pride, adoration, and pure primal hunger. He steadied her as she navigated the pair of wide stone steps of the dais, assisting her struggle to keep her long skirts from grabbing her feet and throwing her to the ground.
He kept his gaze locked on her face as he met her on the middle step and pressed his mouth close to her ear right before she’d reached the top. “Truly breathtaking, dear one, and yer all mine.”
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