Forgiving Hearts: Duncurra 1-3 Read Online Free PDF

when all other forms of manipulation had failed. His stepmother’s tears had stopped having any effect on him years ago. He realized then that he had never seen a woman cry genuine tears of sorrow and pain. His heart began to ache for her, for everything she had suffered, and for the first time in his adult life he felt completely helpless. He knelt beside her, taking her gently in his arms so as not to cause her further pain, and pulled her onto his lap, holding her while she cried. “Wheesht, lass,” he crooned, kissing her head while rocking her gently. Eventually she stopped crying, giving in to her exhaustion. She fell asleep in his arms, but for reasons he didn’t fully understand, he continued to hold her.
    He thought about what had just happened. Walking away from the loch, he had nursed a hot rage. As Tomas told his story, images of Katherine throughout the day flashed through Niall’s mind: her white knuckles, her tenseness in the saddle, an occasional wince, the drawn expression on her face when they had finally stopped—all things he had blamed on her weakness. He had unwittingly added to her pain throughout the day by the brutal pace he set. As he headed back to the camp to confront her, he hadn’t known who angered him most: himself, her insane uncle, or Katherine, for not telling him about her injuries from the start. If she had only told him, he began to rationalize to himself…but he knew better. The signs were there and he had simply failed to heed them.
    He wanted to kill Ambrose Ruthven. Only a man who was completely without honor abused women or children. Niall now understood why Ruthven suggested that they wait to consummate the marriage. The bastard was worried about how I might react when I learned of his abuse, and wanted to make sure that didn’t happen until I was too far away to do anything about it .
    His guilt made him angry at himself, and his sense of honor fueled his rage for Ruthven, but why had he been angry with Katherine as well? Because she didn’t give me the opportunity to murder the abhorrent bastard. Then the last words she said before collapsing into tears penetrated his thick head. You would have been killed . Shaking his head slightly, he realized Katherine had been worried about him . She sought to protect him by not revealing her injuries. When he heard the priest tell her, you are one of the few who always considers the needs of others before your own, he hadn’t believed it, couldn’t believe it.
    Maybe she is different, he thought. The surest way to open yourself to hurt is to love, and yet you love anyway, the old man had said. Niall knew risking that kind of pain took a strength he didn’t have. Maybe the fragile lass, who clung to him in her sleep, did.
    ~ * ~
    When her tears stopped, Katherine became aware he was holding her. With his arms snugly around her, she felt secure. I’m safe, she thought, as she drifted asleep.
    ~ * ~
    After bathing Tomas, Fingal wrapped him in a plaid and washed his dirty tunic. The boy looked up at him seriously and said, “I have never heard my lady yell like that.”
    “That doesn’t surprise me.”
    After a moment Tomas said “It would have made Sir Ruthven mad. Will it make the laird mad?”
    Fingal knew Niall would have flattened any man who dared to speak to him that way, but he would never hurt a woman intentionally. He said, “Tomas, there is no need to worry about Lady Katherine. Our laird takes care of his own.”
    “Am I ‘his own’ now, too?” Tomas asked.
    “Aye, Tomas, ye are,” Fingal answered.
    The boy seemed relieved. He turned onto his side, curled into a ball and went to sleep.

Chapter 3
    When the men returned from the lake, Niall eased the sleeping Katherine onto the ground and wrapped the plaid around her. Rising, he told Diarmad they’d have to set an easier pace.
    “I thought as much,” Diarmad replied.
    Niall shook his head. “The problem is, we carry a small fortune, and half of Edinburgh