Page 47 of When a Highlander Weds a Hellion
“Katreine!” Gavin roared, and she dove into the water.
Broch spotted Gavin running in the moonlight from the cave, just as the man roared Katreine’s name. Broch frantically searched the moonlit night for Katreine, and then he saw her, diving into the very waters she had once warned him were dangerous.
“Go to her!” Brodee shouted. “I’ll see to Gavin!”
Broch did not even answer. No breath could be wasted. Every one was for his wife. Brodee ran past him and barreled into Gavin as Broch made for the rock ledge and dove into the water after Katreine. Cold stole his breath and blackness stole his sight, but it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered but finding her.
He moved his arms wildly in front of him, praying for a touch of her body, but there was nothing but endless, unforgiving ocean. He was tossed up to the surface only to be dragged back under. Water filled his nose, his mouth; his lungs burned. His mind felt as if it was going to explode, and the hunger for air clawed at him as it must be clawing at Katreine.
He swam forward, instead of up. She was his life. She made his family complete. He had to save her. A wave grabbed him once more and threw him into a rock. Sharp edges cut down his back as he was yanked below again, but then something grazed his foot and clasped his ankle.
Katreine!
Even as he bent for her, she reached for him, and they came body to body, pressed together as one, being tumbled in the ocean. As he gripped her, hope and fear battered him. They had to make the surface, but how? She clamped a hand on his arm and seemed to tug him, so he followed, swimming for what seemed like forever, going outward and not up. And then the tossing of waves suddenly stopped, and the pull of the ocean disappeared. Locking hands, they swam upward, breaking the surface and both greedily gasping for air.
He cried out, reaching for her as she did the same. Their lips touched, then fused together as one.
“Broch!” Brodee called. Broch broke the kiss with his wife and pulled back to answer his brother. “Aye! I have her. Gavin?”
“Dead,” Brodee called back.
Broch could just see Katreine’s silhouette in the moonlight. “How the devil will we make the rocks?”
“Follow me, Husband,” she said proudly. “I’ll guide ye.”
“I’d follow ye anywhere,” he assured her.
“Verra smart, ye are,” she said, kissing him again. “’Tis why ye are a legend.”
“Nay, I was driven by a need, which made me a legend. Now the need is gone, and I’m content. From this day forward, I just want to be Broch Blackswell—husband, son, father.”
“Father? Well then, we need to make haste to land so we can make those bairns.”
He tugged her to him and kissed her warm lips. “Lead the way, Hellion. Lead the way.”
Epilogue
Katreine sat at the dais in the Blackswell great hall with Broch by her side. As she pushed at the food on her trencher, he set a hand on her arm. A concerned look came to his face. “Are ye feeling unwell?”
“Aye,” she grumbled. “The bairn dunnae ever stop kicking!”
He smiled at her. “She’s going to be just like ye—a hellion.”
“I’m a gentle lass now,” Katreine insisted in a stern tone.
Broch chuckled at that. “Aye, ye are, and I’m but yer simple husband.”
She knew he was teasing her, but her worry that he might need more than to live such a calm life niggled at her. She rubbed a finger over the place where he had once worn the ring that signified him as the King’s right hand. Brodee wore the ring now, and he’d left a sennight ago on orders from the king to hunt down William, who had still not returned from his journey to the Dark Riders.
“I fear ye will miss it,” she whispered. “The things that go with making ye a legend.”
Broch leaned toward her and grazed his lips across her shoulder, making the babe kick and her shiver. “Nae ever, Wife. I am content and complete. All I ever need is here.” He kissed her lips as his hand settled on her belly. “My family.”
She placed her hand over his as her heart filled with joy. “Our family,” she said, leaning into her husband, her rock, her legend.
