Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 99593 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 498(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99593 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 498(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Daniel stood several feet away, another stone clutched in his hand, his small chest heaving, and he hurled it at the man. It struck his shoulder, and his hand loosened around Esme.
Torrance lunged, closing the distance in a blink. He yanked his wife away with one hand while he drove his sword through the man with his other hand.
The man fell and Torrance caught Esme before she hit the ground.
Daniel crept closer, his face pale but determined.
“You are a true warrior, lad,” Torrance said, his voice low with pride. “Your bravery helped save Lady Esme and for that you will be rewarded.”
Daniel stuck out his small chest and grinned.
Brack stormed forward, sword still drawn, his fury barely leashed. It is the MacLeish warrior’s fault. He distracted us.” He turned and stormed off to confront the warrior.
Torrance shook his head, his jaw tight with annoyance as he tucked his wife in the crook of his arm, keeping her at his side as he went after Brack.
“You kept our attention while your accomplice crept off to abduct Lady Esme,” Brack accused. “That was your plan all along, wasn’t it?”
The warrior’s eyes widened in alarm. “Nay! I swear it on my life. I had no part in that treachery. I came to deliver the message, nothing more. Clan MacLeish has no quarrel with Lady Esme. We would never bring harm to her. That is not our way.”
“Enough,” Torrance yelled.
Esme could feel the tension held in the strength of his embrace, and the way his body remained poised between her and any lingering danger. She didn’t want to move. Every time she breathed, she inhaled the scent of him—earth, wind, and steel—and with it came the unshakable sense that nothing could reach her while she remained in his arms.
Brack’s glare didn’t ease when he looked at Torrance. “Then how does he explain being here at the exact moment of the failed abduction?”
“I cannot,” the warrior said, and glanced at Torrance. “But I give you my word, my lord. I rode here alone. I do not know the man who attacked Lady Esme. And I would never betray Chieftain Ryland’s name by allowing such cowardice to happen under it.”
Torrance finally spoke, his voice calm but laced with steel. “Let him go. If I find he speaks falsely, he will suffer for it.”
Brack hesitated, then lowered his blade.
Esme turned her head slightly, enough to glance up at Torrance. His gaze was still on the warrior, sharp and unyielding, but when he looked down at her, it softened but only for a moment, then it turned harsh.
“You disobeyed me, wife, and you will answer for it.”
CHAPTER 14
Esme paced Torrance’s bedchamber, wringing her hands in front of her nightdress. The hour had grown late, and still he hadn’t come. Not since he’d looked at her with fury in his eyes and warned, “You disobeyed me, wife, and you will answer for it.”
He’d ridden off with a handful of warriors soon after, scouring the woods for any sign of lingering enemies. They’d returned empty-handed, and the MacLeish warrior, his wounds tended to, had been released with Torrance’s message to Ryland.
But what message, truly?
Her thoughts circled back to that strange exchange between the two men. Something had passed between them. Something unsaid. Could it have been a coded message meant not just for Ryland, but for those who truly knew him?
She’d heard tales over the time she’d been at Clan Glencairn of Ryland and Torrance as lads, once close as brothers, always in competition. And more often than not, it was Ryland who bested Torrance. That part had always stood out to her.
And now, she wondered…
Had Ryland truly assumed Torrance’s identity? If so, why?
But even if the suspicion held weight, it was quickly tangled by the memory of his parting words. He’d spoken not as Ryland pretending to be Torrance, but as Torrance would. You disobeyed me, wife. That warning had not come from a stranger.
Now she waited, heart thudding, uncertain of what was to come, or who would walk through that door.
The latch clicked and the door creaked open.
Torrance filled the doorway. His eyes immediately settled on her.
She stood by the hearth, wringing her hands, her pacing halted the moment he entered. Worry etched her brow, and though she tried to appear composed, he saw the tension in her shoulders, the way her breath caught as their eyes met.
She was nervous as she should be.
He had come intending to scold her for disobeying him, for endangering herself. She had nearly been taken, nearly killed, because she’d chosen to disobey him and not return to the safety of the keep. If not for young Daniel…
His jaw tightened. The lad’s brave act had saved her life and that thought turned to another. How he felt when he saw that man’s arm around her neck. Her fragile neck. One wrong move and it could have ended. He could have lost her before he ever truly got to have her.