Page 39

Keira turned her head to the open window this time, subtly inching closer to it.

“Ye would choose anyone over me, would ye nae? And me love for ye would go to waste.”

“Hudson, I need ye to think very carefully about what ye’re doing.”

“Oh, that is all I have done over the past four days. I realized it would never be me. Would it? It would be someone else. It would always be someone else.”

Keira swallowed, stark realization crashing hard into her.

“It would be someone else.”

Those were almost the same words he had uttered to her the day he had escorted her to the dungeons. The last words he had said to her when he shut the gates in her face.

“Was that why ye have been trying to get me to run? So ye could come with me?”

“I thought this was our chance to start over,” Hudson explained. “Then he was saved.”

Keira swallowed. No one was coming to save her, that much was evident. If Hudson did plan to kill her, perhaps it would be best if she got confrontational after all. What did she have to lose?

“Ye killed Fletcher. Ye tried to kill Evander just so ye could have me, and ye still think the man is yer competition?”

Hudson narrowed his eyes at her.

“Ye have the gall to compare yerself to Evander in the first place?” She could see the shock on his face as the words spewed out of her mouth like venom. “Ye were never him, Hudson. And ye will never be him.”

Hudson staggered backward, his mouth dropping open.

Keira felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, and she tried hard to keep the fear from her voice. “Ye’re nae even half the man Evander is.”

That was it. That was the nail in the coffin.

The shock on Hudson’s face transformed almost immediately into insatiable anger. He raised his palm, ready to strike her.

“Step back,” Evander’s voice suddenly barked behind them, cold and calm. Way too calm for something else to not be going on beneath his calm demeanor.

A wave of relief washed over Keira, weakening her knees.

Hudson turned around slowly to face Evander.

“It would be in yer best interest if ye dinnae make me repeat meself,” Evander warned, his voice still low. Dangerously low.

“Oh, would it now?” Hudson drawled, still standing in front of Keira, his back turned to her.

He was still blocking her path, and she did nothing but stare at the window, her heart racing and her lips moving in a silent prayer.

“Hudson?” Evander called.

It didn’t sound like a question at all, but rather a warning. An incredibly grave warning.

“Would it also be in me best interest if I do this?” Hudson spun around and pushed Keira against the edge of the window.

She crashed into the wall and fell hard on the floor.

Evander snapped.

He crossed the room in three long strides and slammed hard into Hudson like lightning. They both crashed into the wall. Hudson’s head snapped back against the hard stone wall, but he managed to shove Evander off.

Both men staggered backward, glaring at each other.

Hudson drew a dagger from his belt, his face contorted in unadulterated rage.

Evander didn’t flinch. “Go ahead, ye bastard. I dare ye.”

Hudson swung his dirk, aiming for Evander’s ribs, but Evander jumped back. The blade sliced through his shirt and grazed his skin. He grabbed Hudson’s wrist at that moment and twisted it as hard as he could.

Hudson cried out, and the dagger fell from his grip.

Evander didn’t stop there. He balled his free hand into a fist and slammed it into Hudson’s face. Once. Twice. Until blood spurted from his nose.

Hudson swung back after the second blow, punching him square in the gut. The air whooshed out of Evander’s lungs, and he doubled over. Hudson rose to his feet in the blink of an eye and slammed his knee against Evander’s jaw.

“Ye still think ye have a chance with her, do ye nae?” he growled, slamming his fist into Evander’s face.

Evander reeled back. His head snapped up, and pain flashed white behind his eyes, but he pushed through it. He grabbed Hudson’s shirt and flung him away, then shoved him face-first right against the edge of the bed frame.

The wood cracked, and Hudson screamed. Evander hauled him back and threw him across the room. Hudson hit the floor hard and rolled onto his back. Blood trickled down from his lips as he coughed and staggered to his feet.

“Ye cannae stop me from having her. Laird Blythe might have been a dangerous man, but that doesnae mean he didnae teach me a few things when he was alive,” Hudson said, the words escaping his lips between fits of loud coughs.

He dove for his dagger, but Evander caught up before he could reach it.

He slammed his boot hard into Hudson’s hand and heard the sickening crack of bones.

Hudson screamed again and desperately tried to pull his hand free, but Evander refused to let up.

He grabbed Hudson’s arm and yanked him up just to drive his fist into his face once again.

Hudson stumbled but didn’t fall.

Before Evander could deliver another blow, Hudson threw a wild punch that landed clean on his temple. Evander reeled, and his vision faltered for a moment. Hudson lunged at him, pushing him against the edge of the window. His back crashed into the wall.

“Evander!” Keira screamed from the far corner of the room, where she huddled to avoid getting hit.

Hudson wrapped his hands around Evander’s neck and tried to choke him and shove him through the window. Keira took a step forward.

“Stay back!” Evander barked.

The night wind rushed in, cold and sharp against his bloodied face, and his feet skidded helplessly across the floor.

“Now, who’s twice the man yer loving husband is, Keira?”

Keira clamped her hands over her mouth.

“Answer me!” Hudson screamed, his grip on Evander’s neck faltering just the slightest bit.

