Page 111 of Bride of Ice
He continued to hold her, smoothing her hair and absorbing her sobs, until they subsided and all that remained were hitching sniffles.
She stepped away then to gather her wits and wipe away her tears. Her eyes were raw. Her nose was red. Her cheeks were flushed. And yet she was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. It tore at his heart to see his magnificent warrior lass so distraught.
She looked him in the eyes and tried to speak. But even that small connecting glance made her chin start quivering again. Biting her lip, she turned away, toward the window.
“I want you to know,” she said, “I…care for you.”
“I care for ye as well, lass.” But a shiver of doubt went up his spine at her words. Caring for him wasn’t what had made her weep.
“I willalwayscare for you,” she said.
His heart stilled. Here it came. “But?”
“But…” She forced herself to face him. “We’ve both sworn to do what’s best for clan and country, aye?”
“Aye.” It was what they’d discussed last night. How their marriage would unite their people and strengthen Scotland against the English.
“Creagor…Creagor has been awarded to Rivenloch.”
He blinked in astonishment. He’d been so certain the king would respect tradition and the passing of property from father to son. But perhaps the new king was more malleable than the last.
“I see.” He let out a sigh, but it was hard to be angry about the decision, not when it was what Hallie had wanted all along. “Well, I suppose congratulations are in order.” Still, he couldn’t help but feel a wee bit bitter on Morgan’s behalf. “Your parents must wield great influence indeed.”
Morgan would be disappointed by the decision. Not for his own sake. But for the sake of his clan, who had made the long journey to the Lowlands for naught and would now have to return in defeat.
But Colban also felt sorry for Morgan as a friend. Life had been particularly cruel to him of late. This would be yet another tragedy for him to bear.
Hallie, however, seemed to be as upset about the outcome as he was. Why should she be upset when she’d gotten what she wanted?
Was it possible she didn’t understand his promise? Did she fear he might return to the Highlands with his clan?
“I gave ye my word, Hallie,” he assured her. “I said I’d wed ye, and I meant it. Even if the mac Girics are no longer welcome here, I intend to do what’s right by ye. I promise.”
That only made tears well again in her eyes. “I know,” she choked out. “But you should know that winning Creagor for Jenefer came at a cost.”
“A cost?”
Her face had grown as pale and still as a chalk cliff. Her quiet manner chilled him to the bone.
“The king has arranged a marriage for me.”
The world stood suddenly still.
As still as her face.
Colban felt frozen in time, unable to move. Or speak. Or breathe.
His thoughts, however, careened onward, racing through incomprehension and disbelief. He was unable to grasp the impossibility of her words. Unwilling to accept what she’d just told him.
“Nay,” he decided. “’Tisn’t possible.”
“’Tis.”
“But we’ve made our vows. Bloody hell, we’ve already—” He broke off, letting his eyes finish the sentence with a look of longing that swept from the top of her sun-kissed hair to her velvet-slippered toes.
“We mustn’t speak of that,” she said, panic flaring in her eyes.
Of course he wouldn’t speak of it. He was hurt that she could believe he would.
