Ronan woke with a leisurely stretch and a grin. Damn, he felt good, and he’d feel even better when he made love to Hope again. He turned to do just that and bolted up in bed when he saw that she wasn’t there.
He was about to call out for Hope, but stopped himself and shouted, “Carissa.”
He shouted twice more as he quickly slipped into his clothes.
When he discovered the other room empty, concern struck his gut, and he grabbed his cloak as he headed out the door.
The day was overcast and cold, though it didn’t look or feel like snow. At least he hoped not. He was suddenly eager to return to the security of his home. With hurried steps, he made his way to Bethane’s cottage, and after a hasty knock, he entered.
“Just in time to eat,” Bethane said, pointing at the table set with two bowls and tankards.
“Where is she?” he asked, closing the door behind him though not removing his cloak.
“She’ll be back. She gave her word. Now sit and eat,” Bethane said, and ladled porridge into the bowls.
“How do I trust the word of a barbarian?”
“That’s a question only you can answer.”
The scent of the food had him accepting her offer. He tossed his cloak over the back of a chair and scooped up a spoonful of porridge. Though it was good, it wasn’t as tasty as Carissa’s.
“I agree,” Bethane said. “Carissa’s porridge is much tastier.”
He gave up trying to figure out how Bethane knew what people were thinking. Besides, it didn’t matter. He wanted to know about Carissa.
“How soon will she return and where did she go?”
“I don’t know where she went,” Bethane admitted. “But she did tell me that you should return home, and she would come there when she can.”
“What do you mean when she can?” he demanded angrily. “Damn, she tricked me again.”
“Do you truly believe that?”
“What else am I to believe? We make love for the first time, and she disappears the next morning.” He cringed. “I should not have told you that.”
“Knowing that, I would surmise only something terribly important would have forced her to leave you.”
“Or Carissa played me for a fool yet again,” he said, pushing the bowl aside. “Getting what she wanted from me and escaping.”
“What did she get that she wanted from you?” Bethane asked.
He couldn’t say aloud what he thought. He couldn’t admit to Bethane that Carissa wanted him to make love to her as he would have to Hope. But he did know what it had cost him. What she had taken from him.
He stood. “My pride. She took my pride, and I am going to take it back.”
Bethane tried to speak, but he silenced her with a wave of his hand.
“No more advice. I opened my eyes as you suggested, but evidently not enough.” He grabbed his cloak and swung it over his shoulders. “I leave for home now.”
Bethane shook her head sadly. “You may have opened your eyes, but you failed to open your heart.”
Ronan tried to make sense of Carissa’s departure during the four days that it took him to get home. He wanted to believe what Bethane had told him, that Carissa would return. But why had she left in the first place? Why had she kept her departure from him?
Thinking on it, he probably would have objected to anything that would have delayed their return home. And it wasn’t only because he finally felt ready to return home but because he wanted this matter concerning Carissa settled. Crazy as the thought was, and that he was even giving it consideration proved madness, but he wanted to spend time with Carissa to see if what he had begun to believe was true, that the woman he loved still lived within Carissa.
There was also another problem that tormented him. He would be returning home without Carissa, and Cavan had trusted him with the task of bringing her to justice. And that meant returning her to him for judgment.
Bethane had said that Carissa had given her word. But did he trust the word of a barbarian? Was there more to Carissa than he had first believed?
He had disappointed his brother once already when he had gotten them captured. It seemed unforgivable that he should fail him once again.
His thoughts remained troubled as he arrived home. A light snow dusted his cloak as he brought his horse to a halt on the moors and stared in the distance at the Sinclare village and keep. It had been what? Two years since he had been home? Two years since the battle that almost cost him and his brother Cavan their lives. Two years that changed him forever.
But he was here, and there was no turning back. And so he rode forward to finally fully reunite with his family.
Chapter 22