She swallowed. "Well, maybe you'd rather I'd accused Ewen of rape?" If only she had made that happy choice. Succeeded, at the very least, in kissing the Wolf.

"Not exactly.Then I'd have had to kill him."

"Kill … ?"

"It's what I said, isn't it?"

"I know. But … it just… " Was precisely what she'd been leading that army here to do. "Look, I just found it difficult, that's all. The thought of him. Of—of me. Of marriage. Of … of having to make this ...