Karma lowered his head, flattened his ears, and bared his fangs. His growl shifted to an eerie clicking rumble as he eased forward in a tensed crouch, ready to spring at Ronan.
“Karma. No.” Kenna stepped between the snarling dog and the scowling man. “It is all right, Karma. Everything is okay.”
Karma eased back, flicked an ear, and stared at Kenna as if to ask if she was sure.
She rested her hand on the dog’s broad head. “I promise. Everything is fine. He is not the enemy.” She sucked in a deep breath as Karma relaxed back on his haunches. The dog still glared at Ronan as though he wished the man would give him an excuse to rip out his throat.
“Lady Kenna!” Chieftain Gray MacKenna shouted across the remaining expanse of road as he pulled his horse to a stop, dismounted, and ripped his sword from its sheath in one fluid move. He held up a hand to the rest of his men as they flanked their horses on either side of the road and completely surrounded Sutherland’s men.
Kenna rushed toward Gray, hot tears of relief streaming down her face. Finally.They were almost home. For the first time since they had pulled Colum from the debris, she allowed herself to actually believe he would make it.
“Lady Kenna. Are ye well? Ye look . . . ” Gray’s voice trailed off as he motioned from the top of her matted hair down to the shredded muddy hem of her dress. “What the hell did the cur do to ye?”
“I saved her,” Ronan said, as he stormed forward and stood beside her.
Gray pulled Kenna behind him and raised his sword. “Ye best concentrate on saving yer own arse. Ye have much to answer for.”
“Stop it!” Kenna grabbed Gray’s wrist as she moved out from behind him. “Both of you just stop it.” They didn’t have time for this. Colum was dying.
Gray kept his sword raised as he glanced back and forth from Ronan to Kenna. “When Rua returned without Colum, we feared the worst. Yer sister and Granny are both nearly sick with worry. What say ye, Kenna? Explain to me why ye defend this man who has caused such strife in our lives.”
Kenna swallowed hard and glanced toward Ronan. His sword slowly lowered and his stance widened, as his eyes narrowed into a pair of waiting, watchful slits. Kenna took a deep breath, then exhaled. It was time to keep her word. Her Sinclair heritage demanded it. Only one Sinclair had ever broken an oath, and she had paid for that dishonor, first with her life and then with her soul.
Sliding her hands away from Gray’s sword arm, Kenna bowed her head and moved to Ronan’s side. She rested her fingertips against the cold rough surface of his targe as she lifted her chin. “I defend him because he saved my life and saved Colum and . . . ” She took a deep breath and stood even straighter. “And because he is my husband.”
Gray took a step forward, eyes narrowing and head tilting as if he hadn’t heard quite what she had said. “He is yer what?” He stared at Kenna in disbelief.
“My husband,” she repeated, wincing when her voice cracked on the word. There was no going back now. She had made a promise and she would keep it. She cleared her throat and raised her voice. “I am Ronan Sutherland’s wife.”
“I dinna believe it.” Gray pointed at Ronan with his sword. “I will send ye on a slow journey straight to hell if I find ye harmed her.”
Ronan took a step forward and touched his blade to Gray’s. “I treat my wife with the respect she deserves. I will thank ye not to sully her honor or her intelligence by insinuating otherwise.”
Gray’s scowl swiveled back to Kenna. “Kenna? What say ye? Sutherland speaks the truth?”
Kenna wet her lips and straightened her shoulders. “I am Lady Sutherland by my own choice. Ronan did not force me to do anything against my will.”
Gray lowered his sword and took a step back. He made a sharp motion to his men and barked out something in Gaelic that Kenna didn’t understand. The MacKenna men shifted their horses from around Sutherland’s group and returned to the road behind Gray.
Gray nodded to Sutherland with a short stiff jerk of his chin. “Then it appears congratulations are in order.”
Ronan acknowledged this with a wary nod of his own.
Both men’s expressions and tones transmitted a great deal more menace than their formal words. The standoff was tenuous at best, but Kenna would take it. Time was wasting.
“Colum is in the wagon. He is badly hurt. We have to get him to Granny and Trulie. We may already be too late to keep him from dying.”
Gray bolted straight to the wagon. When he saw Colum, he banged his fist on the wagon’s side, mumbling something Kenna couldn’t hear. “What the hell happened here?” Gray clenched teeth, not taking his gaze from Colum as he spoke.
“A landslide. A rock . . . ” Her voice trailed off. How could she begin to explain all that had happened? She couldn’t, and they didn’t have time for it if she could. “We have to get him to Trulie and Granny. They can heal him.”
“Can they ensure the man will walk again?” Gray turned and stared at her as if she had lost her mind.
“I don’t know.” Kenna took a step back and clenched her fists against her middle, willing the storm of emotions thundering inside her to go the hell away. “But they can make sure he doesn’t die.”If the Fates see fit,she silently added.
Gray pushed off from the wagon, motioned to his men, then plodded toward his horse. He slammed his sword back in the sheath and swung up into the saddle. With a grim expression, he sadly shook his head as he reined in his horse and turned the beast homeward. “For a man such as Colum, there are worse things in this world than dying.”
Whether it was the look on Gray’s face or the way he spit out the words, Kenna got the distinct impression that Colum’s ability to walk wasn’t the only thing Gray meant.
