Love Me Forever (16 page)

Royce’s arm went around her waist and pulled
her tight against his side. “I leave with Brianna and we will leave
in the morning. I wish to speak with Ian Cameron concerning his
sister.”

Blair attempted to stand his ground. “You
are welcome to speak with him, but he has directed me to return his
sister home safely and as soon as possible. She leaves with us
now.”

Royce responded before Brianna could voice
her own objections. “Brianna continues to heal, and it would be
best that she rest one more night in a soft bed instead of the hard
ground. And I will see that Ian Cameron’s sister is returned safely
to him.”

Brianna looked from one man to another. What
was this contest of wills? Why did each feel the need to decide
what she would do and when? And why did Blair seem prepared to
fight? He had strength in numbers, ten men in all flanking him, and
yet Blair himself, not to mention the men, seemed prepared to
battle this one man.

She grew annoyed at such nonsense, broke
loose from Royce, and stepped between them. “I will take my leave
when I am ready, and presently I intend to go into the woods and
collect the makings for my basket. You both can battle if you wish,
but spill a drop of blood, and I will not return with either of
you.”

She stomped off without a glance to either.
She wanted neither of them to follow. She was much too annoyed at
their ridiculous behavior. Each wanted his own way, each wanted to
be in command of the situation, each wanted to protect.

She could not very well fault them for
caring, but their behavior was simply not acceptable. Blair could
very well see that Royce had treated her well, and Royce could very
well see that Blair was a good friend relieved at finding her.

Why, then, the strange looks, the hushed
whispers, and the on-guard stance each man took? None of it made
sense to her. Royce was one lone man against many. He could cause
them little harm, and yet they acted as if he could harm them
all.

Royce was large and his scarred features
probably made him appear all the more dangerous, but it was
preposterous to think that one man could put fear in many men.

She marched forward into the woods, a
recently fallen slim branch catching her eye.

Both men watched her walk away, and both
kept a steady eye on her until she stooped down to examine the
fallen branch.

Blair then looked to Royce. “You care for
her?”

“I care for her, but that is for me to
discuss with her brother.” Royce was firm in his response.

“Aye, it is for you to discuss with Ian, but
answer me this.” Blair glared at him. “Brianna does not know who
you are, does she?”

“Brianna knows nothing,” Royce confirmed.
“And she will know nothing until I am ready to tell her.”

“Her brother Ian may disagree with you,”
Blair advised, casting a glance toward Brianna. “He wishes his
sister to find happiness.”

“She has found it with me.” Royce moved his
hand off his sword, and all around him eased their rigid
stances.

“Brianna knows not who you are,” Blair said,
“when she discovers the truth—what then?”

Royce had no answer. He had thought often on
the consequences of keeping his identity from her, but it was more
important that she discover who he truly was and not who many
thought him to be. He had revealed much about himself to her, much
that he had kept hidden even from himself.

“Brianna once trusted a man and suffered for
it. Her brother will not see her hurt again.”

Royce respected Blair for defending Brianna.
“I would never hurt Brianna. I care too deeply for her. I will
protect her with my life.”

“Yet you keep the truth from her.”

“She was ill and frightened when she first
cast eyes on me. My thought was for her to heal—not worry over who
tended her.”

“Your clan knows where you are?” Blair
asked.

“Aye, and there is no need for concern. I
have no grievance with the clan Cameron.” Royce glanced to Brianna
and saw that she wandered farther into the woods. “We can speak of
this later, though not in Brianna’s presence.”

“Ian will be grateful that you have seen to
his sister’s care—”

Royce finished for him. “But he will not be
grateful that I care for his sister.”

“He loves his sister.”

“So do I,” Royce said and walked off to join
Brianna.

He caught up with her as she was carefully
breaking smaller branches off the large, fallen branch. He came up
behind her and waited, thinking she would have her say. Instead he
faced silence as she continued her task, completely ignoring
him.

