Page 96 of An Enchanted Spring

“Why would he do that? He seems completely logical and level-headed. Ow!”

Sinead barked something at her.

“She said to stop fidgeting,” Bri translated.

“I barely moved!” Emma complained.

“Breathing constitutes fidgeting,” Bri replied apologetically. “So, there’s more. No—don’t respond. Just try to be completely still. Last night, at dinner, Aidan made you a vow, did he not?”

“He didn’t say thewordvow…”

Bri snorted. “I like how you’re trying to twist this one, Em, really. But you know, and I know, he made a vow that when he bested Reilly, he was going to marry you. Here.” She glanced at Emma nervously. “Now.”

“Now,” Emma echoed, realization dawning. “Wait, now, as in,now, now?”

“Yes.Now, now.”

“No!”

“Yes.”

“I’m being measured for a wedding dress?” Emma asked incredulously as the girls each held up a bolt of fabric for her.

“Pick a color?” Bri responded hesitantly.

“I have to sit down,” Emma said, stepping down from the stool.

“Not until you pick a color,” Brianagh said, againapologetically, as Sinead chased Emma back onto the stool with the needle. “She’s all business, all the time. For what it’s worth, I think the gold would look stunning with your hair and eyes. Wedding dresses need not be clan colors.”

Exasperated, Emma frowned. “This is ridiculous. I can’t marry him. I can’t!” She paled. “Does this mean I’m stuck here, in the past?”

Bri said something in Gaelic to Sinead, who immediately began barking orders to the girls.

“I don’t know,” Bri admitted, then added softly, “but if you are, believe me, there are worse fates than being Aidan’s wife.”

Emma put her head in her hands. “My choices aren’t that great,” she said, her voice muffled. “Marry a man who doesn’t love me, be kidnapped by one who can’t understand me, or face one who wants to kill me.”

Sinead patted her shoulder. Emma smiled at her gratefully, then realized the woman was trying to get her off the stool.

All business. Right.

She got down, and a thought occurred to her. “Bri, if I marry Aidan here, but then can go back, am I still married to him?”

“That’s dicey,” Bri replied slowly. “If you are sent back without him…well, who would know, right? And the vows do say ‘until death do you part.’ And, technically, he’d be long dead.”

Emma’s heart constricted at that reality. “Oh, God.”

“But if you were to both stay, then you’d be married for life. If you both leave, well…I suppose that’s up to you, how to handle it. You’d have no proof that anything happened here.” Brianagh clasped Emma’s hands. “I’m so sorry this is being thrust upon you. But, if I were in your shoes—and trust me, I’ve been almost exactly where you are now—I would believe in Aidan. He wouldn’t play with your heart. He knows what I just told you, and my guess is that he’s protecting you in all possible ways.”

“Him and his damn protection,” she grumbled. “And how can you be sure? Because I’ve been pretty confused since the moment I met him. One side seems so confident, and trustworthy. But there’s this other side. A darker side, one that I can feel.”

“The jealousy?”

“No, not that, though I do hope he’s serious in stopping that nonsense. The uncivilized side.”

Bri squeezed her hands. “I can’t say for sure, but I suspect that’s his medieval warrior self sparring with his modern self—I would think they’d tend to be at odds more often than not.”

Sinead inserted herself between the two women, placed a tape around Emma’s chest, then grunted and gave a nod.

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