Page 62 of At the Highlander's Mercy
The gauntlet had been thrown now. Rob would have to take her father down to prove himself to all the
MacLeries. But even that did not guarantee Lilidh would accept him. This was just the next step in what would undoubtedly be the most painful experience of his life. Well, he thought as he took in as deep a breath as his chest would allow, she was worth it.
That was the last coherent thought for some time ashe charged across in Connor’s direction and attacked. He gave it his all—never giving ground, never slowing, always moving forwards. He swung that sword until his arms screamed and until he could barely draw a breath. The noise overwhelmed him—so loud that it sounded like an army in a pitched battle around him. Or that might be because Connor had struck his head with the hilt of his sword and his ears were ringing.
He knew from the grunts that he had hit Connor several times, though the man never slowed down or tried to evade him. He only thought about Lilidh as he struggled to keep up.
Then, somehow, he managed to catch hold of Connor’s sword and fling it away with his. The crowd roared again, but he did not waste time listening. He chased Connor down and ploughed into him, knocking him to the ground as he tried to grab for the sword. Though he was certain his shoulder came out of its socket from the force with which he landed on Connor, he swung around and pinned Connor on the ground. Then, with his sword at Connor’s neck, he demanded his surrender.
Instead of hearing the words, he heard swords being drawn around him. MacLerie warriors surrounded him and pointed their swords at him now—killing their laird simply would not be allowed, whether he’d won or not. He put his hand up then and dropped his sword. Connor climbed to his feet and strode up to him, to deliver the death blow, no doubt.
‘Tell her I tried,’ Rob said quietly to Connor.
‘Tell her yourself,’ Connor growled back, lookingover Rob’s shoulder towards the keep. Rob forced his battered and bleeding body to turn.
She looked like an angel, her hair streaming out behind her as she moved towards him. Her mouth opened and suddenly he realised it was not an angel—she was the legendarybean-shithe,the fairy woman whose scream foretold one’s death. Men moved out of her path in fear that she shrieked for them.
By the time the creature reached him, he thought it was Lilidh, but his open eye blurred from the blood dripping into it from a cut somewhere above it. He tried to reach out for her, but his arm would not obey. She stood before him now and he was grateful that the last thing he saw in this life would be her face.
Then the ground reached up and pulled him down to meet it.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The sting of frigid water woke him and he coughed and choked on it, sending slashes of pain throughout his beaten body. But the pain told him he yet lived.
Forcing his one eye open, he saw Connor and Jocelyn standing above him. The lady was whispering furiously at her husband, who did not seem to be listening at all. Tilting his head back, he recognised the curtain of black silk that cascaded around him—Lilidh’s hair. He wanted to tangle his fingers in it, but one hand would still not obey him and the other was holding hers.
‘Give me your hand, boy,’ Rurik said, reaching down for him. Though Lilidh began to argue and Jocelyn, he noticed, turned away, there was no way to avoid the warrior who grabbed his useless hand and pulled it. The sky above him flashed white and the very fires of hell coursed through his body as Rurik put his shoulder back in place.
‘Good fight, boy,’ Rurik said with a nod in his direction. ‘I would not have thought it in you,’ he added as he walked past.
When Rob could sit up, he noticed that Connor did not look unscathed and he felt some satisfaction in that. He might not have won, but he had given as good as he got. Connor nodded his head at Rob and he found himself hauled to his feet by two guards.
‘Go away,’ Connor ordered loudly.
The yard, now that he could see it, cleared at the laird’s orders, leaving only the four of them.
‘You are not the boy you were then, Rob,’ Connor said, gruffly.
Jocelyn whispered something to him and pushed against his arm. Connor held out his hand to Rob. Rob took it, wincing at the power in the older man’s grip.
‘I want your blessing, Connor. I would have Lilidh to wife if she will have me,’ he insisted, not looking at Lilidh for fear he would lose his nerve then.
‘If she will have you,’ Connor said, releasing his hand and putting his arm around his wife. ‘I was wrong about you, Rob. I was wrong.’
That was as close to an apology as Rob was going to get, but he did not care right now. Lilidh yet held on to his other hand and had not moved from his side. Connor grabbed his wife’s hand and tugged her in the direction of the keep. ‘Come into the hall and tell us if we have a wedding to prepare or not,’ Lilidh’s father called back to them.
Rob lifted their clasped hands up and kissed hers. The bloody mark he left from his split lip was not the most romantic thing he could have done, but she seemed not to notice it. Though he dripped water on her, she leaned against him.
‘I am sorry it took so long to understand your advice, Lilidh.’
‘My advice?’ she asked. Then a smile lit her face and he knew she was going to laugh. ‘You listened to my advice?’
‘These last months I could hear your words in my head. But I want to hear them from you. I want you to help me be the laird and chief I can be—not the one my father was or your father is.’ He kissed her gently and then added something that he had never said aloud to her. ‘I am so sorry for what I did to you, what I said. I understand if you hate me for the cruel words, but I hope you will forgive me and give me another chance. I love you, Lilidh, and I want you for ever, not just a year and a day.’
She kissed his face then, feathering light, gentle kisses across all the cuts and bruises he now wore and he lost himself in the love she showed him.
‘I forgive you, Rob,’ she whispered to him, easing the tightness in his chest that had nothing to do with the fight he’d just survived.
