AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Drostan’s attention alternated between them approving the tender epithet.
“With winter upon us, we should settle it for spring.” Taran suggested.
“You are right.” Drostan answered. “Many chieftains live in far places.” Which meant they would not be able to travel with the snow.
The atmosphere cleared and everyone felt more relaxed, including Aileen, who wore a stunned expression on her.
Not long ago, Wallace named Drostan the Chief, delegating the leadership to his eldest. Ewan having appeared might have had something to do with it.
Though Fingal and Lachlan would remotely inherit the clan’s chief position, they got also called lairds, for being directly connected with Drostan. Their father had made sure the clan saw them as such.
~.~.~
The McKendricks departed the following morning as the weather did not look good enough for a longer stay. Also, Drostan had a clan to lead which made him too busy for leisure trips.
Taran sat in his study, having bid his brothers-in-law farewell not five minutes earlier. Certainty he had done the right thing calmed him. The last person he wanted to suffer with his mistake was Aileen. Naturally, nobody would expect a clan chief to apologise, especially in public. Many would deem it humiliating. Not Taran. He had been in the wrong, he saw, nothing more sensible than do the right thing.
More than that, Taran did the impossible for this alliance, including marrying the lass. It should only be coherent he strived to keep it. For both clans’ sake. And for hers. She did not deserve to get caught in a continued clan squabble which might last another century. No. He had done the right thing, indeed.
As if a weight had been taken from his shoulders, he concentrated on work.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Aileen did not meet Taran since morning when they saw her brothers off yesterday. Today she and the housekeeper organised the larder for winter, which made for a very busy day. A bath restored her energies later.
Still astounded with Taran’s attitude concerning her cousin, she did not fathom what to make of it. She had been vexed with the way the four men excluded her from the decision even if she understood it pertained clan affairs. Hence, decided by men. But her husband volunteering to a public apology made her speechless.
What was the man about here?
He should not expose himself to such a thing. The consequence might be the loss of faith from his people. Men viewed honour defending as a legitimate reason for a punch. Or several. Possibly, the McDougal clan might come to regard it as correct. He had no obligation to go to this length. Yes, she wanted him to straighten it, she had told him so. But not at the cost of his pride. Even less of his credibility.
By the time she finally refreshed, she perceived light from his chambers. After a deep breath, she took courage and opened the connecting door, planning to discuss this with him.
His large frame sat on the bed, elbows on his knees, he looked at his joined hands. She did not like the tempestuous expression he displayed.
As the door clicked shut, he lifted his head, his green irises lit like torches. “She had a liaison, liaisons, I cannot be sure.”
She did not need to ask to realise he talked about his late wife.
The statement shocked her. It must not have been a pleasant memory.
Not only this. Fiona must be witless to give up a man like him, even though at the time he had been little more than a lad. Had it been her, she would have berthed herself to him.
“I am sorry.” She blurted, at a loss what to say.
Air escaped his nostrils. “Do not be. I did not love her, neither she me.”
She waited sensing it encompassed a whole well of enfoldments.
“Shame and wounded pride persisted, despite everything.” Low cracked voice, a difficult confession.
It rooted much more profoundly than he allowed to let on to others. Her heart ached at the image of him as a too young man having to cope with a child, the clan and a broken marriage. She cursed his father for engineering it and robbing him of a choice.
“Not that I call myself a saint.” His long fingers raked his coal hair. “When it became clear she would not come back, I took mistresses.”
Though she apprehended his reasons, the idea of him having mistresses did not sit well with her stomach. Shannon came to her mind. An energetic man like him would claim no less.
Her silence stretched as she gave him space to express what he locked inside so tightly.
