“Me faither,” Lavina replied, her gaze flicking to him.
Theo shook his head as he made his way out of the stall. He wasn’t sure what to think or how to feel. After all, he’d spent the better part of the day trying to coax the foal into moving, and here she came with a stick.
It was just so unbelievable.
“What’s really goin’ here? Why have ye brought her?” Theo asked Stephen without so much as a look in her direction.
“She wanted to talk to ye,” Stephen answered.
Theo turned his gaze back to Lavina. His heart sped up as he studied her.
“Is that so? And what, pray tell, brings ye out here?” he asked as he wiped his hands on the rag he had expected to use on the foal.
Lavina opened her mouth before snapping it shut. She glanced at Stephen with a mix of confusion and helplessness. Her hands trembled slightly at her sides.
“I…” She blinked quickly. “I wanted to ken where Amber was. I wanted to begin her lessons.”
Stephen snorted in disbelief and crossed one foot over the other. “Is that what we’re callin’ it now? Lessons? Ye ken that child is as wild as the field mice that surround the garden. She’s a lost cause.”
“Nay one is a lost cause,” Lavina countered, just as Theo shot his man-at-arms a warning look.
“Amber’s usually in the kitchen this time of day,” he replied, suspicion flickering in his chest.
He wasn’t fooled by the sudden concern about her duties. There was something else written in the tight line of her mouth, the way her eyes refused to meet his for any long period of time.
Lavina gave a stiff nod, turned as if to leave, then faltered. Her steps slowed. Then, she stopped altogether.
Theo exchanged a look with Stephen, who merely lifted an eyebrow, as if daring him to figure out for himself what his wife was doing.
She drew in a breath, then faced them again, her fingers curling into the fabric at her waist. “That’s nae… It’s nae the real reason I came here.”
She stepped closer to Theo until the lamplight kissed her face. Her voice dropped to a murmur as her gaze flitted to the dirt at her feet.
“Ye dinnae say,” Theo drawled, stepping through the open stall door as Marcus got to work changing the hay. “And what, pray tell, brought ye here today?”
Lavina’s eyes darted to Stephen and Marcus as if trying to convey her concern about their presence.
Theo pressed his lips into a tight line as frustration brewed within him. He hesitated, studying her, then turned to Stephen and Marcus. “Leave.”
“Ye heard the Laird,” Marcus ordered when Stephen opened his mouth to protest.
Theo and Lavina watched him corral Stephen out of the stables.
“Alright, we’re alone. What’s on yer mind?” Theo asked, trying not to get too distracted by the fact that they were alone now.
Why did he feel like a young lad again, filled with emotions he didn’t know how to control?
It was Lavina. She drove him mad with desire and clouded his judgment.
“This isnae our business,” he heard Marcus’s husky voice say as he watched Lavina tuck her hair behind her ear. The color on her cheeks enticed him.
Out of the corner of his eye, Theo spotted Marcus yanking Stephen out from behind the bales of hay. Stephen threw his hands up in surrender as he marched out of the stables with Marcus.
“Ye can speak freely now,” Theo said as he started mucking out the stall.
Now that the foal had taken off, there was no reason in coddling it any longer.
“I…” Lavina trailed off, seeming to fumble for the right words.
