“A man to protect me, is that notbetterthan being alone?”
Maura laughed. “He is no’ able to protect ye right now from so much as a kitten.”
“Then I shall protect him. And we don’t have a kitten, anyway.”
“We dinna ken who he is… what if he turns out to be an enemy?”
Willa shrugged. “How can heknowhe’s my enemy if I don’t tell him whoIam? Besides, he may not even wake up again while you’re gone. And”, she reminded, “He’s still tied up.”
“Well, yes, there’s that.”
Maura looked unconvinced, and Willa waited while her sister in law seemed to think the matter through. It slowly dawned on her that shewantedto be left alone with the stranger, almost as if she would have him all to herself, which was senseless, since again, she didn’t even know him. And when he woke, she might very well find she didn’t evenlikehim. Although she had a strange feeling deep inside that wouldn’t be the case.The knocking of fate, her Aunt Avida would have said.Answer, Willa.
“Ye’re certain, then?”
Willa shook herself from her musings, realizing Maura had finally spoken. “Yes.”
Maura’s lips quirked up into a conspiratorial smile, and she narrowed her eyes.
“Dinna think I’ve missed the way you look at him. He’s a verra handsome man.”
Willa gave her an innocent look and then pretended to be suddenly interested in her fingernails, though she couldn’t stop the corners of her mouth from turning up. “Is he then? I hadn’t noticed.”
“Aye, I think ye have. Ye’d have to be half-dead yerself, no’ to.”
Willa sighed and looked up at Maura, her brows drawing together in thought. “Have you ever justfeltsomething… justknownsomething… oh, but of courseyouhave!” Maura was known for her uncanny premonitions. Such gifts had run in her family for ages. “But for me, it doesn’t happen very often, just a dream now and then, and I always seem to doubt my instincts rather than trust them as I should, but…”
“But ye have a feeling about this man? One ye canna explain?” Maura’s eyes danced with suppressed excitement, and she leaned closer, making Willa want to admit her every wicked thought. But then it was so easy to talk to Maura. To trust Maura with her darkest secrets and most furtive hopes. It had been almost from the first day they’d met.
“From the very beginning”, Willa confessed with a sigh. “As if I wasmeantto find him. Meant to save him. I have told myself over and over again that it’s impossible, that it can’tpossiblybe, but I swear Maura, that when I look at him, he seems almost… familiar to me. Which makes no sense, and I half think my mind is playing tricks on me and I justwantto feel something for him.” She blushed, lowering her voice to a whisper. “And… and I have the most terrible urge to be close to him, touch him even. As I never have before with any other man.” A frown crossed her face as she was reminded of Colm. No, never any other man.
I am so blessed to have escaped before it was too late…
“Och, Willa, ye ken well it’s no’ impossible. There are so many things in this world that we dinna understand. That we just have to trust. Ye are… drawn to him then? Physically?”
Maura tried to contain her giddy excitement as Willa nodded enthusiastically. It was just as she had seen, then. The two of them were fated, Willa and the mysterious warrior. Destined for a powerful bond both physical and emotional. It didn’t happen often, though it was more likely among those with the ancient Druid blood flowing in their veins. Perhaps the magic they still held to varying degrees helped mates to find one another in time and space, even against all odds.
As she looked at Willa’s lovely glowing face, saw the strange mix of excitement and confusion in her eyes, Maura longed to tell her what she knew. But, no. It would not be wise to interfere, that was one of her earliest lessons at her grandmother’s knee. The best she could do was ease the way for fate to take its course, and hope that Willa would eventually find the same happiness she herself knew with James. She drew back a little and smiled conspiratorially.
“Well, then. I say ye should follow yer instincts; all of them. If ye are drawn to the man in such a way even afore he has fully woken, theremustbe a reason. Ye will care for him, and after he wakes, ye’ll come to ken what kind of man he is. Then ye can decide for yerself what all this might mean. Just keep yer mind open to the possibilities. And dinna be afraid to try.”
She stood, brushing out her skirts. “I’d better go and break the news to James that yer staying behind. He willna be happy.”
Willa bit her lip. Her brother would be protective of her, especially in light of the danger she was in. She was his only sister, and only just found. “You can convince him though?”
Maura threw Willa a cocky smile over her shoulder as she turned to leave.
“Of course.”
***
James paced the short length of the room, struggling between his sense of duty and the trust he held in his wife. “Maura, I dinna ken about leaving my sister alone with that man. We dinna even ken who he is, and he may recover faster than ye think. I’ve sworn an oath to our father to protect her, and I canna leave when…”
Maura reached over and put a finger to his lips, silencing him. “Dinna worry so, James, it’s the right thing to do, I promise ye. And the oath to yer father is meaningless. He wanted ye to protect her as hisproperty,which she is no longer. Ye should keep her safe if ye can, aye. But ye should protect her happiness too. Ye ken as well as I do that life is meaningless without it.”
James sighed when she moved her hand from his lips. “Ye’re talking in riddles again, woman, have ye seen something?” His wife was from a long line of women with the precious gift of Sight, and he trusted her more than anyone.
“Aye”, she said simply but firmly, and he did not question her further. So far, she had always been right. Just as she had been right about him, aboutthem. And about the need to prepare this temporary refuge. James felt his heart beat faster as he watched his wife prepare for bed, unbinding her lovely auburn locks to let them cascade down her back. He moved to stand behind her, drawing her back into his arms and sinking his teeth gently into the side of her slender throat for a love bite as she melted against him. He was done talking for tonight. And at this moment he was eternally grateful to his sister for insisting he have a private room with his wife.