That was the opening Evander needed. He swung his arm and punched him hard in the throat, then the stomach.

Hudson doubled over, a choked gasp escaping his lips. Evander slammed his fist into his throat once again, causing him to drop to his knees, wheezing and coughing.

Evander kicked him hard in the side once. Twice. Ribs cracked at the impact, and Hudson fell onto his back.

Evander straddled him. “Ye bastard!” he roared.

Before he could do anything, Hudson kneed him from behind. He doubled over, and Hudson clawed at his knees, pulling hard and sending him face-first to the floor.

The two men wrestled across the room, their bodies slamming into the furniture and walls. Hudson bit into Evander’s arm from the back. Evander cried out and slammed his free elbow into Hudson’s mouth.

Hudson fell over and landed on his back.

Evander snatched the dagger from the floor. “Ye messed with the wrong woman.”

Before Hudson could say anything, Evander dropped to his knees beside him and drove the dagger into his chest.

Hudson’s scream echoed through the room.

Evander pulled the dagger out and stabbed him hard , again and again, his chest heaving. Hudson’s body shook violently beneath him, warm blood pooling beneath his body and soaking the floorboards. Evander stayed there, his grip tight on the dagger until Hudson eventually stopped moving.

He rose, his eyes still fixed on Hudson’s lifeless body, as if by some miracle the bastard would reach for him, or his wife, again.

He didn’t. Hudson was truly dead. And his lifeless body remained on the floor as stark evidence.

Evander turned to Keira, who remained by the wall.

“Ye’re safe now,” he said, his voice hoarse. “He willnae hurt ye anymore. I swear it.”

Keira nodded slowly, a flicker of hesitation crossing her face before she finally moved toward him.

He pulled her into his arms, studying every inch of her body for the briefest of minutes.

“Are ye hurt? Did the bastard manage to—” The words froze on his lips before he could finish.

He couldn’t bring himself to ask the question.

But Keira shook her head gently anyway. No, the bastard had not touched her. He hadn’t even gotten to do anything to her before Evander had arrived.

She wanted to break down right there and then and tell him just how much of a lifesaver he had been. If he had arrived but a minute late, who knew what would have happened? Hudson would have probably pushed her out of the window.

She shook her head, trying to shove the thought away. Her eyes flicked to Hudson’s lifeless body, which still lay at the end of the room, utter disbelief written all over her face.

“Nae once did I ever think that Hudson could be the cause of me problems,” she muttered. “He killed Fletcher and tried to kill ye.”

“Well, ‘tis a good thing he didnae manage to do that before his death now, is it nae?”

Keira said nothing. She only continued to stare at the corpse at the other end of the room.

“Ye ken, now that we ken who was behind everything, ye can return to the castle. Ye nay longer have to leave.”

Keira turned to him. “Evander, I can never return to the castle again.”

The dull pain in almost every part of Evander’s body couldn’t compare to the pain he felt at her words. “Nay. Ye have to return. The castle is nothing without ye.”

He paused as if considering his words—or maybe because he felt a sharp pain in his side where Hudson had punched him.

“ I am nothing without ye.”

Keira narrowed her eyes at him. “Ye’re only saying that because we are still married.

Ye dinnae have to worry. Ye have yet to claim me so we can break it off.

When I leave, I willnae be yer wife anymore.

Ye can marry anyone ye want, and I’ll be at peace trying to find a man who wants to marry me because he loves me. Nae because he?—”

Evander sealed the words in her mouth with a kiss. It had come completely out of nowhere, but one minute Keira was speaking, and the next he cupped her face in his hands and crushed his lips to hers.

The kiss was soft, tender, as if they were afraid to hurt each other. He broke it and then looked deep into her hazel eyes, his throat bobbing with desperation.

“I love ye.”

Keira shook her head. “Evander, ye dinnae have to?—”

“I am being honest here, Keira. I have been in love with ye for as long as I can remember. Perhaps the very first day I met ye. I just never planned to do anything about it because—” He cleared his throat. “Because I didnae want to do to ye what me braither did to Shona.”

Keira’s heart softened.

“I tried to pretend that I dinnae love ye, but the truth is, I do. I really do. I love the way yer nose crinkles when ye talk, the way ye love to get on me nerves all the time. I love how ye knowingly call me Mr . Kincaid?—”

She flashed him a toothy grin. “Whoever said it was intentional?”

“I have always loved ye, Keira. I was just never strong enough to admit it. At least until I realized I was going to lose ye.”

Silence pierced the tense air, Evander’s words settling into her like a heartbeat.

“So, aye. I truly— truly mean it with all me heart when I say that I am nothing without ye.”

Keira almost didn’t wait for him to finish before she pulled him in for another kiss—soft as before, but with more meaning. He could taste the tears that spilled over and ran down her cheeks at that moment.

“I love ye too,” she whispered.

Evander laughed—perhaps the first laugh she had ever heard from him—and grabbed her hands. “Then let us go home.”

Keira nodded.

“Aye, take me home, Mr. Kincaid.”