Elliot pinned Duncan with a hard expression. “I did exactly what ye will do when Anna wakes. Beg her forgiveness. Convince her ’twill never happen again. Tell her she is the most important thing in yer life, and ye cannae live without her. If ye dinnae, I will thrash ye within an inch of yer life, then take her home when she is well enough to travel. Ye willnae be welcome on Elliot land, and ’twill be a cold day in hell before ye get close enough to hurt her again. I can protect her from the evil of such men as the earl. She will be safe amongst her kin.”
The force of emotion behind his words startled Duncan, but no more than he deserved. “What if she willnae come around? I dinnae deserve her forgiveness.”
“Nae, neither did I, but she will forgive ye if she is convinced ye love her and vow not to indulge in such foolishness again. Women have a greater capacity for forgiveness than we men. ’Tis especially true with the ones they hold most dear. We mock the softer feelings of women until ’tis is the verra thing we need. Swallow yer pride, son. Win her back.”
“Pride?” Duncan spread his hands. “I have no pride in this. I watch her every day and live with knowing I am the one who hurt her.” Duncan buried his head in his hands, ashamed of the tears threatening to fall.
Elliot placed his hand on his shoulder. “Aye, ye have the right of it. Ye will do just fine then. ’Twill be a wedding soon enough.”
Early that same evening, Anna opened her eyes. She glanced around the room, trying to understand why she felt like she’d picked a fight with Duff—and lost. No part of her body felt unbruised. Her head, especially, throbbed with pain. MacNairn! She was a prisoner of that foul beast. No, that couldn’t be right. She was in a familiar room—Duncan’s room. She blinked a few times, trying to reconnect all she knew. Threads of memory reformed. The abduction, MacNairn’s intentions for her, her escape. After that, details grew a bit fuzzy. Turning her head, she saw Lady MacGregor in a chair next to the bed, working on a square of embroidery.
Mairi noticed her wakefulness. “Thank the saints ye are awake! What can I get ye?”
Swallowing hard in an effort to speak, Anna whispered, “I need to use the privy.” Weak as a newborn lamb, Anna leaned heavily on the older woman while they stepped into the garderobe. Merely making her way back to bed exhausted her.
“I will fetch Duncan and Fiona,” Mairi said and moved toward the door.
“Wait,” Anna feebly replied, but Mairi had gone.
Duncan entered a few moments later, a haggard, yet hopeful look on his face.
She puzzled at his appearance—he looked as bad as she felt. “Duncan, what has happened to you?”
He smiled faintly in return. “I am fine, love. Ye are the one everyone has been fashed over.”
He called her ‘love’. Hope surged in her breast, but she warned herself not to put too much meaning behind it. “How long have I been here?”
“What do ye last remember?”
“I recall escaping that evil man, but everything after is murky.”
Duncan described events after she stumbled into camp, including her three days of fever, along with the past two. She absorbed his story, remembering more of her time with MacNairn. ’Twas then she felt a familiar cold nose on her hand.
“Trean!”
“Aye, he has rarely left yer side since we returned.”
“I thought him dead. I saw him felled by one of MacNairn’s men at the loch.”
“He has a wee scratch on his shoulder—all but healed. We found him following the trail of the men who took ye. He is a braw laddie. Other than being a mite skittish of people, he seems as tamed as a wolf can be.”
Anna stroked his muzzle while he licked her other hand.
“You still haven’t explained what has happened to you.” She took in Duncan’s gaunt appearance and the bruised circles under his eyes.
“He has nae left yer side these past five days,” Fiona answered as she bustled into the room. “We had to threaten him to eat what little he did, and he has nae had a full night’s rest for worry and watching over ye.”
Anna didn’t know how to respond to this news, but the hope she felt earlier increased tenfold.
“I will tell Cook to prepare a broth and to soak some bread