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“Well,” Marion replied, linking an arm with Serene’s as she stared toward where Cameron had disappeared. “It seems you have made quite the mark on Cameron’s mind.”
He’d made quite the one on hers, too—years before, earlier, just now—but she intended to keep that to herself until she could figure it all out.
Six
As the first light of morning broke and the mist that covered the land started to dissipate, Cameron rode between Lachlan and Iain as they left the woods and headed toward Dunvegan Castle. The night had been long and full of tension as they had combed the woods for the invader, but to no avail. Between himself and two hundred other MacLeod warriors, they had been unable to find a trace of the man or the direction in which he may have gone. Whoever had shot the arrows at him and Serene was skilled at disappearing.
Steering Winthrop toward the courtyard, which had just come into view, Cameron glanced at Iain. They’d tracked in almost complete silence so as not to give away their position, but now Cameron felt he could talk. “Whoever it is out there,” he said, glancing back toward the woods they had just left, “is intent on killing Serene. They were shooting at her even when I was nae anywhere near her, and when the man had the chance to kill me, he did nae take it. Instead, he fled.”
Lachlan’s eyes narrowed. “Why did the attacker ever gain an opportunity to kill ye?”
Cameron heated with embarrassment at the question. His jaw twitched as he opened his mouth to answer honestly. “I turned my back to him for one moment.”
“Why the devil did ye do that?” Iain roared.
“Brother,” Lachlan said, in a stern tone, “ye ken better than that. Ye are smarter than such folly and well versed on the ways of fighting.”
Cameron nodded, unable to argue with his brothers or soothe their anger, which came, he understood, from concern. “I needed to see that she was still safe. I’d left her below in a cave, thinking to keep her from harm. I told her nae to move…” He let his words trail off at the mixed looks of incredulity and surprising understanding on his brothers’ faces.
“They never stay,” Iain said with a sigh. “At least Marion never stays when I tell her to.”
“Bridgette dunnae ever stay, either,” Lachlan added, a frown furrowing his brow.
Cameron’s brothers exchanged a long look, then both focused their steely gazes on him. “Strong women dunnae ever remain, Brother,” Iain said as Lachlan nodded his agreement.
“I would have looked, too,” Lachlan said, “if I feared for Bridgette’s safety. I may have been just as reckless.”
Cameron felt his lips part on his brother’s astonishing admission.
Iain scowled. “I would have seen that Marion was safe by keeping one eye on my enemy and turning one toward her.”
“That would be quite the trick,” Lachlan drawled.
“I’m laird,” Iain said in a blunt tone. “I can do anything I say. That is but one benefit of being laird. Ye dunnae get to question me,” he added with a pointed look at Lachlan. Then he gave the same look to Cameron. “It dunnae bode well, considering Eolande’s prophecy, that ye compromised yer own safety for a lass that dunnae mean a thing to ye. Ye just met her.”
Iain’s words were all true, but his saying them irritated Cameron, nonetheless. “Ye married yer wife after kenning her for less than a day,” he growled.
Iain’s faced darkened, showing a bit of the temper he usually kept so well restrained. “Ye ken well that I married her by edict of her king and mine.”
“I ken it,” Cameron said slowly, “but nary a king ordered ye to care for her as quickly as ye did. It just was in ye.”
Iain’s jaw fell open. After a breath, he snapped it shut, grunted, and said, “Are ye telling me—”
“Us,” Lachlan corrected.
Iain flicked his gaze to Lachlan before settling it on Cameron once more. “Are ye telling us ye care for the lass?”
“Nay,” he answered immediately. “Nae in the way the two of ye care for Bridgette and Marion, but I feel—” What did he feel? As they drew to the entry of the courtyard, he paused his destrier while he struggled to find the words to describe what he himself did not understand.
A crowd was gathered at the entry to greet them, and Serene stood off to the side, alone. She had on the same gown she had worn the previous day when she had come to talk to him, the one that showed too much of her enticing breasts. It heated him to recall just how very well he could see the rounded mounds and her hard nubs straining against the wet, gossamer material. Desire roiled through him in unstoppable waves. His muscles tightened with blossoming, aching need. He wanted her. He barely knew her, but it didn’t matter. He wanted her like he’d never wanted another.
Her gaze locked on his, and relief swept across her face as she picked up her skirts, called his name, and raced toward him, heedless of the stares she was drawing.
“Bound,” he finally said to Iain and Lachlan. The husky word held a ring of finality that worried him. It felt unstoppable, as if despite whatever he did, he would still fall under her spell. “Bound,” he said again at his brothers’ puzzled looks. “To her, I feel bound.”
She wasn’t quite sure what response she expected from Cameron, but dismounting his horse, taking her by the hand, and leading her away from his brothers and the many warriors who had just come up behind them took her by complete surprise. Yet, she did not worry, nor feel she needed to question or fight him. He gave her a look to calm her, then his fingers curled firmly around hers, causing her to suck in a sharp breath. Desire jolted through her, sparking a fire in her veins.
It was only when she realized he was leading her back to the seagate stairs, toward the shore where they had been attacked, that she hesitated. “Is it safe?”
