To her surprise, though truly she should have realized, it failed with only one Sinclare…Ronan. His intense glare had remained the same while his brothers looked stunned.
She avoided a direct answer by tossing the query back at Artair. “How can you think that relevant when I managed to get all four of you here in one place?”
Artair nodded. “This is true, but given that, you would also have made provisions to avoid capture.”
“Provisions that are doomed to fail,” Ronan said emphatically.
“We shall see,” she challenged, though knowing it wasn’t the wisest response. But they had to think her confident, or else she truly would be doomed.
“Enough,” Bethane said, ending the exchange to Carissa’s relief. “The air grows cold with the impending snow. A light one I would say, though soon to be followed by a heavy snowfall that will surely strand you all here. I suggest you eat a hearty supper, get a good night’s sleep, and be on your way at dawn.”
Cavan looked ready to protest, but Bethane stilled him with a quick raise of her hand. “That is the way of it, Cavan. I gave the respect due you when on your land; I ask the same of you.”
Cavan nodded though it was obvious he wasn’t happy.
Zia intervened, trying to herd everyone to Bethane’s cottage. “We all need food and rest.”
Cavan and Ronan were the most reluctant, while Lachlan, his wife Alyce, and Artair seemed agreeable, but then they knew that the two brothers needed time together, or perhaps they both feared Carissa’s being out of their sight.
Carissa turned to walk away, but Ronan’s sharp words stopped her.
“Where do you go?”
“That doesn’t concern you,” she answered just as sharply.
He stomped over to stand directly in front of her, though he actually towered over her. “Everything about you concerns me.”
“Afraid I’ll slip away from you?” she challenged.
“I promise—you’ll never get away from me again,” Ronan said.
“We’ll see about that,” Carissa said, and turned away, strolling off as if she had not a care in the world though her heart ached; but not a single tear pooled in her eyes.
Ronan stepped forward to follow her, but Bethane stepped around him and joined Carissa, hooking arms with her.
“Let the women be and come join your family,” Cavan said. “We have missed you, and there is much for us to discuss.”
Carissa waited several minutes before she dared turned to look and see Ronan enter Bethane’s cottage with Cavan. Her relief was so great that her legs might have given way if not for Bethane’s supporting arm.
The two women entered Zia’s old cottage and, while Carissa sat at the table before the hearth, Bethane prepared a soothing brew for them both.
Carissa hugged the hot tankard in her hands, hoping it would chase away the chill that went deep down to her very bones.
“You put on a good act,” Bethane said, joining her at the table and pushing a board with thick sliced dark bread toward Carissa.
Carissa smiled, though it was a sad smile, one that barely reached her slim lips. “I appreciate your concern that I eat, but my appetite has yet to return. And as far as my act is concerned? I have no choice.”
“Perhaps if you trust—”
“No,” Carissa said, shaking her head adamantly. “I can trust no one, not ever.”
“Not true,” Bethane encouraged.
Carissa sighed. “Who do you suggest I trust?”
Bethane smiled. “Your heart.”
Chapter 4
Ronan sat hunched beneath evergreen branches, watching the cottage where Carissa slept. Snow fell, lightly dusting his wool cloak, and thick cloud covering kept the waning moon from shedding any light. It didn’t matter. Ronan had learned to acclimate himself to any weather or circumstance, and that skill had proved a useful tool in surviving, and helped him to believe that one day he’d return home.
Now, though he was reunited with his family, he still felt he hadn’t returned home. He felt a stranger among his brothers and even more uneasy with their wives, not to mention that there were nieces and nephews he had yet to meet. Then there was the death of his father during his absence. He had never gotten to see him again, and that was a painful wound that would take a long time healing. As difficult as it was for him, he could only imagine how difficult it must have been for his mother. They had been a loving, devoted couple, and he wondered if his mother could truly manage without her husband.
No, this certainly was not the family he had left; but then he wasn’t the same man. And after spending only a brief time with his family, he wondered even more about his own identity.