Part 27 (1/2)
Nora followed after him.
He was already to the wagon.
”Ewan MacAllister,” she said sharply, ”stop right where you are.”
”Go away, Nora. I'm in no mood for you.”
”Why? Because of what that fool said?”
He clenched his teeth and looked away.
She reached up and cupped his face in her hands, then forced him to look at her. ”You didn't steal me from anyone.”
”Think you Ryan will feel that way? You don't belong to me, Nora. I have no right to you.”
”You're right. I don't belong to you. I belong to no man on this earth. I am my own person and not the property of my father, Ryan or anyone else. Whom I give myself to is my concern, not theirs.”
He tried to pull away, but she held him.
”Look at me.”
He did.
”You're a good man, Ewan. One with a good heart. If Isobail couldn't see that, then she was an even bigger fool than her brother. But I see you. I know you.”
His eyes were filled with agony as he stared at her. He took her hand into his and pressed it against his lips.
Ewan inhaled the sweet scent of her. He wanted this woman with every piece of his heart. But at the end of the day, he knew Graham was right.
He had stolen her from another.
For all he knew Ryan would be like Robby MacDouglas, pining away for her. Willing to risk life and limb to regain her.
And who would blame him?
Nora was wonderful.
He didn't deserve someone like her. He deserved nothing at all.
”Go back inside, Nora. Please.”
To his relief, she nodded and obeyed.
Ewan stood back, trying to draw a deep breath to alleviate the pain in his chest.
He had to let her go, and yet all he wanted was to hold on to her.
Why couldn't he ever find a woman for himself? One who wasn't promised to someone else?
Pagan joined him. ”Your friend has decided with a little help from yours truly to leave the village immediately. Are you all right?”
”Thank you. Aye, I'm fine.”
Pagan glanced in the direction Nora had vanished. ”She's a good woman. You're very lucky to have someone like that who's willing to appreciate you for what you are.”
Ewan nodded in agreement. ”That she is.”
”Are you to marry her?”
He shook his head. ”She's not meant for me.”
Pagan scoffed at him. ”Then who is she meant for, Ewan? I can't imagine any other man showing her the patience you do. I for one would go mad if I had to tolerate her tongue for any length of time.”
Ewan snarled at him.
Pagan grinned at his reaction. ”There's what I expected from you. You'll tolerate no one to insult her.
Sounds like love to me.”
Ewan grimaced at his words. ”You know nothing of it.”
”True enough. I know naught of Cupid's arrow and have no wish to be educated. But if I were ever to be stricken by his machinations, I don't think I could just let go of the one who held my interest and see her in another's arms. I only know how to fight for what I want.”
”And have you ever had to?”
He turned darkly serious, his eyes glacial, and in that moment Ewan was glad he wasn't facing the man in battle. There was something very deadly and sinister about Pagan. ”Every day of my life.”
Ewan's mind flashed to the sight of Isobail rus.h.i.+ng toward her lover. The two of them had embraced and kissed.
Dumbfounded, he had watched them until his anger spurred him to attack.
Night after night, he had lain awake wis.h.i.+ng he had beaten the knight that day. That he had continued to fight until the man killed him.
But he'd been too heartbroken to breathe.
Thank you, Ewan, Isobail had said coldly, her eyes icy as she regarded his beaten and b.l.o.o.d.y form.
Without you, I'd still be locked in the Highlands with no hope of ever seeing Gilbert again .
Her lover had thanked him then, never knowing what Isobail had promised Ewan if he would help her, and the two of them had laughed as Gilbert's men escorted him out.
In the end, he had consoled himself with the knowledge that a woman so faithless and cruel, who could use her body to lure both him and Kieran, would never be true to the knight. Gilbert would come to learn her as they had.
G.o.d have mercy on him then.
Ewan sighed.