There had only come a few times over the course of their friendship when Rodric had sincerely wished to kill Brice—or at least to maim him in some lasting way. The scars, he reasoned, would serve as a future reminder that he was not a man to be trifled with.

As he rode ahead of the group, he thought this might be the time to make good on that which he’d only imagined up to then.

It was a hot morning, which meant the day would likely be just as hot. Dark clouds were building on the horizon and slowly making their way east, telling him a storm would hit before the day was out. There would likely be a great roar in the sky. Even now, long before the clouds reached him, he felt a surge all around him. The hair on the back of his neck stood up, the horse beneath him behaving skittishly.

“Whoa, there,” he murmured, patting its neck.

His attitude could have been what bothered the animal so, he reasoned. Animals were able to get the sense of a situation even if they didn’t understand the subtleties. The tan gelding between his thighs couldn’t have offered an opinion on the situation, but he knew Rodric was in no good mood as a result of it.

The road was blessedly empty that morning, winding as it did through a mostly uninhabited stretch of land. They were coming up on the Highlands soon, the peaks of the Grampians closer with every minute.

As far as he was concerned, they couldn’t reach Ben Nevis quickly enough. Would that he could take wing like one of the birds which flew overhead. Would that he could be rid of that which weighed so heavily on him.

Why was it so difficult to imagine admitting his love for her?

It wasn’t his place to do so, for one. While no one could have hated the fact that she was married to his brother more than he did, the marriage was a fact. They’d been wed in the eyes of God and the law. He no longer had claim to her affections.

A very pretty excuse, one which absolved him from the acknowledgment of his shortcomings. He ought to have ensured they had more than just an understanding when he left for training. He ought to have announced his intentions to her stepfather, to his father, with witnesses present to bear testimony if the time came.

He’d thought himself such a man, too. Such a wise, clever, worldly man. He’d known nothing of what the world could do, of how quickly a dream or a love could be struck down.

Yet even after he’d learned so much, after he’d witnessed the terrible suddenness and finality of death and the grave unfairness life could sometimes offer, he’d still expected her to be there, waiting for him. Untouched, unblemished, as though she’d frozen like the river in the deepest part of winter. Merely waiting for him to return and allow her to thaw.

Because Caitlin had always been and would always be the one good, pure, true thing in his life. The only thing. That which gave him hope. Even when she drove him to the brink of raving lunacy, she was the only woman he’d ever love. The only woman he’d ever allow to drive him to that point.

Would that he could give expression to these thoughts. Would that he could share with her everything she meant to him.

The sun was roughly halfway to the midpoint of the sky when Brice called out to him. Had he learned his lesson? Rodric certainly hoped so. If it hadn’t been for the rope tying Brice to Caitlin, he might have knocked his friend from the saddle.

He threw a look back over his shoulder to find the three of them coming to a stop.

“Wanted to water the horses!” Brice called out, cupping his hands around his mouth.

A wise decision. The heat was already taking its toll, and though the air was heavy with moisture, it didn’t do a hardworking animal much good. He brought the gelding around and trotted back over the ground he’d covered, leading the horse off the road and in the direction of a trickling stream which ran on the other side of a line of towering spruce.

It was cooler in the shade the trees provided, and between that shade and the refreshing water just a short way off, the spot seemed a paradise.

Rodric took the opportunity to drink deep of the clear, cold stream before dunking his head beneath the surface and using both hands to pour water over the back of his sweaty, dirty neck.

By the time he brought his head up, snapping it back to keep the hair out of his eyes, he felt refreshed—at least, in body. Perhaps not so much in spirit.

He wiped the water from his eyes and spied Caitlin a bit further downstream, delicately performing the same type of bathing as he. She wouldn’t dip her entire head beneath the surface but did pour water over her neck, beneath the thick braid of hair.

Oh, how he wished she wouldn’t. Or that he were a strong enough man to avert his eyes when the water trickled down her back and caused the tunic to stick to her body.

He wished she wouldn’t tip her head back, sighing softly in relief as the cool water refreshed her overheated skin. He gulped, mesmerized, knowing deep in his soul that he ought to look away but being completely unable to. If his life depended upon it, he wouldn’t look away.

Brice approached him, clearing his throat loudly and obviously as a warning. “Easy, now,” he murmured, his back to Caitlin.

“What do you mean?” Rodric challenged, standing to face his friend.

“I mean, you’re all but panting over her. I’ve seen dogs in heat conduct themselves better. I’d not mention it except for her sake,” he was quick to add. “The lass would like as not perish of mortification if she caught sight of the sign of lust that you’re sporting.”

Rodric wasn’t certain whether he should thank Brice or push him into the stream. He settled on a grunt and a nod. His inflamed sensibilities were already cooling off considerably.

“You seem to care overmuch for her feelings, truth be told,” he accused, eyes narrowing.

“Do not start a fight with me, Rodric Anderson,” Brice warned with a smile. “Just because the lass has you at odds with yourself is no reason to be at odds with me.”

“My only concern is for the nature of your affection toward the lass.”

Brice’s mouth fell open. He threw back his head to let out a deep, roaring laugh which seemed to come up from his toes and shake his entire body. Caitlin, visible just over his shoulder, looked over in surprise and faint amusement.

“You… you think…” A fresh wave of laughter overtook Brice until he was doubled over with it.

“All right, then,” Rodric grumbled, arms crossed over his chest. “You needn’t send yourself into a fit over it, man.”

