“You wouldn’t understand.” She squinted at the sunlight bouncing off the ripples. The dappling of lights danced across her face like glowing spirits trying to soothe her. “I still haven’t wrapped my head around it.”
“I canna help ye if I dinna understand what ye need help with,” he said, keeping his tone low and gentle. “Ye can trust me, Evie. Tell me so I can help.”
She snorted out a bitter laugh. “I appreciate the offer, Quinn. But this is a proper cock-up. I don’t think there’s anything anyone can do.”
“Cock-up?” he repeated slowly. “What does that mean?”
“A massive failure that no one can fix.” She picked up a stick of her own and wrote in the mudHere ended Evaline Indiana Wortham’s life. May it ever Rest in Peace.She smeared the words away with her hand, but not before he read it. It confirmed what he feared.
“I willna allow ye to take yer life.” He took hold of her chin and forced her to look him in the eyes. “Do ye understand me? I dinna ken what’s causing yer pain, but I mean to find out and help ye.”
“You are a kind man.” Her half-hearted smile eased him very little. “Don’t worry. I haven’t given up completely.” When he released her chin, her gaze dropped. “At least not yet.”
“What is yer pain, Evie? Tell me.” He felt for this distraught woman who had done so much for him. Perhaps he could help her if she would but allow it. “Evie—please. Share yer pain. Tell me what ye mourn?”
“A lifetime lost,” she said softly, as though talking to herself. “Not a perfect lifetime. But one I worked hard for and enjoyed most of the time.”
“Yer banishment?” She had mentioned it before but hadn’t seemed as upset about it as she did now. Had she remembered something she would never see again? Someone she loved? “Is yer banishment what torments ye?”
She stared out across the water, half-smiling but still wrestling with a terrible sadness. “Yes. My banishment. I have lost…a lot.” A tear streaked down her cheek, but she batted it away and blinked hard to stop any more from escaping.
He scooted closer and hugged an arm around her shoulders. “Ye have every right to mourn all ye have lost, lass. Weep if ye wish. There is no shame in it.”
“Maybe not, but I’m afraid if I start crying again, I won’t be able to stop. I’m not normally a weeper. Hate the way it makes me feel.” She picked up a pebble and tossed it in the water. “The big ripples swallow the little ones.”
“What?” He suddenly felt ill-equipped to do as he had promised, but one way or another, he would find a way to help her. “What say ye?
She nodded toward the pool. “The heavy ripples created by the falling water swallow up my poor attempt at making a place in the pond with a rock.” A heavy sigh escaped her as she tipped her head to one side. “I’m afraid any effort to restart my life here will fail just as easily.” She huffed out another bitter laugh. “And no one I ever knew, not a single soul who might have ever given a damn about me, will even be here to notice.”
He gently turned her to face him. “I give a damn, Evie, and ye will have a life here. I swear it.” Then he kissed her. Perhaps he shouldn’t have, but what better way to seal an oath? She tasted as sweet as he had known she would. Even better. He gladly accepted the challenge.
At first, she hesitated, then her lips parted, joining with him completely. She clung to him with a wonderful fierceness, then pushed away and stared up into his face as if making up her mind. “I need to sort out a lot of things without adding more complications.” She rolled out of his hold, stood, and stepped back, massaging the back of her neck as her gaze settled anywhere but on him. “There should be a few hot coals by now. I think I’ll get that tea going.”
“Praise the Lord Almighty! Yer alive!” a familiar voice boomed from the high embankment on the far side of the waters.
Quinn jumped to his feet and threw up a hand. “Dugan!” Cousin and trusted friend, the sight of Dugan MacTaggart with his horse tied behind his, filled him with renewed energy. “And glad I am that ye found my horse.”
“Yer beastie returned to the keep without ye,” Dugan said as he led the mounts down to the pool. “All of us feared ye dead or captured by the English.” The man rumbled out a deep laugh loud as thunder. “And here I find ye dallying in a secluded glen.” He clapped a hand on Quinn’s shoulder and shook him hard. “Why am I nay surprised?”
A sudden loss of balance made Quinn stumble sideways a few steps. He widened his stance to keep from landing on his arse.
“Do not jostle him!” Evie charged forward and pushed between them. “He has a severe concussion and hasn’t been resting as he should. Through no fault of his own, I admit, but he’s still quite overextended himself today.” With a guilty look, she twitched a shoulder. “However, that is now over.”
She gave him a sharp glance that almost made him laugh, then she turned to Dugan. “Now, I’ll thank you to lower your volume and exuberance.” With a firm tug on Quinn’s arm, she pulled him away. “Come. Sit on the pallet and rest. Your friend can visit with you there.” With another stern glare back over her shoulder, she added in a louder voice, “If he can talk quietly and control the urge to shake you.”
“Well, well.” With a rumbling chuckle, Dugan hooked his thumbs in his belt and puffed out his chest. “That’s me put in my place, I reckon.”
“This is Lady Evaline Wortham,” Quinn said, turning Evie to face Dugan. “Without her, ye wouldha either found me floating face down in that pond or not at all. At least not until the weather changed and my bloated carcass floated back to the top.”
Dugan gave a formal bow. “It is an honor to meet the savior of my chieftain. Dugan MacTaggart. at yer service, m’lady.”
She granted him a tip of her head but still bore a pained expression. “Pleasure.” With another tug on Quinn’s arm, she edged toward the pallet and fire. “Please come and sit. I am quite serious when I said you’ve done entirely too much today.”
He motioned for Dugan to follow. “Come, cousin. Let us rest and visit a while before we start back to the keep. Ye can tell me which of my fine clansman mourned my loss and which prepared to celebrate.” He learned long ago that no matter what he said or did, never would every single one of his people love him. ’Twas impossible to please everyone.
Dugan flashed a toothy grin. “Let me settle the horses, and then we shall speak of those who love to hate ye.”
Chapter Five
