Redemption (Book Two of the Shipwrecked Series) by Jenna Stone

minutes, fighting to sear this image into her memory. 
She wanted to remember Quinn and Mairi just like this.  She wanted to remember
him this way in case she didn’t get to keep him.

Chapter Six
     
    Quinn awoke before
dawn and had to peel Sarah away from his chest before he could crawl out of
bed.  He had taken to sleeping beside her and had found that his presence
calmed her nightmares.  He smiled as he carefully unwrapped her arms from his
chest and settled the quilts about her.  The woman slept like a log.
    He pressed his
lips to her forehead and watched as her lips curled in the slightest hint of a
smile.  Damn, how she affected him.  He loved that she responded so easily to
his touch, even when she was fast asleep.
    He padded across
the floor and put a log on the fire, not wanting his girls to get cold while
they slept.  He sat before the hearth and laced up his boots, then buttoned his
heavy winter coat.  Winter was upon them and it would be cold this morning.
    Ever so quietly,
he walked over and knelt before Mairi’s wooden crate that sat next to the bed. 
He stroked her cheek with his index finger.
    “Take care of yer
mam today, princess,” he whispered.  He touched his index finger to his lips,
kissed it and then touched his finger to Mairi’s tiny nose.
    He bent down and
kissed Sarah’s cheek before he left, inhaling her sweet scent as she slept. 
    What am I going
tae do with ye, woman?  How have ye done this tae me in such a short time?
    He shook his head
and stepped out into the cold November morning.  His girls would need meat to
get them through the winter and if there was one thing that Quinn Murray was
good at, it was hunting.
     
    ..ooOoo..
     
    Sarah awoke to the
welcome surprise of sunshine peering through the windows of the small cabin. 
It had been days since the sun had peeked through the autumn clouds and seeing
the glow of sunlight cast on the wall of the cabin lifted Sarah’s spirits
considerably.  She stretched languidly and noticed the dull aching sensation in
her breasts.  Mairi hadn’t awoken to nurse last night.  She would be hungry.
    Sarah leaned over
from her cocoon of quilts and looked down at Mairi’s wooden crate next to the
bed.  It was empty.
    Her eyebrows knitted
together momentarily and then she cast her worried thoughts aside.  Quinn or
Malcolm must have her.  They fought over her like children with a new toy.  She
had been surprised by how great the Murray brothers were with Mairi.  Or at
least how great Quinn and Malcolm were with her.  Rowan was another story.  He
was still working up his courage when it came to Mairi.
    Sarah dressed
quickly and ran a comb through her hair.  They had probably taken Mairi up to
Rowan and Anna’s.  Sometimes they had breakfast there together.  Anna had been
in the mood to cook lately.  Anna’s rapidly growing belly had come with a
growing appetite and she loved to feed her Murray boys.
    Smiling as the
sunlight warmed her skin, Sarah walked up the hill to the big house.  She knocked
on the door twice and was greeted with a cheerful “Come in,” from Anna.
    “Good morning,”
Sarah said cheerily as she walked into the cabin and closed the door behind
her.
    Rowan, Anna and
Malcolm sat around the kitchen table.  Malcolm patted the seat next to him,
motioning that she should sit down.
    “Where’s Quinn?”
Sarah asked, suddenly alarmed.
    Malcolm swallowed
his mouthful of food.  “He went hunting.  Left early this morning.”
    “Did you bring
Mairi up here?” Sarah asked Malcolm, her heart racing now.
    “Nay.  She was
still sleeping in her box when I got up this morning,” Malcolm said, concern
overtaking his face.
    Sarah bolted out
the door and ran as fast as her feet would carry her back to Quinn’s cabin. 
She threw open the door and dug frantically through Mairi’s box next to the
bed.  It was empty.  She screamed now, a dull, agonizing wail.  Mairi was gone.
    Sarah’s worst fear
had just