Highland Outlaw (Campbell Trilogy #2)(105)

The concession surprised him. Jamie Campbell seemed honestly repelled by his brother's actions. “Yet Auchinbreck will not pay for what he's done.” It wasn't a question, but a statement of fact.

“In the courts … nay.” Campbell met his gaze. “But I've no doubt that one day there will be a reckoning.”

Patrick studied him carefully, knowing there was something Jamie Campbell wasn't telling him but also realizing he'd told him all he would.

But if Gregor had been taken and was already on his way to Edinburgh, as was likely, why was he here? “Where's Lizzie?”

Campbell gave him a hard look. “Somewhere safe.”

“I want to see her.”

“No.”

If Campbell thought he would accept that, he was sorely mistaken. The first thing he would do when he got out of here was find her. She might hate him right now, but she was his wife.

Jamie rubbed his shoulder in the place Patrick had landed a blow with his claidbeambmór. “You've improved since last we met.”

Patrick examined the knot on his head, his fingers skimming over the bloody, tender flesh. “So have you.”

They'd both been young on Lewis. Now they were men—warriors in their prime.

Campbell met Patrick's gaze with a knowing look. “You're too good a swordsman not to have avoided the blow to your head.”

Patrick didn't say anything, looking away from the other man's piercing stare. They both knew he'd stood down, but damned if he'd explain himself.

“My sister told me an interesting story,” Jamie said casually, though Patrick could tell it was an act.

“Is that so?”

Campbell's eyes simmered with rage. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you right now.”

Patrick met his anger with his own. “Because your sister insists that you believe in justice, and the only crime I've been accused of is one that I did not commit. The atrocities done at Glenfruin were not the work of the MacGregors.”

Campbell's eyes narrowed dangerously. “I'm talking about what you did to my sister. Lying and wheedling your way into Castle Campbell to convince her to marry you— not to mention putting her life in danger, even if, as she says, you did save it more than once.”

Patrick wondered how much Lizzie had told him. The basics, probably. If Campbell knew the worst of it, Patrick wouldn't be sitting here right now.

There was nothing Jamie Campbell could say to him that Patrick hadn't already said to himself. “I imagine the only thing staying your hand is the same thing that stayed mine—killing me will hurt her.”

Jamie didn't appear very happy about it, but he reluctantly appeared to accept the truth of the observation. Two enemies bound by the happiness of the woman they both loved. “Mine is not the only hand itching to strike,” Campbell warned him, referring to Argyll and Auchinbreck. “Lizzie's feelings will not keep you alive forever.”

Patrick's head hurt, and he was tired of Campbell's subtle interrogation. “What will, since I assume that is your purpose for being here?”

Jamie smiled, though it lacked any pretense of friendliness. “Cut to the quick, is it? Fine. My sister might claim to care for you, and given what you did out there today, I'm willing to concede that her feelings are reciprocated, but I want you out of her life. Though I am not without sympathy for the plight of your clan, it doesn't mean I want my sister tied to an outlawed MacGregor.” His gaze turned shrewd and unyielding. “You will have your freedom and the tenancy of the land near Loch Earn, which I understand was the reason for this pursuit of my sister in the first place. I will find a way to mollify Glenorchy. In return, you will repudiate the handfast and never seek her out again.”

“No,” Patrick answered without hesitation. Jamie Campbell was offering him the two things he thought he'd wanted most in the world, but Patrick had been wrong. Lizzie had given him something much more important. She'd brought him back from the very edge of darkness. Without her, he would be the empty, cold shell of a man he'd been before.

He would be like his doomed brother.

Patrick's fight to reclaim his land would never end until once again it belonged to the MacGregors, but it would not be won at the cost of the woman he loved.

Wincing, he thought of the argument they'd had before he was captured. He might not yet have had the chance to convince her of his love, but he'd spend the rest of his life proving it.

He thought of all Lizzie had been willing to give up for him; he would do no less for her.

No smile marred the hard set of Campbell's jaw. “Even if it is the best thing for Lizzie?”

“Who are you to judge what is best for your sister?”

“Apparently,” Campbell intoned darkly, “I'm the only person thinking rationally around here. God's blood, did you see her? Gowned in rags, bedraggled, weary to the point of exhaustion, looking as if she'd been through hell the past few days?”

Patrick clenched his jaw against the accusations, but she had been through hell.

“If you care for her, you will not drag her under with you. You will not see her denied the life that should be hers.”

Patrick could see where this conversation was going, but damned if he would give her up without a fight. “It's her choice to make.”