Entrusted to a Highlander (Highland Promise Trilogy #2) - Donna Fletcher Page 0,24

himself cursing several failed attempts at snaring an animal.

“Looks like luck and skill isn’t with you today.”

Arran turned, his dagger in hand, annoyed he had failed to hear someone approach, though relieved to see… “Brother Noble.”

The brown-robed figure kept his distance, his head bowed and his hood down low so that no one could look upon him and no one wanted to. He was a leper. He resided at Stitchill Monastery and delivered messages to and from the monastery. Arran had met him shortly after his release and he had taken messages back and forth between Arran and Royden, keeping Arran updated on what went on at home.

“You do well?” Arran asked.

“As well as can be expected for one whose flesh is rotting away,” Brother Noble said and turned away coughing. He turned back, clearing his throat, though it still sounded raspy when he spoke. “Any luck finding your sister?”

“Not yet, but I have hope.” A sudden thought hit him and he was quick to say. “I have a favor to ask of you, Brother Noble.”

“Ask. If I can grant it, I will,” he said.

“I need you to perform a wedding ceremony.”

“Who wishes to wed?” Brother Noble asked.

“Me.”

Chapter 7

“Marry you now?” Purity asked, not sure she heard him correctly.

“We don’t know what awaits us on our return home,” Arran explained. “Brother Noble can wed us, then register our marriage with the monastery. Once you’re my wife, you’re—”

“Under your rule, your dictate,” she finished.

“Under my protection,” he corrected. “You’ll be safe with me and with no worry of your future.”

“It’s so sudden,” she said. It was one thing to talk about marrying him but now with that decision right in front of her, she was uncertain if it was the wise or right thing to do.

“Aye, it is sudden, but it’s necessary. I never thought to wed, but I will gladly wed to see you safe, Purity.”

“I don’t want you to sacrifice yourself for me,” she snapped, annoyed that he married her out of a duty he felt necessary to uphold.

“It is no sacrifice. I do this willingly.”

Her most precious dream and worst nightmare were colliding. She had often imagined becoming his wife and sharing a life with him and she had had nightmares of being forced to wed out of duty. How could she ever reconcile the two?

He stepped close to her, cupping her face in his hand, his long fingers spreading along her cheek and under her jaw as his thumb grazed her lips. She silently cursed herself for going weak in the legs when he touched her with a tender intimacy.

“I know this isn’t what either of us wanted, but we both know it’s necessary. I will tell you as often as you need to hear it—I will be a good husband to you. I will always be there for you. I will always protect you.”

It was reasonable under the circumstances. She couldn’t argue that. But she also didn’t want to be trapped in a situation that might not prove necessary. “When we return home if all is well and our marriage proves unnecessary will you agree to dissolve it?”

“No,” he said without hesitation and to her surprise. “If we don’t consummate our vows and seal our union then it can be easily nullified, leaving you vulnerable. I won’t chance that.”

This all had to be a dream and she would wake up and be what? Happy or disappointed to find she didn’t have a chance to wed Arran Mackinnon?

Disappointed.

Her answer made her decision easy. “Let us wed and be done with it.”

Arran stole a gentle kiss, then whispered, “Not done, just beginning.”

Brother Noble kept his distance as he coughed, gasped, and struggled his way through joining them together as husband and wife. And while Purity didn’t understand most of what Brother Noble had said—or she was still too shocked to understand him—she clearly heard him say, “And with God’s good grace and blessing I join you as husband and wife.”

“Thank you, Brother Noble,” Purity said when it was done, familiar with the leper since he had passed this way a few times.

“It is my pleasure and may I wish you both many bairns and many happy years together,” Brother Noble said with a raspy struggle. “Now I must go. Stay safe.”

“You as well, Brother Noble,” Arran said.

Purity stood there glancing around. Princess laid stretched out on the ground in a spot that caught the sun and King was curled in a ball sleeping close by him. The birds