Chapter 9
Willa lingered awhile longer by the water, lost in thought.
Planning. Plotting. With all that had happened so far in her life…
where would she end up? What would become of her if her brother didn’t win back his lands?
In truth, she had always felt … lost. England hadn’t been her home, even though she had been raised there with family.
She had still felt like an outsider, never quite belonging.
As a half-blooded Druid, she lacked the full abilities her mother had had.
Her aunt had patiently taught her, mostly in deference to her mother’s memory, but try as she might, she couldn’t use magic or even see into the future except in the occasional dream.
It was said that her mother had been an exceptional seer, like Maura.
But there was no point in worrying about her future right now, when there was nothing she could do about it.
What would be would be. Her thoughts turned to Drust, and as always when she thought of him, her chest squeezed and her heart beat faster.
It would be so nice if he… No, Willa. Don’t get your hopes up.
One day at a time. And for god’s sake, don’t let him think you’re desperate!
She stood and made her way back to the cottage over the mossy path, her steps quickening the closer she got.
When she opened the door, she saw that Drust had put more wood on the fire and was sitting before it, his head lowered into his hands.
He looked entirely miserable, she thought.
Perhaps she had been too hasty in encouraging him to walk…
was he in pain? Had the fever returned? What if he was re-injured because she had encouraged him to go out too soon?
“Drust? Are you all right?” She closed the door softly behind her and moved towards him. She should check his wound…
He looked up, and she could see the pain in his eyes that he couldn’t quite manage to hide. And the pain swirling in those depths did not seem to be physical. No, it was more like sorrow… or regret.
Drust was tired of her asking him if he was all right.
Tired of knowing he was not. He was wounded, confused, alone in a small cottage with a beautiful woman that he could never have, and his body was wound tighter than a bow string with a raging need he’d never felt before and couldn’t understand.
This had never happened to him before, this obsessive awareness of a woman, and he wasn’t sure what to make of it.
His desire for her hammered through his blood day and night, never letting him rest. And apparently, it wasn’t because of any aphrodisiac.
No, it was all him. Or her. Or the two of them together…
Her nearness unsettled him, made him feel nervous and edgy.
Oh aye, he wanted her, his body was on fire for her.
Had been since the moment he woke and saw her face.
If he let himself, if he lost control, he would be on her in an instant, sating himself between her thighs.
Him, the calm and rational brother, the one who had always so easily turned his back on his baser instincts.
Thinking himself so far above them, his control was iron-clad, infallible.
A low groan escaped his throat, and he shook his head.
He wouldn’t let anything happen. He had to get well and get out of here before he did something he’d regret.
But he would need to keep the lovely temptress at a distance.
He did not look up, but he knew she was moving towards him. He could almost feel it in his blood. “Stay away, Lass. My trouble is no’ yers to bear. Leave me be.”
Willa took a step closer, determined to comfort him anyway, but then froze as she took in Drust’s words. They rang in her head, echoing together with the very same words spoken in a dream. Her breath caught in her throat, and her heart skipped several beats. Oh my God.
Slowly, she took yet another step closer. The man from her dream. The one she had loved in that dream… He was here with her now. To Willa, it was all suddenly clear as day… how could she not have realized sooner?
He’s mine. He’s really mine! A kind of giddy joy washed over her, through her. Fate does mean for us to be together… it was no accident that I found him…
Drust looked up and regarded her cautiously. “What is it lass? Ye look like ye’ve just seen a ghost.”
Willa slowly shook her head, eyes still wide with shock and wonder.
It was all starting to make sense, in that strange way that one’s destiny finally unfurled before their eyes.
No wonder she had been drawn to him from the very beginning.
He was her destiny, how could he not be?
She had always been moving towards this moment…
all that she had ever been through in life, brought her here.
She only wished Drust could see it as clearly as she did.
As she looked at the stubborn set of his jaw, she knew she still had a battle ahead of her.
And then there was the small hitch in that she knew virtually nothing about him.
But none of that mattered to her, she knew what the dream meant, and she knew what she was feeling.
That was enough. Nothing good comes easy…
and something as good as the man before her?
She could be in for the battle of her life.
Willa steadied herself and took one more step.
What should she do? Touch his arm? Did she dare to kiss him?
He didn’t look like he’d be pleased at the prospect…
What next, now that she knew? Push him? Be patient?
And why was he being so damned honorable when any other man would have had her under him in a heartbeat, as willing as she was.
She began moving towards him, because checking his wound would give her the excuse she needed to touch him.
“Drust, let me…”
The sound of approaching hoof beats had Willa stopping in her tracks and then running for the window.
Seeing her alarm, Drust abruptly stood and the chair he had been sitting in fell over backwards with a crash.
He was across the room in two heartbeats, automatically shoving her behind him.
She peered around his arm, watching as two figures rode up on horseback.
