She watched as they spread furry hides across the horses’ backs then crumbled several loaves of horse bread across the ground. The horses hurried to eat the coarse bread of peas, oats, and beans before the falling snow buried their food.
Daegan MacKenna vaulted over the log, pausing long enough to nod politely as he hurried back toward the wagon. Muffled thumping and stomping, followed by a hand on each shoulder warned Mairi that Ronan was going to stay with her while the other men finished securing their place for the evening.
“It will take the lads no time to set up a shelter and start a fire.” He turned her to face him and pulled her close. She closed her eyes and steeled herself against melting into him as he pressed an icy kiss to her forehead.
His hands gripped her shoulders tighter and he pulled back. Confusion creased his brow as he searched her face. “Mairi?”
“What?” She did her best to look anywhere but directly at him.
His brows drew into a tighter knot over the stormy gray of his eyes. He pulled her closer again. “What have I done to cool yer love? Why are ye still angry? Ye travel with us. Just as ye wished.”
She flinched at the raw loneliness in his deep voice, then looked away and blinked hard against the ache in her own heart. Dammit. It was too cold to cry.
“Mairi?” He gently cupped her chin and forced her to face him. “I can bear the cold of the storm, but I canna bear the iciness of yer disdain.”
“You should’ve thought of that when you failed to tell me you had been married to my sister. You should’ve kept that in mind when you forgot to mention that I would have to marry you to break the curse.” The words tumbled out of their own volition. She pushed an arm’s length away. “I can’t love a man I can’t trust.”Now who’s lying?Mairi took another step back, ignoring the annoying voice in her head.
He closed his eyes and bowed his head. “I didna ken . . .” Ronan turned away, staring off into the woods as he raked the back of his gloved hand across his mouth.
“Youdidna kenwhat?” She spit out the words, hating the snarling shrew he had made her become. How could she let him get her so angry? How could she let him force her to be such a monster? Because she loved him, and he owned her, heart and soul.
She turned and floundered to the edge of the clearing. Dammit.She couldn’t even get away from him thanks to the snow and a good fifty pounds of clothing.
A strong hand caught hold of her upper arm and spun her back around. He snaked an arm around her middle and yanked her close. “Ye will listen to me now and ye willna turn away.”
“Are you going to tell me the truth this time? I’ve given you that opportunity on several occasions and you’ve conveniently omitted details every damn time.” She pushed her hood back to her shoulders. If she was going to fight with Ronan, she wanted to look him dead in the eye.
“Aye,” he barked. “I will speak the truth. Will ye grant me the favor of listening?”
“I have always listened.” She punched his chest and pushed her way back out of his embrace. “Now spill it.”
“Ye know of the curse I seek to break.” He waited.
“Supposedly. It depends on what other little details you’ve forgotten to share.” She wasn’t about to give him an inch. Granted, after the strange phenomenon she’d witnessed in the solar, she believed in the curse, but she was so sick and tired of getting the story in bits and pieces that she could scream.
Ronan’s jaw tightened. His nostrils flared with a deep intake of air as though he struggled to control his rage. “It is true yer sister bore my name for a brief time when I thought her to be the one to free me from this fate. But I never loved her, nor did I ever touch her as a man touches a wife.” He turned slightly away as he continued. “This curse saddles me with solitude and immortality. I have buried two wives and two sons thanks to the damnable wrath of that jealous sorceress. It is not a blessing to live forever, watching all around ye die while ye are forced to live on. I would be done with this existence.”
His words hit her harder than the gusting wind. Pain and fury filled his face. Ronan wasn’t lying this time. These words came from his heart. She turned away, hugging her cloak tighter around her shoulders as she floundered through the snow. Two wives. Two sons. Mairi stopped walking and closed her eyes. And her sister, Kenna. The more she knew about him, the more confused she became. And the more he loved him. He had suffered so much. He needed her.
“How old were your sons when they died?” She didn’t know why that mattered but somehow it did.
“Neither lived past the day of their birth. I held them as they drew their last breath.”
“And your wives?” Her cheeks burned with hot tears she no longer struggled to hold back.
“They died bringing forth my sons.”
His rasping voice told her so much more than his words. “So then you married my sister, hoping she was the one to make you mortal and enable you to have a family?” Family meant everything to a Scot. Clans were a Scotsman’s strength.
“Aye.” He cleared his throat. “But to be perfectly clear, we didna exactly wed. It was more of a . . . kidnapping.”
She slowly turned and faced Ronan to find him sheepishly pawing at the snow with the toe of his boot. “You kidnapped my sister and she automatically became your wife?” Mairi vaguely remembered reading about such things while studying Scotland’s history. “She said she married you so you’d save Colum from some sort of accident.”
He bobbed his head up and down, a glimmer of hope brightening his face. “Aye. It is true. She nay wanted to marry me either. Fought me like a hellcat the entire time.”
“I can just imagine.” And Mairi could. Kenna had no trouble tapping into her inner bitch when adequately provoked.
“Will ye forgive me?” He eased forward, hands held out, palms up.
