Page 71 of Desire of a Highlander

Ronan approached Faye. “Has something happened to David?”

Faye shook her head. “No. He’s still asleep.”

Ronan let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “But no worse?”

“No worse. Sarah’s with him. And Elodie.”

He nodded. “Good.”

For a few moments they simply stood together, watching as the Steading settled down for the night. A pair of women were hanging damp blankets over a fence. Somewhere a hammer rang rhythmically against timber.

Faye studied him with the shrewd look he’d come to know so well. “I didnae come to speak about David. I came to speak about ye.”

“What have I done now?”

Faye raised an eyebrow. “Ye dinna need to look so worried. I’ve actually come to tell ye that I’m proud of ye.”

Ronan blinked in surprise. “Ye are?

“Aye. For what ye said at the meeting.”

He looked away. “I only told them the truth.”

“And that,” Faye said softly, “is exactly why I’m proud. I know that wasnae easy for ye.”

He rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. At length he said quietly, “I’ve hidden who I was for so long that saying it aloud...” He searched unsuccessfully for the right words. “I dinna know. It almost felt like becoming someone else again.”

“Aye. It’s a difficult thing ye are doing, lad. Just remember that nobody can turn ye into something ye dinna want to be. Ye always have a choice.”

He snorted softly. “Do I?” He watched Skye chasing a butterfly through the grass. “I never wanted people following me because of my name.”

“They dinna.”

“But they will.”

She shook her head firmly. “Ye still havenae learned that lesson, have ye? Nobody here cares a damn who yer father was. They dinna follow ye because ye are the son of some earl they’ve never heard of. They lost faith in any lord to protect them a long time ago.” She fixed him with a hard stare. “They follow ye because they trust ye. Just like I trust ye.”

Her words settled somewhere deep inside him. He wasn’t certain he deserved such trust. What if this all went wrong? What if, when it came down to it, he couldn’t protect any of them? He was not such a fool that he thought his brother would just hand everything back. Bryce had fought too hard to claim every inch of their father’s inheritance. Would he really surrender part of it now?

Ronan looked towards the southern horizon, though the hills hid everything beyond. “I still don’t know how this ends.”

Faye followed his gaze. “None of us do but that’s life, isnae it? Nobody can truly know what tomorrow might bring.”

It was precisely what tomorrow might bring that was bothering him. Far from a quiet life at the Steading, his future was now like a dark road without any lights.

He’d walked away from his inheritance, from his family, because he had refused to fight. He’d refused to become the kind of man he’d always hated. But now? If Bryce threatened these people, if he threatened Elodie? He already knew what he would do and that frightened him more than anything.

He realized that his hands had unconsciously clenched into fists and slowly relaxed them. “If Bryce forces my hand—”

Faye laid a hand gently on his forearm. “Then ye’ll do what ye’ve always done.”

He looked at her. “What?”

“Protect people.”

It sounded so simple when she said it. He wasn’t convinced it would feel that way when the time came.

Faye gave him an affectionate pat on the shoulder. “Come on. “We’ve preparations to make.”