Page 20 of Love Me Forever (Highland Duo #2)

“B rianna knows nothing,” Royce confirmed. “And she will know nothing until I am ready to tell her.”

“Her brother Ian may disagree with you,” Blair advised, casting a glance toward Brianna. “He wishes his sister to find happiness.”

“She has found it with me.” Royce moved his hand off his sword, and all around him eased their rigid stances.

“Brianna knows not who you are,” Blair said, “when she discovers the truth—what then?”

Royce had no answer. He had thought often on the consequences of keeping his identity from her, but it was more important that she discover who he truly was and not who many thought him to be. He had revealed much about himself to her, much that he had kept hidden even from himself.

“Brianna once trusted a man and suffered for it. Her brother will not see her hurt again.”

Royce respected Blair for defending Brianna. “I would never hurt Brianna. I care too deeply for her. I will protect her with my life.”

“Yet you keep the truth from her.”

“She was ill and frightened when she first cast eyes on me. My thought was for her to heal—not worry over who tended her.”

“Your clan knows where you are?” Blair asked.

“Aye, and there is no need for concern. I have no grievance with the clan Cameron.” Royce glanced to Brianna and saw that she wandered farther into the woods. “We can speak of this later, though not in Brianna’s presence.”

“Ian will be grateful that you have seen to his sister’s care?—”

Royce finished for him. “But he will not be grateful that I care for his sister.”

“He loves his sister.”

“So do I,” Royce said and walked off to join Brianna.

He caught up with her as she was carefully breaking smaller branches off the large, fallen branch. He came up behind her and waited, thinking she would have her say. Instead, he faced silence as she continued her task, completely ignoring him.

Several snapping branches tested his patience until finally he said, “You are upset.”

She turned then, her eyes blazing. “I will not be ordered about by you, Blair, or my brother. And I will not stand by and watch as a lifelong friend and the man I intend to wed act ridiculously.”

He tried to temper her anger, but she did not give him the chance.

“I cannot understand how it seems that you two took an instant dislike to each other. Unless I am wrong—tell me I am wrong.”

He tried, but she rushed on.

“You both wish me safely returned home, and yet you both are at odds over how to accomplish the same task. It makes little sense, yet I tried to remember that you are both men and men often make little sense.”

“Brianna,” he said quickly, but she was set on speaking her mind.

“Blair is a good man and my brother’s closest friend. If he sees how much we care for each other and how kind and caring you are to me, he will speak well of you to my brother.”

Her words reared his temper. “I need no one to speak for me.”

“Well, you certainly do not seem to make friends easily. You looked all but ready to attack Blair and his men.”

His stance had been guarded but for a reason, a reason he could not explain to her. “Your safety is my concern. I knew nothing of Blair or his men.”

“You learned quickly enough and still you were on guard.”

“As was he,” Royce reminded.

She dropped the branches she held, and her hands went to her hips. “Then tell me why. Why did you two treat each other as opponents?”

“Men are territorial. They protect their own.”

Her eyes rounded. “You cannot be serious.”

“Most serious.” His voice was firm and his stance rigid. “What is mine no one harms, and you are mine.”

Her hands slipped off her hips and her eyes softened. She walked up to him and placed her hand on his cheek.

He slipped his arms around her waist. “I am glad you understand what I say. You are not an object to me. I claim no ownership over you. It is my love for you that makes you mine.”

“Then if it is your love for me that makes me yours, then my love for you makes you mine.”

Her smile forced him to smile. “And are you territorial?”

She squeezed his cheek with her one hand. “No one touches what is mine.”

He leaned down and swept his lips across hers. “I want no one touching me but you.”

“I like touching you,” she whispered near his ear and faintly brushed her lips over his scarred cheek.

Their kiss lingered in gentleness, both enjoying the taste of each other and both not wanting it to end. When it finally did with great reluctance on both their parts, Brianna rested her head on his shoulder.

“If you do not get along with Blair, I fear you will not find my brother a friend. Then I worry that we will not be together.”

“Worry not. Your brother and I will understand each other.”

“Understanding and getting along is not the same,” she said. She slipped her arms around his waist and hugged him to her. “I do not wish to lose you.”

He hugged her in return. “You will not lose me. You are mine and will remain so. I will allow nothing to come between us.”

A chill raced over her, and the feeling did not bode well with her. “Promise?”

“I give you my word, Brianna, and I do not give my word lightly.”

“I trust you and your word.”

“Always trust me and never doubt my word, Brianna, for I shall always keep it no matter what happens.”

“I sometimes wonder if my accident

was not the hands of fate. Otherwise, we would have never met.”

“We were destined to meet and now we live our destiny.”

* * *

Brianna sat at the table working on the twig basket, her thoughts her own, when Blair entered the cottage. Royce had gone off to hunt for the evening meal and Blair’s men were camped outside.

“Come in, sit and talk with me,” she encouraged as he hesitated at the door.

He made his way cautiously to the table.

Her husband had taught her to hold her tongue, but once he was no longer around, she soon returned to speaking her mind. She did so now. “You are judging Royce without even knowing him.”

“You barely know him yourself,” Blair said calmly, and sat across from her.

“Nay, I know him better than others, and perhaps I know him better than he does himself.”

Blair knew it was senseless arguing with a woman who thought herself in love. But Brianna had suffered a terrible hurt, and he did not wish to see her suffer again.

