Highlander Enchanted(37)
Cade silently cursed his cousin for speaking out of turn about something he should know not to. Although, he was not completely surprised. Lady Isabel had a calming effect on those around her, and her beauty meant nothing she said was taken with offense.
Something in her eyes, a vulnerable despair, disturbed him. He was facing the difficulty of housing and feeding his clan. Why did one woman’s sorrow ensnare his focus? Of the two of them, he had the ability to cast enchantments. Of the two of them, he alone seemed bewitched whenever they spoke.
“It doesna matter,” he said. He meant to return to the lists, too agitated to be fully civilized, but found himself enchanted by the delicate strength of the woman before him.
“I must know what happened.”
“For what purpose? Isna it easier t’think I slay him?”
She hesitated before shaking her head. “I do not know why I feel as if I must ask you. I want to believe the worst of you, but the kindness you have showed me and the MacDonald’s makes me doubt all I thought was true.”
“It was a dark time, Lady Isabel,” he said in a low voice. “I was not the same man I am now.”
“Then tell me you killed him, and I will be forever silent on this matter!”
Cade’s gaze went to the rainy night. “I kilt many but I didna kill him.”
“What happened?” She moved closer, her eyes riveted to him.
“Madness. It stole his mind after so many months in a Saracen dungeon,” he said slowly. The images in his mind of that horrific time left his body stiff and the familiar battle lust surging. “We escaped one night, Brian, Niall, and a few others. Yer brother was mad, too mad. He attacked us when we tried to free him. I couldna find his mind with my … gift. We were forced to leave him there.”
“You left my brother in a Saracen prison to die?” she whispered, growing pale.
“Lady Isabel, there was naught left o’yer brother to save.”
She gazed at him, struggling with emotions. “You swear this is true?”
“On my blood. What fate befell him after we left, I doona ken. But I didna kill him.”
“Why did you not tell me this?”
“Why did ye tell me ye were my wife when we met?” he challenged, irritated by her tone.
“It took me a year to find you and another to wrest a writ granting me …” She started and then shook her head. “All I have done is for not.”
“Ye escaped Richard,” he pointed out.
She blinked back tears. “And now I must return with him and know how angry he is.”
He sensed she was as confused about her fate as he was frustrated by his. Resting a hand on her arm, he meant to speak. The simple touch stilled the rage pacing in his blood. In the few days she had been avoiding him, he forgot how strong the effect of their skin meeting was. His eyes went to the place where his palm rested on her forearm. Her breath had caught at the touch.
What he planned to say escaped his mind. Instead, he found it hard to form any words.
“You can stop the storms,” she whispered. “I will leave with Richard in the morning.”
He lifted his gaze to hers, and he frowned.
“If I stay, he will return with an army. You have suffered enough. You and your clan,” she continued in an even tone he suspected hid a great deal of emotion. “You have a betrothed waiting for you with lands enough for your people and hers.”
“I willna leave your fate in the hands of Lord Richard,” he objected.
“Whatever debt you feel you owed my brother after abandoning him in a dungeon is repaid, and whatever anger I felt towards you … I cannot dismiss it so quickly but it is my duty to forgive you. I will find a way, one day.”
“Isabel –”
“I must go.”
“I warned ye. Ye canna go when ye know of my people!”
“You left my brother to die!” Her voice broke.
Startled by her outburst, he did not speak.
Lady Isabel struggled for control of herself once more. She wiped tears from her face and sucked in a shaky breath.
“You owe me this,” she added much more quietly. “If you do not trust me, then keep my writs. If I speak a word of your kind to anyone, you can bring me to my knees for treason and finish what you started with my brother.”
Words had never struck him as hers did. Cade felt as if she had stabbed him through the gullet. He had always experienced guilt when he considered leaving Saxony to die.
He refused to release her arm as she turned to leave.
She waited, gazing at his chest once more.
Whatever he intended to say, it was gone again.
“This is for the best, Cade,” she said. “Release me. Please. I swear I will not reveal the secret of your people, but neither of us can afford what will happen if I stay.”
She was right. His clan’s situation was already dire without the addition of an army of English knights at his doorstep. What he did not tell her, that he did not intend to marry a woman his cousin coveted, did not matter so much as the relief he experienced knowing the temptation of Isabel, the guilt of knowing her brother suffered, would soon be gone from his life.
He did not need her secrets complicating his life. His attention had shifted from the plight of his clan the day he met Lady Isabel. She was a dangerous distraction, one he could not afford any longer.