“The idea of leaving her behind is no’ sitting well with the men. Both MacMungan brothers said they’d take her to wed right now, and more are on their way. Even Liam said he’d take her if we’re just going to throw her away.”
Court’s answer was a cruel laugh. Annalía, being so unusual and vivid, would wither like fruit on the vine among the dour MacMungan clan. Liam could never control her. “The only reason they’d be infatuated is because they’ve never encountered anything like her before.” He couldn’t fault them for freeing her for a morning even as his ire grew just thinking about it. He was responsible for this—he’d brought a delicate foreign beauty among a band of coarse Highlanders. “I wonder if they ever considered her unbounded hatred of Scots?”
“Aye, she mistrusts us, and finds our ways strange, but her prejudice amuses the men. They know she’s no’ a spiteful lass, she just does no’ know better. Hell, when they asked to touch her hand, she even shyly allowed it.”
That made him gnash his teeth. “And how’d you find it, Niall?”
He hesitated. “Softer than I could conceive,” he finally said. “But that’s no’ what’s important. You ken she’s never been treated like this, and if you’d be a wee bit more gentle in your dealings with her, she might no’ be so quick to believe the things she’s heard.”
“Gentle? She was no’ gentle when she bashed my head yesterday.”
“She was afraid,” he said, waving it away. “A woman like that needs to be cosseted, which she’s no’ been. I saw her face.”
Court exhaled, then reluctantly admitted, “I doona want to be so with her.” But everything about her made him crazed. Her feminine mannerisms, her accent, even the way she blushed all combined to drive him mad. In a low tone, he said, “I want to be different with her, but…I canna seem to.”
“Then why do you no’ just ride ahead to Toulouse? We can meet you at the posting house.”
That thought infuriated him. “No.”
“Why, Court?”
“Because I’m no’ ready to be done with her yet.”
“Christ, you can be a selfish bloody bastard. Sometimes I feel I doona even know you anymore.”
“Of course, I can be. I’m still a mercenary and a killer. Hell, I’d sell my own sister. Is that no’ what they say in the clan?”
“They say that because you will no’ return—”
“I’ll return when I’ve paid off my land—which I canna do now short of riding for Otto.” At Niall’s raised eyebrows, Court added, “Everyone needs that pay. I need that pay.”
Niall gave him a disappointed look. “Life is not all about money. I thought you realized that when we broke from him.”
“What is it about, Niall?” he snapped. Inside, two men glanced up from arm wrestling. Court lowered his voice. “If I canna have a woman and family of my own, and if I lose the land I’ve worked bloody hard for, then what exactly is my life about?”
“I doona know. You’ll have to figure that out for yourself. But I do know it’s no’ about staying near a young woman until you destroy her life.”
“You’re that sure I’d destroy it?”
“Ethan did with his woman.”
Years ago, Ethan had gotten engaged to Sarah, a girl he hardly knew from the neighboring MacKinnon clan. Her family had been eager, even after hearing of the curse, and Ethan’s title demanded an heir, so he’d agreed. Sarah died at the age of nineteen, she died the night before the wedding, and no one knew how. “I’m no’ Ethan, and I doona intend to get engaged to the chit!”
“And what about your da?”
Court swung around to face Niall, brows drawn, feeling as though he’d been punched. “I…We dinna mean…” He trailed off. What to say? That he and his brothers hadn’t been responsible for their father’s death? “You would remind me of that?”
“I’m sorry I needed to, Court.” Niall put a hand on his shoulder before turning for the door. “You’ve much to consider.”
To consider? Court would no more want to purposely revisit the morning his father had died than he would desire to truly contemplate his future. But hadn’t he been doing both in the last few days? Since he’d met Annalía, he’d thought more about what he was missing than he had in the previous decade.
He started for her room, not knowing what he would say to her, not caring if she insulted him, but just wanting…something. He unlocked the door, then eased it open.