“Thank God you’ve apparently not found the time to marry and procreate! You’d make a wretchedly cold-hearted parent!”
“I am aware that I cannot save the world.”
“One child was at risk, not the world.”
“The child survived. You’re not to go in the mine.”
“But I must. If I am lady here?—”
“You are not.”
“What I am,” she informed him angrily, “does not depend on Douglas dictates. I most certainly am Lady MacGinnis, and my father made that so, and I am tired of battling wretched men over that fact!”
“I don’t care if you’re the bloody queen. While I live, you’ll not go back into that mine.”
“But you don’t live—you’ve chosen to remain dead.”
“You know full well that I am very much alive,” he reminded her.
She found herself backed up against the cold stone wall of the turret room. There was no place else for her to go, and he was all but leaning against her as he stated his warning. She swallowed hard as she felt his fingers thread into her hair, lifting her face to his. She started shaking and told herself it was the cold of the stone while she tried to meet his gem-sharp stare with dispassionate dignity.
“You’ve not been alive for five years. And since you’ve chosen to remain dead, you have little power here.”
“Really?”
“Dead men cannot make decisions, nor issue ultimatums.”
“Well, my lady, rest assured that I am one corpse who will do so—most especially where you are concerned.”
She gritted her teeth but refused to fight the hold he had upon her. “If you’re so bloody concerned, what in God’s name has taken you so long in coming back from the dead?” she demanded furiously.
Then she wished that she had not spoken, for his features hardened. His jaw locked, and she saw the powerful cords in his neck straining with tension.
“Circumstances over which I had little control,” he said flatly, his fingers curling more tightly into her hair. “You don’t want me to remember where I was for the majority of the last five years.”
The coldness of his tone sent a chill sweeping down her spine, reminding her that he had returned for what was his—and vengeance as well.
Shawna studied him, recalling the word he had used for where she had cast him.
“Hell,” she whispered.
“Hell,” he agreed harshly.
“But I don’t know how you came to be…in whatever hell you found yourself!” she swore fervently. “David, you say I must listen, but surely you must realize that someone else might have come into the stables that night, not my family. You should have seen them today, David, all of them?—”
“I saw them.”
“You cannot see everything?—”
“Far more than you would ever imagine,” he assured her.
“There have been no further attempts on my life,” she reminded him.
“Aye. I have sat guard each night, waiting for the time that will come when someone tries to enter your chamber despite that bolt.”
“No one will hurt me. No one except?—”
“Oh, aye?” he challenged angrily. “No one except?”