The Saint: A Highland Guard Novel Read online

“I never formally agreed to the alliance.”

  “Does the king know that?”

  He winced. “I’m not sure. But it doesn’t matter. I will do whatever I must to make it right with the king—except marry his sister. Perhaps my brother can be persuaded to stand in my stead.”

  Muriel gave him a look that told him she believed that just as little as he did. If there was anyone who was less in want of a wife than Kenneth Sutherland, she couldn’t imagine him.

  “What of my work?” she said softly. “I won’t give it up.”

  “I’m not asking you to.” He swallowed hard, and she knew whatever what he was about to say was difficult for him. “If you wish to stay here and finish your apprenticeship, I will wait for you. I will come visit you as often as I can. And after.” He paused. “We will cross that road when we come to it.”

  She stared at him in wonder. He meant it. My God, he actually meant it! That he would do that for her told her more than anything else how much he loved her.

  “I never wanted this, Will. I only came here because I couldn’t stay at Dunrobin and watch …” Her voice strangled. “I couldn’t watch you marry someone else.” The tears she’d been holding back blurred her vision. “I’m good at what I do; I don’t need a guild to tell me that. I was leaving at the end of the week anyway.”

  He made a sharp sound of surprise. “Leaving?”

  She nodded. “For France.”

  He stared at her in growing horror. “God, Muriel, I’m sorry.”

  She shook her head, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I didn’t know if I’d be strong enough.”

  His expression hardened. “You are more than strong enough. You were strong enough for both of us. I don’t know why it took me so long to see the truth.” He brushed a tear from her cheek with the soft sweep of his thumb. The tender touch made her heart squeeze. “You haven’t given me your answer.”

  She nodded. “Yes, Will. Yes, I’ll marry you.”

  He stood, pulling her along with him, and took her in his arms. “Thank God. Thank God.”

  The emotion in his voice matched her own. For a moment they just stood there together, both knowing how close they’d come to losing one another forever.

  But then the closeness of their bodies started to elicit other reactions. She could feel him harden against her. Feel the spike of his heartbeat against hers. Feel the heat building between them.

  He kissed her. Tenderly at first. A soft brush of his lips over hers. She could taste the faint salt of her tears when he kissed her again. This time with a groan, his mouth covering hers in a hard claim of possession.

  She opened against him, letting him in. Letting his tongue slide against hers. Letting him sate his hunger, quench his thirst, with her complete surrender.

  Deeper. Wetter. Faster. His mouth moved over hers in tender plunder.

  She grasped his shoulders, steadying herself, pulling herself closer, needing to be as close to him as she could be. Every inch of his hard, muscular body was melded to hers. She could feel him leaning into her deeper, fitting the curve of her hips to his, her breasts to his chest.

  She wanted him. She showed him just how much by rubbing against him, moaning as their tongues waged a desperate battle.

  “No!” He tore his mouth away and set her determinedly away from him. “Not until after we are married. I’ve waited this long.”

  Still breathing hard, Muriel lifted a brow. He sounded like he was trying to convince himself. “What if I don’t want to wait?”

  Memories of what had happened to her would always be there, but with Will she would make a new start. He would never hurt her.

  He gave her a look that suggested he wasn’t very pleased with her comment. “You aren’t making this any easier, looking at me like that. But you won’t change my mind.”

  She lifted her brow again, challenging that statement. She’d see about that. But right now, she was content to let him think what he would. The poor man’s pride could take only so many blows in one day. Poor man. She smiled. The Earl of Sutherland. Who would ever have thought?

  His eyes narrowed. “What are you smiling about?”

  Her mouth twitched. Not wanting to tell him the truth, she improvised. “I should like to see your brother’s face when you tell him the news.”

  He smiled. God, he was handsome when he smiled. “Perhaps you shall.”

  She looked at him in question.

  “I came by ship. I would like to tell the king of the, uh … change of plans as soon as possible.” His expression darkened. “And I’ve heard some rumors recently about my sister’s husband that Kenneth will want to hear.”

  “I’m surprised that you allowed Helen to go with …”

  His eyes hardened. “MacKay? Aye, well, I didn’t have much choice. The king insisted. At least Munro is going along. Hopefully, he’ll have been able to persuade her to marry him.”

  She frowned before she could stop herself.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Muriel knew how irrational he was—all the Sutherlands were—about MacKay, but she didn’t like Donald Munro. “Are you sure Munro is the best man for your sister?”

  He watched her carefully. “Kenneth expressed something similar before he left. You don’t like him?”

  She shrugged. “He’s a hard man.” Too proud, but that wouldn’t impress William. “If it were up to him, you’d be in Ireland with his friend John MacDougall.”

  Will nodded. “He was against submitting to Bruce. But that’s not reason alone not to like him.”

  “Helen doesn’t love him.”

  They both knew whom she loved. Will’s eyes met hers. Would he deny his sister what they had found? After a moment, he sighed. “I’ve never understood my sister. She never could do what was expected of her.” He shook his head. “We never could figure out where that red hair came from.”

  “I have no idea.” Muriel hid her smile, as the candlelight caught the occasional burnished auburn strands of his dark brown hair. Not do what was expected? Brother and sister were more alike than he wanted to acknowledge.

  Twenty-seven

  Magnus had put this off for long enough. He would have done it sooner, but in the three days since MacGregor and the others had descended on Dun Lagaidh he’d been tending his duties or locked away in private meetings with the king and MacGregor, trying to uncover the source of their betrayal. It had to be a betrayal. The attackers couldn’t have been that lucky.

  But the king refused to act without proof. Magnus was convinced the treachery had sprung from the Sutherland camp. The attackers’ knowledge of the terrain had to come from someone with a connection to the area. But whether it was from Sutherland himself, Munro, or one of their men, he didn’t know. They were all being watched.

  MacGregor had hunted down the remaining attackers, accounting for all ten men Fraser had initially counted. Magnus had taken a party of scouts to replace the rocks he’d moved and to scour the mountainous countryside. But the mysterious third warrior had disappeared. The similarities between the band of warriors who’d attacked them and the Highland Guard could not be ignored. It seemed they had imitators.

  The king bore an ugly scar but had otherwise almost fully recovered from his ordeal. Indeed, he’d just taken his first meal in the Great Hall and had granted a private audience with the Earl of Sutherland, who’d unexpectedly arrived at the castle a short while before, accompanied by Lady Muriel.

  Leaving Fraser and MacGregor to guard the king, Magnus took the opportunity to do what he should have done days before. He’d taken Helen’s innocence; honor demanded he marry her.

  What the hell was he saying? Putting it that way might ease his guilt, but the truth was it was just a damned excuse. He wanted to marry her. Demons or nay.

  He might not deserve happiness, but he would take it.

  He left the hall and went to search for her. She’d left after the meal so quickly he hadn’t had a chance to pull her aside.

  He fr