Page 56 of Married to the Icy Highlander
If the truth came out about Jeanie, what would happen then? She would be ruined, her reputation irreparably tarnished. Her title could be revoked, or worse…
Something sparked within him, building higher until his movements were reckless and no longer controlled, but he regained the upper hand. Ersie gritted her teeth and tried to keep up with him as best as she could, but he disarmed her, and their match was drawn.
He held out a hand to help her up from the ground.
“I let ye win because ye’re a laird, ye ken?”
Neil grinned at her jest and nodded, breathing heavily. “And I thank ye for it. I’ve lost enough face in front of me men as it is.”
An understanding passed between them at that moment.
Ersie fell into step with him, the two of them speaking in low voices so nobody else could hear them.
“Something about yer fightin’ style changed back there. Are ye sure ye dinnae want to talk about it?” Ersie offered a final time.
Neil knew that if he rejected her offer this time, she would drop it and that would be that.
He sighed. He supposed that it would be impossible to talk to his friend about this when he was perhaps the cause of his problems in the first place.
“Does this have something to do with the commotion yesterday?” Ersie probed gently.
Neil nodded once. They found somewhere private to sit and share a waterskin while catching their breath. “I dinnae ken what to make of it. Why would the men… Why wouldhecause trouble?”
To his mind, if Arthur was going to suddenly turn his back on him, he wouldn’t have waited for eight years before making his move.
“Is there perhaps a grain of truth in what they said?” Ersie asked without judgment.
Neil could see why Ceana was so fond of her. She was certainly easy enough to talk to. But he just couldn’t bring himself to say the words. He hung his head.
On her deathbed, the very last thing that Jessica had told him was that Jeanie wasn’t his. She had confessed to betraying him and forced him to live with the secret.
But it hadn’t ever mattered to him, not in that way. Jeanie was his.
The rift that grew between them had nothing to do with blood, but simply because they had so very little in common. He had never been good with children, but he kept trying over and over again, hoping that it would click for the pair of them at some point. But if the truth went out, her real father could demand to not only see her but also play a part in her life. Neil was a laird—he could stop anyone from taking her. But the rest…
“All this time?” Ersie continued, still without any hint of reproach. “Do ye ken who he is?”
Neil nodded. “Now, I do.”
The answer had been right in front of him the whole time—he just hadn’t wanted to see it.
He had been so willfully blind.
He rubbed his hands up and down his face before continuing. “I always suspected him—he’s a ladies’ man, and we were all friends. I just hoped… Well, it doesnae matter what I hoped. And Ceana… I hurt her too.”
Ersie nodded, passing him the waterskin. “Aye, ye need to talk to yer wife. She’s good for yeandyer daughter.”
She had a point. He couldn’t even deny that. They might even be together right at this very moment. He had never seen Jeanie so happy as when she was looking up to Ceana. She certainly had never wanted to spend time with him before Ceana had come along. That meant something to him.
Never mind the way he felt about his wife… the way it felt to have her in his arms.
Many conversations were needed, there was no denying that.
“I’ll tell Ceana everything.”
No matter how hard it was going to be.
“That would be wise. She’s a good woman, and she deserves to ken what’s happenin’ under her roof. She’s strong, and ye shouldnae betray her trust,” Ersie chastised him.
