Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 114917 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 575(@200wpm)___ 460(@250wpm)___ 383(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114917 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 575(@200wpm)___ 460(@250wpm)___ 383(@300wpm)
Owen looked torn between leaving his wife and obeying Lord Rannick’s command. Maura settled his dilemma, urging him to go.
Rannick clamped his hand down on Owen’s shoulder before walking out and the man stiffened in fear. “You are a brave man, Owen, and did well by your wife and the clan. I am proud of you.”
Bliss closed the door on a stunned Owen and her husband, her smile spreading as she turned and went to Maura.
Bliss relaxed against her husband as he directed his horse away from the cottage. Ten MacClaren warriors had escorted the defeated warriors to the keep, their skills no match for MacClaren warriors. They would be questioned there, and their fate decided by Rannick and his father. Two warriors had fled and ten MacClaren warriors were in pursuit of them. Five warriors remained at the croft to make sure Owen and Maura were safe and five were returning with Bliss and Rannick.
“The bairn was so tiny,” Rannick said as they rode toward home, two warriors leading the way with torches, a mass of clouds churning across the night sky.
“Most are,” she said with a brief chuckle. “But he and his mum are good, the birth easier than I anticipated, and all is well with the family.” She reached up and ran her hand gently across his cheek. “Are you all right, Rannick? I worried the birth might stir painful memories for you.”
He leaned his face into her touch, her hand surprisingly warm on such a cold night. “My only thoughts were for your safety.” Now that she had mentioned it to him, he was surprised he had had no thought of the loss of his first wife and bairn. The only thing that had mattered to him was keeping his wife safe.
“And my safety was not a worry to me with you by my side,” she said.
There was something that he had given thought to with having seen his wife cradle the bairn. “Will it upset you to deliver bairn after bairn and have none of your own?”
“Nay, since fate will decide that,” Bliss said, aware that tonight would be the start of the possibility that she would get with child.
“Fate has no say in it. You will carry no bairn of mine and you damn well will never carry another man’s bairn,” he said, angry at the thought of some other man touching her intimately.
“Aye, you are right about that. I will have no other man touch me but you,” she said and shuddered at the thought.
The words rushed out of his mouth, not able to hold them back any longer. “Why did you claim you loved me?” His body grew taut as her body stiffened against him and he waited for her to tell him it was for the benefit of those in the Great Hall. Surprisingly, her body suddenly relaxed once again, leaning comfortably against him.
“I promised you the truth and I spoke it when I said I love you very much. I cannot say when I realized that I love you. It just seemed like I always did, as if we were meant to be.” She gave a tender laugh. “Of course, I had to get over being frightened of you first, not that you still don’t frighten me at times, but nothing like when I first laid eyes on you—thankfully.” She sighed. “I never thought I would ever find love, nor do I expect you to love me in return, but that will not change how I feel about you. My love for you is deep in my heart and there is where it will stay always, no matter how you feel about me.”
Rannick stared at her baffled. She loved him. She honestly loved him. His heart swelled with a joy he had never known in his entire life, and he was about to tell her the same when he caught a sudden movement out of the corner of his eye. He didn’t hesitate. He clamped his arm around his wife tight and threw them both off the horse. He felt something slash at his shoulder just before they hit the ground.
He feared for Bliss, having wrapped himself around her to shield her and they hit the ground hard. He couldn’t take the chance of seeing to her first. He, first, had to see to the man who had attacked them.
He swiped his dagger from its sheath and tossed his cloak off as he bolted to his feet and just in time. The man was nearly on top of him, his only weapon a knife. He ran straight at Rannick, a foolish move. It took all of two moves to fell the man and by then the warriors with him were on top of the culprit.
Rannick hurried to his wife struggling to sit up. “Slow and easy,” he said, crouching down to slip his arm beneath her back to help ease her up.