Page 116 of Highland Ruse

He gave her the warm, affectionate smile she loved. “Aye, my wife. I love ye, Delilah. Ye helped bring the MacLeods to safety. I want ye to be there with me to enjoy it.”

His words were the most beautiful ones she’d ever heard in all her life. She’d found someone who made her feel special, important, so much more than just another mouth to feed. Joy lit through her, and she wondered how she could have been so angry only moments ago.

“I would love to be your wife,” she said softly. “And nothing would bring me greater joy than having Claire as our own child.”

“Then when this is done, both shall come to be.” Kaid caressed her cheek. “I love ye, my beautiful Delilah.”

“And I love you, Kaid.” Delilah’s soul nearly burst at the pleasure of voicing the words she’d locked for too long in her heart.

Sylvi had been wrong about Kaid. He was a good man, an honest one who would not lie about matters of the heart.

And yet something still niggled at the border of her conscience. Their life together would begin when the war ended.

But what if the war did not end in their favor?

• • •

While the preparation for their departure made Kaid’s night a long one, his clan had managed to leave the following morning and travel an uneventful two and a half days to Killearnan.

With every warrior they could spare, the party was too large to travel with haste. They’d stopped far enough on the outskirts of the town so as not to not draw any unwanted attention.

Together Kaid and Delilah began the trek toward an unnamed inn in the village. Donnan and Leasa were supposed to meet them there. Kaid’s heart thumped a little harder at the prospect of their discovery.

“Do you think they found many of the MacKenzies?” Delilah asked.

Kaid kept his gaze fixed on the inn. “I was wondering as much myself.”

Delilah leaned forward in her saddle. “Do you see their horses tied somewhere else?”

Kaid looked toward the same open stable as she. No horses but Sylvi’s and Percy’s. He glanced around the surrounding area to no avail. “I don’t.”

Delilah settled back in her saddle with the same resigned silence she’d maintained for most of the trip. She smiled when she caught him staring at her and tried to pretend all was well. Kaid knew better.

The silence pressed in on them the closer they drew to the inn.

“Torra seems to be traveling better.” Kaid was as desperate to break the quiet as he was to not think of what the empty inn meant.

Delilah nodded in agreement. “She’s not hugging her body to her horse as she did leaving here last.”

“Has she been well?” Kaid asked.

There was a pause before Delilah answered. “She’s scared.”

Kaid nodded. “Will she still be able to continue on?”

They stopped their horses and swung down from them. “She will.” There was enough confidence in her tone to ease Kaid’s worry.

At least until she cast him an anxious look before they pushed through the wooden door of the inn. Sylvi and Percy were waiting for them along with the strange woman he’d met before, the one with the diamond winking between her brows. Isabel, he believed her name was. Several bags lay packed and ready at their sides.

“Where are Donnan and Leasa?” he asked.

“They came only once.” Isabel gave him an apologetic shrug. “They were thus far unsuccessful.”

Kaid tried to quash the rising swell of disappointment.

Attacking a defensible castle. Without a massive army behind him, it would be all the more difficult.

“Are we to wait for them?” Delilah asked.