Chapter Twenty-Six

Kaid stared at the woman dressed in men’s clothes and knew she would not be easily handled.

Her clothing was all black, and her hair was braided back from her face and twisted into a wild mass of blonde hair. She looked more Scottish and wild than English. Even a subtle underlying lilt to her words suggested as much.

Hostility shone bright in her pale eyes. The openness of her dislike made the black bow tied at her neck appear nothing short of ridiculous.

“I’m Kaid MacLeod of Sutherland, laird of the Clan MacLeod.” He squared his shoulders. “It is my people Delilah sought to help.”

“It is you who caused Delilah to abandon her mission?” The woman named Sylvi tilted her head and regarded him. “If I’m correct, I am assuming you’re the very man she was supposed to bring in to kill. And now you’re here. How very convenient.”

The tall, slender lass was obviously trying to intimidate him. It would have been funny were he not so concerned for Delilah.

“Nay, she aided my people because she has a good heart.” He glanced back at Delilah. Her face was flushed bright red. His explanation faltered into silence.

“Do not talk about me as if I’m not in the room.” She clenched her fist. “I helped your people because seeing the cruelty they’ve endured broke my heart.” Her shoulders sagged. “Sylvi, if you saw them…”

A wash of uncomfortable warmth spread over Kaid. He didn’t want his clan to be pitied, but wasn’t that the perspective he’d forced upon her when she arrived? It had gotten her to help him, which he had desperately needed.

Sylvi stood in front of the one window to peer out before speaking. The morning sunlight left her hair a glow of white around her shoulders and face. “Your heart has always gotten you into trouble, Delilah.” The words were said with more kindness than their previous conversation. “I know how much you wanted this mission.” A hard set returned to Sylvi’s jaw. “This meant everything to all of us.”

“I know.” Delilah spoke so quietly, it made Kaid want to stand in front of her once more.

“I dinna know what her success with ye would afford her,” Kaid said. “But what she’s done for my people will save lives.”

Sylvi looked between Kaid and Delilah. “You didn’t disclose the details of our mission?”

Delilah’s cheeks went red. “I told him it was Elizabeth’s father who ordered we bring any potential attackers to justice.”

The chilly touch of Sylvi’s gaze settled first on Kaid, then back on Delilah, and her expression relaxed. Somewhat. “I’d like to see your castle.”

“Ardvreck,” Kaid provided.

“Yes. Ardvreck,” Sylvi amended. “I’d like to see it.”

“Ye’d be a welcome guest.” Kaid gave her a bow. Probably an awkward one, most likely stiff. Hell, he didn’t know what he was doing, but he thought it might help his cause.

Delilah’s cause.

“You should know we travel with a woman who is very ill,” Delilah said and quickly explained Torra’s situation. “Our travel may be slow, but we can plan as we ride. I would also like to get Elizabeth and Liv out of there as quickly as possible.”

Sylvi hesitated. “If it weren’t for Elizabeth, I’d say we could just kill MacKenzie now.”

Kaid felt himself suddenly liking the blonde woman more. “We need Torra to take back the land with the support of her people. If MacKenzie dies without an heir, who knows who will take his place.”

Sylvi’s sigh was almost inaudible in the silent room. “So many complications. Very well. We’ll bring Percy and discuss our options on the road. Let’s not waste another moment.”

A rush of victory swelled through Kaid. Not only had he been able to defend Delilah’s choice, but he had enlisted the aid of what appeared to be a very capable woman.

This would all be over soon, so long as they could get Torra to cooperate.

• • •

They’d snuck back into Ardvreck Castle with their hoods up against the moist chill of the night air, creeping in the dark like thieves.

The journey had taken over four days.

Delilah helped ease Torra into the large bed of the chamber she’d shared with Leasa when they were last at Ardvreck. The woman immediately curled into a ball and pulled the covers over her head.

A sense of urgency nipped at Delilah, tempting her to leave Torra as she was.

Kaid waited for Delilah in his room. He’d slipped the words into her ear with a velvety voice and a look of such longing her body still hummed with the effects.

How she wanted to lose herself in his touch, his kiss. She suppressed a sigh lest it come across as impatient.

Torra had been nothing if not uncooperative, not that Delilah could blame her. After the good part of a lifetime confined to a prison cell, it made sense that she felt impossibly small in the wide openness of the world.

“Is she still frightened?” Percy asked from beside Delilah.

Concern puckered Percy’s brow, but even with the delicate lines, Percy was still the most beautiful woman Delilah had ever seen, with her long golden hair and deep blue eyes rimmed with long dark lashes.

A rhythmic sucking sound came from under the covers and Delilah knew Torra had her thumb in her mouth.

“It’s all been too much,” Delilah said gently.

