“I can’t—” He shook his head. He couldn’t explain that he simply could not go there again, to go back to being happy. What if he did? What if he allowed himself to and then he did something stupid once more and Deirdre lost her life this time?
“Stop inserting yourselves where you don’t belong,” he finished. “It’s not going to happen. Deirdre and I are never going to happen. She doesn’t want it to, either. So quit it.” After a long pause, everyone nodded, and satisfied that he’d made his point, he left them all standing there and made his way back to the circle.
Dermot quirked an eyebrow at him. “Do ye wish to train with Fearghas? He’s an—”
“Yeah,” Reikart said, taking the sword Dermot handed him. Fearghas was perfect. The frustration inside Reikart made him feel as if he were going to explode. He stepped into the middle of the circle, coming face-to-face with Fearghas and touching his sword edge to signal the beginning of the bout.
“I’ll be the one on top of Deirdre next…and last,” Fearghas said with a wink.
The tension inside Reikart detonated. He threw down his sword as he shot his leg up between him and Fearghas and into the man’s hand, dislodging Fearghas’s weapon. It fell to the ground beside them. Reikart kicked it well out of the way before sending a series of satisfying punches into Fearghas’s face, his throat, and his stomach. When the man doubled over, Reikart grabbed him by the back of his head and jerked his face up so they were eye to eye. Blood roared in Reikart’s ears with his anger.
“That’s just a preview of what I’ll do to you if you so much as look at Deirdre.”
With that, he flung the man down to the ground, stalked out of the circle past his silent family and toward the lake. He needed to cool off. Deirdre had awoken something in him, and if he wasn’t careful, they’d both get burned.
“No more interfering,” Rhys said, watching Reikart stomp away and disappear out of the courtyard. How the hell he’d allowed himself to get talked into tinkering in his brother’s personal life baffled him. He knew better. This was exactly the kind of crap that would have pissed him off to no end when he was single.
“We don’t need to meddle anymore,” his mom said. He glanced at her and found her, Maggie, and Grace smiling. He gave his mom a quizzical look, and she patted his shoulder. “It’s happening without our help.”
He felt his frown deepen. “Did you just hear Reikart?”
His mom nodded. “Yes, but you men don’t truly listen sometimes. He’s crying out for help.”
“Aye,” Maggie agreed with a nod. “He’s desperate.”
Rhys exhaled. “I admit he seemed desperate…for usto stop.”
“Aye,” his aunt said, “but if she did nae tempt him to madness, he would nae be desperate. It would nae matter what we did.”
Rhys smiled then. “Good point, Aunt Grace. He’s so angry because she’s under his skin.” He glanced at Maggie and winked, remembering well how it felt when he had fallen for Mags. “So we leave them to it now, though, agreed?” He’d feel better if he got their promise. “We can speak our minds to them, but no intruding anymore.”
“We don’t need to,” his mom repeated, a satisfied smile pulling her lips up. “Did you see the way he beat Fearghas?”
Rhys nodded. “I saw it.”
“He’s protecting her,” Maggie said, grabbing Rhys’s hand and squeezing it.
Rhys nodded. “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean he’ll let down his guard.”
All three women looked at him as if he were a simpleton. “I ran a billion-dollar company in my time, you know,” he said, scowling at his wife.
Maggie gave him an indulgent look in return. “I know, but if he’s trying to protect her—”
“Then he already cares,” his mom finished. “His guard is already lowered. He just doesn’t understand it. And in time, she’ll become so important to him that he has to either forgive himself or risk losing her.”
“Let’s not forget, ladies, that she needs to fall for him, too,” Rhys said.
“How could she not fall for him?” his mom asked, sounding offended. “He’s perfect. All of my boys are.”
“He’s a disaster presently,” Rhys said. “A perfect disaster,” he added for his mom’s sake. “Besides, Dermot says Alastair should be back by the end of the week with news of Algien, so they don’t have long before they’re in the fire.”
“I’d rather they not have to go to Court, into danger, but maybe that’s what will bring them together.”
“And get us the cross to go home,” Rhys said. “Or at least send you home. I’m with Reik: I can’t go back not knowing if Ian is here or not. I won’t leave him, and if he’s still in our time, you can come back with the cross and we will return to the twenty-first century together.”
“You and your brother are too stubborn,” his mom said.
Rhys winked at his mom. “We got that from you.”
