“What if he doesn’t know the difference between Slatter and Sterling?” Snow asked.
Eleanor lowered her voice almost afraid to speak. “The devil’s cohort knows true evil when he sees it.”
“But Lord Tarass has yet to get a response from the man,” James said.
“I got a response,” Willow said.
“You contacted the Slayer?” James asked, shaking his head in disbelief.
“I did, to protect my husband, but we can’t wait for him with Lord Sterling so impatient and so adamant about seeing Slatter made to pay for crimes Sterling committed,” Willow said, her own words causing her stomach to roil with worry.
“What other choice is there?” Slatter asked. “What proof is there that points to Sterling being responsible for all that has been said about me? And who would believe me over a nobleman?”
“There is another matter that must be considered,” James said reluctantly.
“Our marriage,” Slatter said and James nodded.
Willow considered telling her husband what Beck had told Maddie that she believed was a message for Slatter, but since Maddie believed Beck meant it for Slatter alone, she decided to wait until they were alone to tell him.
“I believe it would be wise to send for a cleric and have your vows repeated,” James said to the surprise of Willow and Slatter. “And we’ll do it as quickly as possible.”
“I am grateful, James,” Willow said. “My mum was right when she told me and my sisters to trust you, that you were a good man just like our da.”
“I gave our da my word that I would look after the three of you and I intend to keep it until the day I die,” James said.
Eleanor turned a smile, full of pride, on him.
The group talked for a while longer without coming up with any clear solution to the problem.
Eleanor went off with James, Snow took Thaw for a walk, and Slatter and Willow went to talk with his grandmother.
Slatter stopped on the stairs, his arm going around his wife’s waist to turn her and rest her against him. “You sacrifice too much for me, wife, defending me at every turn without pause or doubt. It isn’t you who will owe the Slayer, if he helps us, but me.”
Willow brushed her lips over his, eager for more, but rested her brow to his instead. “I love you beyond measure, beyond anything I thought possible, and I will see you kept safe so that we may have a long, happy life together.”
Slatter captured her lips in a hungry kiss, then nibbled along her neck, eager to hear the soft seductive moans that quickened his own passion. He stopped when his thoughts turned to rushing her to their bedchamber, when other matters needed their immediate attention.
“Later,” he whispered and she shivered. He kissed her quick. “I never thought I’d find love and never would I expect a woman like you to fall in love with me.”
“A woman like me?” she asked, running her hand gently along his cheek.
He turned his head to kiss the palm of her hand. “Aye, a kind, good-hearted, respected, admired, unselfish, loving woman.”
She smiled softly. “You forget stubborn and pragmatic.”
“There are those as well,” he said with a chuckle, “and I love those parts of you just as much as all the others.”
“You are a lucky man to have found me,” she teased, then her tone turned serious. “And I am a lucky woman to have found you, a man whose good heart far outweighs his faults.”
“Keep that thought strong, mo ghaol, you may need it someday.”
“All I need is you,” she whispered and kissed him as if she’d never get a chance to kiss him again.
It left them both breathless and he whispered once again, “Later.”
They entered the room to find Sara sitting up in bed, looking much improved, though there was a worry in her alert eyes.
“What goes on, Slatter?” his grandmother asked anxiously and stretched her hand out to him. “I heard someone arrived here who resembles you. What is this all about?”
“I wish I knew, Seanmhair,” he said, taking her hand and sitting on the bed beside her. “You told me that you know little about my father, but I need you to tell me all you do know.”
His grandmother obliged. “It was at the gathering of several clans that your mum met your da. She came home excited and told me she was in love and going off with a man. She never told me his name and never said anything about marrying him, not even a handfasting. She left and I didn’t see her until she returned with you,” —she smiled— “a small bairn that walked far too fast for being barely one year. I could hardly keep up with you. When I asked what happened, she told me it was better I didn’t know.” She shook her head slowly. “I wondered if she had gotten herself with a powerful man and a married one at that, and that she feared him.”