Percy nodded with her characteristic kind patience. “I understand.”

Delilah knew she did. After years of keeping herself hidden behind Kindrochit Castle’s walls, it was unexpected to see Percy outside.

“I’ll stay with her,” Percy said. “I don’t want her locked in here alone, and I have a tea I think can help.”

Delilah offered a grateful smile to her friend. Leasa was still in Killearnan with Donnan and Isabel, gathering the remaining MacKenzies to garner support for Torra’s lairdship. Percy’s help was necessary in their absence.

Kaid was waiting.

Though Delilah tamped down the thought, her pulse quickened.

“Thank you.” She caught Percy’s hand and squeezed it.

Percy smiled in return. “Of course. Go get rest now.”

Delilah obeyed and headed toward the door, but it was not rest she planned to have.

It was Kaid.

She opened the door and found Sylvi standing with her feet braced wide. “I’ll stay with them tonight, but I wanted to talk to you first.”

Delilah pulled in a breath and nodded. In truth, she was surprised Sylvi had not approached her during their travel. While she’d expected the conversation, Delilah was still not looking forward to it.

Especially if it might take long.

Impatience scrabbled over Delilah’s nerves.

The four days of being near Kaid, but not touching, not allowing herself to be with him, had been torturous. She’d endured it well enough, but now that minutes separated them, eagerness nearly tore her apart at the seams.

“You don’t have to hide it.”

“Hide what?” Even as she asked the question, heat spread over Delilah’s cheeks.

Sylvi didn’t break her gaze from the two women in the chamber. “That you’re in love with him.”

Delilah tensed. Though she ought to deny the claim, she knew in her heart she could not.

Sylvi was right. Delilah was in love with Kaid.

Who was waiting for her.

Impatience raked over her once more, hot and annoying.

“You’ve a soft heart, Delilah, as I said before,” Sylvi said. “It leads you to bad decisions.”

“This is not a bad decision.”

Sylvi cast her a sidelong glance. “So if he were not part of it, you would still sacrifice everything to save these people?”

“Yes,” Delilah answered without hesitation. “Yes, I absolutely would.”

Sylvi gave a thoughtful nod. “And what will you do after all this is over, if he decides he doesn’t want you anymore?”

The question was so unexpected, Delilah’s heart tripped over the stark prospect before she staggered out a reply. “I hadn’t—that is, I didn’t expect—”

“No, you didn’t expect, of course. But you hoped.” Sylvi turned toward Delilah now, her face unreadable. “Hope is far more fragile than expectation.”

Delilah didn’t reply. She could not. The walls around her, once familiar, suddenly seemed cold and pressing as foreign surroundings do.

She would be unwanted.

Sylvi leaned back against the doorframe and regarded Delilah with consideration. “I will never forget how you looked when I first met you. You were the embodiment of misery, as though you thought your life had ended.” She fingered the black bow tied around her neck. “I’d never seen such a pitiful creature.”

A knot formed in Delilah’s throat. She wanted to jerk away from the conversation and run down the hall.

To Kaid’s room.

Thoughts of the king tangled with thoughts of Kaid. She hated having them in such near association with one another in her mind.

The burn of the humiliated rejection she’d faced with the king slammed into her heart. “We needn’t have this conversation,” Delilah said against the hurt aching in her throat.

Her anticipation to see Kaid muddied into something embarrassing, almost shameful.

“But we do.” Sylvi’s expression eased. “Because you’re not that girl anymore, Delilah. You’re strong, and you’re confident, and you’re beautiful. And I don’t ever want to see you reduced to that pitiful creature again.” She put her hands on Delilah’s shoulders. “You will always have a home with us. We will always love you.”

The ache in Delilah’s throat tightened.

“But if he does ever wrong you in any way…” Sylvi pulled her dagger from her waist and scraped the point along the underside of her fingernail. “I’ll slice off his cock.”

She flashed Delilah a smile, slipped into the chamber, and let the door click closed behind her.

Delilah stared at the wood grain on the closed door for a moment before turning to walk down the hall, her cheeks aflame. All this time she’d thought herself unloved. Unwanted by the large family who’d raised her, forced into the group of women she fought beside. She’d never considered they might truly love her.

Her steps down the hall were not as quick as they might have been only minutes before.

Kaid was not the king, she reminded herself. There was more between them, and their affair had been different.

And yet that place in her which had been once shattered, the one crisscrossed with thick and ropey scars, flinched at the idea of loving him.

She opened the door to his chamber and he stood there before her. Hungry desperation lit his expressive blue eyes. Firelight gleamed off his naked torso, teasing the pulsing arousal back to life.

And as she ran to him, her poor heart squeezed against the impossible truth.

Even if he would someday hurt her, she could not help loving him.