Page 63 of How to Heal a Highland Heart
“Ye are nae a fool,” William said, as if he knew her thoughts. “Sit with me for a moment, and then I vow I’ll walk ye to yer bedchamber myself.”
“I dunnae want to sit here,” she replied, feeling as if the room was suddenly too small.
“Then walk with me,” he suggested. “We can stroll the ramparts.”
She nodded and followed William out of the great hall and toward the stairs to the ramparts. “Ye are right to trust him,” he said.
“Am I?” she asked, trailing behind William.
He stopped on a step and turned to look down at her. “Aye, ye are. Did I tell ye the story of how Brodee and I came to ken each other?”
“Nae in much detail,” she admitted.
William tugged a hand through his hair, then motioned for her to join him on the step he was on. She did, and together, they started to climb the long, spiral staircase for the ramparts. “I had gone off like a fool to be trained by the Dark Riders.”
She gasped. “The Dark Riders? But I thought men who sought to train with them rarely came out of the forest alive.”
“That’s true. Most dunnae. But Brodee’s brother, Broch, did, and I wanted to also. I have… Well, I have some things in my past that haunt me. We shall leave it at that.”
She nodded and let him go on as he wished.
“Suffice to say, I found the Dark Riders, and they did train me—and well. But one kinnae leave their company without a price, one that they name. And the price for me to leave was five missions for which they had need of me. I kinnae tell ye what they were, but the first one nearly killed me. That is when Brodee found me. He did nae even really ken me, but he offered his services for the other four missions if they would let me leave. I was verra sick by then and needed a healer. They agreed, Brodee took me out of the forest and to a healer, and he completed the missions in my name. Dangerous missions that could have verra well taken his life. I was nearly a stranger, but he did it because he’d made a vow to the king to find me and bring me home.” William pushed the door to the ramparts open, and cool air washed over Patience. She stepped outside into the dark night that twinkled with stars. “He made ye a vow, as well, my lady, and he’d nae ever break it.”
She nodded, feeling somewhat foolish for being so jealous. Turning toward the courtyard, she looked down, and suddenly she couldn’t breathe. Below stood her husband, face-to-face with Kinsey, each of them holding on to the other. Patience could not move. She wanted to turn away, but shock and betrayal had rendered her immobile.
When Brodee heard his name being called, he whipped around so quickly that the courtyard momentarily tilted and specks of bright light danced in his vision. He blinked, seeing Kinsey come into focus, and as she reached for him, he grasped her to steady himself.
“I think I may be ill,” he mumbled, but the world seemed to right itself long enough for him to feel the wash of disappointment that Kinsey was before him and not Patience.
“Shall we sit?” Kinsey asked him.
He shook his head. “I need to go for a swim. To cool off and clear my mind.”
“Ye dunnae look well, Laird. Let me aid ye—”
“Nay, I’m fine,” he said, releasing his grip on her. The truth was, he felt far from it. He was sweating as if he’d just finished a fierce battle, and his head felt filled with mud. His thoughts were sluggish, and his movements even slower than they’d been in the great hall. He was definitely ill.
“I’ll just walk beside ye, then,” Kinsey said, sounding as if she were standing at the end of a long tunnel, though he saw and felt her beside him. “I wanted to talk to ye about something, but I dunnae ken how to tell ye what I saw.”
It took until they reached the seagate stairs for him to process her words and say, “Simply tell me.”
“Do ye trust William MacLean?” Kinsey asked as he descended the stairs to the sea.
Brodee paused, swaying slightly halfway down. He glanced at Kinsey, who was one step behind him. “Aye. With my life,” he said, trying and failing to identify what he was detecting in her tone. God’s teeth, he was a fool for drinking so much wine.
“I see,” she hedged and brushed past him. “I, well, never mind, then.”
He caught up with her on the bottom step as she reached the rocky shore. “Kinsey,” he said, his voice sounding far away to his own ears. “Why did ye ask me such a thing?”
She turned toward him and cocked her head, staring at him. What was that look? Triumph? No. That made no sense. He desperately needed to clear his head in the cold water. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he inhaled a long breath and tried once more to focus on Kinsey. “Why did ye ask me that?” he repeated.
“Well…” She shifted from foot to foot, and a look thatdidregister—uneasiness—settled on her face. “’Tis just that I saw Patience kiss him,” she said, her voice full of apology.
He trusted William. He did. But the rage that swept through him made him shake. He curled his hands into fists as an image of Patience kissing William taunted him. He had the immediate desire to find William and beat the man, his friend, to near death.
No, that was not right. His head began to pound as he tried to temper his reaction. William would not betray him. Would Patience? His gut told him no, and he always went with his gut. Still, he would hear the facts, and if need be, he would question William and then Patience. “When did ye see this?”
“Today,” Kinsey said. “I’m so sorry, Brodee.” She squeezed his hand.
