“’Tis a will. Dwyn’s will,” Aulay announced, and Geordie closed his eyes, not wanting to hear more. She would not die. Hewanted nothing to do with anything that might suggest she could. But Aulay added, “And though she did no’ plan it this way,’twill keep her alive.”
That caught Geordie’s attention, and he lifted his head to spear his brother with eager eyes. “How?”
“If she dies, Innes goes to you, no’ back to me or her sisters,” James explained when Aulay hesitated.
Geordie peered at Dwyn’s father with amazement. “Ye agreed to this?”
“I had little choice in the matter,” he said dryly. “I had already given Innes to the two o’ ye in the marriage contract aswas demanded in the invitation to come here, and ye had already signed it over to her. It was Dwyn’s to do with as she wished.I did try to talk her out o’ it,” he admitted. “But she was determined ye’d no’ be left homeless and landless did she die.”Sighing, he added grimly, “And now, it seems a good thing I could no’ talk her out o’ it. It may save her life.”
When Geordie peered at him in question, not understanding why, he pointed out, “If Faolan Brodie wants Innes, he canno’ killDwyn. Innes would go to you on her death.”
Geordie began to relax a little. Brodie couldn’t marry Dwyn and couldn’t kill her if he wanted Innes. In fact, the only wayto get his hands on Innes was to—
“He’d have to kill you to have any chance at gaining Innes,” Aulay said even as Geordie thought it. And then he added, “IfDwyn dies ere ye do, Innes goes to you. Does she survive ye and then die, it passes back to her father or her eldest livingsibling if he has passed. So, he needs to kill you and either force Dwyn to marry him and change her will, or kill you, andthen her and her father, and then go after Una, who would then be Laird Innes’s next heir.”
“So he’ll have to keep her alive and come after me,” Geordie said with satisfaction.
“Aye,” Aulay and Laird Innes said together.
Geordie considered that briefly and then pointed out, “But he could still punish her for what her dogs did to him. He couldtorture or—”
“But he canno’ kill her,” Aulay interrupted firmly. “We can help her heal from torture. We canno’ bring her back from death.”
Geordie nodded, but felt sick at the thought of the torture Dwyn might suffer. And the worry that if Brodie tortured her . . .How would she be affected? Would she even be his Dwyn when he got her back?
It was cold water splashing over her face that woke Dwyn. Gasping with the shock of it, she sat up abruptly, and then groanedand raised her hands to her head. Shoulders bowing under the pain presently crashing about inside her skull, she pressed herhands tight to either side of her head above her ears, trying to force the pain back.
“Get up.”
Dwyn stiffened at the cold order, not because of the words, but because she recognized the voice. Faolan Brodie. The nameslipped through her mind, followed by the recollection of what had happened, or at least what she knew of what had happened.The last thing she recalled was being dragged away from an unconscious Geordie. She had no idea what had happened to him afterthat. Had they killed him like they had Simon? Was she a widow?
“If ye ken what’s good fer ye, ye’ll get up.” This time the words were hissed in her ear. “And ye’ll marry me all obedient-likeor I’ll make ye sorry.”
Dwyn’s head jerked up at that, her eyes wide with horror. “Ye killed him, then?”
Faolan Brodie smiled grimly at her dismay. “Who? The Buchanan?”
When she bit her lip and nodded, he shook his head with cold amusement. “Do I look a fool to ye? I’ve no desire to have theBuchanan brothers with all their clans on me arse. They’d hunt me to hell and back had I killed him.” He sounded disgustedat the prospect, as if he didn’t understand such loyalty and love for a sibling. “Nay. We left him alive. But do no’ be thinkingthat’ll save ye. Once the wedding is done, ye’re mine and he canno’ do a thing about it. He’ll let it lie and find anotherbride.”
Dwyn let out a slow relieved breath at this news. Geordie was safe.
“Now get up. The priest is waiting,” Brodie growled, stepping back.
Dwyn glanced around to see she was seated on a pallet in a traveling tent. They weren’t at Brodie, then, but she had no ideawhere they were or how long she’d been unconscious. They could be just beyond the Buchanan border or a day’s travel back towardBrodie and Innes. Perhaps even two days’ travel away. She had no idea how much time had passed.
“I said get up!” Brodie roared, and backhanded her.
Dwyn swayed to the side under the blow, the pounding in her head increasing briefly so that she still didn’t move. Once theworst of it passed, she raised a hand to press it against her stinging cheek and straightened to peer up at him. Voice calm,she said, “I’ll no’ marry ye, and ye canno’ make me.”
She expected him to hit her again and braced for it. Instead, Brodie caught her by both arms and jerked her up off the palletto dangle before him.
“I paid the MacGregors a lot o’ coin to camp on their land and get their priest out here today. One way or another, ye willmarry me, lass,” he assured her coldly. “The question is whether I’ll need beat ye till ye agree, or whether ye go willinglyto the priest.” Smiling coldly, he added, “Do ye go willingly, I’ll only let me men have at you after the ceremony.”
When her eyes shot to his face, he shrugged. “Someone has to consummate the marriage and those vile dogs o’ yers have ensuredI canno’.” Mouth tightening, he added, “The beasts will pay for that with their lives when
