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When they arrived at desire’s destination, they cried out in triumph and ecstasy. And as Eve gazed blindly in the dark—into the face no one else ever recognized, the face she had memorized as well as her own—she realized she would indeed find her Greater Purpose. With Adam.

Afterwards, spent, he slumped off of her, and she collapsed back onto the pallet, breathing heavily and grinning like a fool.

He pulled the plaids over them and tucked her in. “Will you forgive me for bringing you to the stables for our wedding night?”

She laughed. “I’ll tryst with ye in the stables every night if ye’ll keep a goose-down pallet in here.”

His laughter was as pleasing as a lute to her ears. She could no longer feel the chill winter air. Wrapped in their plaids and nestled together in the straw of the stables, she glowed from the warmth of their lovemaking.

But surely his clan would find them soon.

“Are ye sure Laird Deirdre won’t be angry we left?” she asked.

“I’m sure.”

“If the clan wants proof I came to ye a virgin…”

He chuckled. “There’s no need to fret.” Then he whispered, “To be honest, I bet I can count the number of virgin brides in my clan on one hand.”

“Adam la Nuit,” she scolded.

“’Tis true. The Rivenloch women are a hot-blooded tribe. My own mother—”

He stopped abruptly.

She’d heard it too. A sound coming from outside the stables. A person.

Panicked, she clutched the plaid to her chest.

He put a finger to her lips, indicating silence.

They were invisible in the dark. They were safe. So far.

But if whoever lurked outside came in, and if they carried a candle…

The door creaked open. Eve held her breath.

There was no candle. They couldn’t see her. She couldn’t see them.

Whoever it was entered and headed for the horses. When they walked, she could hear the squeak of leather and the clink of chain mail. The intruder was clad for battle.

While Eve breathed soundlessly, one of the horses whickered softly, and she could hear the stranger putting a saddle on the beast.

“Easy, lass,” the intruder said. “You and I, we’re going on a long journey.”

Eve didn’t recognize the young man’s voice.

Adam did. “Just where are you going, Brand?”

“Bloody shite!” his cousin cried, recoiling so suddenly it startled the horse. “Adam? Is that you? What the hell are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same,” Adam said.

“Don’t you have a wedding to attend to?” he challenged, calming the horse. “Or are you hiding out from your bride?”

“I’m here,” Eve said, startling him again.

“Holy Mother of…!”

“Sorry,” Eve mumbled.

“God’s teeth, Adam,” Brand said in disgust. “Is this your idea of a wedding night? The stables? There’s a perfectly good goose-down pallet in the wedding bedchamber.”

“Not anymore,” Adam said.

Eve couldn’t help but chuckle at that.

Brand made a sound of exasperation. “You know, the laird has the whole clan searching for the two of you.”

“Is that why you’re saddling up in full armor and going on a long journey?” Adam asked. “To look for us?”

Brand’s hesitation was damning.

Adam realized Brand hadn’t come to the stables looking for his missing cousin. He had his own motives.

“All this chaos makes it rather convenient for you, doesn’t it?” Adam said.

“What do you mean?”

“’Tis much easier for you to leave Rivenloch and ride away in the dead of night if the clan is busy looking for me.”

Brand didn’t reply.

“So where are you going?” Adam asked.

“’Tisn’t your affair.”

“Of course, ’tis my affair. You’re my kin,” Adam said. “I’ve always looked after you.”

“Not this time,” he replied.

Adam suddenly heard his cousin with different ears. Brand might be two years younger than him, but somehow he’d become a man in his own right.

Still, Adam couldn’t let Brand just disappear.

“I don’t intend to let you wander off without letting anyone know where you’re going or when you’ll return.”

“You mean like you do?”

That struck him as powerfully as the lance blow to the chest Brand had given him in the tournament. But he wasn’t wrong.

Adam sighed. “Well played, cousin.”

“So you’ll let me go?”

“On two conditions.”

Brand blew out a vexed breath. “What?”

“You tell me where you’re going. And you won’t breathe a word about…this.”

He hoped to spare Eve the embarrassment of an awkward wedding night. Bedding his new wife in the stables was not something he wanted bandied about the castle.

“Why would I agree to that?” Brand smirked. “What’s in it for me?”

“I won’t run to your mother and tell her you’ve gone.”

Brand took a moment to think it over. “Maybe you won’t. What about her?”

Eve replied. “I won’t breathe a word either.”

“Why should I believe you?” Brand asked.

Adam’s blood boiled at the insult to his bride. But then he recalled it wasn’t long ago that Brand had deemed lasses utterly useless and undeserving of his notice.

Before Adam could reply, Eve answered. “I was a nun. Nuns don’t lie.”

Adam knew that wasn’t true. Not at all. Eve had told dozens of lies. Including this one.

But it was more useful to back her up. “Bloody hell, Brand. You’d question the word of a woman of God?”

Brand let out a long-suffering sigh. “Fine,” he conceded. “I’m going to Berwick.”

“Berwick?” Berwick was a town on the border between England and Scotland. A war-torn place that was always changing loyalties. With a castle currently used to imprison the king’s enemies. “Why?”

“The king has awarded me my first command as a knight,” he said proudly.

Adam raised his brows, impressed. “And you didn’t want the laird to know?”

“She knows. She commanded me not to go,” he grumbled. “She said she’d work out a replacement.”

“Why would she do that?”

Eve guessed, “Is it too dangerous?”

“Dangerous,” Brand scoffed, taking offense at her words. “Danger is my battle cry.”

Adam suspected Eve was rolling her eyes at that.

He told Brand, “There’s usually a good reason behind the laird’s commands.”

“Good reason. Pah!”

“Did she say why?”

“Because I’m second in line, Adam,” he bit out. “I’m meant to be laird if anything happens to Gellir. She expects me to stay safe and warm and coddled at Rivenloch while Gellir goes on adventure everywhere.”

Adam understood. Brand was bitter. Rightly so.

“Faith!” Eve exclaimed. “That’s not fair.”

“Right?” Brand said. “Why did I bother becoming a great warrior if my talents are going to be wasted, rotting away in a moldering keep?”

Rivenloch could hardly be called a moldering keep. But Adam got his point.

“Ye have a Greater Purpose,” Eve said.

“Aye, a Greater Purpose,” Brand echoed. “Which is why I need to go. And why I’m forced to steal off in the middle of the night.”

“I’ll let you go,” Adam decided. “But promise me something.”

“What’s that?”

“You’ll send word to the clan once you arrive safely.”

Eve chimed in, “And when ye return, ye’ll share your adventures.”

“Fine. Good.” Adam led the horse toward the stable door. “I have to leave. Now. They may be distracted, searching for you, but they’ll come to the stables eventually.”

“Do ye have everythin’ ye need for the journey?” Eve asked.

“Aye.” Then he chuckled. “I don’t have Adam’s bottomless satchel. But I did steal extra portions at supper.”

“Good luck, cousin.”

They wished Brand well and saw him safely on his way.

When he was gone, Adam said, “My cousin is right. We should make haste. They’ll be here any moment.”

As they quickly donned their clothes, Eve asked, “Do you think he’ll be all right?”

“Brand? He’ll fare better against the English than he will against his mother.”

“We’re still goin’ to follow him, though, aye?”

“Of course.”

“Good. Berwick sounds like the perfect place for a honeymoon,” she gushed. “Full of romance. Adventure. Danger.”

“That is Brand’s battle cry.”

“And maybe our Greater Purpose?”

“No doubt,” he said. “Come on. We’ll have to pack for the journey.”

“Right.” Eve wondered, “I don’t suppose that famous satchel o’ yours is big enough to carry a goose-down pallet?”