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“No husband. No one in my…past life. Except for my sister and my nephew.”

“So ye have a family.”

“Yes.”

“Where?”

“Far away from here. So far away, you won’t believe me if I tell you.”

He chuckled. “I’ve been far away. I lived in hell for eleven years. There’s little ye can say that would sound unbelievable.”

Kate sighed. “I need to go back, Ian. I cannot return to Dundail with you. You really should go and protect your people from the English, because they’re making their way north from the MacDougall lands to Inverlochy and they’re raiding and taking everything on their way.”

Ian’s jaws tightened, his nostrils flared. “Bastarts.”

“Yeah. They are. But I must go to Inverlochy and reach my family. If I don’t go back, my sick sister and my ten-year-old nephew will be on the streets.”

Ian’s face fell. “Ye want to go alone to Inverlochy? Through lands infested with the English?”

Kate’s cheek stung at the word “English.” She opened her mouth, but Ian interrupted.

“And ye think I will let ye go?”

“Ian, I have to try.”

“To try and die?” he scoffed. “Nae. I’ll tie ye to the horse if I must, but I wilna let ye go alone.”

Kate gasped. “Tie me to the horse? Ian! It’s my business. It’s is not your concern.”

His chest rose and fell quickly as he glared at her, his fists clenching.

“Ye’re wrong, lass. ’Tis my concern. Ye’re my concern.”

She was his concern? Did he care about her? Kate’s heart fluttered in her chest.

“I wilna let another innocent person die because I failed to protect them,” he said. “So ’tis what I suggest. Ye wait until I deal with the damned Sassenachs. Then I’ll take ye myself. Make sure ye’re safe.”

Kate closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. He was right. Of course he was right about safety. But could she wait even a few more days? She had no idea. She could only hope Mandy and Jax were still all right and that if she was delayed a little longer, nothing bad would happen to them.

But what about the well-armed English, who were a much bigger force? How would one man, however powerful, deal with them? Was it possible she was putting herself in more danger staying with Ian than leaving him?

But there was something about him that made her feel safe. Somehow, she knew that he would never let any harm come to her. He’d find a way.

“It’s the wisest choice,” she said. “You’re right.”

Besides, the thought of spending a few more days with Ian lit her up like a Christmas tree.

“Good,” he said. “I wouldna want ye to go through that hell.”

His eyes sad, as though he were carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders and there wouldn’t be an end to it.

She wanted to share the burden.

“Tell me about hell,” Kate said.

His eyes widened in surprise, then he frowned and looked at his hands. They were clean now, no more blood.

“Ye want to ken about hell? Picture what I did back there to those men and repeat it a hundred times.”