He closed his eyes, warning himself not to sleep. He had to wake Sorrell soon so she could return to the keep. It would do them no good to be caught, appearing as if they’d spent the night together. The consequences could be disastrous. And while sitting in a chair wasn’t conducive to sleep, he had found he could sleep standing up if need be. One of the skills he had learned from a long list of other skills he had acquired these past two years, though to be truthful, some he had already possessed.
A moment, just a moment more, then it was time to wake her, he silently warned himself.
Sorrell winced as she stretched herself awake. Her body ached and so did her head, then she remembered and bolted up in bed, not her bed. She braced her hands on the straw-stuffed mattress, having set her head spinning from moving so fast. Finally, when things had settled, she spotted John sleeping in a chair, his head resting back against the wall. How he didn’t topple over was beyond her.
Fear roiled her stomach when she looked to see light seeping in under the door. It was morning and past dawn, the light bright.
She had spent the whole night here and God help her if it was discovered. She remained as quiet as she could as she rushed out of bed and into her boots. She swiped up her cloak at the end of the bed, though didn’t recall having it when she had arrived here last night, her memory sharp of last night’s events.
John had seen to tending her and he had done so gently. Her first thought once she had finished with Peter had been John, not Willow who usually saw to tending her injuries. Her only thought had been John and she hadn’t hesitated in going to him. He would understand and he would help her without question or a lecture, well maybe a small lecture, and he had.
She looked at him sitting so straight, not a slump to his broad shoulders, his arms tucked close to his chest and his hands resting in his lap. How she would love to crawl into his lap and slip into the crook of his arm, a spot she fit perfectly.
How she wished they…
She shook her head. Wishing didn’t make it so. If it had, her parents would be alive, her da would have never gotten ill, and Snow would have never gone blind. She also never would be stuck marrying Seth MacCannish, but James had made it clear of the consequences to the clan if she didn’t wed Seth. The reason she had to leave now and hope that no one saw her leaving John’s cottage.
She eased the door open slowly, peeked out and, seeing no one about, stepped out just as James and Seth MacCannish came into view.
Chapter 11
Sorrell froze where she stood and for a moment so did James and Seth, though not for long. Seth’s face turned a startling red and his eyes glared like burning embers, so much so, that Sorrell thought he’d burst into flames.
James tilted his head back and shook it, and guilt stabbed at Sorrell. James was doing his best to see the clan kept safe and from starving this winter. He had even honored her and her sisters’ desire to remain nearby, choosing a husband for her from a clan no more than a short horse ride away.
She had not meant for this to happen and she hoped she could somehow salvage the marriage agreement, she had never wanted, for the sake of her family and clan.
“This is all a misunderstanding,” she called out. “I’ve done nothing wrong.”
“She speaks the truth.”
Sorrell jumped and swerved around startled by John’s strong declaration.
His hand reached out and took hold of her arm to steady her and he moved to stand beside her. He didn’t once glance down at her. His eyes remained focused on Seth and James.
“Lies,” Seth shouted, shaking his fisted hand in the air. “Sorrell was not in the keep when I arrived and James couldn’t find her, even her sisters didn’t know her whereabouts.”
James took a step forward and his eyes narrowed. “You’ve been injured, Sorrell. What happened?”
“A small altercation, nothing more,” she assured him.
“Nothing improper went on here. Sorrell is a good woman,” John said in her defense.
“Good woman?” Seth said with a smirk and a snort. “She’s bruised and battered from fights she gets into more often than men. She doesn’t hold her tongue, never obeys anyone, and pokes a wanderer and who knows how many other men.”
“Watch your tongue,” MacCannish,” John warned.
“That’s enough, Seth,” James cautioned.
“You’re right. It is enough,” Seth said. “I only agreed to marry her because of the substantial sum the Lord of Fire agreed to pay me, but I’ll be damned if I’ll wed a whore.”