Chapter 9
What the fook are ye doing? What the fook are ye doing?
Pherson was having trouble breathing as he jogged down the corridor toward freedom.
Ye’re running away. Ye’re fooking running away like a scared fooking little rabbit who sees the hawk’s fooking shadow!
Well, of course he was! He’d been running for years! First from his father’s death, then from the Campbell gang, and now…
He stumbled, slamming his palm against the stone wall to catch himself.
Ye’re running from her.
Nay, not her. He was running from her brother.
Ye’re running from a future with Wynda. Ye’re turning yer back on what might be.
He was a criminal. A man with no future! For a moment there, he’d thought, mayhap…
Cursing, he turned to the wall and tried to get his breathing under control.
He had run, aye, just as he’d done years ago, thinking only…
Only of Wren.
The saints above knew how scared he’d been, cradling the babe against his chest—he could still feel her silent, warm regard, weighing less than Geraldine, and the way she wrapped her fingers trustingly around his—when he’d ridden away from that massacre.
He’d run then to protect her, and now…
Fook.
Wynda’s brother was one of the King’s Hunters, the men sent after the most dangerous, most notorious scum in Scotland. After all these years, Pherson’s past had caught up with him…at the worst possible moment.
Just when ye thought ye had a chance at a future.
But… He closed his eyes on a groan, dropping his forehead against the back of his forearm.
He couldn’t run any longer. He couldn’t put Wren in danger, not when she’d found a place for herself. With Wynda.
He would fetch his daughter, explain she’d be living with Wynda from now on, and return to the castle. It would be the hardest thing he’d ever done, giving her up…but she’d be safe here. And eventually, she’d be happy, able to forget him.
Wynda loved his daughter and was willing to make Wren her own.
Wynda loves ye, too, ye wee shite.
Aye. He swallowed. And he loved her.
Which is why he couldn’t bring this kind of trouble down on her.
He’d fetch Wren. He’d explain why he had to break her heart…
And then he’d go with the King’s Hunter. He’d face what he should’ve faced years ago.
At least ye had six years as Wren’s da.
Aye, no matter what happened, he’d always be Wren’s da.
And Wynda’s first love.