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)
“It’s the sensible thing to do,” he said. “I can find out if Lord Torrance knows of the bounty on you and what precise plans he has for you. I can also lead him to believe I have information of where you might be hiding, giving us time to plan and search for the one who wants you dead and eliminate that problem.”
She drifted over to him, dropping her head against his chest and his arms going around her. “Can’t we stay here for a bit longer?”
His fingers hooked her chin, forcing her to look up at him. “We have been here far too long already. You have kept me so occupied that I have lost count of the sunrises.”
“Is that a complaint I hear?” she asked, her brow shooting up.
He lifted her with one arm, so they were face to face. “Nay. I want nothing more than for all our days to be as they are now. But we have no chance of that if we linger here.”
Dru lowered her brow to rest against his. “It has been too long since I have been so happy, and I do not want to lose it.”
“We will always be happy, wife, as long as we’re together,” he assured her and brushed a faint kiss across her lips. “Besides, Mave may want to come home. I will leave tomorrow—”
“We leave—”
“Nay,” Knox said. “You will remain here while I speak with Lord Torrance. I won’t be long. It is known he has not returned home yet. He remains at the encampment where the battle with Clan MacLeish took place.”
“Why?”
“Some say his new wife disappoints him and he has no desire to return to her, others murmur that he is building a larger army of warriors to move north and take more land. It would be a wise move since those clans in the north do oppose him and will eventually cause him problems.”
Dru thought for a moment. “But wouldn’t he have heard of your forced marriage by now? And surely Torrance would have learned that your wife helps you search for Autumn. So, why wouldn’t she be with you?”
“Torrance would not care, and he would not want to speak with you.”
“Even better. While you speak with Torrance, I can see what I can find out from those in his camp.”
“Absolutely not,” Knox said, shaking his head. “There is not a chance in bloody hell that I would let you wander his camp alone. Any woman there among the warriors are there for one reason and one reason only—to please the warriors. I will not have you mistaken for one of those women.”
Her disappointment turned quickly into glee. “I will talk with the cook or the healer. They always know everything that is going on in the camp.”
“Nay. It’s too dangerous,” he insisted, the thought of what could happen to her there spiking fear as well as anger.
“But the more information we learn the more it helps us. You know as well as I do that information is often gleamed among the warriors, servants, and such before it reaches a noble’s ear. Someone could know who offers this bounty on me or at least may have heard a rumor of who it might be.”
“I will speak with them.”
“Not likely,” she said with a huff. “Your mission must be well known by now as well as the reward you will receive once it’s completed. Many will be jealous and have no desire to help you.”
“Or my wife?”
She chuckled. “Quite the opposite. They will feel sorry for a waif like me being stuck with such a big brute like you and commiserate with me.”
Why could he see that happening? And why would he even consider it?
“Some people spare me notice and talk to me while others ignore me as if I don’t exist and there is great value in that. They talk openly and I listen, learning more than anyone would want me to know.”
There was truth to that. He had seen it for himself.
“It’s much too dangerous,” he snapped.
“As dangerous as not knowing who put a bounty on my head?”
He growled, annoyed that she made sense.
She slipped her hand in his shirt and over his naked chest. “Let’s not waste time on this. Let’s make the most of the time we have together.”
“Seducing me will not change my mind,” he said and yanked her off her feet, her legs locking around his waist. He dropped them both down on the bed once in the other room. “You’re not going and that is the end of that.”
Dru draped her arms around his neck. “As you say, husband.”
“I mean it, Dru, you—”
She smothered his words with a powerful kiss and soon all was forgotten as they got lost in a haze of lovemaking.
Dru wasn’t happy about leaving. She would have preferred to linger longer, pretend that nothing was amiss and life was good. But it was like lingering in a dream and eventually she would have to wake up.