He racked his brain, trying to determine who might be behind this.
They had been on the eastern side of the island, which meant the man could have been from one of two clans, unless he’d traveled a great deal further than Magnus had thought.
Whoever it was clearly hated him.
As he watched Betty pull the twigs and brambles from Leah’s long hair, his wife’s hands twisting in her lap, he made up his mind.
I cannae let any harm come to her because of me inaction. I underestimated this man before, I willnae do it again.
He walked over to them, Iona looking a little startled as he came to sit beside Leah.
“How are ye feelin’?” he asked, wishing beyond all things that he could simply take her in his arms and erase the last few hours from her mind.
Leah nodded, pale but unyielding. “I am well. Thank you for coming to get me.”
“He left a trail. We were able to find him, thank the heavens. Kenneth is a good tracker—he saw the hoof prints in the earth.”
Leah nodded again. She was still wringing her hands, and Magnus could not help it—he reached out and enveloped them with his own.
She looked up at him then, a soft, grateful expression on her face accompanied by a warm smile.
“Ye must return to England,” he said decisively, and both the expression and the smile evaporated instantly.
Leah snatched her hands away from him.
Betty tutted loudly from the other side of the room as she returned, waving him away and physically pushing him out of his seat so that she could have a look at her patient.
“I shall do what?” Leah asked, her voice as cold as ice.
“Ye cannae stay here. Ye will return with Miss Katie to England until I have dealt with whoever is after ye.” He clenched his jaw. “That’s an order.”
She sprang to her feet, her fists clenched at her sides, her body rigid. “You will send me away?” she asked in disgust. “What about all you said about ‘no more talk of England?’ What about not wishing any other man to protect me?”
“I never said that.”
“I’m no fool, Magnus. You don’t wish for me to be around other men, but now you would send me back to my father because you have failed to recognize a threat that has been on this island for years!”
She was panting now, more furious than he had ever seen her.
“Och, aye, and ye would have done better, would ye nae? Ye couldnae fight him off or defend yerself, and ye expect me to leave ye vulnerable while there is someone out there who wants ye dead?”
“And whose fault is that?” Leah thundered.
Both of the healers were staring at her now. Iona seemed concerned, but Betty just looked impressed.
“You have told me time and again that I am your wife, but you do not wish me to be anywhere close to you.”
She scowled at him as she advanced, reaching only his elbow, but she was a picture of fiery fury all the same.
“You are the one who has ignored this threat, though you knew that it existed for years before you met me. I was attacked because I was away from you, at a place whereyousent me.”
“Ye agreed to that deal!” Magnus spluttered, an unpleasant feeling bubbling up inside him as he watched her rail at him.
She is right.That’s the truth of it. I never tried to find the man who murdered Elizabeth. I recognized the threat and chose to do nothin’ because it was easier to hide away from the outside world than it was to face me own demons.
Leah glared up at him, her little fists still clenched, her eyes blazing as she pointed at him angrily. “You have made your choices, Magnus. You have cocooned yourself here, watching the world pass you by, and when that world comes knocking, you are not prepared for it.”
“I saved ye, did I nae?” he bellowed.
