He had left home to bring his daughter and somehow ended up with a bride. He spared another glance at her, wondering how a lass so frail had managed to upend his life so swiftly.
She was bonny, with a fountain of blonde tresses she had rolled into a bun at the back of her hair and smooth pale skin that didn’t look as though it had seen much of the sun until he had taken her. Her blue eyes were ringed with exhaustion,but were otherwise bright as she spoke to Keira. Snippets of their conversation drifted to him, even though he tried to feign disinterest.
She was nothing like he had expected when he had first seen her, looking like a frightened lass in her wedding gown and veil. Though frail in appearance, her eyes were fire and her mouth a den of knives.
She had done all she could to infuriate him since they had met, and more surprisingly, she had made his blood sing in a way it hadn’t since his wife had died.
“Ye’re starin’, me Laird,” Logan commented with a laugh, earning a scathing glare.
“I’m lookin’ at me daughter,” Ruaridh argued.
“Aye, if ye say so.”
“Da,” Keira called. “Are we almost there?”
“Aye, lass,” he answered. “We’re almost home.”
She grinned at him, and her bright face, so much like her mother’s, sent a pang through him.
She had told him of her ordeal with the English bastard while they had waited for the cart to be readied, and now that he recalled their conversation, he gritted his teeth.
The bastard wanted to parade her around to show that abarbariancould be civilized, as if kidnapping a child wasn’t a barbaric act. Ruaridh wished he had asked her before he had let the man go as easily as he did.
The fact that he had failed to protect her from the claws of the English, as he had failed to protect her mother, filled him with undue rage.
His stallion whinnied beneath him, and he rubbed a calming hand down his flank to steady him. “I’m sorry for worrying ye, boy,” he whispered.
He decided to tamp down his rage and focus on the journey ahead. There were more pressing issues to solve now.
He called for them to take a break, and the men agreed. They dismounted, and he assigned Logan to help Keira and the English lass.
He busied himself with seeing to his stallion, rubbing down its flank.
“Daenae look now, but the English lass is glaring at ye again,” Logan whispered, coming up behind him.
Ruaridh tried hard not to look, but he turned slightly and noticed that indeed a hot glare was directed at him. He wondered what he had done now to offend her again.
“Da,” Keira called, walking up to him.
“Aye, Keira?”
“Why is Violet comin’ home with us?” she asked.
He nearly choked, then covered it up with a cough. He hadn’t expected her to ask so suddenly. Although it was surprising that she had refrained from asking all this time.
He swallowed and then cleared his throat, wondering how to answer. He noticed several keen eyes on him and sighed.
“In comin’ to rescue ye, I have put her in trouble with her family. As such, I have taken responsibility for her,” he answered. “We are to be wed soon.”
He didn’t know how his daughter would take the news of his impending marriage to another woman. She asked constantly about her mother, wanting to know everything about her, and his marrying another woman might offend her.
Keira gasped excitedly, surprising him. “Truly?”
“Aye.”
She squealed and launched herself at him. “I am so happy! Do ye ken what she likes? What does she want her wedding dress to look like? Are ye having a big wedding or a small one? Please do a big wedding, Da. Do ye ken if she likes cake?”
Ruaridh stared at her, not knowing how to answer. He didn’t know much about Violet and told her as much.
