Page 67 of Awoken
Duncan brushed the suspicion aside and turned to his men. “Search the abbey,” he barked, “every corner of it.”
As MacKinnon turned from issuing the order, his gaze swept over the gaggle of black-robed nuns gathered before the kirk. As always, the sight of a woman robed in a habit made his pulse race, cutting through his vile temper.
Many of the nuns here were young, their faces—framed by white wimples and dark veils—comely.
And then Duncan saw a face he recognized.
Standing at the back of the group was a tall woman with distinctive violet eyes and patrician features. She stood proud, broad shoulders back, and watched his band with a look of open dislike.
Duncan’s breathing caught.It can’t be.MacKinnon hadn’t looked upon that face in about a decade.
Coira?
He’d always wondered what had become of her. And here she was at Kilbride, just half a day’s ride out from Dunan. All these years, and she’d been right under his nose.
Duncan stared at her, willing the woman to meet his eye.
But then the nun stepped back, turned away, and climbed the steps of the kirk. The moment shattered. Blinking, Duncan shifted his attention back to where Mother Shona was watching him, her gaze flint-hard.
It wasn’t her.He forced himself to focus on the present. Whores don’t become nuns.
Shoving aside memories of the past, MacKinnon met the abbess’s eye. “I think I’ll begin my search with yer quarters,” he said, injecting menace into every word. “Lead the way, Mother Shona.”
A chill wind whipped across the water, filling the birlinn’s single sail and carrying the travelers south-west toward the isle of Barra.
Leanna and Ross did their best to keep out of the merchant’s way as he moved about the boat, trimming the sail. The older man conversed little, clearly used to his own company. They sat upon a narrow wooden plank amidships, surrounded by sacks of grain and crates of vegetables that the merchant had traded for wool, while the salt-laced wind caught at their hair and clothing.
Ross wrapped an arm around Leanna’s shoulders, and she leaned into him, sighing at the warmth and strength of his chest.
“How close was that earlier?” she asked, speaking for the first time since they’d set sail. “With Broderick?”
Ross gave a soft laugh, the sound barely audible as the wind whipped it away, although she felt the rumble in his chest. “Things weren’t as dangerous as they seemed … Carr and I have known each other since we were both fosterlings at Dunan.”
“He could still have betrayed ye though?”
“Aye.” Ross’s face grew serious as he considered her words. “But he didn’t. I suppose he just had to know why I behaved as I did … maybe he also wanted to say goodbye.”
“And ye told him that ye loved me.” Leanna’s voice caught as she spoke. The words he’d said still rippled like a wake behind a boat in her mind. “That ye would protect me from MacKinnon no matter the cost.”
“And I meant it,” Ross replied, a rasp to his voice now. “It wasn’t for his benefit, Leanna. I know this has come upon me suddenly, but life can be like that sometimes. It was like I was waiting … somehow … and when I met ye, everything started to change.”
“I feel the same way,” Leanna breathed. She drew back and tilted her chin so that she could meet his eye. “I love ye too, Ross … I’ve just been afraid to say it.”
His mouth quirked, and he lifted a hand, his fingers brushing a lock of hair back from her face. “Afraid?”
“Aye … ye see me as no one ever has. I love ye so much that my heart aches from the force of it … and that scares me a little.” She raised her hand, her fingertips tracing the strong line of his stubbled jaw. “Wherever ye go, Ross, I shall follow. I don’t want any future that doesn’t have ye in it.”
His midnight blue eyes gleamed at these words, and Ross cleared his throat before he answered. “I can’t give ye the life of a lady, even if I wish I could.”
Leanna made a dismissive sound in the back of her throat. “As if I care about that.”
“Ye don’t mind that I will likely become a farmer … and ye a farmer’s wife?”
“No.”
His face grew serious then. “Ye don’t mind living in a one-room hut, spending yer days at toil? Sometimes love isn’t enough, Leanna. I don’t want ye to regret this.”
Leanna’s mouth curved. He looked genuinely worried, and she realized that he really wanted the best for her.
