Page 42 of Highlander’s Beautiful Liar

“And if he is not?” someone asked.

Alec leveled his gaze. “Then it is one of ye.”

17

Cora’s hands shook as she sealed the letter and handed it to Mary. Alec had her watched like a hawk now, and there was no way that she could leave the keep, but Mary could still come and go, and she knew that Mary wouldn’t tell on her. “I don’t want you going to Campbell on your own. You’re too pretty,” Cora said with a brave smile. “Hire a messenger from one of the villages.”

It was the next day, and Cora had barely slept. Her nightmares were no longer about being in the prison. It was about finding Alec’s body at the hands of Innes.

“Ye should tell Alec the truth,” Mary whispered.

Cora’s heart broke. “If I tell Alec, my sister will die. If I do nothing, then Alec will die. I cannot choose between my husband and my sister. I won’t.”

“And ye think that ye can reason with a man like Innes?”

Reaching out, she clasped Mary’s hands in hers. “I will do what it takes to protect the people that I love. Please do this for me, Mary. I just need to know what he wants. It’s just a conversation.”

Mary nodded. “All right. So long as ’tis just messages. Ye wilnae go see him.”

“I cannot even leave my chambers without being watched. How am I going to leave the keep?”

“True enough.” Mary grinned wolfishly. “Say what ye want about yer man, but he knows how to protect his woman.”

His woman. Cora warmed at that. She hoped that maybe Alec felt the same.

Although she expected nothing different, she was still disappointed when, an hour later, Alec returned with blood soaking his bandage. It would be wasting her breath to tell him to take it easy. At least he had come to her rather than letting it continue to bleed.

“The healer is better at suturing than me,” she told him as she sewed the wound closed. It didn’t look swollen, so that was a good sign. Just a little bruised.

“I doona want her to tend to me,” Alec said as he stared at her. “I want ye.”

“You don’t need to be wounded to see me,” she teased as she rewrapped the bandage and knotted it. “I am your wife. It is permissible to simply visit me.”

“Ye are angry about the guards.”

She walked to the washbasin and cleaned her hands. “No, I understand the need for them, but I am not used to being watched.”

“Harder to be sneaky that way.”

Her stomach flipped, but when she glanced over to him, there was an easy smile on his handsome face. They’d faced a harrowing experience, and he seemed at ease with it. Playful even.

It was disconcerting.

“How would you like it if I had women watching you to make sure that you didn’t reopen your wound?” she retaliated.

“Annoyed. Luckily, ye cannae do that.” Rising from the chair, he tugged at the bandage and grunted in approval. “Ye do good work.”

“Then take care of my good work.”

Leaning down, Alec planted a kiss on her forehead. “My brother has heard of the incident. He is coming to visit. He should be here by tomorrow. I am certain that Gaston will have messaged the King as well, but I doona think that he will make another visit.”

“It will be nice to meet your brother. I promise to play the loving wife.”

To her surprise, he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close. “For a moment, I thought that someone might kill ye. I didnae like feeling that way, Cora.”

“Are you blaming me?”

“No. I am just telling you how I feel. I may miss dinner this evening, so I am arranging for a late and private dinner with ye.”