Page 89 of Her Forbidden Highlander Husband

“I don’t get a choice. This is what I must do, what I was born to do.”

He’d seen the way she looked at him when he made love to her. He’d seen the joy in her eyes when she watched their children sleeping. She couldn’t possibly mean to turn her back on them.

“Please, Ev. We need you here. We’ve sent to Baehaven for more men. We’ll fight and we’ll win, and you’ll stay as my wife.”

“All those deaths for me?” She shook her head and brushed away the tears. “No. I’ll not live with that.” She speared him with her dark gaze.

“Then we’ll leave today. We can be on a ship three days from now. We’ll go to London, I’ll find work.”

She gasped. “You’ve planned this? The story with the bunny…”

“Yes. I didn’t know what options would be available. I only wish there was more time.”

She stepped away but came right back, shaking her head. “No. I don’t want the children to grow up in London. I want them here, with their family where they belong. Where you belong.”

“Our family belongs wherever we go.”

“No. You promised me the day we were wed you’d never force me to do anything. Did you mean it, Liam?”

He let out a gust of breath as if he’d been caught in the stomach by a fist. She meant to use his promise, spoken in duty, against him now? Anger grew hot in the pit of his stomach as he bit out his answer. “Aye, wife. I’m a man of honor.”

“Then you’ll not force me to stay here.” She would not meet his eyes now. He waited. He would not make it easy for her to walk away.

When she finally looked at him, she did not waver. “Will you give me my freedom, or will you keep me captive as the McCurdys did?”

His heart plummeted to his feet. “You can’t mean to compare me to…”

He might have continued, but it was difficult to argue the hard coldness in her eyes when she broke his heart. She planned to leave and there was nothing he could say to stop her.

“What will I tell the children?” he asked, his voice barely a whisper.

“Tell them…” She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter what you tell them.” With that, she pushed by him and left the room that had been their home.

…

Evelyn managed to make it out of the keep and to the back of the stables before breaking down. Tears poured down her cheeks as she gasped for breath. She thought she might die from the pain.

It was bad enough to have to leave them. Though Mari had been right that making a sacrifice to save the ones you loved was easy enough when you were certain they could go on and there were no other choices.

But seeing the pain in Liam’s eyes… Pain she’d caused with her words. Words she wanted to take back. But she had to do this to spare him and the others who would fight and fall to protect her.

She couldn’t allow it.

Even the thought of Liam dying for her, caused her stomach to heave. Any time men came to battle they fell. If even one MacKinlay was lost to save her from a fate she was destined to live anyway, she couldn’t bear it.

This was better.

He’d hate her. She shook her head as more tears fell. No, he wouldn’t hate her. Liam wasn’t capable of hate. His heart wasn’t made that way. He may have to raise his sword and kill to fulfill his duties as war chief, but it wasn’t hatred that drove him.

She’d have to dig deep for the strength needed to carry through with this plan. She wanted so much to stay here with her husband and children. Have more children—either by birth or by love—and watch them grow. But the risk to fight was too great. If Liam were lost and she was forced to marry the Morgan heir, who would take care of Rose, Gwennie, and Shea? She’d have won nothing if the Stewarts and Morgans outnumbered her new clan.

What if Lachlan or Cameron were struck down in her defense? Kenna and Mari would be alone to raise their children. They would despise her, and rightfully so.

Evelyn would never regret marrying Liam or coming here. The last months had been the best of her life, and she would rely on those memories to get her through whatever was to come. But she was leaving. She’d play the part of the laird’s daughter and face her duty in order to protect the people she loved.

An hour had passed before Evelyn pulled herself together and could continue with her plan without risk of faltering. She’d have to hurt Liam to save his life.

Maybe one day he could forgive her.