But Niall wasn’t paying attention. He’d already dropped to the ground to face Annie, who’d fallen to her knees after stabbing the Campbell. She’d known to get out of the way of Niall’s sword.
She still held the bloody dagger in her hand and looked up at him with a wide-eyed stunned expression on her face that were it not for the circumstances would have made him smile. “I did it.”
Shock slowly turned to pride as the realization of what she’d done sank in. She seemed to grow with confidence right before him. Any fears that she’d be overcome by what had happened or fall apart were put to rest. Annie was a MacGregor. Fight was in her blood. He’d just given her the tools to use it.
“I did it,” she repeated. “Just like you taught me. I went right for the vulnerable part of his leg. I didn’t know if I could do it, but I did.” She looked up at him. “Thank you.”
Niall couldn’t wait another minute to draw her into his arms. Emotion gripped him hard. He had to fight from squeezing her as hard as his chest was being squeezed. “God, Annie, you have nothing to thank me for. It was all you. I didn’t do a damned thing. I never felt so helpless in my life. I thought…” He struggled to find his voice with the tangle of emotions weaving in his throat. “I thought I was going to let you down again.”
She smiled. “You didn’t let me down. And you weren’t helpless, because you trained me not to be helpless. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without you insisting that we repeat everything a hundred times in training. When the time came, I just reacted from experience—I didn’t even have to think.”
Niall smiled. She was right. Training Annie to protect herself hadn’t lessened his ability to protect her—it had enhanced it. “I think it was all the running around the yard that I had you do.”
She drew back to look at him and remind him of what was still in her hand by pointing it in his direction. “What did you say?”
Very carefully, he unfurled her fingers from around the hilt—the tightness with which she was still gripping the knife made him think she might be more affected than she realized—and wiped the blade on his pants before handing it back to her to slide it into its sheath. “I said I’m glad all that training paid off, and I’m glad you didn’t have to throw the knife at anyone’s head.” His included. Although, he had to admit, she had exceptional aim. In the future, he’d have to make sure he didn’t leave any knives around when they argued.In the future.Wait. Did they have a future? As he helped her to her feet, he asked, “What are you doing here, anyway?”
It wasn’t Annie who answered, but her brother who came storming around the building with some of Niall’s men. “Looking for you, damn it.” Patrick took a look at the three bodies piled up in the yard and his face went dark with rage. “What the hell happened?” He turned to Annie. “I left you alone for five minutes!”
Annie shrugged, exchanging a knowing look with Niall before looking back at her brother. “It was an eventful five minutes.”
“I’d say,” Patrick said dryly. “Damn it, I should have realized that some of Colin Campbell’s men could still be around.” He looked at the dead men and sighed. “My brother-in-law isn’t going to be happy about this.”
But Niall wasn’t thinking about Jamie Campbell. “Were you really looking for me?” Niall asked Annie, drawing her attention back to him.
Her brother could wait, damn it.
She nodded, for the first time looking a little unsure of herself. “I wanted to tell you that I would like to go to Ireland with you… if you still want me to?”
The relief that rushed over Niall was only overshadowed by his happiness. “Are you jesting? There isn’t anything that would make me happier.” He pulled her into his arms again, resting his head on hers when she nuzzled into his chest. Nothing had ever felt this good. “Does this mean you forgive me?”
She pulled back a little to give him a chastising smile. “For Dunvegan or for breaking your promise not to go after the men who’d attacked me?”
He winced and smiled a little sheepishly. “Both?”
“I haven’t decided yet. But you should have some time to convince me.”
“How much time?”
“How does a lifetime sound?”
“Like a damned good start. But I was thinking more an eternity.”
And he intended to make every minute count. He couldn’t go back and change what had happened, but he would do his damnedest to make sure that he never gave Annie cause to doubt him again and that the rest of their lives were filled with happiness and love.
Not caring that her brother and his men were watching, Niall couldn’t wait any longer to kiss her. He lowered his mouth and covered her lips with his, sealing their promise with all the love and passion in his heart.
It just might take that eternity.
EPILOGUE
Late August 1612, Glenconkeyne, Ulster, Ireland
Annie looked down at the three disgruntled faces staring up at her with expressions ranging from mulish to straight-out rebellion. They didn’t like it any more than she had, but they would learn just as she had that it was for their own good.
“But why can’t we have a real knife,” Bridget, the eldest of the three girls, protested. “We’ve been using the stupid old wooden ones formonths.”
The sixteen-year-old said the last word as if it had been years. Annie tried not to smile. It was serious work training these lasses, but good Lord, they made her laugh with their dramatics. Had she been that bad? Suspecting she knew the answer, she bit back a smile. “It’s been five weeks, and you still have a long way to go before we practice with real blades. Being a warrior doesn’t happen overnight. You have to be patient.”
