Page 48 of A Sinful Night with a Scot
Keane then put forward a proposal of smaller payments. It was clear the inn-keeper wanted to pay. He just needed more time. Once they came to an agreement, relief seep from the man’s shoulders, and John’s nervousness left him.
Having dealt with the reason for being there, John began talking about his children. Keane was listening intently when a conversation across the room caught his attention.
“It was a dreadful thing that happened,” a lass was saying, “fer he snatched ye right out o’ a church.”
“Aye,” another added. “Ye must have been terrified.”
While Keane pretended to listen to John, his attention was now on the conversation behind him. Word had got out about what had happened, and clearly, his people were not at all pleased. At hearing their disgust, a dread fixed itself in his stomach. But then, he heard something that took him by complete surprise.
“Nay, nay,” Elsie said. “That’s nae what happened at all. In fact.” He heard her hesitate for the slightest second. “In fact, the laird saved me.”
Well, I’ll be damned.
“Saved ye?” the first woman said. “By snatching ye from yer own wedding?”
“I was being forced tae marry that man,” Elsie said, her voice now gaining more confidence. “He’s an evil one, so, ye see, Laird Mackay actually saved me. And then… and then, we decided we would marry fer me protection,” Elsie finished.
“Just like that?” the second woman said, clearly struggling to believe Elsie’s story.
There were now murmurs from others who had joined in on the conversation. Elsie was trying to defend him by herself. He had to do something.
Excusing himself from the discussion with John, he stood from the chair and crossed the room. The villagers looked a little surprised when he lowered himself beside Elsie.
“Me laird,” one of them said a little breathlessly.
At first, their surprise confused him. But then, he realized he must have been hidden from view while sitting with John.
“Ye have heard stories, I see,” he said, leaning back and gazing at them, one after the other.
“Well, aye,” a woman said a little tersely, clearly more outspoken than the others. “There are stories being told about?—”
“Ye snatching me from the altar,” Elsie cut in, a broad smile dancing on her lips as she looked up at him. Her sparkling eyes made his stomach lurch, and he couldn’t help but smile back at her. “I was just about tae tell them how ye swept me off me feet.” Elsie then turned back to the gathered group. “I mean, literally,” she beamed, “fer he ran down that aisle and threw me over his shoulder.”
A collective gasp came from the villagers, followed by gaping mouths.
“It was all very romantic,” Elsie continued, lying through her teeth. “We went on a midnight ride across the glens, and… and…”
“We stopped fer the night in that wonderful tavern,” Keane jumped in, seeing her struggling.
“Och, aye,” Elsie nodded, “with the beautiful fireplace, and candles dancing all around us.”
“And when I asked her tae marry me…” Keane said. The villagers all leaned forward in eager anticipation of what he was going tosay next. “I took her tae a bubbling creek, and we sat under a cherry blossom tree.”
“Och, that is lovely,” a lass breathed, eliciting nods and agreements from the others. “I wish me husband would have done the same fer me. He just grabbed me hand at the bar one night and said, ‘Well, let’s get this over with.’”
Keane, Elsie and Alisdair joined everyone else as they fell into peals of laughter at the woman’s recollection. But as more women tried to outdo her with their own stories, Keane gazed down at Elsie. Sensing his attention, she looked up at him.
“Thank ye,” he said, low enough so no other could hear him. “Ye didnae have tae dae that.”
And she didn’t. In fact, he was still reeling from the fact that she had. After everything he had said and done, the lass beside him had still chosen to defend him.
“Ye would have done the same fer me,” she replied.
Her words surprised him. Partly because he wondered if he would. Partly because according to her expression, she seemed to believe it.
And then, his next words left his mouth before he could stop them. “I dinnae deserve ye.”
For a long second, Elsie looked as surprised as he felt. Her eyes searched his face, no doubt wondering why he had said such a thing. She wasn’t on her own.
