Page 394 of Wicked Highland Heroes

“I would ask you the same. How can you so easily forget?”

Victoria remembered all too well when this dark knight held her enthralled with the same look of controlled passion he turned on her now. She hadn’t forgotten the way his fingers lightly touched hers as he lifted them to his lips, or when he entered a room how his eyes caressed her body. But as for love, Edwin Hockley was no more capable of that emotion than Richard had been. While the elder brother would have cast her into the pits of hell, the younger would have fallen into the abyss and taken her with him. “I do not believe you can put it behind you.” Edwin’s words pulled her back to the present. She regarded him. “Why did you bring Katherine with you?”

“She insisted on coming.”

Victoria raised a skeptical brow. “You will have to do better than that. She has changed.”

“Aye,” he agreed. “She needed you.” He yanked her against him. “I need you.”

“Are you a fool?” Victoria shoved at him.

Instead of releasing her, his grip tightened. “You will come home with me.”

Fear turned to astonishment. “You believe he will release me?”

“It matters not what he will do, but what I can do.”

A rustling at the far end of the stables distracted Edwin, and this time he let go when she shoved from him. Victoria wasted no time in putting distance between them.

“You will come home with me,” Edwin called as she slipped through the small opening in the door.

* * *

Victoria stood immobile amongst the crowd watching Iain face Edwin in the courtyard. How had Iain learned of the meeting with her brother-in-law? Dread twisted her stomach at memory of Iain’s stony expression when he confronted her ten minutes ago in the library. He hadn’t said it outright, but it was clear he believed she purposely met with Edwin in secret. He demanded explanation, but she found no words. To admit that Edwin caught her unawares was to sign his death warrant. Iain had left without another word.

“Sassenach.”

The single word from Iain froze her blood. Her silence hadn’t saved a life. One of the men would soon be lying in the dirt with a sword through his heart. If it was Edwin, could she forgive herself? If it was Iain… Her heart lurched.

He stepped in Edwin’s direction and Victoria shoved forward through the crowd. Slim fingers clamped onto her arm and yanked her back. She jerked her gaze up and stared into the eyes of Iain’s mistress.

“Madeline?” Victoria tugged to free her arm.

“Nay,” the woman hissed. “’Tis time you received your just rewards.”

The fury behind her words lit a fire, hot and just as dark in Victoria’s ragged nerves. Rearing back, she threw her clenched fist hard against Madeline’s cheek. She fell back into the nearest women, and Victoria hurled herself through the throng toward Iain.

Reaching his side, she grabbed his arm. “My lord, please, do not do this.”

He started to yank free, but stopped. “You care for him that much?”

She shook her head. “Nay. I simply do not want bloodshed.”

Iain’s lip curled derisively. “Mine or his?”

She stared, tears so close to the surface, she couldn’t speak.

He shook her off and faced Edwin. “By what right have you to approach my wife alone?”

“You speak of rights when you took her against her will?” The deadly calm in Edwin’s voice sent gooseflesh racing up her arms.

Iain took a menacing step toward him. “She consented to be my wife of her own accord and lest you forget,” he paused, clear and unrelenting malice in his eyes, “with the knowledge you were coming.” A cold smile twisted his mouth when Edwin’s eyes shifted to her. “Leave now, Hockley, and I will not kill you.”

Edwin looked back at Iain, his gaze steady. “If she wishes to leave with me?”

“She does not.”

“You are afraid to let her speak?”