Arran stared after her. He hadn’t expected her to kiss him without him initiating the kiss, not yet at least. She had surprised him and it had appeared that she had also surprised herself. It was, however, a start for them.
He wished he could give her more of himself, but something inside him had died slowly with each battle until—there was nothing left of himself to give.
Your lips are the only ones I ever wanted on mine.
Her words had startled him when he had asked about kissing her. He hadn’t known what to make of them. He had said nothing, since he hadn’t known what to say. Did she have feelings for him? Had she always had feelings for him? When she had begged him to marry her years ago, it was to save her from having to wed a man of her father’s choosing. Or so he thought.
He shook his head. He had no time to get lost in such thought. He had to see to the dead men and get back to Purity. While he worked on moving the bodies, his mind worked on possibilities. He’d found himself wondering about the first three men who attacked her. What had they been doing in a remote part of the woods, an area people seldom frequented? The few snatches of conversation he had caught when he had followed the scream told a different story. They hadn’t happened upon her. They had been there searching for her. And with the two men showing up today and charging at him with their weapons, instinct told him they had purposely been there for her as well. He had the strong suspicion that someone was after Purity. Why? Could her father have sent men out searching for her? If so, why now? Why hadn’t he searched for her years ago?
Something was amiss where Purity was concerned and he was determined to make sure nothing happened to her and even more determined to make her his wife. It was the one way he could definitely protect her.
Arran sat on the chair braced against the door to sleep later that night. Instead of sleeping, he listened to Purity’s restless twists and turns in bed, until he finally asked, “What’s wrong, Purity?”
She let out a heavy sigh. “My mind is too busy for sleep.”
“Talk to me. Tell me about your time in the woods. Have you spent it here all alone these many years?” he asked, having been unable to sleep himself and wishing to hear more about her life since he’d been gone.
He didn’t command. He actually sounded interested in knowing and so Purity found it easy to respond to him. “I’ve only been here in Wren’s cottage for about two months.”
“Before that where were you?”
“About a fifteen-minute walk from here. After the group of us, mostly women, and a couple of older, wounded men, escaped the mayhem and horror of the attack, we did as Raven told us to do—we found the witch. Actually, though, she found us wandering. She showed us a safe place where we could stay. We got busy constructing shelters, hunting for food, making a home for ourselves until the day we could return home. At least we all hoped for that. After a couple of years passed, a few got discouraged, especially when the news that reached our ears was not good. The only thing that kept us going was your da, Chieftain of the Clan MacKinnon, growing stronger with time. And when news came that you and Royden continued to live, hope thrived and your da encouraged it. He swore that one day the Clan MacKinnon would be even more powerful than it once had been.”
“There must have been much rejoicing when you received word of Royden returning home,” he said and though shadows hid her face, he knew she smiled. He could hear it in her response.
“Aye, much rejoicing and even more so when we heard that Royden and Oria had wed. Everyone agreed, the Clan MacKinnon would grow powerful once again.”
“But you couldn’t leave because you didn’t know what would happen when you returned home. So you stayed here all alone.” She did what she had to do and yet it gnawed at his gut that she’d been forced into that situation. She should have never been left here alone, though he knew what she would say.
“I’m not alone. I have King and Princess, and many more animals that call the woods their home,” Purity said. “And I truly love Wren’s cottage and her wonderful garden, and that it sits secluded with an abundance of foliage and trees. I’ve been content.”
“You will be content wed to me.”
Purity couldn’t contain the light laughter that bubbled from her. “You command me to be content when we wed?”
“I don’t command. It will be so. We are friends. Friends that have known each other for some time. Our families are friends. I will treat you well. You will have no reason to complain. We have already established that we both enjoy each other’s kisses. Therefore, you will be content wed to me.”