His greatest fear had been for his wife. All he could think about was that he had to get to her. He had to keep her safe. He had to make sure no one took her from him.
When he had seen the warriors leave her side, he’d seen his chance and taken it and was relieved when he had seen Willow run for the woods, trying to escape them.
He was also relieved she was there safely tucked in his bed and he wasted no time in shedding his garments and joining her. The bed wasn’t a good fit for two people, but that was an easy adjustment to make. He went to ease his wife on her side to wrap himself around her when she turned and snuggled against him.
“Slatter,” she whispered, a warm breath fanning his neck as her head rested on his shoulder.
“Aye, leannan,” he murmured and wrapped her in his arms, wondering if he had lost his mind caring for this woman, thinking she belonged to him, when he had no choice but to eventually let her go.
Chapter 7
Slatter left the bed as soon as he woke the next morning, not trusting himself to remain there until his wife woke. He’d been with his fair share of women, had fun with them, cared about them for the brief time he’d spent with them, but never did one of them linger in his mind the way Willow did.
The strange part about it was that he had found her appealing when he had first met her. He had asked himself why ever since. She hadn’t shown any interest in him at all. Her only focus had been his wound. He had tried to work his wiles on her, thinking perhaps he could get her to help him make another escape, a successful one this time. He had realized soon enough she was far too sensible a woman and would inform the guards of his action, which made him wonder why she had chosen to escape Tarass’s warriors and stay with him?
She had wanted to go home, would have to return home eventually, so why delay it? Why not take the opportunity that had presented itself?
She’ll have a rationale reason.
He smiled at the thought and closed the door quietly behind him as he stepped outside.
A light snow had fallen, dusting the land, and the gray skies hinted that more might follow. It would be a cold winter and he feared for the small group that had taken refuge together. It annoyed him that he had yet to settle his problem, but then it hadn’t been as easy to solve as he had first thought it would be.
Walcott approached him and he could see by his sour expression that something was wrong. Though, if truth be told Walcott wore a sour expression more often than not.
“Tell me and be done with it,” Slatter said when Walcott stopped in front of him.
“They think your wife brings harm.”
“The men or the women?”
“Mostly the women,” Walcott confessed.
“And what of you, Walcott, do you think she brings harm?”
Walcott stepped closer and kept his voice low. “Of course she does, how can you think otherwise after what happened at the market? Lord Ruddock will hunt us down when he finds out about this and now the Lord of Fire—God help us—will be after us. You should have let his warriors take her and be done with it.”
“She’s my wife, and don’t tell me I shouldn’t have wed her. You know as well as I do what fate she would have met if I had left her with Beck,” Slatter said.
“I won’t argue that, but you should have let her go with the Lord of Fire’s warriors.”
“And you think that would have stopped them from coming after me? Rhodes would have had her escorted home while he continued to hunt me.”
“So you give him more of an excuse to hunt you? And need I remind you of Lord Ruddock again, and what about her clan? Don’t you think they’ll be hunting you as well? And I can see she steals your thoughts. She brings trouble down on us. Let her go before it’s too late.”
“Or work whatever the trouble is to your advantage,” the gruff voice said.
Slatter grinned and shook his head when he turned to see his longtime friend, Devin, approach. They’d been friends forever and if he trusted anyone the most it was Devin. He was a big, burly Scot with features so plain that they would never catch and steal a woman’s heart, which was why everyone wondered how Devin snagged the sweet, tiny May as his wife.
Devin pulled Slatter into a hug and gave him a slap on the back, then looked to Walcott with a grin that spread from ear to ear. “I see you’re still your usual smiling self.”