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)
Knox reached over her and grabbed them easily and sniffed the air as he did. “Is that bread I smell.”
Dru spotted the covered loaf. “That gets Mave two hugs. So, Mave told you about this place.”
“She offered it to me as a safe haven when needed, though with hot food waiting for us here, I believe she was expecting us.”
“Well, you’re in for a treat. Mave is a good cook.”
Knox never smiled or laughed so much then when he was with Dru and never had he felt so content. To him this was a peek into the future and the way their life would be, and he intended to do whatever it took to get them there.
Dru rested her arms on the table to approach the subject she preferred to ignore but couldn’t. Not if she wanted a life with Knox and she wanted that more than anything.
“What next?” she asked.
The serene moment was broken, but it couldn’t be helped.
“Facing Lord Torrance can wait. We need to find out who wants you dead. Is there anything you’ve done while being Dru that could have angered someone enough to want that?”
She started shaking her head before Knox finished. “Nay. Dru can be annoying, but she’s wise enough—” She stopped and turned her head to stare at the hearth.
“You recall something,” Knox said, leaning forward. “Tell me.”
She turned back to look at him. “The Monk saved me from being hung for stealing a horse. The noble let me go because The Monk claimed I belonged to him.”
“Did you steal the horse?”
“Aye, I did. He mistreated that animal horribly and one of his young warriors as well. The warrior badly wounded in battle. He never fully recovered and the noble cast him out of the clan claiming he was useless to him. So—”
Knox held up his hand. “Don’t tell me. You stole the horse and gave it to the wounded warrior so both could find a better life.”
“You understand,” she said gleefully.
“You can’t go trying to heal all the ills and misjustices of the world,” Knox cautioned.
“Nay, but I can do my share.” She scrunched her brow. “That noble is too afraid of The Monk to do anything to me.”
“On that we agree.”
“Anything else you can think of?”
She shook her head, nothing came to mind.
“You peddle information—”
“Merchant of information,” she corrected.
“Merchant,” he smirked. “Maybe it has something to do with information you provided someone, or maybe you know something someone doesn’t want you to know.”
“I wouldn’t even know where to start with that.”
Dru saw his expression shift. And the look in his eyes changed completely.
“What is it?” she asked.
“What if the revenge has more to do with your mum than you?”
Dru let his suggestion sink in, giving it thought, then she shook her head. “I don’t see how that could be. Her life revolved around Lord Randall. Please him or suffer, though—”
Knox waited.
“He shed tears over my mum’s grave.”
“He attended her burial?”
She recalled the memory. “Nay. He came later when all had left, and dusk was near to falling. I was ready to shout at him, chase him away, and then I saw him go down on bended knee. Tears fell from his eyes, and he said, ‘I am so sorry, Cerise. I should have been here when you needed me. Been braver than you while you faced death, but I couldn’t bear the thought of losing you. I should have treated you better, loved you properly. Please forgive me.’ It was the only time I saw that he actually cared for my mum. That he actually loved her.” She shrugged. “But he lied.”
“How so?”
“My mum said he gave his word that he would see me kept safe and see me wed to a decent man. From what I found out, the man who he, and now Lord Torrance, intend to wed me to is far from a decent man.”
Knox scowled. “That is no longer a worry. You are my wife now and will stay my wife. We will have a long life together.”
May Fate hear you and grant us that, she thought.
Rain suddenly pelted the cottage and Knox hurried outside to make sure Star was safe and secure from the downpour.
Dru was quick to help hang his plaid to dry by the fire when he returned, then she helped dry him, which landed them back in bed and she got to do most of the touching this time out of pure persistence and a bit of a playful tousle.
They fell asleep wrapped around each other, the same thought on both their minds.
Never would they be parted. Not ever.
CHAPTER 20
“You will not. You cannot. I will not let you,” Dru ordered, her hands on her slim hips and a flare of anger in her eyes.
Knox finished adding the logs, he had recently split, to the dying flames in the hearth and they sparked to life. He stood, brushing his hands off.