Page 25 of Claimed By the Heartless Highlander
Duncan gave her a look she couldn’t decipher, then stepped around to the front of the table and cleared his throat. Ailis moved to stand beside him.
“Councilmen, kinfolk, and clanfolk, I wish to present to ye Lady Ailis Anderson, the eldest daughter of Laird Clyde, and me betrothed as of two days prior. I ask that ye give her all the courtesy and make her feel at home.”
Whispers erupted. Ailis gave her betrothed a sweet smile, bobbed a curtsy to the councilmen who had come to the meal, and then went back to her seat.
Jack smiled. “Now that it’s official, let me be first to welcome ye to Castle Muir. I hope ye had a fair journey?”
“’Twas a wee bit perilous in places, but the lands between our clans are fairly beautiful. I’m lookin’ forward to seein’ more of them when I visit me friend, in a few days.”
“Who is it ye’re plannin’ to visit?”
The curt question made her look up, only to see Duncan watching her with a sharp gaze.
“Och, ye ken which one, Me Laird. The ‘Beastly’ Laird MacDean. I spoke to ye about his wife on our journey here, if ye recall.”
* * *
Duncan watched, unable to respond, as Ailis turned back to his brother and continued speaking to him, utterly ignoring the fact that he was Laird and her betrothed.
Her whole manner this morning was both baffling and irritating. From her first greeting to the way she’d answered his question, then turned back to his brother, as if he was of no consequence.
Even worse, every time she spoke to him, her voice was soft, polite, and utterly unlike the woman he’d come to know over the past few days. All her emotions were hidden behind a veneer of the perfect, demure young lady and eldest daughter of a laird.
Worse, she was acting like the lass she’d accused him of truly wanting for a wife, and he was finding it utterly unsatisfactory. The behavior itched and niggled at his mind, in rather the same way his healing arm had stung while he was cleaning and rebandaging it that morning.
She laughed softly at something Jack said to her, and something hot and dark sparked to life inside him, a sort of anger that made him long to demand her attention and glare at Jack until his brother took his breakfast elsewhere.
But he couldn’t do that. He’d promised her he would demand nothing from her. He couldn’t even protest her decision to visit her friend.
He tried to remind himself that there was no danger in her going to visit Clan MacDean. After all, it was a clan that shared a border with his lands, and he’d heard only good things about the young Laird MacDean, especially since the man had married a young lady from another clan.
Besides, Keith O’Neill was reputed to be a fierce warrior, and if Ailis was his wife’s friend and under his care, Duncan had no doubt the man would defend her with all the skill he had, and all the ferocity that had earned him the nickname “the Beastly Laird.”
He took a deep breath and forced himself to focus on what Lily was telling him—something about the stables.
“… and then Micah came and got me, and Blaze was all pantin’ and huffin’. And then she had puppies! Five of them. Micah said she had to recover but that I could come to see them today. Can I, Faither?”
He was interrupted by a delighted, girlish noise from Ailis. “Puppies. Och, I love puppies. It would be wonderful to go see them.” She noticed him watching her, and her expression turned neutral again “That is, if the Laird doesnae have other plans for the day.”
He had several things he needed to do, but at that moment, all he wanted to do was shake her out of that mask of false politeness. If it meant taking time to take his daughter and his betrothed to the stables to look at the newest litter of hunting hounds—well, he enjoyed spending time with Lily, so he was more than willing to set aside the paperwork for a little while longer.
He finished his breakfast, waited until Ailis and Lily had finished theirs, and then rose from the table. “Come on, then.”
Lily got up obediently and followed after him. Ailis remained where she was.
Duncan arched an eyebrow in her direction. “Ye wanted to see the puppies, aye? Ye’d do well to follow me then, for I’m goin’ to check on them now.”
Lily was bouncing beside him. “Come on, Ailis!”
Even with his daughter’s encouragement, Ailis looked at his brother and didn’t rise until Jack nodded encouragingly at her. Duncan fought the urge to snarl at both of them.Hewas the Laird of Clan Muir. Andhewas her betrothed. There was no reason for her to look to his brother for permission.
He swallowed the hot surge of irrational anger that threatened to set him aflame.
Ailis was smiling as she joined them, and Lily took her hand. “What’s yer favorite type of puppy, Ailis?”
“Och, I dinnae ken that I have a favorite. They’re all so very small and cute, are they nae? Until they grow up to be adult dogs—usually big, slobbering hounds.” Ailis laughed.
Lily giggled as well as the two of them followed him out into the courtyard and to the back of the stables, where the kennels were kept.
