Page 48 of Highland Crown
“Did Lachlan see you as a threat in some way to his position as laird?” she asked. She wasn’t familiar at all with clan society or rules of inheritance.
“I was only nine. I was no threat to anyone.”
Isabella’s fists clenched involuntarily as the anger in her flared at the injustice done to that boy. She took a breath to calm herself. “Did Searc raise you then?”
“Nay. I lived with him over the fall and winter of that year, and in the late spring, he signed me on to a merchant schooner going to Halifax. I worked as a ship’s boy.”
“Did you have family there?”
“None,” he told her. “But it was time for me to learn a trade and become a man.”
Searc was no better than the uncle. And what was the purpose of family if they didn’t take care of their own?
Cinaed had to sense her frustration as he pushed a strand of hair gently out of her face and looked into her eyes. “I don’t care to talk about my past anymore. I made myself the man I am today and am obliged to no one.”
Isabella’s heart still stung for the boy who’d had to grow up too fast.
“What I left, however, better be here still.”
She watched the slow and deliberate movement as he slid open the top of the box. Inside, a woman’s embroidered handkerchief lay neatly folded. He felt for whatever it was hidden within it.
“This is all I have left of what belonged to my mother.”
If she’d been hurting for him before, the feeling became ten times worse now. At the same time, she thought of her own life and what little she had left of it. What she wore and traveled with were all she possessed.
He unfolded the handkerchief. A silver ring lay at the center. He held it up for her.
The ring was elegant and demonstrated the work of a master craftsman. Within a delicately wrought heart, two leaves surrounded a thistle in bloom. At the top of the heart rested a crown.
“It’s beautiful,” she whispered. “Breathtaking.”
“My mother wore it on a chain around her neck and gave it to me on her deathbed. She told me it had been a gift from my father.”
“A thistle and a crown.”
“That’s the reason I named my shipHighland Crown. I hoped it would be a fitting tribute, though I knew butlittle about him.” His thumb ran across the emblem. “He was a seafarer like me.”
There was so much that she wanted to say to comfort him, but words failed her. She began to understand Searc’s defense of him now. No matter how short the time he’d sheltered Cinaed, there seemed to be a protectiveness that still ran in the man’s veins.
He took her hand and spread her fingers across the palm of his hand. A tingling sensation raced through Isabella’s body. She stared at the contrast of her pale skin against his darker hue. She was still wearing her wedding ring.
“Would you mind wearing this, instead?”
Emotions churned inside of her. She was no fool. She understood what was behind the offer, just as she’d known why he’d kissed her in front of Searc that first night.
“I promise to give it back to you the day we leave here.”
She pulled off her wedding ring and tucked it into the pocket of her dress. As she reached for his mother’s ring, he took her hand.
“Searc knows I left the box in this chamber. And I warned him that I’d kill him if it went missing. He knew this ring was intended for my wife.”
He tried to slip the ring onto her finger, but it got stuck at the knuckle.
“I guess it was not meant to be.”
“Give me a moment.” His eyes danced with mischief as he brought her hand to his lips.
Isabella let out a gasp when his mouth unexpectedly closed around her fourth finger. His lips and tonguelaved her skin. Warmth and excitement pooled in her belly and moved lower. She didn’t even realize she was holding her breath until he ended the delicious torment and slipped the ring on her finger. The fit was snug but perfect.
