She smiled at him. “How could anything happen with you around to protect me?”
“Protect you!” he exploded. “You never listen to me, never do anything I say. You drug me. You leave my family’s protection in the middle of the night. You—”
She put her fingers to his lips. “But I love you. I love you very, very much and I need you. I need your strength, your level-headedness, your loyalty, and your peacemaking ways. You keep me and my clan from declaring war on our enemies. And you make us see that the English aren’t all ignorant, greedy, lying—”
He gave her a soft kiss to quiet her. “Don’t ruin it,” he said sarcastically. “I love you too. I’ve loved you from the moment I saw you with your clan. I’d never seen a pretty woman, except Judith, who was any more than an ornament. It was a shock to see your men listen to you and see the way they respected you. It was the first time I saw you as something besides…”
Her eyes sparkled. “A good romp in bed?”
He laughed. “Oh, yes, most definitely that” He began to kiss her more seriously, his hands on her body.
“Stephen,” she whispered as he kissed just behind her ear. “Tomorrow I meet with the MacGregor.”
“That’s nice,” he murmured, moving down to her neck. “Very nice.”
She moved her head so he could kiss her mouth.
Suddenly he jerked away from her. Rab gave a little bark of alarm. Stephen stared at his wife in horror. “You jest!”
She smiled sweetly. “I meet with the MacGregor at dawn tomorrow.” She lifted her head and began kissing him again.
He rolled away, then jerked her upright. “Damn you!” he said through clenched teeth. “Are you starting again? No doubt the meeting is alone in some secret place.”
“Of course it’s alone. I can’t very well ask my clan to accompany me. I intend to settle this war before I enter into it more fully.”
Stephen closed his eyes for a moment and tried to calm himself. “You cannot meet this man alone. I forbid it.”
Disbelief registered immediately on Bronwyn’s face. “You what? You forbid it! How dare you! Do you forget thatIam the MacArran? Just because I love you doesn’t give you rights over my duties as chief.”
“Will you shut up a minute?” he demanded. “You always believe I’m against you. Now listen to me. Who else knows of this meeting?”
“Harben is the only one. He arranged it. We were afraid to even tell Nesta that the time was set, for fear it’d get her hopes up.”
“Get her hopes up!” he gasped. “Is that all you think of? Consideration for others?”
“You make it sound like something evil.”
“In your case it sometimes is.” He again tried to calm himself. “Bronwyn, don’t you realize that you must, at times, think of yourself?”
“But I am! I want peace for my clan.”
Stephen looked at her with great love. “All right, listen to me. Picture this if you will. You and the MacGregor meet in some lonely spot, no doubt in the fog, and the only person who knows about the meeting is Harben. What if the MacGregor decided to end his feud with the MacArrans by killing their laird?”
“That’s insulting!” she gasped. “This is a peace meeting. The MacGregor wouldn’t do that.”
He held his hands heavenward as if for help. “I can’t get you to see any middle ground, can I? Six months ago you hated everything about the MacGregor, and now you plan to turn your life over to the man.”
“But what else can I do? If the MacGregor and I reach some sort of peaceful agreement, we can stop the killing. Isn’t that what you wanted? Haven’t you always said you wanted the feud ended? Our private war caused the death of your friend.”
He grabbed her and hugged her to him. “Yes, I agree with you. I want all those things—but when I think of what it could cost! How could I let you go out there alone and meet with a man twice your size? He could kill you with one blow.”
She lifted her head, but he pushed her down again.
“You won’t go alone. I’m going with you.”
“But you can’t!” she exploded. “The message was for me to be alone.”
“You already carry another person, so what does one more matter?”
