The words they’d spoken that night were repeated a fortnight later before the MacKendimen priest, and Robena found herself married. Even now, hours after the ceremony, she could not stop staring at the gold band on her finger and at the man who she loved enough to take the biggest risk in her life. The villagers turned out to watch, even as those who’d lost their bets paid those who’d won. The only one who did not attend was the laird himself.

Iain had faced Struan’s wrath when he’d returned to the keep and announced it to those gathered. He’d respected the laird’s order that she should not enter the keep, so after informing him of the coming nuptials, Iain had gathered all his belongings and moved to her cottage.

In the two weeks since Hogmanay, they’d searched for the bairn’s mother to no avail. No one reported a missing woman or babe, so Robena decided to honor the poor woman’s request and take care of her son. Iain seemed more than pleased at the gift that they’d been given, and the bairn truly was that. Now they had much yet to be settled, but they would do it together.

“What would ye have done if he’d had red hair?” she asked as she lifted the bairn to her shoulder and patted his back. As a loud burp bubbled out of wee Duncan, as they called him, Robena watched Iain’s gaze and waited for his answer.

“I would have found another way to make ye see reason, my love. Red-haired or black, ye were not getting away.” Iain leaned down over her as she sat near the fire, feeding the babe, and kissed her again. His hand on her head would have held her there for another kiss, but he pulled back when the door pushed open and a young man entered.

“Uncle,” the man said in a furious voice.

“Nephew,” Iain said in just the same tone.

“I received word of a marriage. One entered into without my permission.”

They’d known that Struan had sent a messenger to Dunbarton as soon as he’d learned of their plans. Only the snowy roads had kept anyone from arriving sooner. Robena now looked from one man to the other and saw the resemblance of kin. None other than James MacKillop, chieftain of the Clan MacKillop, stood in her cottage.

“I have done yer bidding, Jamie,” Iain said, stepping aside so his laird could see her there. “As ye have asked me to do of late.”

“Struan tells me ye married the village whore and have taken in a foundling as well. What were ye thinking, uncle?”

Robena watched with a sense of awe as Iain grabbed the younger man by his throat, dragged him to the door and tossed him out. She stood and would have followed, but Iain waved her back.

“Keep the bairn warm,” he whispered to her, before he walked outside and stood over his nephew.

She held wee Duncan close, but she did walk to the door and peered through a slim opening to watch her husband. She offered up a prayer of thanksgiving to the Almighty that she had come to her senses and accepted this man as husband. He stood proud and fearless over a man who could make his life, their life, a miserable hell or a happy one.

“I was thinking that ye wanted me to marry again. Robena brought gold and a son into our marriage, more than yer own wife did, Jamie.” She noticed Iain did not say it was his own gold returned to him.

“Ye twist my words, uncle,” Jamie said as he climbed to his feet and tried to assert his position as chief. “I had any number of acceptable brides for ye to choose from. Ye did not have to lower yerself to take a whore.”

The quiet but swift punch knocked the man back to the ground. She was ready to go out and intercede, but she heard Rob call out a greeting to the younger man as he approached her cottage. Iain leaned down before Rob got close and shook his head at his nephew.

“I didna make a claim to be chieftain when my brother died because I believed ye would be a good leader for our clan. Now, dinna be an arse and make me regret that, Jamie.”

There was silence then as Iain’s nephew considered his words. When he got up without Iain knocking him back down, Robena thought they might have reached a tacit peace. Rob held out his hand in greeting, and Robena recognized his expression—the relief that he would not have to play the peacemaker after all.

“’Twill not be an easy thing to accept,” Jamie said.

“I did not say ’twould be, but it is what it is.”

Then Iain made the offer she had known he would. If this worked, it would make things easier for the others in their clan who would have rightful objections to their marriage and to her.

“I think ’tis time for me to step aside and let someone else—William, I think—take over as commander.”

Jamie did not answer right away.

“And I think that I should oversee that southern estate for ye, my laird.” Iain bowed his head and waited for his nephew’s reaction.

What Iain was offering was a practical solution for the uncomfortable situation that their marriage would cause. She would not be accepted in the laird’s household, but this would give his uncle a way to serve without causing constant problems. Anice had been the one to suggest it, and Rob agreed it was a pragmatic solution.

“I do need someone I can trust to protect our southern borders, Uncle,” The MacKillop finally said. Robena let out the breath she’d been holding and smiled to herself.

“Come up to the keep. Anice has supper waiting on ye,” Rob offered, now that the storm had passed.

“Uncle? Do ye join us?” Jamie asked. Though he faced his uncle now, he stared over Iain’s shoulder at her there in the doorway. This was the first of countless choices Iain would face because of her. She listened for his answer, not taking her gaze from The MacKillop’s.

“I will be there shortly, Jamie. Rob, dinna wait on me to eat.”

His nephew could have ordered his presence. But Jamie seemed to understand that there would be other times when he would need to do that, and he nodded now, looking back at his uncle. As soon as Jamie followed Rob away, Robena moved from behind the door, back nearer to the hearth.

“It worked,” he said as he entered and walked to her side.

“Aye, ’tis a good plan, as long as ye are happy?” He would be giving up so much to have her at his side.

“Are ye with me, wife?” he asked in the deep voice that sent chills from her head to her toes.

“I am, Iain.” Unfortunately, there was no time to do anything about the desire that he called forth in her. “I will be waiting for ye, laddie,” she promised.

With a kiss, quick and hot and possessive, he strode to the door and lifted the latch. He waited until she met his gaze and smiled.

“And I will take off my boots for ye, lass.”

Robena laughed as he pulled the door closed behind himself. She looked forward to the challenge he’d just offered her.

Even more than the fleeting moments of pleasure, she looked forward to a life with him—a future that she would never have dreamt was possible until Iain MacKillop made her believe it could happen.