Page 46 of The Pirate Laird's Hostage

‘Lucky for me ‘tis not my sword hand, and you misjudge me if you think I am unable to defeat you, Buchanan.’

‘However you lost your fingers, I am sure it was richly deserved.’

‘You know nothing of me, and you misjudge my resolve now, just as you did at Bannockburn.’

‘I know enough of you to want you a thousand miles from my sister.’

‘Enough, there will be no fighting,’ shouted Morna. ‘Cormac, the English, are they to re-take Berwick?’ she said, desperate to prevent Will and Cormac from coming to blows. ‘If so the King will need you there, not throwing your life away needlessly.’

‘The English could be marching even as we speak. There is no time to lose. We must be away from here and back at Beharra to prepare for war. Tell this villain you are coming home with me.’

‘Cormac, forgive me, but I cannot.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because I love him,’ she said, with all the conviction she could muster.

Will’s head jerked sideways, his gaze like a thousand arrows piercing her skin.

‘Sister, whatever you imagine you feel for this cur, it is but a childish infatuation. It will pass, and you will soon forget him once you are back with us.’

‘It is more than that, Cormac - it is love, and I am staying here, no matter what you say.’

Cormac’s face was a mask of black rage. ‘Gowan sought to get to me through you and, if you stay here, he will have succeeded, Morna. Do you want to gratify our enemies?’

‘Forgive me, brother. I must follow my heart.’

‘You are betrothed to a fine man back there who would take you as his wife, who has courted you with my consent. Owen has been respectful. He would make you Lady of his keep. You can have a good life with him.’

‘He is yours and Lyall’s choice, not mine. I am not betrothed to Owen for I gave him no answer and, if I had, it would have been no.’

‘What are you saying to me, Morna, that I have dragged these men here for nothing? That you would choose this man, an outlaw, a pirate, with no real name or decent reputation, over a man who has had your brother’s back countless times?’

‘Yes,’ said Morna, but her voice sounded small in the face of Cormac’s rage and disappointment. ‘Tell Owen that I am sorry for any hurt I have caused him. It was unconsciously done.’

Cormac looked down at the reins in his hand. He would not meet her eye, but his disappointment was obvious. ‘Such trouble you have caused, Morna,’ he said quietly.

Morna’s resolve almost crumbled at that point, but she had to protect Cormac at all costs, even if that meant he hated her. ‘Forgive me, brother. Try not to think ill of me.’

‘Ravenna will be heartbroken if I do not return with you,’ he said desolately. She thought there were tears in his eyes.

‘Tell her I am happy, with a man I love, and she will not miss me for long. She will be happy for me in the end. You always said I could marry for love, well I have found it here, at Fitheach, with Will.’

Morna reached out and grabbed Will’s hand. He squeezed it tight, and Cormac’s mood tipped into bitterness.

‘I hoped you would find a good man, a decent man, not this! Morna, have you taken leave of your senses? This disreputable cur had no name to respect, no allegiance to anyone or anything. He is not, and never will be our ally.’

‘I’m still here, Buchanan,’ snarled Will.

‘Perhaps that is what I like about him, Cormac. I will not have to think of him cleaved open on some battlefield. He will not go off to war and die for a cause.’

‘As I do, as Lyall does, you mean.’

‘Do you have any idea how unbearable it is when you leave, and I don’t know if I will ever see you again?’

‘Scotland is fighting for survival Morna, and Lyall and I are reconciled to a battlefield death if that is God’s will.’

‘Or the King’s will?’

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