“Aye,” he said softly. “I’m fine.” Seeming to catch himself, he turned to Magnus, who was still examining the unconscious William. “How is he?”
“His pulse is slow and his breathing is shallow. I don’t know—”
Suddenly, William’s chest started to rumble. He wheezed in a staggered breath of air, and then exploded in a fit of coughing that racked his entire body. He rolled to the side, curling into a ball, and coughed until Bella thought his lungs would give out.
She glanced up and caught Lachlan’s eye, beaming a relieved smile at him. She was surprised when his mouth curved in a wide smile in return.
She sucked in her breath. Her heart slammed against her ribs. The transformation was stunning. Gone was the heartless, dangerous mercenary, replaced by an almost boyishly handsome man who could steal her heart if she let him. The realization jarred her.
“How is he?”
Bella turned to find Queen Elizabeth by her side. She’d been so caught up in the moment, she hadn’t noticed that the women had circled around them.
“I don’t know,” Bella answered.
William must have heard the queen’s question through his violent coughing spasms. “I’ll b-be fine.” His voice sounded worse than Lachlan’s.
He tried to sit up, and Magnus helped him. “Take it easy. You took in a lot of smoke.”
“I would have taken in a lot more.” William looked to Lachlan. “Thank you. I owe you my life.”
Lachlan shrugged off his gratitude. “How are your hands?”
William held them up, examining the singed leather of his gauntlets. “Minor burns,” he said. “I’ve had worse.”
“What the hell happened?” Lachlan asked.
“I must have used too much powder. The entire building collapsed, and I was hit in the head with a beam.”
Suddenly, William reached into hiscotunand smiled. Pulling out a carved wooden horse, he handed it to the young earl. “I did manage to retrieve this, though.”
The little boy beamed with pleasure. “You found it!”
“Aye,” William said. “I hope you will not lose it again.”
Wide-eyed, the lad shook his head. “I won’t. Thank you, Sir William.” He turned to Lachlan. “And you, Sir Lachlan.”
The lad looked so solemn, none of them had the heart to correct him. They weren’t knights.
But they weren’t regular soldiers, either. Bella’s brows furrowed, looking back and forth between Lachlan, MacKay, and Gordon. None of them were. Which begged the question, just what were they?
There was something between these three men. Some kind of bond strong enough to send Lachlan into a burning building after one of them.
Magnus helped William to his feet, and Bella turned to find Lachlan extending his hand toward her. She slid her fingers into his, feeling the unmistakable rush of warmth at the contact. Her gaze found his.
He must have felt it, too, because his mouth was set in a grim line as he helped her to her feet.
“Ready the women,” he said, looking away. “We need to go quickly. If anyone is nearby they will come to investigate.”
He turned to leave, but she stopped him with a hand on his arm. He stilled at her touch; she could feel the rigid muscles flexing under her fingertips.
“Why did you do it?” she asked. “Why did you go after him? You could have died.”
He looked down at her, and Bella felt her chest squeeze. A corner of his mouth lifted in a wry smile. “You won’t get rid of me so easily, Countess. I’m not so easy to kill.”
She suspected he was very hard to kill, but he was evading her question. “Why are you really here? Why are you fighting for Bruce?”
His gaze held hers, piercing. “I already told you why.”
