“You peddle information?—”

“Merchant of information,” she corrected.

“Merchant,” he smirked. “Maybe it has something to do with information you provided someone, or maybe you know something someone doesn’t want you to know.”

“I wouldn’t even know where to start with that.”

Dru saw his expression shift. And the look in his eyes changed completely.

“What is it?” she asked.

“What if the revenge has more to do with your mum than you?”

Dru let his suggestion sink in, giving it thought, then she shook her head. “I don’t see how that could be. Her life revolved around Lord Randall. Please him or suffer, though?—”

Knox waited.

“He shed tears over my mum’s grave.”

“He attended her burial?”

She recalled the memory. “Nay. He came later when all had left, and dusk was near to falling. I was ready to shout at him, chase him away, and then I saw him go down on bended knee. Tears fell from his eyes, and he said, ‘I am so sorry, Cerise. I should have been here when you needed me. Been braver than you while you faced death, but I couldn’t bear the thought of losing you. I should have treated you better, loved you properly. Please forgive me.’ It was the only time I saw that he actually cared for my mum. That he actually loved her.” She shrugged. “But he lied.”

“How so?”

“My mum said he gave his word that he would see me kept safe and see me wed to a decent man. From what I found out, the man who he, and now Lord Torrance, intend to wed me to is far from a decent man.”

Knox scowled. “That is no longer a worry. You are my wife now and will stay my wife. We will have a long life together.”

May Fate hear you and grant us that, she thought.

Rain suddenly pelted the cottage and Knox hurried outside to make sure Star was safe and secure from the downpour.

Dru was quick to help hang his plaid to dry by the fire when he returned, then she helped dry him, which landed them back in bed and she got to do most of the touching this time out of pure persistence and a bit of a playful tousle.

They fell asleep wrapped around each other, the same thought on both their minds.

Never would they be parted. Not ever.

CHAPTER 20

“You will not. You cannot. I will not let you,” Dru ordered, her hands on her slim hips and a flare of anger in her eyes.

Knox finished adding the logs, he had recently split, to the dying flames in the hearth and they sparked to life. He stood, brushing his hands off.

“It’s the sensible thing to do,” he said. “I can find out if Lord Torrance knows of the bounty on you and what precise plans he has for you. I can also lead him to believe I have information of where you might be hiding, giving us time to plan and search for the one who wants you dead and eliminate that problem.”

She drifted over to him, dropping her head against his chest and his arms going around her. “Can’t we stay here for a bit longer?”

His fingers hooked her chin, forcing her to look up at him. “We have been here far too long already. You have kept me so occupied that I have lost count of the sunrises.”

“Is that a complaint I hear?” she asked, her brow shooting up.

He lifted her with one arm, so they were face to face. “Nay. I want nothing more than for all our days to be as they are now. But we have no chance of that if we linger here.”

Dru lowered her brow to rest against his. “It has been too long since I have been so happy, and I do not want to lose it.”

“We will always be happy, wife, as long as we’re together,” he assured her and brushed a faint kiss across her lips. “Besides, Mave may want to come home. I will leave tomorrow?—”