It seemed obvious to Lachlann, and even considering the possibility that Uradech had some right to her was ripping his heart right out of his chest. “Ye never agreed to it with the others? With Aidan?”
She frowned at him.
“He was nothing to me.” Her voice angry. “I didna wish to be married to him. I didna want him to touch me.” When Finn shifted at her loud voice, she smoothed his hair.
“But yer brother? And yer chieftain made the match for ye?” Lachlann’s throat was dry. “Are ye not to obey them?”
“My brother? My chieftain? They dinna care for me. A fortnight ago, they’d have given me to some islanders! I must get away from them. All of them.” She glanced at the child. “I fear I am not long for this life.”
I’ll have her now whether ye say aye or nay.
The drunk from the fair. Olaf was an islander.
Ethne was right. They would put her to death for the murder of Domelch’s brother. Even Malcolm could not save her, even if that was what he’d want.
“Listen to me.” Lachlann waited until he could look her in the eye. “Ye must not contradict what I tell them. Ye. Must. Not.”
Her brows lowered, a deep ridge between her eyes, but he held a finger to her lips so she couldn’t interrupt him.
“He returned for ye and we argued. Him and I. Do ye understand? I ordered him to go back to the others, but he refused. We struggled. He fell against the stool.”
Her eyes pleading with him, Ethne shook her head.
“’Tis the only way. I will not see ye put to death for this. That man dinna deserve such a sacrifice as ye.”
“And what of ye? ’Twill be the same.” Her expression tight, she turned away. “Ye should never have come here. Ye should never have gotten involved with all this.”
He took a deep breath, stretching his shoulders with the action, then blew it out. A sudden and unexpected peace filled him. Peace? In all this mess? Aye. There was no other word for it.
“Not true.” He knew he was doing the right thing, even if she couldn’t see it. Even if Aldred couldn’t see it. All she had to do was agree with him. Surely, she could do that.
Lachlann turned her back toward him. With a single finger under her chin he lifted her face to his.
“If this is my purpose in life, so be it. I swear to ye that if I had known he was in there, that he was trying to force himself on ye, I would have killed him myself and not by accident.”
When he kissed her, her eyes drifted shut. A gentle kiss. A kiss meant to convey her worth to him. He pulled back and her lids fluttered open.
“Defending ye would be my honor. Do not doubt it.”
Chapter 20
“That man never liked my brother.” Domelch stabbed a finger toward Lachlann, paying no attention to the sleeping child precariously balanced in the crook of her arm.
Lachlann agreed about that, but it wasn’t without reason. He swallowed down his ire and schooled his features.
The tribe had gathered in Malcolm’s cave, moved Uradech’s remains from inside, and been going back and forth about his murder for hours now. They refused to even consider it might have been an accident. He recognized the group assembled around him, hanging on to Domelch’s every word. The same men they had fought alongside of at the fair against Olaf. That seemed a long time ago now.
“Uradech told me Lachlann was sniffing after his Ethne and more than once he’d interrupted their consummation.”
Sniffing? Hardly.HisEthne? Never. Lachlann shifted uncomfortably on the hard floor of the cave where he’d been directed to sit ever since they returned in force from Aidan’s. His emotions in check, the inner turmoil not so much.
He had told his story of what transpired while Niall and Aldred sat a short distance away, their bodies taut as they listened intently, though they appeared stone-faced.
Neither offered anything.
Not in his defense. Not in his guilt.
No doubt they kept to the themselves so they wouldn’t reveal what they might have planned in case things went further awry. Lachlann prayed they had a plan.
