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hope.”
    Panic closed her throat when she considered just long it could take Archie to settle his dispute with the queen. She forced herself to push the thought aside. She must hold out hope.
    At the sound of a knock on the door, she bolted to her feet, sending her needlework tumbling to the floor.
    “My brothers have arrived,” Wedderburn’s deep voice came through the door. “I’ve brought them to meet ye.”
    Her heart raced as she imagined being encircled by half a dozen warriors in Wedderburn’s image. If she did not unbar the door, which had just been repaired, he would only break it down again. At least he had made a pretense of knocking this time.
    After drawing a deep breath, she shoved the bar back and opened the door. She barely had time to step aside before Wedderburn strode into the room.
    His physical presence overwhelmed her. Though he was a young man, perhaps in his mid-twenties, he exuded an air of authority that made him seem even larger than he was. And he was a big man, a foot taller than she was, muscular, and broad-shouldered.
    It was a long moment before she noticed the two others who came into the room behind him. Instead of the dangerous-looking warriors she expected, all she saw was a pair of lads.
    “These are my brothers, Robert and William,” Wedderburn said.
    Neither bore a strong resemblance to him, though the older lad had something of Wedderburn’s fierceness in his eyes and stance. The younger one was still a child and had warm brown eyes.
    “Robbie is fourteen, and Will is ten,” Wedderburn said, pointing at each in turn.
    “Ye look like a fairy queen,” Will said, and gave her an open smile that was hard to resist. “I told Robbie you’d be pretty.”
    Before she could respond, Robbie jabbed an elbow into his side.
    “But she is!” Will said.
    “Enough.” Wedderburn’s voice caused both boys to snap their attention to him.
    Evidently he ruled his young brothers with an iron hand. Alison prayed that if she married him, he would ignore her daughters as their father had.
    If she married him?
    She was startled to realize she had begun to believe it might actually happen. Unless help arrived quickly, she would, indeed, become the fearsome Beast of Wedderburn’s wife.
    Alison could not find her voice to introduce her daughters, who had scrambled to her side and were gawking at the boys. Robbie took a step back, as if the girls’ blatant interest made him uneasy.
    “These wee lassies are Beatrix and Margaret,” Wedderburn said, and gave the girls a smile, not the cold one she had seen before, but a flash of warmth that she could almost swear held a trace of affection.
    Was it possible that this warrior who broke down doors and threatened to dishonor her had a soft spot for her daughters? In that brief moment when the smile reached his eyes, he was not so frightening, and she was able to see that he was a remarkably handsome man.
    When the girls made pretty curtsies, the older boy looked over his shoulder toward the door, evidently wishing to escape.
    “I brought you girls a gift,” the younger boy said as he lifted the leather bag off his shoulder and dropped to one knee.
    Wedderburn cast a questioning look at Robbie, who made a face and shrugged. When Will reached inside the bag, Beatrix and Margaret crowded around him, blocking Alison’s view. A moment later, their squeals and shrieks pierced her ears. Before she could move, Wedderburn had picked up both girls and stood with one dangling from each arm.
    “’Tis only a puppy, David,” the boy said, looking up at Wedderburn. “I promise he won’t hurt them.”
    From this, Alison drew two startling conclusions. Wedderburn must have believed the girls screamed out of fear and acted instinctively to protect them.
    And his name was David. She tried it on her tongue. David . A strong name, but not one that suited a harsh man.
    “Mind your hands,” he commanded the girls. “A pup’s teeth are razor sharp.”
    As soon