Catriona read the single sheet, crossed and recrossed, then drew in a tight breath. "He'll bring me to the attention of the authorities-church and state-if I don't marry him?"
She looked up, something close to fear in her eyes.
Richard frowned and reclaimed the letters. "Don't worry. There's a simple way to spike his guns."
"There is?"
"Marry me "
"How will that help?"
"If you marry me, your lands legally become mine, so there's no point pursuing you."
Catriona glanced at the letters in his hand. "What if he does anyway-out of spite?"
"If he does, I can guarantee nothing will come of it"
She looked at his face. "Because you're a Cynster?"
"Precisely." Richard hestitated, then added. "Seamus knew he needed a certain type of man for you-one of the right sort, with the right degree of power." He considered, then grimaced. "A Cynster fitted the bill to perfection, and he had one-me-on a chain. To wit, my mother's necklace. Above all he knew that if you give land to a Cynster, he'll never let it go-'To Have and to Hold' still rules us. Which meant you'd be safe-if it were mine, I could never bring myself to sell the vale."
He looked into Catriona's eyes and stated what now seemed obvious. "Through all this farce of his will, Seamus had only one true aim: to ensure your continued safety."
"Hmm." She frowned, then grimaced and looked away.
When she said no more, Richard ruthlessly pressed his point. "By making it widely known he was your guardian, Seamus drew all the approaches to him, leaving you undisturbed. But Jamie is no Seamus-he won't be able to deflect those three from then goal. While Seamus was alive, you were shielded-now he's gone, it'll be open season-on you, and your vale."
She glanced at the letters. "I didn't realize. I didn't know."
"You do know." She looked up; Richard tucked the letters hack in his pocket and trapped her gaze. "You said it the night before last. You need me. You may choose not to acknowledge it consciously but you do know it. You may not accept it but that doesn't alter the reality."
Her eyes flared spitting gold sparks. "You are not my keeper!"
He looked down at her he couldn't help his growl. "Where you're concerned, it the cap fits, I'll wear it."
She glared at him-he gave not an inch. Slowly, her glare faded-she frowned as she studied his eyes.
He studied hers. "Why did you come to my bed?"
Her eyes locked with his, Catriona drew a deep breath. He'd been totally honest-totally open-with her. "Because The Lady willed it."
For one long instant, he stared into her eyes, then his brow rose. "Your Lady told you to come to my bed?"
"Yes." Briefly she explained.
Richard heard her out in silence. In genuine surprise. He'd expected the answer to be loneliness-something he understood, something he'd instinctively recognized in her. Divine intervention was a little harder to assimilate. As was the possessive lust that roared through him at the thought of her heavy with his child.
He was not at all sure how he felt about her reason, but the opportunity was too good not to seize.
"In that case"-he straightened away from the book case-there's obviously no impediment to our marriage on your side."
She frowned at him. "Why do you imagine that?"
Brows high, he met her gaze. "Children. The Lady told you I was to father your children." She stared at him blankly, he elaborated: "Children. Plural. More than one."
She blinked, then her features blanked completely.
"It's a little hard to imagine how you could have a brood of children by me, without the benefit of marriage."
"Twins." She refocused abruptly on his face. "There's twins in your family-Amanda and Amelia."
Richard shook his head. "Their father's a twin, and their mother has twin brothers. Not at all the same as us."
"But…" Catriona stared at him. "The Lady made no mention of marriage."
"The gods don't have such ceremonies-marriage is an institution created by man."
"But…" She'd run out of buts.
He sensed it; he studied her, then said, his voice lower, less forceful-more beguiling: "I meant what I said before-that, if we marry, I won't interfere with your role." He searched her eyes, then his gaze steadied. "I swear always to support you in your position, to defer to you as lady of the vale."
He meant it; it was there in his eyes-a promise of fealty only a warrior could make-and then only to his queen Catriona felt her will swaying, bending… she was losing the battle to remain beyond his reach. And losing it on far too many fronts. More than one part of her mind was urging her to rethink-to accept all he offered.
As perhaps The Lady had intended her to.
Her head, mind and senses were whirling. With an effort, she regrouped-looked down and forced herself to strip aside all the complications of his motives and hers. And get to the heart of the matter.
After a quiet moment, she raised her head and looked him in the eye. "You're not going to let me go, are you?"
He looked straight at her-through blue, blue eyes. "No." She considered him. His face hardened. His gaze locked with hers, he softly added. "And you might like to ponder the fact that if you refuse me and bear my child, I'll have an unassailable legal right to that child."
Catriona heard the depth of his commitment, not to her but to their unborn child. "You'd take our child from me?"
His gaze didn't waver, she'd read his answer in his eyes before he stated: "I'd claim any child of mine from the arms of The Lady herself, if she sought to keep it from me."
Dragging in an unsteady breath, Catriona straightened-and felt the trap close firmly, tenderly, but tight. The warrior had secured his cause.
"It won't be as bad as I feared." Catriona dragged her brush through her hair and glanced at Algaria in the mirror. Her erstwhile mentor was agitated to the point of panic. "He's promised to support my position, my role, not undermine it. He didn't have to do that."
"Humph! That's what he says now-just wait until he gets you back to the vale. Once you're big with his child, he'll take over!" Pacing, Algaria swung about. "Do you realize he'll have the power to sell the vale?"
"He won't." In stating it, she was sure of it. "He's landless-a bastard-and a Cynster. He's more likely than any other to keep the vale-keep it for his children." Protect it for his children. Inwardly smiling, Catriona wielded her brush vigorously.
Algaria had not been present in the library; expecting to leave within a day, she'd been shocked to learn of the impending wedding. And convinced that Richard must have, using some unspecified and utterly inconceivable power, forced Catriona into accepting.
The only power he'd used was simply who he was-who he really was behind his mask; Catriona had tried to explain that, but Algaria wasn't ready to listen.
"I can't believe you've simply acquiesced!" Halting, Algaria stared at her.
"Believe me, there was nothing simple about it. Our discussions ranged over a gamut of issues."
"Did you discuss his character? The fact he'll want to rule-that he'll need to rule just as much as he'll need to breathe?"
Sighing, Catriona laid down her brush. "I didn't say it would be easy."