Into his arms.
He did it so easily, she lost all her breath. When he turned and leaped down off the rock right to Orle’s side, she lost all hope of breathing.
He set her down quickly, far too quickly for her liking.
Oh, by all the holy powers of the earth and the sky.
“Ye maun be careful, princess. The sea can reach up and snatch ye right off a place like that. Can ye swim?”
“I have done in the lochs back home.”
“Such still waters are naught to the sea. There are currents beneath the surface, and the waves are far more powerful than they appear.” Fixing her with those incredible eyes of his, he said earnestly, “We would no’ want to lose someone so precious as yoursel’.”
He thought her precious.
At least, he said he did. He might be a flatterer. They had plenty of those back home.
But nay, this man did not flatter. This man possessed a heart both steadfast and true. How she knew so, she could not say.
She just did.
Chapter Sixteen
It might havebeen a repeat of the quarrel Deathan had overheard only days ago. The same raised voices. The same words, when he walked into the chamber. Only this took place in bright daylight with no storm rumbling overhead.
That made it worse somehow, for the thunder was not there to drown out the anger.
The hall was, fortunately, mostly empty at the moment, the servants having cleared away last night’s feast and gone. But it was not what might be called a private place to have a disagreement.
“Whisht!” he cried when he came in, staring from his father to his brother and back again. “I can hear ye outside, almost.”
Da blinked. He reached out and clasped a hand on Rohr’s shoulder in a gesture of warning and demand.
“Did anyone hear?” he asked Deathan.
“Nay, I do no’ think so. But anyone could come in here, besides me. What is amiss?”
But he knew. Aye, he knew.
Before answering, Da drew his two sons to the rear of the hall and through a curtained doorway to what had become his private quarters. He had stopped sharing a room with Mam some time ago, saying he disturbed her fragile rest.
Deathan wondered if his father merely could not bear to witness Mam’s suffering.
“This fool,” Da said, lowering his voice to an angry growl, “says the wedding will no’ take place. He refuses to marry the princess.”
“I will no’ marry the princess,” Rohr repeated.
Deathan’s heart leaped painfully. If the woman did not become his sister—
“He will defy his king!” Da said, still employing a subdued roar. “And shame me.”
Rohr gritted his teeth. Once again, the two of them looked so much alike, they appeared near images of one another separated only by years. “’Tis no’ my intention to shame ye. I would ne’er do. But the woman, the princess—ye ha’ seen her. A savage clad in fine clothing. She does no’ understand, even, how to deport hersel’ and comes pushing forward at every opportunity.”
Aye, Deathan had seen her. A woman like to no other.
“She is scarce a woman at all!”
Ah, but she was. Deathan could testify to that after having lifted her from the rock where she’d appeared to teeter so dangerously. He doubted she would have fallen. He had but used it for an excuse to get his hands on her.
