She needed time to decide if she could take that risk.
“No. You know I have no suitor waiting for me in England,” she replied calmly, meeting his gaze. “I just wanted to tell you that we have to finish the items on my list before we marry.”
“I believe it is almost finished,” he said, his brow furrowing with confusion.
“Well, I added a few more items.”
“And what might they be?” He pushed off the wall and took a step closer, making her heart flip.
“I want a chance to eat haggis and watch the famous Highland games,” she replied.
“Well, ye are in luck,” he said with a triumphant smile. “The celebration will feature several Highland games, and there will be more than enough haggis to feed the whole of Scotland.”
“I doubt that very much,” she snorted, stepping back to put space between them. “Keira would eat her own weight in haggis. She is looking forward to it, so I suspect that your friends might not have any to eat if she has anything to say about it.”
“Nay matter how she loves it, she cannae eat it all day,” he said with a laugh. “And daenae underestimate Cook, she is very capable of providing more haggis than we need. Daenae worry, I will make sure to get ye the best haggis available to ensure ye enjoy the games.”
“I do not think Keira would approve of that plan.” She gave a small smile
“She would survive,” he assured her. “Besides, ye seem to be her favorite person in the castle now. I reckon she will forgive ye anything.”
“I do not know if she values me above her beloved haggis.”
“Trust me, she does. She has never taken to anyone as easily as she has with ye.”
That response set off a curious reaction in her.
While she was glad to be held in high esteem by her little friend, that simple fact was disrupting her feeble attempts at stalling the wedding. It was almost as if Ruaridh had come prepared with counterarguments to disable her defense, and it did not help that all his points made sense and that she was the one who sounded stupid, plotting to destroy a perfect plan.
Except that it was not perfect for her, and she was going to be the bride!
“I really wish to attend a full Highland Games. The type that lasts for a week.”
“Well, that could be arranged. I will ask Logan to add more games to the list. It would just be the grandest feast to end theHighland games with our wedding,” he said with a smile, his gaze burning into hers as if he wanted to see into her soul.
Breaking their stare, she stepped back further.
“I don’t think that is wise, dragging them to a wedding after such strenuous games. We should give them time to rest before they find their way home.”
“Ye daenae need to worry about that.” Ruaridh waved a dismissive hand. “There is nothing we Highlanders love more than a wedding. Trust me, they would be glad to attend. It will be enjoyable, daenae worry.”
“But I do not want the wedding!” she blurted.
She clapped a hand over her mouth in a bid to hold the words back, except they had already escaped, and now Ruaridh was looking at her strangely.
What was she going to do now?
12
Ruaridh had always known that something was up with her. It was there in that look in her eyes whenever he mentioned their wedding.
His bride was afraid.
The problem was that he could not pinpoint the source of her fear. A part of him had ascribed it to the trauma of almost getting married to the useless, spineless coward that Lord Westall was. He understood that living around men who were cowards with no sense of responsibility could make a lady wary of getting tied permanently to one.
He had sensed that fear in her, so he had done everything in his power to convince her that he was nothing like her father and Lord Westall. He had sought to make her comfortable, rejoicing when she had formed a friendship of sorts with his daughter.
He had thought that the bonds she had created here would be strong enough to convince her to put down roots here and marry him, but it seemed he had thought wrong, and she was bound more tightly to her English roots than she would ever be to her Scottish ones.
