Page 36 of Married to the Ruthless Highlander
Adam huffed out a breath and ran a hand through his hair. “Freya… I need to ken, even if it’s difficult for ye to say—has Doughall… forced ye? Was he forcin’ ye to kiss him?”
Of course ye’d think that. Heaven forbid I should make me own choices.
It seemed that her speech in the courtyard had fallen on mostly deaf ears. Her brother had not listened to a word, and she soon felt her ire rising again, stoking her courage to speak her mind for once.
“The only one forcin’ us is ye, Braither,” she said bluntly. “What ye saw in the courtyard was a performance. Part of thearrangement to keep me safe. But I’ll say it again—if ye hadnae forbidden me from comin’ with ye, I wouldnae be here. I wouldnae be part of any arrangement because I wouldnae have been attacked while tryin’ to follow ye.”
Adam flinched. “That’s unfair, Freya.”
She did not lower her gaze as she usually would, did not fidget and flounder in the face of his authority, but looked the beast of her brother’s obstinacy dead in the eyes. She managed maybe ten silent seconds before a worm of guilt wriggled in her chest.
“Aye… maybe it is,” she replied with a weary sigh. “It’s the circumstances, but… I willnae put all the blame on ye. There, is that what ye wanted? Can I retire now?”
His face contorted. “Whatis this demeanor of yers? It doesnae become ye at all. I dinnae like it, Freya.”
“Too much like the twin ye prefer?” she challenged, losing some of the bite in her voice.
The events of the night had drained her; she no longer had the energy to keep up the performance.
Faint lines creased the corners of Adam’s eyes, and she knew she had wounded him. “I dinnae prefer either of me sisters. I cherish ye both the same—I always have.” His face hardened again. “That’s why I cannae have both of ye hurt or used.”
Well, if ye try to force me hand, ye might have both of us runnin’ from ye.
Her guilt got the better of her, holding her back from saying something that would undoubtedly hit like a punch.
“If Doughall was like James, this would be much easier,” he added with a fleeting grimace.
James Stewart, the Laird of Clan Orkney, was now food for the worms, dealt with and dispatched in order to save Emily, and belatedly restore Laura’s honor. But even with him dead and gone, it had not inspired Laura to return.
Does she ken somethin’ we dinnae?
A cold sensation roiled in Freya’s stomach, remembering Doughall’s uncertainty when they had stopped on the way to MacGordon Castle. She had finally told him that the rider who had fled the scene of the attack had somehow seemed familiar to her. He had suspected that that selfsame James was responsible for that attack.
Freya kept her worries to herself. Jameswasdead; he had to be.
“I’m tired, Braither,” she mumbled. “I just want to go to bed.”
“Aye, maybe that would be for the best,” Adam replied, chewing on his lower lip in thought.
Freya turned to leave, only to twist back around again. She could not afford to make the same mistake twice. This time, he would not be leaving to find Laura without her.
“When do ye depart?” she asked.
Adam swallowed, looking at her without quite meeting her eyes.
Suspicion tiptoed up behind Freya like a living shadow, breathing down her neck, making her feel suddenly too warm despite the draft that snaked through the hallway.
He finally looked her in the eye. “As soon as the weddin’ takes place.”
That shadow wrapped its wispy hands around her throat, squeezing tight. “But?—”
“I willnae be at peace otherwise,” he said in a tone that brooked no argument. “Now, since ye seem so keen to make yer own decisions, I’ll leave it up to ye to decide how long ye’re willin’ to leave our sister out there, alone.”
He left her slack-jawed and horrified in the empty hallway, unable to utter a single word of protest.
14
The music of the feast echoed across the moorland, drifting in and out as if phantoms or spirits were in the midst of an otherworldly gathering. Everyone would be halfway toward drunk by now, if not already there, nobody noticing that the guests of honor were nowhere to be found.
