“Unlike me, Braden doesn’t like to hurt anyone.”
Sin had yet to tell her anything she didn’t already know and none of that bore any importance on why she was angry at Braden. “What has this to do with his womanizing?”
Sin breathed as if exasperated with her. Although why he should be such, she couldn’t imagine. After all, he was the one being cryptic. She was merely trying to follow his logic.
“Tell me, how many women do you think he’s been with?”
“By all accounts I’ve heard, nearly every woman in Kilgarigon, London, and pretty much any other place he’s ever visited.”
“By whose accounts?”
“The women who brag about him.”
“Have you never thought about how odd it is that he has been with all these women yet there are no bastards of his roaming about?”
Maggie froze while smoothing her plaid over the straw. She’d never noticed that. “But he has never denied it.”
“Of course he hasn’t. He’s a man.”
She ran through her mind all the years she’d known him. The time she’d saved him from being mobbed by the girls of the village. Even today, the way Tara had gone after him.
Come to think of it, she seldom knew him to actively pursue a woman. Most of the time, he was running from them.
“Are you telling me he’s had no women?” she asked suspiciously.
Sin laughed. “Nay. I’m sure he’s had plenty, but I think some accounts are seriously exaggerated. Personally, I’ve only known him to take three women successfully.”
“Successfully?”
“Aye, due to his reputation, I’ve noticed that most brothers and fathers tend to keep a close eye on him and whatever woman he’s around. Most of his encounters were cut short before he could, shall we say, finish the transaction.”
Now that she thought about it, she knew a number of such events herself. Indeed, some of the juicier interruptions had kept the village gossipmongers happy for weeks on end.
“Why are you telling me this?” she asked.
Sin averted his gaze as he unstrapped his sword from his hips and laid it down by his side. “Because Braden likes you. More than I’ve ever seen him like anyone else, and I can’t stand to see him so misjudged. I think you owe it to both of you to give him a chance.”
He met her gaze. “You know, Maggie, Braden can’t help the way he looks, nor can he help the women who run after him. But he would sooner cut his arm off than hurt anyone he loves.”
At last she understood what he’d meant earlier. “You’re saying he would never stray?”
“Not if he loved you. Believe me, I know my brother well enough to say, without doubt, that he would never leave a woman he truly loved for another. He’s seen and lived with the consequences of a man who strays from his wife. All too well, he knows how much it hurts the woman.”
“But he doesn’t love me,” she said, her voice breaking.
“Are you sure of that?”
Maggie’s breath caught in her throat. Was he implying...
Surely not. Why on earth would Braden have any tender feelings for her?
“Are you saying he loves me?”
“I’m not sure,” he answered honestly. “But I do know he’s a different man around you than he is other women.”
“Different, how?”
Sin shrugged. “It’s hard to explain exactly. He’s just more at ease with you. Teases you in ways I’ve never seen him tease anyone else.”
