As she slid her arms around his neck, the kitchen door squealed open, interrupting their romantic interlude. They jumped, startled to find an ornery-looking Reade peeking out of the door. His jaw was set as he glared at them.
“I thought I’d find ye here. Ye’ve had enough time alone this day. Sawny, your family is making ready to depart. Ye should join them.”
With a final snarly glare at the pair, he spun and departed, but left the kitchen door open as a reminder.
Sawny sighed. Once he left Glenachulish, he’d likely not see her again until their wedding day. He encircled her in his arms again, open door be damned.
“Christ’s blood, your brother hates me.”
Adaira grinned up at him. “Nay, my sweet. He does no’ hate ye. He hates ye are marrying me. He’s forever been the overly protective sort. And he is no’ as light-hearted about life or his family as Maddock or Conall, or even Logan. I’ve been his little sister his whole life. Now a man is taking that sister away and doing salacious things with her. He’s worried about ye breaking my heart.”
Sawny’s gaze locked onto Adaira’s bright eyes. “He thinks that because I am from Keppoch. He should know I would sooner flay myself alive and fall on my own sword than bring any measure of heartache to ye. I would challenge even death to bring ye joy.”
Her smile widened. “Of that I have no doubt.”
He kissed her again, then begrudgingly pulled back.
“Och. We should go inside. I’d not prefer your brother having to come find us again. Then ending might be far less sweet.”
Sawny grabbed the door handle and yanked it open for her.
Adaira giggled as she took his hand and led him back to the hall.
Sawny was slow to follow his parents away from the main hall; his gaze continued to linger on the bold, beautiful woman who was soon to be his wife.
Hiswife.
The words were at once shocking and exhilarating, making his chest swell. To be married —
Someone shoved against his shoulder, disrupting his dallying thoughts as he stumbled to the side.
Sawny turned to find Reade glowering down at him.
Only a finger-length taller, but Reade’s girth and sour disposition made the man seem nearly as tall as his giant of a brother, Maddock. Reade was the sort of man who came from the womb angry at the world. Right now he seemed determined to turn that sour anger on Sawny.
“Speak with me a moment.”
Reade’s voice did not leave any room for argument, nor did the man’s rough grasp on Sawny’s shoulder.
Flipping up his hands in acquiescence and to force Reade’s hand off his tunic, Sawny followed Adaira’s eldest brother to an empty corner near the main door.
Sawny faced off with Reade, inhaling his own broad chest. He had encountered men far more frightening than his betrothed’s brother, and he would not permit Reade to believe he cowered from him in any way. Reade was but an irritation to Sawny’s eyes.
“What would ye say to me?” Sawny asked, trying not to smirk. He had a strong sense of what was causing Reade to glower.
Reade’s light eyes darkened. “I tell ye this. I know ye and your family. Ye are a wild, lawless sort, and ye bring shame on the MacDonald name. My mother might fall for your charms, and my brothers are entertained by ye. What Adaira sees with ye, however, I canna guess. Ye might have all of them fooled. But know this, if ye bring that lawlessness or shame on Adaira in any way, I shall cut your heart from your chest and feed it to ye.” Sawny noted that Reade’s hand dropped to his belt where hissgian-dubhwas surely tucked away. “Dinna think this an idle threat. I’ve done worse for less.”
Unquestionably. Rumors of how Reade slayed a man trying to blackmail his wife had made the rounds for months. The Glenachulish MacDonalds were just as lawless as his Keppoch MacDonald clan, but because they did not have rivalries with nearby clans, their lawlessness was somehow more noble.
Sawny opened his mouth to let Reade know exactly what he thought of the threat, and then the image of Adaira caught his eye on the far side of the hall. She stood smiling with another lass, a pert blonde — Fiona, Maddock MacDonald’s wife — and he swallowed the contrary words.
“That does put a wee bit o’ a damper on our relationship,” Sawny drawled as he refocused his attention back on Reade. “I am well versed in what ye think of me and the Keppochs. Yet I am no fool. I know the gift I have in Adaira, and I would move heaven and earth to be with her. Ye need no’ fear her safety with me. Naught will keep me from her side. Not a king, not a chieftain, and not an over-protective brother.”
Reade’s lips pursed thin at his final words. Sawny grinned back, pleased that his biting words struck their target. ‘Twas obvious Reade believed no man would be worthy of his sister, and while Sawny respected that notion, he was not going to permit idle threats to drive him from Adaira.
Sawny was made of much stronger stuff.
His father, Bruce MacDonald of Keppoch, hollered to him from outside, and Sawny gave Reade a curt bow to excuse himself.