It was her brother and Maura, and she let out the breath she had been holding.
Safe. For now. And perhaps they brought news that someone would help them…
She turned to look at Drust. He could not know any of it.
Despite her growing feelings for him, he was still almost as much of a stranger to her as when they arrived.
Only now she knew that his eyes were a fathomless golden brown, and his voice was rich and deep and made her stomach dip and flutter.
“It’s my brother and his wife”, she told him. “They’re back.”
He nodded. “I’ll give you privacy, then, to speak with them.” He turned and without even looking at her went to the bedroom, closing the door behind him.
Willa frowned at the closed door. She knew it was not her need for privacy that drove Drust from the room, but in a way, she understood his reluctance to meet her brother first thing.
Or to be at the mercy of another man’s kindness.
Yes, that must chafe terribly for a man like Drust. She wouldn’t doubt that other men were usually at his mercy.
But at least now she would have someone to talk to about her prophetic dream and its significance.
Maura would know what it all meant and what she should do.
Drust stayed in the bedroom while James and Maura reunited with Willa, exchanging hugs and questions all at once. Willa took her brother’s hands in hers, her face suddenly serious.
“Any word?”
He shook his head, giving her hands a light squeeze.
“No’ yet. But I’ve begun speaking with…” He gazed at the closed bedroom door. “Is he…”
Willa smiled, her whole face lighting up. “Oh yes! He’s awake. The fever broke, and the wound is healing nicely. Better even than we hoped.”
James only narrowed his eyes, but Maura leaned in closer and whispered, “And?”
Willa lowered her voice as well. “And his name is Drust. He won’t tell me anything else, except that he has a brother that he will return to when he’s well enough to travel.
He doesn’t trust me, which makes me think he must either have powerful enemies, or his family is rich and he fears being ransomed. Or both, I suppose.”
James nodded. “Aye, and it goes both ways. Neither can we tell him our story when we doona ken his. We canna risk that he’s on the wrong side, there’s too much at stake. I will speak to him right away, see if I can learn any more.”
“Be nice James, please.” Willa put a hand on his arm with a worried frown. “He’s a good man, I… I can tell. And he’s been through a lot. His troubles are likely no concern of ours.”
James gave her a terse nod. “I’ll try.” As soon as he opened the door to the bedroom, Willa commandeered Maura, who was emptying a basket of food onto the table.
“I need to talk to you right away! Alone. I honestly can’t wait another minute.
” Willa dragged her sister-in-law by the arm, steering her out to the little stable behind the house.
She shut the door and bolted it, then motioned to a little wooden bench.
Maura, looking perplexed and slightly worried, sat down, and Willa pulled up a bale of hay to sit across from her.
Maura leaned forward and spoke in hushed tones. “What is it, Willa? Has something bad happened while we were gone? Och! Yer brother will kill me if anything at all has happened to ye!”
“What? Why would he be angry with you?”
“Because I am the one who convinced him to leave ye here on yer own, that’s why.”
“Not on my own, with Drust”, Willa said, and even she could hear the dreaminess in her voice. “But oh Maura, don’t worry. Nothing bad happened, I promise you.” She crossed her arms in exasperation. “And nothing particularly good, either.”
“Oh. Oh!” Maura’s eyes widened in understanding “Ye mean…”
“Yes!” She grabbed Maura’s hands in her own and squeezed them tight in her excitement.
“I’ve never had such feelings for any man.
Never in all my life. I think he’s the one!
No, I know he is. I had a dream, before I came here, and there was a man that I…
I helped, I think. Only he wasn’t injured in the dream, it was more as if he was sad, tormented by something bad that had happened.
But then we were together, and he was happy again.
Oh Maura, it was honestly the best dream I ever had.
And you know that I don’t have dreams like that very often.
Not like you do. With me it only happens once in a great while. ”
“And the man in the dream, it was Drust?”
Willa nodded. “I didn’t know right away because I couldn’t see his face, in the dream, I mean.
But he said the same thing to me just before you arrived that the man in the dream said, and right then I knew for certain they were one and the same, just as if it was a key that opened a lock in my mind. And I knew him.”
“Oh Willa!” Maura gave her a broad smile. “How verra romantic! What did he say?”
“He said ‘Stay away, Lass. My trouble is no’ yers to bear. Leave me be.’”
Maura’s grin faded and she looked a bit taken aback. “Oh… well…”
“And I don’t think I could even get the stubborn man to kiss me if I tried”, Willa continued.
“He has completely closed himself off. He seems to have barricades around his heart that might be impossible to ever overcome, and yet I find myself wanting more than anything else to break through them.” She sighed. “Am I completely mad?”
Maura grinned at her, the wheels in her mind already turning. “Nay, no’ mad. If ye feel so strongly, it must surely be yer calling to help him, to heal him. A woman almost always kens these things, and they should no’ be ignored, no’ if ye are wise.”