Her laugh was short. “And what canIsurvive then?”
His answer did not come.
“That’s what I thought,” she whispered, folding her arms. “If that is all, ye can leave.”
“That is nae all.” He stood straighter. “We arenae finished.”
“I am.”
He did not move. “Then I will finish it.” His voice softened, and the shift pricked at her temper harder than any needle. “Ye are in danger.”
She scoffed. “Now I truly ken ye have nothing to say.”
“MacGee isnae to be underestimated,” he said.
She swallowed. “I never underestimated him in the first place. Nae before, and definitely nae now when he’s sending notes.”
Alex exhaled, and silence settled between them.
Erica’s anger seemed to have subsided, and all that was left now was a lingering frustration she was struggling to swallow.
“He will claim me,” she forced out. “He said as much. He said it at Bryden. He said it with his hands at the festival. Since we have yet to find me faither, he will try again.”
“Daenae say that,” Alex snapped, the first edge of heat breaking through.
“It is the truth.”
His fists closed and opened once at his sides, a man fighting something he could not set a blade to.
“Nay,” he said tightly. “Nae while ye are under me roof.”
“Unfortunately, Laird MacMillan, yer roof can only do so much,” she said.
He stepped toward her, but she did not yield. They stood a breath apart, the air feeling thin.
Erica lifted her chin to look straight at him. “If ye came to scold me for being in danger, I cannae help it. Save yer breath.”
“I came to stop ye from running blind,” he said. “And to offer what I can give.”
“Another disappointing news about how ye cannae get married again?” The words slipped free before she could catch them. “Kindness? Then fear? Then rules?”
He let out a slow breath, and the fight in his stance eased into weight. “Listen,” he said, “we daenae have to marry.”
She blinked. The ground under her seemed to shift. “We daenae have to?—”
“I will protect yeregardless.” He held her gaze so she could see that he meant it. “Ye will have me name at yer back when ye need it. Me men. Me walls. I will see ye to safety, and when ye finally find out what happened to yer faither, I will see ye home.”
Chills slid down her spine. “And if the truth doesnae come fast enough?”
He looked at the fireplace for a moment, as if counting the coals, then back. “There is another path.”
“I am listening.”
“Marriage,” he said.
Her heart lurched hard, only to sink at the next words.
“A white marriage.”