“What’s the joke?” Fergus asked, joining them with a curious smile.

“He… thinks…” Brice shook his head, wiping away tears of mirth. “I’ll tell ye later, brother.”

“Why don’t you ride on now?” Rodric suggested. “I’ll take this leg of the journey with Caitlin tied to my wrist.”

“Aye, smart thinking.” Brice winked, laughter still bubbling out of him now and then. He was shaking his head as he went to his horse, gracefully swinging his massive body into the saddle. “Come, brother. Let us wait on the road and keep watch.”

Fergus shot a look of concern toward Rodric and Caitlin.

“I’ll tell you why I was laughing so,” Brice offered, jerking his head in the direction of the road.

Fergus, still lost, merely shrugged and followed suit, the pair riding through the trees to the other side.

Leaving Rodric alone with her.

“You’ll be tied to me now?” she asked with a smirk as she strolled toward him. “I do not have a say in the matter?”

He saw through her effrontery. She wasn’t nearly as brave as she pretended.

And suddenly, he was very tired of the dance they’d been locked in ever since they’d set eyes on each other again. Pretending to be something they weren’t, pretending they didn’t know what they were to each other. It was idiotic and a waste of precious time they could’ve spent loving each other, even in spite of her marriage to Alan.

“Caitlin. I’m going to be frank with ye, and I ask that ye listen and do not speak until I’m finished.”

Color rose in her cheeks. “Do not tell me—”

“What did I just ask ye? Do not speak. Just keep quiet for a minute or two! Is that too much to ask? Are you incapable of shutting your mouth and keeping it that way long enough for a man to get a word in edgewise?”

Her eyes bulged. “I’m not certain I wish to hear anything from you,” was her icy reply.

“Fine, then,” he blustered, throwing his hands into the air. “I give up. I quit entirely. Go back to Alan, back to being his slave or whatever it is he intends to keep ye for. Go on. Be stubborn and foolish and insist on your own destruction when it’s I who loves ye, I who wants nothing more than to be with ye as I’ve always wanted to be with ye!”

His own words shocked him into silence—and they did the same to her. Was that all he needed to do all along? Simply tell her he loved her in order to get a moment’s peace?

Her face softened, her eyes glistened. “You what? Did you say you love me?”

“I believe I did.”

“Because my heart is pounding so, I cannot hear very well.” She placed a hand on her chest.

“I did say it. Because I do love ye,” he explained, his admission emboldening him. “I always have, lass. For as long as I can remember. And we both know our intention was to wed as soon as I returned. I should have made it official with Connor and my father, but I was young and foolish and didn’t think it through. I didn’t know I’d be gone as long as I was, nor that my father would…” He broke off with a sigh, shaking his head. “I simply didn’t know, lass, and look where it got us both.”

Her face turned a deep red—for a moment, he wasn’t certain what she was about to do—before she burst into tears. “Oh, Rodric.” He caught her as she fell against him, holding her tight. She hadn’t lied about the pounding of her heart. He felt it plain against his chest.

“My Caitlin,” he murmured in her ear. “You’ve always been mine.”

“Always,” she whispered, burying her face in his tunic. “Oh, why did it have to be this way?”

“I do not know,” he admitted with a grimace. “I’m not certain why we’re being tested so, lass, but I know I wouldn’t trade this time with you for anything.” His arms tightened around her back, his body claiming her in spite of the protestations of his mind. She wasn’t his by rights, not truly, and he would not compromise her. The lass had already been through enough.

“I’ve loved you my entire life,” she explained, leaning back to look up into his face with a smile of pure joy. “It feels good to be able to say that at last.”

“Aye, it does,” he agreed with a smile of his own. “I suppose I’ve been a bit stubborn, but the situation…”

“I know,” she nodded. “I understand. We aren’t free, really.”

“No. We aren’t.”

“I thought you hated me.”

He laughed. “There have been moments when I have, lass. That’s the nature of us both, I suppose. We go from love to hate and back to love again in a flash.”

They leaned in, their foreheads touching. Her sharp, rapid breaths revealed the longing she felt for him, longing he shared. His entire body ached for her in ways he wouldn’t have believed possible.

“I swear to you,” he whispered, eyes closed, “that I will defend you to my dying breath, Caitlin. I will not see you returned to a man who doesn’t love you, to one you do not love. I’m taking you to safety, and I’ll do everything in my power to have your marriage dissolved.”

She gasped, pulling back so her eyes could search his face. “How can you manage that?”

“I do not know,” he admitted. “I hadn’t thought it through entirely, but I have an idea. If we could get the support of the Duncans and beseech the Church with their backing, we might be able to sway them. The fact that you ran so soon after the ceremony…”

“I know, I know. It was not consummated,” she finished on his behalf, knowing it was indelicate for him to mention it.

“That works in our favor, as well. I believe there’s a good chance, lass. But we have to reach the Duncans first. Everything else can come after that.”

She sighed as she reached up to stroke his hair, letting her hand trail down the side of his face. He turned it slightly, pressing his lips to her palm. “I want so much for this to be true. I want it to not be a dream. I want what you say to be possible.”

“It’s true,” he murmured, resting his face against her hand. “It’s possible. I’m certain of it.”

“I suppose we’d better move along, then,” she smiled. “We’re in a bit of a hurry now, aren’t we?”

Would that they could stay in that moment forever, holding each other as they did. But she had a point, and there was a storm threatening to bear down on them. It would be best to cover as much ground as possible before they were forced to find shelter.