No one in the castle got much sleep that night, least of all Ryder, who knew he needed rest if he were to be well enough to put his plan into action the next day, but who could not bring himself to lie down in the bed he shared with Meredith, without her by his side.
He could barely stand the thought of leaving her with Colby for even a minute, let alone overnight, but if there was one thing he had learned from his father, it was that old adage about revenge being a dish best served cold. It was a lesson that Ryder had taken a long time to learn. As a young man, his instinct had always been to act first and think later — an instinct that had led him into trouble on more than one occasion.
With time and maturity, however, had come a new, deeper understanding of the world and how it worked. Taking time to understand the enemy was now key to his strategy. It did not do to underestimate someone, as he had clearly done with Colby. For years now, Ryder had viewed Colby with a pity that verged on disdain. The man had tried pathetically hard to befriend him after Ryder had killed his father, claiming that all he wanted was peace between the clans and that he’d been on Ryder’s side all along.
Ryder had not believed him, and nor had he respected him for appearing so willing to turn on his own family and befriend the man who should have been his sworn enemy — indeed, he had viewed Colby’s craven need for friendship as a weakness. Until the day he’d found him by the loch with Meredith, however, it had not occurred to him to view Colby as a threat. An irritant, yes, and, latterly, an unlikely ally in the search for Meredith’s attacker.
But, of course, Colby had been behind that attack all along, hadn’t he? He had visited Ryder that day, claiming to want to toast his good health on the occasion of his wedding. An excuse which Ryder now saw for exactly what it was — a ruse designed to distract him while the men he’d paid to take Meredith did his bidding.
He had presumably been the person behind the fire at Quinn Castle, too, Ryder now realized. He hadn’t wanted to say as much to Melissa and her mother, but it was the only explanation that made sense. Had he done it out of simple malice, he wondered, or in a bid to drive Ryder out of his mind from the presumed pressure of having to take in Meredith’s entire family along with her?
If it was the latter, of course, he’d made a grave error in judgment because, instead of driving Meredith and Ryder apart, having her family there had only brought them closer together. What’s more, it had also given him some powerful allies, in the shape of Melissa and Felix. Two people who loved Meredith almost as much as he did and whose loyalty to her had quickly turned into loyalty to her husband, too.
With a bit of luck — and a lot of planning — that loyalty would now be the thing that helped bring her back to him. His only hope was that it wouldn’t be at the expense of Melissa’s safety. Because not only would Meredith herself never forgive him if something were to happen to her beloved sister, he knew that he’d never forgive himself, either.
But it was the only way. His best chance at distracting Colby, and keeping him occupied for long enough to put his plan into action, and bring both Meredith and Melissa safely home. Now all he could do was pray that it worked.