Several snapping branches tested his
patience until finally he said, “You are upset.”

She turned then, her eyes blazing. “I will
not be ordered about by you, Blair, or my brother. And I will not
stand by and watch as a lifelong friend and the man I intend to wed
act ridiculously.”

He tried to temper her anger, but she did
not give him the chance.

“I cannot understand how it seems that you
two took an instant dislike to each other. Unless I am wrong—tell
me I am wrong.”

He tried, but she rushed on.

“You both wish me safely returned home, and
yet you both are at odds over how to accomplish the same task. It
makes little sense, yet I tried to remember that you are both men
and men often make little sense.”

“Brianna,” he said quickly, but she was set
on speaking her mind.

“Blair is a good man and my brother’s
closest friend. If he sees how much we care for each other and how
kind and caring you are to me, he will speak well of you to my
brother.”

Her words reared his temper. “I need no one
to speak for me.”

“Well, you certainly do not seem to make
friends easily. You looked all but ready to attack Blair and his
men.”

His stance had been guarded but for a
reason, a reason he could not explain to her. “Your safety is my
concern. I knew nothing of Blair or his men.”

“You learned quickly enough and still you
were on guard.”

“As was he,” Royce reminded.

She dropped the branches she held, and her
hands went to her hips. “Then tell me why. Why did you two treat
each other as opponents?”

“Men are territorial. They protect their
own.”

Her eyes rounded. “You cannot be
serious.”

“Most serious.” His voice was firm and his
stance rigid. “What is mine no one harms and you are mine.”

Her hands slipped off her hips and her eyes
softened. She walked up to him and placed her hand to his
cheek.

He slipped his arms around her waist. “I am
glad you understand what I say. You are not an object to me. I
claim no ownership over you. It is my love for you that makes you
mine.”

“Then if it is your love for me that makes
me yours, then my love for you makes you
mine.”

Her smile forced him to smile. “And are you
territorial?”

She squeezed his cheek with her one hand.
“No one
touches
what is mine.”

He leaned down and swept his lips across
hers. “I want no one touching me but you.”

“I like touching you,” she whispered near
his ear and faintly brushed her lips over his scarred cheek.

Their kiss lingered in gentleness, both
enjoying the taste of each other and both not wanting it to end.
When it finally did with great reluctance on both their parts,
Brianna rested her head on his shoulder.

“If you do not get along with Blair, I fear
you will not find my brother a friend. Then I worry that we will
not be together.”

“Worry not. Your brother and I will
understand each other.”

“Understanding and getting along is not the
same,” she said. She slipped her arms around his waist and hugged
him to her. “I do not wish to lose you.”

He hugged her in return. “You will not lose
me. You are mine and will remain so. I will allow nothing to come
between us.”

A chill raced over her and the feeling did
not bode well with her. “Promise?”

“I give you my word, Brianna, and I do not
give my word lightly.”

“I trust you and your word.”

“Always trust me and never doubt my word,
Brianna, for I shall always keep it no matter what happens.”

“I sometimes wonder if my accident was not
the hands of fate. Otherwise we would have never met.”

“We were destined to meet and now we live
our destiny.”

~ ~ ~

Brianna sat at the table working on the twig
basket, her thoughts her own, when Blair entered the cottage. Royce
had gone off to hunt for the evening meal and Blair’s men were
camped outside.

“Come in, sit and talk with me,” she
encouraged as he hesitated at the door.

He made his way cautiously to the table.

Her husband had taught her to hold her
tongue, but once he was no longer around, she soon returned to
speaking her mind. She did so now. “You are judging Royce without
even knowing him.”

“You barely know him yourself,” Blair said
calmly, and sat across from her.

“Nay, I know him better than others, and
perhaps I know him better than he does himself.”

Blair knew it was senseless arguing with a
woman who thought herself in love. But Brianna had suffered a
terrible hurt, and he did not wish to see her suffer again.

