Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Phelan went down hard from the blow Knox delivered to his jaw with such speed that he didn’t see it coming in time to avoid it.
“Stay away from my wife and me or the next time our paths cross, it will be the last day you take a breath,” Knox warned with a fiery rage in his dark eyes that made him look like a demon who’d risen from the depths of hell.
Phelan’s men raced out of the room along with the bloody-faced man.
“We’re not done, Knox,” Phelan cried out when he reached the door.
“You can count on it, Phelan. Death is knocking at your door. And make sure you don’t take your anger out on these monks, or your death will be that more painfully slow.”
“And The Monk will help him,” Dru shouted.
“Go see that they leave,” Knox said to a couple of monks, and they hurried out of the room. Then he turned and went to his wife and swept her up into his arms and hugged her tight.
Her arms went as far around him as they could to return his hug, relieved he was there and glad to be in his arms, even with her feet dangling off the floor.
Knox could have sworn he felt her heart thud wildly against his chest and it was good to hear. She was safe and unharmed.
He reluctantly set her on her feet. “You are too brave for your own good. You should have stopped after threatening him with what I and The Monk would do if he harmed you.”
She grinned. “I can’t keep the truth from rolling off my tongue. He and his men did stink.”
The smile came easily to Knox, a rarity, though not since meeting Dru. She had a way of drawing a smile out of him.
“Thank you, Knox, for helping us,” Brother Ewan said, turning to the couple after speaking with a few of the monks. “You won’t be leaving us yet, will you?”
“A warm bed is more welcoming than the cold ground, Brother Ewan. We will be staying the night. But I wouldn’t worry about Phelan and his men returning. He will wait and plan before seeking revenge for how I embarrassed him. The confrontation has been a long time coming and I look forward to it.”
“But your wife—would he use her to seek his revenge?”
“Possibly. But I know him far better than he realizes, and I will make sure that that never happens.”
Brother Ewan smiled. “I have no doubt you will, my son. Now sit and have some wine—”
“And apple tarts—they are delicious,” Dru said, taking her husband’s hand and urging him to the table.
Dru hoped that she would get some time alone with her husband, eager to ask him about the kiss. But monks came and went, wanting to talk with Knox, curious how he knew to return to the abbey. It was a brief tale to tell.
“I recognized one of Phelan’s warriors when I came across him on the road. Phelan always sends a man ahead of him and he has another man lag behind to let him know if anyone follows. A few blows to his face gave me the answer I needed, and I headed right back here.”
More questions followed and it wasn’t until she and Knox settled in the room for the night that she asked, “Why did you kiss me before you left?”
CHAPTER 13
Knox ran his hand over his face, then went and sat on the bed.
“Please don’t lie to me,” Dru said, worry roiling her stomach at what he might tell her.
He glanced at her, silent for a moment, then said, “Because I wanted to.”
With confusion in her eyes and a slight shake of her head, she said, “But you don’t find me appealing, so why kiss me?”
Lies would get neither of them anywhere, so he spoke the truth. “That is the question I have been grappling with since I kissed you.”
Dru went and sat beside him on the bed. “I planned to leave after you left me and head to Autumn’s place, but you changed all that by kissing me and saying that you didn’t want to lose me.” She smiled softly. “Besides, I liked the kiss.”
Knox chuckled. “And here I imagined you dragging your sleeve across your mouth to wipe it away.”
She shook her head. “Nay. I favored the tingle it left in me.”
“I favored it as well,” Knox admitted.
“What does this mean?” Dru asked, innocently.
“I don’t know. It is not something with which I am familiar.”
“But you have kissed women and have done more with them before I came along,” she said as if he should have the answer.
“Aye, several women, but have you not kissed at least one man?” he questioned.
“Nay.” She scrunched her face. “Your lips are the only ones that ever touched mine.”