Margaret Mallory - The Sinner

“Everyone was already laughing at me because of what ye did,” Magnus said. “So when I heard ye didn’t leave Shaggy’s with your father, I went looking for ye. I couldn’t let my wife run off with another man.”

“I’m no your wife!” Glynis said.

Alex sensed Magnus was about to attack her. The fire was so hot now that sweat rolled down his face as he crept closer. He must take his chance soon.

“It was while I chasing after ye that they took the chieftainship from me,” Magnus shouted. “They never would have had the ballocks to do it if I’d been there. Because of you, they took everything from me!”

When Magnus swung his arm back, Alex was already running through the flames.

* * *

“Glynis!”

Everything seemed to happen at once: Glynis heard Alex’s voice shouting her name; a dirk flew through the air and landed with a thunk above her head; and Magnus flung his arms out and arched back, howling in pain.

Through the flames, she saw Alex charging across the boat toward them with his hair flying out behind him. All the saints be praised! He looked like one of the legendary heroes of his tales.

Magnus, a famed warrior himself, recovered in time to block Alex’s sword, though his arms shook and his knees bent with the effort. When he turned, she saw the dirk sticking out of his shoulder. Remembering the one above her head, Glynis reached up and worked it out of the wood. Turning the blade toward her, she sawed awkwardly against the ropes holding her wrists. It seemed to take forever, but at last she cut through them.

Glynis backed out of the way as the men fought in the cramped space, knocking over barrels of ale and sending captured pigs squealing. Their swords clanked and scraped the wood of the boat as flames rose higher around them. As the heat seared her face, Glynis feared they would all be consumed in the blaze.

Her hands shook, but she held the dirk in front of her, looking for a chance to stick it into Magnus. But the two men were moving too quickly for her to be sure she wouldn’t strike Alex by mistake. And then Magnus was charging straight at her through the flames, his face contorted with black rage. Just before he reached her, Alex jerked him backward by the back of his shirt.

Pain seared Glynis’s leg. When she looked down, her skirts were on fire. She leaned over and beat at the flames with her hands. But her hair swung down over her shoulders. When it caught on fire, she shrieked.

Alex appeared out of the flames at a full run.

The next Glynis knew they were flying through the air. They hit the water hard, knocking the breath out of her. The last sound she heard as they plunged beneath the surface was the sizzle of flames meeting the water.

She swallowed water and came up coughing. Water streamed down her face, and the charred smell of burned hair filled her nose as Alex carried her to shore. She rested her cheek against his chest and listened to the reassuring sound of his thundering heart.

“ Mo chroí , did he hurt ye?” he asked. “Are ye all right?”

“I am now.”

Alex came to a halt. “I love ye so much. I couldn’t bear it if I lost ye.”

She let the words wash over her. Alex loved her.

“You’ll never lose me,” she said. “Never.”

CHAPTER 54

No more whiskey!” Glynis pushed away the cup Alex held to her mouth.

Duncan, Ian, and Connor were all hovering over her as well, like a bunch of mother hens.

“A burn is the worst kind of wound,” Alex said. “No need to be brave now.”

She’d let the men ply her with whiskey—the man’s cure for everything—last night, but she wanted to arrive home sober, for heaven’s sake.

“My leg barely pains me at all now,” Glynis said, though it hurt like the devil. “I won’t have our daughter see me stumbling off the boat.”

“Ye won’t stumble because ye won’t be walking,” Alex said, in a tone that told her there would be no arguing the point.

“Ye have quite a gathering of folks to welcome ye home,” Ian said.

Glynis ignored her husband’s protests and stood. It looked as if everyone from the castle and the nearby cottages had come down to the beach to greet them. She smiled up at Alex and squeezed his hand.

When Alex carried her off the boat, the people waiting on the shore cheered—which very nearly made her weep. Alex set her on her feet as Sorcha ran up. Glynis dropped to one knee on the sand and held out her arms to her daughter.

“Mother,” Sorcha said, as she threw her arms around Glynis’s neck. “I knew da would bring ye home.”

As she held Sorcha tightly against her, Glynis did shed a tear now. She would always remember this moment when she heard her daughter’s voice for the first time, calling her Mother.

“Your mother has a battle wound that proves how brave she is,” Alex said, as he helped Glynis to her feet again. He rested his hand on Sorcha’s head. “Wait til ye see it—it’s a beauty.”

Glynis laughed because she knew he meant it.

“We’ll bid ye farewell now and join our men on the other ship,” Connor said.

“Ye can’t stay?” Glynis asked, looking from Connor to Ian and Duncan.

“We must deliver Angus and Torquil to the new Clanranald chieftain for their punishment,” Connor said. “The Clanranalds, at least, will have justice.”

“I know ye feel badly about Hugh escaping again.” Alex clasped Connor’s shoulder. “But I appreciate what ye did.”

When Alex had carried her to the shore from the burning ship, they had met Connor running hell-bent toward the loch. They learned later that Connor had been fighting one-on-one with Hugh, when Hugh told him that Glynis was on the flaming ship.

“Ach, ye didn’t need my help,” Connor said.

“But ye thought I did,” Alex said. “Ye left Hugh to help me save my wife.”

“You’d do the same for me.” Connor paused and then gave him a crooked smile. “If I had a wife.”

“It’s time ye did,” Alex said. “Shall I make ye a list?”

The other men laughed so hard that Glynis suspected she was missing part of the joke.

“No need for that yet,” Ian said, and elbowed Duncan hard in the ribs. “We have it all planned out, and Duncan’s next.”

“Don’t believe it,” Duncan said in Glynis’s ear when he leaned down to kiss her cheek good-bye.

“All the same,” she whispered back, “I’d advise ye not to wager that galley ye stole from Shaggy.”

* * *

Alex was relieved to have his wife home. He hoped she would stay.

Although Glynis had told him she would never leave him, she’d been a breath away from being burned alive the moment before. As a warrior, he’d often heard men make pledges when they looked death in the eye that were soon forgotten once the danger was passed.

He wanted to hear Glynis say it again.

On the ship, they’d had no opportunity to speak alone. As soon as Connor and the others set sail, Alex turned, intending to lift Glynis in his arms and carry her to the castle. But he froze in place when he saw Ùna running straight toward him down the beach. Ach, Glynis was sure to think the worst. But when Ùna reached them, she took Glynis’s hands.

Alex’s heart started to beat once more. Apparently, the two had met and talked in his absence.

“I’m so glad you’re safe,” Ùna said to Glynis.

“Do ye see Peiter there?” Glynis said, nodding in the direction of the young fisherman, who, as usual, was looking at Ùna with calf eyes.

“Aye,” Ùna said, her cheeks going pink.

“I know you’re not ready. But when ye are, Peiter is a good man ye can trust.” Glynis put her arm through Alex’s and leaned into him. “Like my husband.”