The Silent Highlander (Highland Intrigue Trilogy 1)

Elysia waited until they were out of sight, then headed straight for the woods. She couldn’t bear to hear the agonizing roar of her husband again, but it would help her find him. The sound would trail off and she just might be able to locate him that way.

The roar came again, piercing her heart, and she stopped to listen, fighting back the tears as she did. She caught it at the very end, the rumbling groan that would frighten most, but she heard the agony in it and followed the sound that hurt her heart.

She thanked the heavens when she spotted him in the distance, his hand braced on a tree, his back to her. He wore no shirt beneath his plaid and the strip of plaid that usually crossed his chest hung at his side. His head hung down, his dark hair draped along the sides of his face.

His stance was one of defeat as if he had just lost a battle. She wanted to run to him, console him, love him. But she warned herself to go slow and took cautious steps toward him. An animal that was hurt and suffering often struck out when help was offered, too frightened to trust. Slow and easy was the best way to approach and that was what she did.

“WHOEVER DARES APPROACH, LEAVE NOW!”

His furious shout had her stopping and her heart beating ever faster. She waited a few moments, then continued toward him.

“LEAVE NOW!” he yelled, the threat in his savage tone warning enough to any sane person to run.

She wisely stopped a few feet from him and though fear trembled her, she kept her voice steady and soft. “Odran.”

His head shot up and his whole body grew taut and his hand braced against the tree fisted and pounded at the bark. “GET OUT OF HERE NOW, ELYSIA!”

“NO!” she shouted back and her legs grew weak when she heard a distinct vicious growl.

“GO!” he ordered.

Elysia kept her voice strong and stubborn, though she felt neither. “You can shout and command all you want. I am not leaving you.”

He swerved around then and she almost dropped to her knees with fright. He was unrecognizable, pure loathing and revulsion marring his handsome face. Her heart broke for him, knowing his face betrayed what he felt about himself.

“Get out of here,” he snarled.

She shook her head. “No, and nothing you say or do will make me leave you. I refuse to let you suffer alone.”

“You will suffer far worse if you stay here with me,” he warned, his face twisting in anger.

“Then so be it, but before we suffer together there is one thing I need you to know,” she said and took a cautious step toward him. “Last night when you asked me if I would have wed you if I had known you were one of the cursed lords, I hesitated in answering you because my heart pained me so badly at the thought—” She paused, choking back tears.

His eyes narrowed in anger, his nostrils flared, and he fisted his hands at his sides.

“At the thought of not having you in my life. So, aye, I would have wed you, Odran, cursed lord or not, for my heart would shatter without you in my life. I do not know how love can be so powerful and painful at the same time, for the thought of life without you rips an unbearable pain through me and I would surely perish without you by my side.”

Odran wanted to reach out, grab her, hold her tight, lose himself in her gentleness and love. But she would suffer for it and how did he live with the prospect of causing his wife endless pain and suffering. He dropped his head back and roared to the heavens, until he had spent some of his anguish, then met her eyes with his smoldering ones. “One last chance to run, wife.”

“Aye,” she said with a nod and ran toward him.

Chapter 19

Odran caught her in his arms, yet warned himself to push her away. If she didn’t have the sense to run from him, then he should have enough sense to run from her. What had he been thinking taking her as his wife? Surely, it had been the madness. It had to be or he would have spared her it all and walked away—like he should do now.

Instead, his arms tightened around her, lifting her, pressing her against him, needing to feel her warmth, her love, needing to chase the madness that raged through him, devouring him. He groaned when her slim arms hooked around his neck. She wasn’t going to let go of him and he didn’t want to let go of her. He wanted desperately to get lost in her over and over and over again.