The Condemned Highlander (Highland Intrigue Trilogy 2)

Annis let her head fall back on his shoulder. “The mercenaries must be the danger the witch warned me about. Who do you think hired them to abduct me? And whatever do they want with me?”

“There has been talk through the years that there are those who want me, Odran, and Rannick dead so the curse can die with us. We paid it little heed, but of late I believe that perhaps there is more to it. With you being my wife, there is a chance of you bearing a child and the curse continuing.”

“All the more reason to see the curse broken,” Annis said.

“All the more reason for you to stay close to me and take no chances,” he ordered.

She grinned and poked him in the chest. “I do not mind in the least staying close to you.”

“That is what I like, an obedient wife. OW!” He laughed when she playfully punched him in the arm. His laughter ceased when he gripped her chin in his hand. “I may laugh, but this is serious, and I need to make sure I keep you safe. You will do as I say and not fill my days with worry.”

“I will do my best not to worry you,” she said. “But I cannot let this threat stop me from my quest. We need to find the couple who Gunna gave the MacWilliam bairn to.”

“Does nothing frighten you?” he asked, running his finger tenderly along her cheek.

“Aye, losing you and my sisters which is why I cannot let anything else frighten me. I must see this done.”

“We must see this done,” he corrected, proud his wife had such courage, yet worried over her at the same time.

She turned questioning eyes on him. “Am I a good wife?”

Her question surprised him. “Why would you ask that?”

“As I once told you, I never gave thought to marrying and even less thought to wifely duties. I do not know how to stitch, at least properly, and trust me when I say you do not want me to cook for you. I had even cringed at the thought of coupling, though my thought on that has completely changed.”

He turned a wicked grin on her. “Thanks to me.”

“There you go thinking highly of yourself again,” she said with a playful twinkle in her eyes.

“The truth speaks for itself.” He kissed her before she could respond. He finished with a soft brush of his lips across hers. “We not only need to continue the quest, but we also need to find out who hired the mercenaries to capture you.”

“It might have been wiser for us to keep the man alive so we could find out more,” she said.

“It was not our choice to make,” he reminded.

With the witch having spoken to her about knowledge, the man’s death left her with a question. “Why would the witch see the mercenary dead before gaining information?” She answered for herself. “I suppose she did not want to take the chance that either of us could be harmed.” She waited to hear her husband’s thought on it and when he remained silent, she cast a curious eye on him. “You always have an opinion. Why the silence?”

He tilted his head and smiled. When he smiled at her like that, with love in his soft blue eyes for her—only her—her heart fluttered wildly, as it did now.

“I haven’t told you recently how beautiful you are.” He tugged at one of her many springy, red curls.

She swatted at his hand. “You do not answer me. Why?”

He tugged at her curl again. “You will not like my answer.”

“I will like it even less if you do not answer me,” she said, leaving him to tug at her curl. “Besides, would you like it if I kept something from you?”

He shook his head and kissed her. “You win, wife. You always do.”

“Then tell me.”

He tucked her close, resting his hand with a squeeze at her waist. “When you were snatched away from me, I knew a rage I never felt before. All I could think about was making the man suffer who dared to take you from me. That rage grew as I searched for you. I wanted to rip him apart until there was nothing left of him. I spotted the wolves and knew they would lead me to you. I also knew that they would do far more damage to your abductor than I could and that pleased me.”

Annis shivered and Brogan drew the blanket up around her.

“You are always safe when you are with me, wife, on that you have my word,” he whispered and kissed her gently.

“Of that I have no doubt.”

“Then why do I see doubt in your eyes?” he asked, then grinned. “Knowing you, wife, as I do, the doubt does not concern me and, if I ventured a guess, I would say your doubt centers on how we are going to find the mercenaries.”