Drust looked uncertain, and for a moment the black rage swept across his face again. “Did he… touch ye?”
She shook her head. “No. You arrived… just in time.”Would it have mattered to him? Would he still have wanted her, had she been raped by the man who was… had been… her husband?She looked down at the bodylying on the floor, blood still slowly seeping out to form a puddle of deep red on the stones.
Drust followed her gaze, then reached out and lifted her chin away from the gruesome sight.
I was just in time. Almost too late.
The realization sent a shock of fear through his body. If that monster had hurt his woman… hell, he’d just have to kill him all over again.
“I’m so sorry, Willa.” He pulled her close again and nestled his chin in her silky hair. “I never,nevershould have left ye alone. Had I any idea what danger ye were in… god, why didna ye tell me?”
She looked up at him, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. “I didn’t want you to stay just because you felt the need to be honorable and protect me Drust. And it was my fault… I would have been safe, at least for a time, if I hadn’t stepped outside of the wards.”
He shook his head. “No. It wasna yer fault. It was mine. I wasna honorable at all”, he said ruefully. “And I wanted much more than to protect ye. That’s why I left, in the end. I was afraid I woulddishonor ye.”
“Because you wanted my body, but not to be withme.” She regarded him stoically, as if she had already accepted that he would leave again now that he had saved her and restored his honor. “You didn’t want to end up with a wife, if my brother found out.”
“Aye. At least that’s what I kept telling myself.” He gave her a tentative smile. “But I was only afraid of the truth. I was always destined to come back to ye, Willa. I could never have stayed away for very long. I was… lost without you. So verra lost.”
He cupped her face in his hands and looked down into her eyes, which were misted with tears.“Please say ye’ll give me another chance to be with ye, Willa. I ken I dinna deserve it, but I want ye in my life, for whatever my life is worth.”
Her answer was to wrap her arms around his neck and pull him down for a kiss. The moment their lips touched, Drust was lost. He was sinking, falling, his body instantly crying out for something far more carnal than a simple kiss.
“Yer mine”, he growled against her lips. “If ye give yerself to me, ken that I will own ye, body and soul, because to lose ye again would surely kill me.”
He was kissing her again before she could reply, and then there was a noise at the door. Someone cleared their throat. Drust tore his mouth from Willa’s and whipped around to face the threat, reaching for the sword beside him in the same smooth motion. No one would take her from him again.
Bren crossed his arms and regarded his brother with a look of extreme bemusement. “I’ve come to let ye ken, little brother, that the battle is over and the castle is won. Is there aught else I can do for ye, then, before I return home?” Then his gaze fell to the body still lying on the floor and his brows drew together. “What happened?”
Drust had all but forgotten about that. “When I came into the room, Mored was here with Willa, claiming he had married her. I think I killed him.”
Bren kicked the dead man with the toe of his boot, turning him onto his side. “This isna Mored.”
Drust looked down at the man’s face and groaned. “Nay, it isna. But it was. I mean this man had taken his form, or else Mored had stolen the body somehow. But it was Mored’s face I saw when I looked at him, Mored’s power I felt.” He swiped his hand over his face. “And Mored that I thought I killed. Which means no’ only is he still alive, but he is involved in all this.”
“And now he kens for sure that ye are still alive.” Bren turned and paced a few steps. “But why? What does he have to gain here?” He stopped and looked straight at Willa. Drust instinctively moved closer to her, which Bren duly noted, softening his approach. “Who are ye really, lass?”
Willa looked at him blankly for a long moment. The man looked so much like Drust that they could be nothing less than brothers. This must be the brother he was returning to, the one who had thought him dead. She turned to Drust, who was watching her, waiting to see if she would answer.
“First tell me, who areyou?”
Bren laughed. “Smart lass. I am Bren Mac Coinnach, Laird and Chief of the Mac Coinnach Clan. I think ye’ve already met my brother, Drust.”
Her eyes flew open wide in disbelief and she spun towards Drust. He was aMac Coinnach? One of the legendary clan of warriors and sorcerers? And brother to thechief, no less?
“You!” Raising her fist she hit him as hard as she could in the chest. He didn’t even flinch, though she felt the impact all the way up her arm.
“Ow!” She cradled her now throbbing hand. “You’re aMac Coinnachand you never told me? How could you not have told me that?”
Drust shrugged. “Ye never told me anything about yer past, either. Except that ye mostly were raised in England. Why did ye no’ speak of any ofthis?”
Her lips pressed together in a thin line. “Because it was too dangerous.”
“Aye, then we had the same reasons.”
Bren was watching them with a sparkle of amusement in his eyes.
“Willa lass… I realize ye’ve just been through an ordeal, but we need to ken, for the safety of everyone involved… who are ye and why did that man”, he nodded his chin towards the body on the floor, “want so much to wed ye?”
