* * *
Niall had broken his promise. He’d sworn he would not go after the men who’d hurt her, but he’d done exactly that. Annie had heard Jamie Campbell railing about it for the past half hour.
“When I catch up with him…!” The threat didn’t need to be verbalized to be understood. Jamie Campbell was one of the most feared men in the Highlands. The reputation of Argyll’s “Enforcer” for ruthlessness was well-known. If he wanted to tear Niall apart “limb-by-limb,” he could do it. “Doesn’t that damned fool know what I’ve done for him? The risk I’ve taken? It’s my arse on the line as well this time.”
The Enforcer’s beautiful wife responded to what was not really a question. Annie had been stunned to see Niall’s sister, Caitrina, riding in beside her new husband. But maybe Annie shouldn’t have been. If anyone could stand up to Jamie Campbell and not be intimidated by his anger, it was Caitrina Lamont, whose reputation for getting her way was well-known. Niall’s once-cosseted and perhaps a little spoiled sister had changed after the horrible destruction of her clan by Colin Campbell. If anyone had wanted his death as much as Annie, it was Catrina. Yet she’d married his brother.
Annie could have sworn she’d seen Caitrina roll her eyes as one of the most feared men in the Highlands went on with his threats. “That ‘damned fool’ is my brother,” she reminded her husband, the blue eyes that so resembled Niall’s flashing just as dangerously as the Enforcer’s. “And of course, he knows what you’ve done for him, and the risk you’ve taken in taking surety for him to Argyll and King James. But you know every bit as well as I do that you would have done exactly the same thing in his shoes.”
Jamie’s jaw clenched ominously as his gaze fixed on his defiant—and seemingly unconcerned—wife. Perhaps Lizzie hadn’t been exaggerating, Annie thought. Had it really been a love match between the brother of the man responsible for her clan’s destruction, and Niall’s sister? It seemed so.
“That isn’t the point,” Jamie said to his wife.
“But do you deny it?” Caitrina asked.
“Of course not. Any man who harmed you would soon have his head decorating my castle gate.”
“So there,” Caitrina said, clearly unbothered by the gruesome threat. “We are in agreement.”
“We are in agreement about nothing,” Jamie said with a slam of his fist on the table that rattled everyone but his wife. Although actually Lizzie didn’t appear to be concerned by the blustery male anger either.
Interesting.
“You will not talk circles around me this time, wife. What I would do is immaterial.”
“Is it?” Caitrina asked with a delicate arch of a perfectly formed eyebrow. “I don’t think it is at all. How can you fault him for doing exactly what you would have done?”
“Because he lied to me, damn it. He gave me his word he was done killing Campbells.”
Niall had done the same to her. But her initial hurt had waned a little during Jamie Campbell’s extended tirade.
“Even ones who deserve to die?”
Annie didn’t realize she’d spoken aloud until all eyes turned to her. As angry as she was at Niall for breaking his promise—and she was furious—one thing was not at issue: the men who raped her deserved to die. They would argue about whose hand should have wielded the blade later.
No wonder Niall hadn’t wanted to tell her where he was going—he knew she’d be furious at his broken promise. Niall’s men had hunted down the second man who’d attacked her. According to Jamie Campbell the first had been killed a few weeks ago. Argyll had been furious after agreeing to look the other way with Colin Campbell, and he was demanding that Jamie bring in “the outlaw.”
Unfortunately, since then the situation had only gotten worse. The king was now involved. It was his men sent from England who were hunting Niall now, and according to Jamie, after Niall’s latest bout of “Highland justice,” they were out for blood.
Her personal avenger had been busy—and not very forthright. But at least she could be sure of one thing: his motives in leaving hadn’t been based on embarrassment or shame about her. They’d been based on exigency. Any suspicions or lingering questions that she had were gone. The boy she’d fallen in love with had disappointed her, but she knew the man he’d become would not.
“You are upsetting my sister,” Patrick said. “If you don’t want my blade at your throat, you’ll stop.”
“You could try. Again, I might point out,” Jamie said with a sneer that promised violence.
“Good God,” Lizzie said, tossing up her hand with frustration. “Will you two ever stop threatening to kill each other?”
“No,” both Jamie and Patrick said at the same time.
“You are both ridiculous,” Lizzie said. “Not all problems can be solved with swords.”
“This one can,” Patrick said under his breath, which was followed by a loud “ow!” when Lizzie’s slipper apparently slammed into his leg under the table.
“Your sister is right,” Caitrina said to her husband. “You will not solve this problem with violence, so you better think of another way.”
“I don’t want to think of another way,” Jamie Campbell said flatly—almost belligerently—staring down his wife as if daring her to defy him.
Annie wasn’t sure she would have been able to sit still under a stare that withering, but Caitrina appeared bored. At one point, she picked up her hand and studied the back of her nails. She might have been a lioness sharpening her claws in anticipation of the damage she was about to instill on her husband’s intentions. “But you will,” she said after a few moments with a knowing smile.
