Page 44 of Her Reluctant Highlander Husband

When she was seven and Wallace sixteen, she’d followed him around, and he hadn’t minded. He’d shown her how to stand up in the cold surf and find little creatures in the rocks on the beach.

He’d been her hero…right up until she was locked away. He’d never even tried to save her.

She frowned as she recalled something they’d said after shooting her. “Desmond said they would tell their laird the MacKinlays killed me.”

“Rascal took care of Desmond. He’s gone,” Bryce informed her as he looked down at the dog.

She patted Rascal’s head. “Thank ye, friend.”

“I’m glad he was there.” Bryce cleared his throat and tilted his head. “From what you heard, it sounds like the laird didn’t know of the arrangement Wallace had made with Lachlan regarding our marriage.”

She nodded. “That’s why they’re trying to find a way out of it. So Wallace can keep the money Lachlan paid him.”

“Then it wasn’t the laird who ordered them to hurt ye. Perhaps your father doesn’t want you harmed.” He gave her an encouraging look.

“I’m not sure why the laird would care. I’ve not seen him since he left me in my chamber all those years ago. Besides, it doesn’t matter. They must be stopped from coming back and hurting someone else,” she whispered.

The sinister smile that pulled up on Bryce’s face should have worried her. It was clear he was eager to draw blood. But since they shared a common enemy, she smiled with him as he leaned closer and kissed her forehead.

“No one harms what’s mine and lives.”

Her eyes widened, not because of the threat evident in his tone, but the way he’d claimed her as his.

She was his.

Chapter Fifteen

Bryce cared.

He cared about his cousins who had grown up with him and stood beside him in battle. He cared about Kenna and Mari. He cared about their children. Including little—or not so little—Aiden who had come into the world earlier that morning.

But he also cared for Dorie.

Despite his desperate attempt to keep her at a distance and not let her into his heart, he cared about her. The lass made it impossible not to, with her quick smile and warm eyes. The more he’d watched her sleep, the more she’d called to him.

He could pretend he cared about her as he would any other clansman who had been injured by an enemy, but he didn’t like to lie to himself. She was his, and he protected what was his. It was as simple as that.

Except, it wasn’t just that he cared. He was also attracted to her and had become more so the longer he was with her. He remembered the feeling of those long legs wrapped around him and twitched at the memory of her heat and the sounds she’d made.

The way she’d said his name in that rough, unused voice.

He wanted his wife in his bed.

When she was deemed well enough to be moved—a week after being shot—Cameron offered to drive her up to the castle in a wagon. Worried the bouncing might cause her pain, Bryce had offered to carry her instead.

Cam smiled knowingly, as if he’d known Bryce had come up with his plan as an excuse to hold her close. No doubt the man had come up with his fair share of plans to keep his wife close as well.

In the end it hadn’t mattered. Dorie had wanted to walk. Rascal was also on the mend and took his place by her side as they started off, staying closer than usual.

“I was shot in the chest. My legs are perfectly fine,” she’d pointed out when Bryce complained. He couldn’t argue that her legs were anything less than fine. He’d still insisted on supporting her with an arm around her waist the whole way to their room in the castle.

That was nine days ago, and he was still looking for reasons to touch and kiss her. He hadn’t kissed her mouth, but he’d pressed his lips other places to the point it was now second nature. Her hair, her temples, her hands, even her neck once.

He’d put off his trip to the Campbells once again, so he could stay with her. Now that she was well, he didn’t want to leave. And not just because he wasn’t looking forward to seeing his father again.

She had started talking with him while they were alone but remained silent around others. He guarded her secret, knowing she would speak when she was ready. For now it was something to be shared just between them, and he found he liked that more than he should.

It was a part of her that was only for him.