Page 89 of Desire of a Highlander

He hadn’t expected otherwise. “They’re using me,” he said quietly. It wasn’t a question.

She nodded. “Henry told Alana that once you’ve helped them get rid of Bryce, they’ll take your lands for themselves.”

He felt no shock. Only confirmation. “And my people?”

Her eyes met his. “They intend to conscript every man who can carry a weapon.”

His jaw tightened. “Do they now? We’ll see about that.”

“They talked about the Steading,” Elodie went on. “They intend to take it and use it as their base.”

The muscles in Ronan’s neck drew taut. All this time, all these years the Steading had been a place people could go to avoid the troubles of the world. Now, if the Murdochs had their way, it would become a center for the very thing they’d been so desperate to avoid.

Silence settled between them and for several moments Ronan stared into the gloom. He had known men like Henry Murdoch before, men who spoke of honor while counting the cost in other people’s blood. Men who wrapped ambition and self-serving greed in noble words and fancy sentiments and spent other people’s lives like coin. He had ridden away from exactly that sort of life.

“And Bryce?” he asked. “Did they speak of him?”

Elodie nodded. “They hate him. They blame him for taking everything from them after their rebellion failed.”

Ronan let out a long sigh and scrubbed the side of his face. Bryce again. He leaned back against the rock. He had no idea how many followers the Murdochs had but he guessed it couldn’t be many. Bryce commanded hundreds. No sensible person would believe they could defeat the Earl of Newborough in open battle.

Unless...

Unless they believed someone else would get rid of Bryce for them. Unless that person was him. The Murdoch’s had offered him revenge. They wanted to use him to eliminate his brother, believing he hated Bryce as much as they did. Was that true? He searched his feelings for Bryce and found them tangled and complicated. It would be easier if he could hate him. But it wasn’t hatred he felt. He wasn’t entirely sure what it was. Anger, certainly. But other things as well. Regret. Sadness. Guilt.

He’d left because he didn’t want to hurt anyone. Because he’d already done enough damage and because he wanted peace. How then could he justify riding back and causing conflict?

Because it’s to keep your people safe, he told himself.

Elodie studied him. “You still care what happens to him.”

Ronan gave a humorless laugh. “I’ve spent years trying not to.”

“But you do. It’s not that easy to stop caring, is it?”

He stared into the darkness. “I hate what he became.” He paused. “I hate what all of us became, me included. But he’s still my brother. When I was little, he used to take care of me. I have to believe that some small part of the big brother I idolized is in there somewhere. And I willnae let the Murdochs use me against him.”

Elodie reached across and laid her hand over his. “Of course you won’t. So the question is: what are we going to do?”

He had been asking himself exactly the same question. “Everyone from the Steading is heading south. Faye and Eamon will keep them moving and I’ve instructed them to avoid the roads where they can. But even when we reach my lands, I canna simply walk onto them. Bryce still believes I surrendered them. He willnae give them up easily. He’ll defend them if he has to.”

“But they’re yours by law.”

He shrugged. “Law matters very little when a man commands enough soldiers.”

She was silent for a moment. “So what will you do?”

“I’ll speak to him.”

“And if he refuses to listen?”

His gaze drifted to the pistol at his side. “I pray he doesnae. I’ll do everything in my power not to have to fight him. But if I have to choose between my brother’s pride and my people’s lives...”

He didn’t finish the sentence. Elodie studied him, her face caught in the shadow from the rocks around them. Worry shone in her eyes.

“So we might end up caught between your brother’s forces in front and the Murdochs’ forces behind.”

“Aye. Either way we are in a race now. Should the Murdoch’s catch us before we make it to my lands...”