John looked as if he wanted to argue, but instead he said, “At least we agree on the king.”
“And I assure you, marrying Flora was no sacrifice.”
John’s brow jumped. “Truly?” He smiled for the first time since they’d pulled him from the pit. “Then I can hardly wait to meet the lass who has bewitched my impenetrable brother.”
A wry smile turned his mouth. “You won’t have too long to wait,” he said with a nod to the bustling castle. Even from a distance, the signs of life were easy to make out. “It appears as if the entire keep has woken to greet us.”
With a laugh, John urged his mount faster, and they raced the last furlong to the castle, galloping through the gates in a pounding storm of hooves and dust.
But the flash of good humor fled when they entered the courtyard. From the general commotion and the presence of Rory organizing his men, it was clear that this was not a greeting party.
Mary and Gilly rushed forward, crushing John in their relieved embrace.
Lachlan barely had a chance to dismount before Rory stormed toward him—hand wrapped firmly around the hilt of his dirk.
“Give me one good reason why I should not kill you right here. What did you do to her?”
Lachlan looked around at the sea of faces before him. What the hell was happening? Even Argyll appeared in shock.
Before he could question Rory, Mary unwrapped herself from John and ran toward him, throwing herself into his arms. “Oh, Lachlan,” she cried. “She’s gone.”
Gone?Disbelief stopped him cold. And then he knew a bone-crushing blow of utter despair.
Damn her. She’d run from him…again.
Chapter 20
As dawn broke, Flora began the last leg of her journey. Thebirlinnhad docked at the seaside village of Arinagour on the Isle of Coll, giving her the first look at Lachlan’s baronial stronghold that was now in the possession of her brother.
The first thing she noticed was the wind. But as the sun grew in strength, she was able to make out the long stretches of sandy white beach and wide expanses of grassy moorland. Soft rocky crags rose in the distance. She gasped with delight, seeing a white seal scooting around on the beach. Though desolate, it was achingly lovely. Her heart tugged with longing. This place might have been her home.
Instead, it was a place of refuge. She’d run to the only person she could be sure didn’t have any interest in her marriage to Lachlan—her brother Hector.
From the moment she’d learned the truth, Flora had only one thought: escape. Just being near Lachlan was torture when every time she looked at him, the pain of what he’d done—and the yearning for what might have been—hit anew.
Their marriage was a mockery. Perhaps she might have forgiven Lachlan’s bargain with her cousin, but she would never forgive being forced into marriage. Once his brother was free, she was determined to find a way out of their marriage.
But after the confrontation in her bedchamber, the decision to leave had taken on a decided urgency. Any twinge of uncertainty she might have felt at leaving was banished by the humiliating betrayal of her body. If she stayed, she knew she would succumb eventually. And that she could not abide. All she could think of was getting out of there, no matter how much it hurt to leave or how much she would miss Gilly, Mary, and the others she’d come to care for.
When she saw Lachlan ride out with his men to free his brother, she knew her opportunity had arrived. Although he’d never rescinded his order to his men to allow her to leave at any time, she did not want to take the chance that they would try to stop her. She needed help. So she’d turned to the one person who wanted her gone almost as badly as she wanted to leave—Seonaid.
At first, the healer was reluctant to interfere, but once Flora explained the circumstances and that Lachlan had married her only to free his brother from prison, it hadn’t taken much to convince her to help. The prospect of resuming their relationship where they’d left off before Flora’s arrival was too sweet a temptation to refuse. It was a prospect that caused Flora more agony than she wanted to acknowledge. The thought of Lachlan with another woman made the dull ache in her chest quicken and throb with something akin to panic.
Thanks to Seonaid, escape from Drimnin had proved much easier the second time around. Hidden in the shadows with a dark cloak covering her from head to toe, she’d waited, trying to calm the frantic beating of her heart. Then, while Seonaid distracted the guards, she made her escape through the landward gate. Once safely outside, she hesitated, experiencing a moment of nearly overwhelming sadness—sadness that crashed over her like a lead blanket with a heaviness that made her knees buckle. She’d never thought she’d be leaving like this again. How could everything have changed so quickly?
She thought of waking up that morning with the sun streaming through her tower chamber and how happy she’d been. It felt as though she’d had everything. She’dtrustedhim. But he’d taken that trust and shattered it into a thousand tiny pieces. Steeling herself from the memories, she retraced her steps to the beach, refusing to look back. But as the castle slipped into the darkness behind her, it felt as if her heart were being ripped in two. Part of her, she knew, she’d left behind.
Hector had not disappointed. She’d barely slipped onto the rocky path before she found herself surrounded by her brother’s men, including the friendly face of Aonghus, which somehow made her want to cry.
“We’d nearly given up hope, my lady,” he said. “Your brother will be pleased to see you.”
Overwhelmed by what she’d just done, she could manage only a nod.
They’d ridden north a short while and then boarded abirlinnthat had brought them to Coll. She should feel relieved, but instead she felt cold and empty—not to mention exhausted. Now that she’d actually done it, the reality had set in. She’d left her husband, the man she’d given her heart and body. It should have been her wedding night; instead of a night filled with passion and tenderness, she was fleeing in the darkness with men she barely knew. It felt…wrong.
She shook off the twinge of doubt. She’d made the right decision. She couldn’t live with a man who’d lied to her, betrayed her trust, and tricked her into marrying him. A man who’d broken her heart. And after that scene in her room, her own weaknesses had been blatantly pointed out.
If only it didn’t hurt so much. God, she missed him. And it had been only a few hours. The long days stretched out before her like an insurmountable mountain. How was she ever going to make it through?
