Page 91 of Bride of Mist
“Right,” she scoffed. “And what do you think they’ll say?”
He scowled. “They’ll have to tell me the truth.”
“Will they? Or will they say anything to cast the blame elsewhere?”
She had a point. If there was one word to describe the Fortanach brothers, it was self-serving.
But this wasn’t her fight. He’d be damned if he’d let her risk her life for something that was his responsibility.
“’Tisn’t your affair,” he growled.
“Listen, you pompous arse!” she snarled. “You can’t go charging in, brandishing a blade and making wild accusations. Not until we have all the facts.”
“The hell I can’t,” he snarled, wrenching his arm away.
Before he could take two steps, she somehow snagged his heel with her foot and kicked his leg out from under him.
He would have hit the ground hard, pounding his head against the hard-packed earth. But she grabbed his gambeson as he fell, instead easing him gently to the forest floor.
Leaning over him, she said, “We’re doing thismyway, with patience and planning. Attacking without provocation or proof will do more harm than good. ’Tis a situation for stealth, not strength. Forewarned is—”
“Forearmed?” he replied, vexed at being chided by a wisp of a lass. “Aye. I know.”
Perhaps being swept off his feet had knocked a bit of sense into him. He supposed itwasunwise to hurtle into the fray with an empty scabbard.
But there was equal benefit to acting swiftly, attacking unexpectedly before the enemy could prepare.
Still, it was hard to argue with the bossy wee lass when she was looming over him like a bloody Amazon warrior.
Feiyan extended a hand to help him up, half-expecting Dougal would growl and bat it aside.
She never dreamed he’d grab her sleeve and pulled her down on top of him. And once she collapsed there, it was easy for him to roll her onto her back, pinning her to the ground with his body.
Sparks flew as his indigo eyes drilled into hers. “But if ye think I’m goin’ to dawdle back to Darragh while a pair o’ murderin’ monsters are on the loose, threatenin’ my clan, ye’re mistaken.”
She narrowed her eyes and pressed the point of thebishoushe’d slipped out of her belt against his ribs.
His eyes widened as she bit out, “Who said I meant to dawdle? But ifyouthink I’m going to let the man I love rush into danger without a sword or a shield or any notion whatsoever of—”
“What? What did ye say?”
She blinked. “I said I don’t intend to dawdle.”
“Nay, after that.”
She frowned. “You don’t have a sword or shield. Or a plan.”
“Ye said ‘the man I love’.”
She blushed. Shehadsaid that. But now she wished with all her heart she hadn’t.
“Is that true?” he breathed.
It was true. And she hadn’t realized that until she’d said it aloud.
But he obviously didn’t share her feelings. She could see the amusement in his gaze. He probably thought it was naïve of her to fall in love with the first man who’d swived her.
Instead of answering him, she muttered, “Get off me.”
