Page 63 of A Sinful Night with a Scot
“Nay!” Keane gasped, his reaction causing the women to turn back and look at them. He pinned on a smile and hissed under his breath. “I’ll tell ye later, but only if ye swear nae tae repeat it tae me sister.”
A flash of doubt crossed Owen’s face.
Keane looked disappointed. “Och, come on. Dinnae tell me ye have nay secrets from each other.”
Owen smiled proudly and shrugged. “We have naething tae hide.”
Sighing, Keane nodded. “Well, then. Maybe I’ll just keep me own council and stay quiet. Believe me, if she’s mad at me now, she’ll be outraged if she discovers what really happened.”
Owen’s eyes widened. “What did ye dae?” he gasped.
Keane only smiled and shook his head. “Never ye mind.”
For the next hour, the four conversed in the drawing room. At Keane’s prompting, Iseabail and Owen told them of their life in the castle. He had an ulterior motive, of course. While they conversed, he could avoid speaking about the circumstances under which Elsie and he had married.
But Elsie changed all that.
“I wish we could say that we have had the same spate o’ peacefulness, but alas, we cannae. Keane has only just recovered from a serious injury after an attack.”
“What?” Iseabail gasped, staring at Keane. “Why?”
Keane took a deep breath in.I have nay choice now. I’m going tae have tae tell her.
“It’s a long story,” he said, trying to put her off.
“Then start from the beginning,” his sister countered immediately.
Her remark elicited a light chuckle from Owen, who looked at Keane knowingly. But his brother-in-law hardly helped Keane’s plight, for Iseabail then spun her head to look at her husband.
“Dae ye ken, too?” she said, looking more than a little frustrated.
“Absolutely nae,” Owen said, raising his hands in surrender. “He wouldnae tell me, me love. I swear.”
“Coward,” Keane said, a light smirk dancing on his lips.
“Nay braither,” Owen came back. “It’s called survival. When we leave, I have tae live with this woman.”
Iseabail’s annoyance grew as the two men bantered.
“Will someone tell me what the devil has happened?” she snapped.
“Keane saved me from a terrible fate,” Elsie said, surprising everyone.
Iseabail then turned to Elsie, her expression far softer than a second ago.
Seeing Iseabail’s attention, Elsie continued. “I was being forced tae marry Laird Gunn and?—”
But at the mention of the laird’s name, Iseabail spun her head and gasped at Keane. “The laird who?—”
“Aye,” he said. He then nodded toward Elsie. “But let her tell ye the whole story given ye are so eager tae hear it.”
“O’ course,” Iseabail said, turning back to his wife. “I’m sorry. Please continue.”
Elsie did continue, and just like that day in the tavern, she lied through her teeth. In fact, she romanticized the entire ordeal as though Keane had done her a favor. While he listened, his mind wandered back to the letter she had received that morning. Her father’s biting words leaped into his mind and then a thought occurred to him. Perhaps, under the circumstances, that was exactly the way Elsie saw it.
Maybe. But nae at first.
No, definitely not at first. But she’d had a lot of time to think about the situation since. Besides, she had made her choice clear that day of the attack.