“Could it be that you are grateful to him
for saving your life?”

Brianna took no offense to his suggestion.
“I gave that thought much consideration, and while I am grateful
for his rescue and care, I have found in him a gentle heart and
soul that I could love.”

Blair held his tongue and Brianna saw his
reluctance to speak. She reached out and placed her hand on his
fisted one. “I do not understand your response to Royce. I realize
that when first you came upon us, your instincts were to protect
me. But once you discovered that Royce was kind to me and that we
care for each other, I thought you would be happy for me. He is a
warrior and will serve the clan Cameron well. What is wrong with
that?”

“You do not know him.” Blair could say no
more, for it was not his place.

“I know him well enough, and I know that no
one has treated me the way Royce has treated me. He is kind and
caring and I think he grows weary of warring.” A soft smile touched
her lips. “I thought that Ian might consider letting him train the
men or even farm, anything but fight.”

Blair dug his fingers into his palms. “And
if he wishes to fight?”

Brianna’s fingers returned to fashioning the
softened twigs into a basket. “Look at his scars. Do you think any
sane man would want to fight after having faced such a horrendous
battle?”

“Only a true warrior.”

“Warriors can grow weary of war.”

“Not the ones born to become legends,” Blair
said.

“Royce was not meant to be a legend, and
besides his heart and soul are too tender.”

Blair frowned. “He intends to ask Ian for
permission to wed you?”

Brianna’s fingers slowed. “He will ask me
first, for it is my decision, and Ian will agree if he knows that I
am happy.”

Blair cleared his throat as though reluctant
to speak his mind.

“I will save you your unease,” Brianna said,
looking directly at Blair, “since my brother will ask you the
question you find difficult to ask me. I chose to be intimate with
Royce because I love him.”

“A man can be tempted if alone in a cottage
with a woman.”

“Do you try to tell me that Royce but needed
a woman to appease his basic needs and that he feels nothing for
me?”

Blair heard the annoyance in her voice but
knew it was better she faced these possibilities now, for what she
was about to face would be much more challenging. “You have not
thought this yourself?”

She smiled again. “You know me well,
Blair.”

“I know you have suffered dearly and that
you do not wish to suffer again. Therefore—”

“I would be careful in what I choose,”
Brianna finished.

Blair remained silent out of necessity.

“I know you want the best for me, Blair.
Royce is the best for me. I not only love him, I trust him, and
after what Arran did to me, I had thought I would never trust
again.”

Blair bit back the warning that wanted to
rush from his lips. “This is for your brother to decide.”

“Nay,” she said with a firm shake of her
head. “This is for me to decide.”

The door opened and Royce entered the
cottage. The two men exchanged a heated look.

“Brianna and I were just discussing trust,”
Blair said.

Royce dropped his fur on the bed and walked
over to the table. He rested his hand on Brianna’s shoulder after
giving her cheek a kiss.

“Do you trust, Royce?” Blair asked.

“None of what I hear and little of what I
see.”

Blair laughed, though it was forced. “A wise
choice.”

“More necessary than wise,” Royce said and
changed the subject. “I killed enough game to feed all. Your men
are preparing it now. You are welcome to join Brianna and me for
the evening meal.”

“You must join us, Blair,” Brianna said
eagerly. “We can entertain Royce with stories of how you and Ian
would tease and torment me as a young child.”

“If it is the truth he wants to hear, then I
will be telling him how you followed us about and caused more
disturbances than the both of us.”

Royce smiled and leaned down beside Brianna,
though he looked to Blair. “I would like to hear of her antics when
young.”

“Me?” she said, as if affronted by his
remark, then smiled. “I was a perfect young lady.”

“A perfect terror,” Blair said with a hardy
laugh.

“I want to hear it all,” Royce said and
received a poke in the ribs from Brianna.

“You will hear it all from me,” Brianna
insisted.