“Not really. If he doesn’t see fit to come for you, he will come for me. A warrior can be counted on to seek revenge. It is a matter of honor, and Cullen is an honorable man.”
“From what I know of Alaina, she was an honorable woman. Why then,” she asked, “are you such a devious devil?”
Balford sprang forward in the chair. “You’re nothing more than an ignorant peasant!”
Sara held her head high. “This ignorant peasant managed to foil your attempt to have your grandson killed.”
The earl sneered. “And all those involved will pay dearly for it.”
“All?” Sara laughed. “It was I and only I. How does it feel to be defeated by a single woman?”
He rushed out of the chair and backhanded her across the cheek, his heavy gold ring nicking the flesh near the corner of her eye. She stumbled but managed to remain on her feet, a trickle of blood dripping down her cheek.
“I have never been defeated!” the earl shouted in fury.
She challenged his claim. “Alaina defeated you. She loved freely and birthed the son of her lover, a Highland warrior.”
“She was a whore who was defeated,” the earl spat.
“Not so,” Sara argued. “Her son bears proof of her victory.”
The earl’s guttural laugh shivered her skin cold.
“He will meet his mother in Hell along with his father.”
“The only one to go to hell will be you,” Sara said, near spitting her words in his face.
The earl grinned with pleasure. “I will enjoy seeing you whipped and beaten, and perhaps I will lay between your legs to show you the power it takes to be victorious.”
Sara sneered. “I imagine your prowess is as puny as those skinny legs of yours. You did, after all, produce only one child, and who knows if Alaina was even your true daughter? Perhaps you weren’t man enough for your wife and she found pleasure and satisfaction in another man’s bed.”
She purposely wanted to make him angry, cause him to lose his temper, and thus lose sound reasoning, which could possibly alter his plans and provide her with more time. She quickly braced for the anticipated blow.
His hand was drawn back in a flash, arcing high and wide, and Sara knew it would more than sting; it could possibly take her to her knees.
“Touch my wife and you die!”
Balford’s hand froze in midair, and Sara wished she could rub her eyes, for she was surely seeing a mirage. Cullen stood a few feet behind the earl, his handsome face awash with anger, though his dark eyes softened when they rested on her, and for a moment, though it was brief, barely detectable, she thought or perhaps imagined that she had seen love there.
Had she seen it, or did she simply want to believe he had come to rescue her because he loved her? Or had he come not for her, but for revenge?
The earl turned and rushed away from Cullen’s fast approach, stumbling to the side.
“I’m going to make you pay, Balford, for what you’ve done to my wife,” Cullen said angrily, while gently wiping the blood from her cheek.
“You shouldn’t have come,” Sara said softly. “You and your son were free.”
“There is no freedom without you, Sara. Haven’t you realized by now how very much I love you? I haven’t been able to stop loving you. Wanting to love you. Needing to love you. Loving you like I never thought possible.”
“How touching,” Balford mocked.
Sara heard nothing but her husband’s profound declaration of love, and still she found it hard to believe. He loved her? Truly loved her? Was it possible? Could her dreams, her wishes, her prayers, have actually come true?
“You look doubtful,” he said. “I guess I’ll have to spend the rest of our lives convincing you how much I love you.”
“That will be about a week,” Balford said confidently, “since I intend to make the both of you suffer before I kill each one of you myself.”
Tears slipped down Sara’s cheeks.
“Don’t cry, my love,” Cullen cautioned. “I won’t let him hurt you.”
Sara shook her head, her tears continuing to fall softly. “I don’t weep out of fear, I cry for joy. You love me. You truly love me.” She laughed. “You don’t think I’m going to let a vile man prevent us from sharing a life together, do you?”
Cullen laughed loud and strong. “That’s my Sara, confident and courageous.”
“And as much a fool as you,” Balford spat.
“I’ll just see to the vile man and then we’ll be on our way,” Cullen said with a gentle kiss to her cheek.
“Make certain he suffers,” Sara said firmly. “He deserves to suffer for all he’s done, especially for what he did to Alaina.”