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Emma didn’t like the look in his eye. “Garrick?”
His jaw clenched.
“You spoke to him,” she asked.
“Aye.” This . . . this was the crusader. The warrior. The knight trained to kill.
“What will you do?”
Garrick sighed. “I will tell my mother about the attack and my uncle’s part in it. I will break the betrothal, attempt to pacify Magnus without making a bitter enemy. And my uncle . . .”
She wasn’t sure she wanted to know.
“He will pay for his actions.”
“And Linkirk?”
He didn’t answer. Garrick didn’t care about his Scottish title. From what she had seen, he cared only for Clave, but his mother was another matter altogether.
“I have to go,” Garrick said.
“Garrick, are you sure what you’re doing is wise?”
His eyes narrowed.
“To break the betrothal, knowing about your uncle’s role in the attack? He will never rest with you as the Earl of Linkirk, and if you’re married to an English lady, you’ll have no claim—”
“Except a legal one. Emma, the title is not his by right.”
“But I will be responsible for—”
“You’ll be responsible for nothing. Emma,” he said definitively. “This is my decision. If my uncle was truly willing to go to such lengths knowing the betrothal was imminent . . . he’s become careless. Foolish. And you—”
“Will be the ruin of your family.”
He shook his head. “Nay, my uncle Bernard made the choice to destroy our family.”
“But Magnus?”
The look on his face told her he was less hopeful than he pretended to be. There was a very real chance this would end in war, one way or another. Emma felt as if someone had reached inside her and torn her heart from her chest. “Garrick, you need to be sure. I love you. I can’t imagine another week, nay, another day, without you. But I will not live with the knowledge that I was responsible for tearing apart your family.”
She nearly collapsed under the weight of her own words, but it needed to be said . . . and she had not yet finished.
“Do not promise me anything.”
“Emma, what are you saying?” Garrick’s expression, one of disbelief, nearly made her change course.
“Speak to your mother. Open your mind and heart to what’s right. And make the decision you need to make. Not for me. Not for your mother. But for yourself.”
The words stuck in her throat like a dollop of molasses, but she would not take them back.
“Emma?”
“I did not ask Graeme to come here. I neither wish to marry him nor plan to encourage him. But while I hope with all my heart we’ll find a resolution that sees us together, I won’t depend on it.” She took off his cloak and handed it to him. “I love you, even with all of your earlishness.”
He looked at her oddly, but she didn’t know how else to explain herself.
“But now I ask for a different promise.”
