“And are you a master liar?”
“I am a master at everything, leannan,” he said and leaned in and kissed her quick on the lips.
“You respond without responding,” she said, his light kiss sending flutters through her stomach. “I would say you are skillful at manipulating as well.”
“You are getting to know me well,” Slatter said, trying not to let his smile falter with the lie he had just told.
This time Willow leaned in close and brushed her lips softly against his before saying, “I’m getting to know you far better than you realize.”
Her words disturbed him while her not-so-innocent kiss aroused him. He got the overwhelming feeling that she had seen past his lie.
“We need to get going,” he said, stuffing the remaining food in the cloth sack and rushing to his feet. He hooked the sack to the saddle and turned to Willow.
Her eyes lit with concern when she saw how his brow had narrowed and his dark eyes turned on her with an intensity that sent a shiver through her.
She was getting to her feet when he reached her and yanked her up by the arm the rest of the way.
“You will stay behind me, say nothing, and do nothing that will put you in danger, and on this you will obey me, wife.”
She barely had time to nod when he continued.
He lowered his head and his voice to a whisper. “There are three of them. I will see to them and again you will hold your tongue and do nothing.”
“Is she yours or can we share?” a man called out.
Willow held herself with courage, but took a step closer to her husband when she saw the size of the one man who walked in front of the other two who approached. He was big, not in height, but in girth, barrel chest and arms that looked as if he could easily crush a man. The other two were slim compared to him, though all three seemed to wear similar grime on their garments and skin.
“I warn you now. Take your leave or suffer the consequences,” Slatter said with that cock-sure confidence of his.
The three men laughed.
“Three of us and one of you.” The big man laughed. “I don’t think it’ll be us suffering the consequences. But don’t worry, we’ll let you watch as we enjoy the woman before we kill you.”
Willow shivered against her husband as the three laughed heartily.
His arm tightened around her as he whispered, “Trust me, I won’t let them hurt you.”
She recalled the last time he had told her to trust him and he had kept his word, while it didn’t seem possible he could keep his word this time, something inside her told her he would.
“I trust you,” she murmured and watched as the large man rushed at them.
Chapter 10
One minute Slatter was beside her and the next he was gone. Willow stood frozen barely able to comprehend what was happening. She hadn’t even seen her husband reach for his dagger in a sheath tucked somewhere she hadn’t noticed at his waist. She only saw the hilt protruding from the one man’s throat, his eyes wide as he dropped to the ground dead. Slatter’s arm hooked the big man around the neck as he grabbed the fellow’s dagger sheathed at his waist and flung it, lodging it in the other slim man’s throat. His eyes turned wide and his hands rushed to his neck but never reached it. He toppled over dead.
“Your time has come,” Slatter said.
Willow thought it odd that the man’s eyes bulged from his head as if at that precise moment he somehow recognized Slatter.
“Mercy, Sla—”
Willow stared in disbelief as Slatter snapped the big man’s neck with ease and let him drop to the ground. She continued to stare at him as he went and retrieved his dagger from the one man’s throat and wiped it clean of the blood on the man’s garment before wiping it clean again on the grass. He retrieved the other dagger as well, cleaning the blade in the same fashion.
Willow was speechless when he stopped in front of her.
He reached his hand out, his arm resting against her chest as his hand closed gently at her throat, his fingers stroking the side of her neck. His hand was warm, his touch tender, and she couldn’t believe that only moments before that same hand killed three men with ease.
“I will never fail to protect you, leannan, not ever,” he said and kissed her, sealing his words as if they were a vow.
Willow latched onto to his arm, accepting his pledge, accepting that he would always be there for her, and it calmed her pounding heart and laid her fears to rest.
“Time to leave,” he said softly.
He had her up on the horse and they were a distance away before she realized he had kept his body positioned so that the dead men were blocked from her view after the altercation had ended.