“Could it be that you are grateful to him for saving your life?”

Brianna took no offense to his suggestion. “I gave that thought much consideration, and while I am grateful for his rescue and care, I have found in him a gentle heart and soul that I could love.”

Blair held his tongue and Brianna saw his reluctance to speak.

She reached out and placed her hand on his fisted one.

“I do not understand your response to Royce. I realize that when first you came upon us, your instincts were to protect me. But once you discovered that Royce was kind to me and that we care for each other, I thought you would be happy for me. He is a warrior and will serve the clan Cameron well. What is wrong with that?”

“You do not know him.” Blair could say no more, for it was not his place.

“I know him well enough, and I know that no one has treated me the way Royce has treated me. He is kind and caring and I think he grows weary of warring.” A soft smile touched her lips. “I thought that Ian might consider letting him train the men or even farm, anything but fight.”

Blair dug his fingers into his palms. “And if he wishes to fight?”

Brianna’s fingers returned to fashioning the softened twigs into a basket. “Look at his scars. Do you think any sane man would want to fight after having faced such a horrendous battle?”

“Only a true warrior.”

“Warriors can grow weary of war.”

“Not the ones born to become legends,” Blair said.

“Royce was not meant to be a legend, and besides his heart and soul are too tender.”

Blair frowned. “He intends to ask Ian for permission to wed you?”

Brianna’s fingers slowed. “He will ask me first, for it is my decision, and Ian will agree if he knows that I am happy.”

Blair cleared his throat as though reluctant to speak his mind.

“I will save you your unease,” Brianna said, looking directly at Blair, “since my brother will ask you the question you find difficult to ask me. I chose to be intimate with Royce because I love him.”

“A man can be tempted if alone in a cottage with a woman.”

“Do you try to tell me that Royce but needed a woman to appease his basic needs and that he feels nothing for me?”

Blair heard the annoyance in her voice but knew it was better she faced these possibilities now, for what she was about to face would be much more challenging. “You have not thought this yourself?”

She smiled again. “You know me well, Blair.”

“I know you have suffered dearly and that you do not wish to suffer again. Therefore?—”

“I would be careful in what I choose,” Brianna finished.

Blair remained silent out of necessity.

“I know you want the best for me, Blair. Royce is the best for me. I not only love him, I trust him, and after what Arran did to me, I had thought I would never trust again.”

Blair bit back the warning that wanted to rush from his lips. “This is for your brother to decide.”

“Nay,” she said with a firm shake of her head. “This is for me to decide.”

The door opened and Royce entered the cottage. The two men exchanged a heated look.

“Brianna and I were just discussing trust,” Blair said.

Royce dropped his fur on the bed and walked over to the table. He rested his hand on Brianna’s shoulder after giving her cheek a kiss.

“Do you trust, Royce?” Blair asked.

“None of what I hear and little of what I see.”

Blair laughed, though it was forced. “A wise choice.”

“More necessary than wise,” Royce said and changed the subject. “I killed enough game to feed all. Your men are preparing it now. You are welcome to join Brianna and me for the evening meal.”

“You must join us, Blair,” Brianna said eagerly. “We can entertain Royce with stories of how you and Ian would tease and torment me as a young child.”

“If it is the truth he wants to hear, then I will be telling him how you followed us about and caused more disturbances than the both of us.”

Royce smiled and leaned down beside Brianna, though he looked to Blair. “I would like to hear of her antics when young.”

“Me?” she said, as if affronted by his remark, then smiled. “I was a perfect young lady.”

“A perfect terror,” Blair said with a hardy laugh.

“I want to hear it all,” Royce said and received a poke in the ribs from Brianna.

“You will hear it all from me,” Brianna insisted.

Blair would not be denied. “I will add my share of things.”

Brianna was relieved that the tension between the two men dissipated.

She had worried that they would fail to get along and that failure would weigh heavily with Ian.

It did not sit well with her that the two men were at odds upon meeting.

She had not expected such a reaction, and now she worried over her brother’s reaction to Royce.

After Ian had found out how poorly Arran had treated her, he had become extremely protective of her and encouraged her to seek her own strength.

When she had informed him that she did not wish to ever marry again, he did not seem to mind.

He did not even attempt to change her mind, nor did her sister-in-law.

What would he say now when she told him she wished to wed? Would he honor her request or worry that she was making a foolish mistake yet again? And would he seek to protect her from herself?

Royce was confident of the outcome. Why could she not be as confident?

What troubled her? Why did she think she would face difficulty?

Perhaps she was conditioned to expect it as she had been in her marriage.

It was as if she always waited for something to happen.

Even though all appeared at peace, her husband would suddenly find fault with her and berate her until she felt little worth for herself.

She had to remember that Royce was nothing like Arran. He was truthful with her, and she need not worry about sudden surprises.

She turned and kissed his cheek and right in front of Blair said, “I love you.”

He kissed her back. “As I do you.”

She looked to Blair. “You will tell Ian how happy I am?”

Blair hesitated and then Brianna gave him that pleading look she had always given him as a child. The one that he always surrendered to and that always got him into trouble. He threw his hands up into the air. “Whatever you want, Brianna.”

She smiled, pleased at his response.

Royce shook his head. “Is that how she managed you to do her biding… with a simple look?”

Blair nodded. “A fact I am not proud of. So I advise you to be careful, my friend, or she will soon have you doing the same.”

Royce grinned. “She already has.”