CHAPTER 81

“Alan?” she whispered.

“Aye, love?”

“Are you setting me aside? Because I’ll tell you ’tis a rotten thing to do after I live. I’ll not go so quietly this time. You’re my husband, and I won’t just give up my husband so he can marry another.”

The petulance in her voice made him chuckle. She sounded supremely irritated and aggrieved that such a thing was possible.

He kissed her nose and laid his cheek against hers. “Nay, love. You’re stuck with me, I’m afraid. I’ve defied the king and my brother and about twelve other clans in the process, not to mention the bastard Laird McDonald who you did not tell me had attacked you just days ago.”

“Mmm, you did all that for me?” she asked sleepily.

“Aye, I did.”

She smiled against his neck. “I love you. Did I tell you that I strongly considered dying but that I couldn’t stand the thought of never seeing you, even if you were married to another woman?”

He scowled down at her and touched her chin so that she’d look straight into his eyes. “You’ll not