“Because I didn’t think you’d want to hear it.”
Maggie was far too astute. But then she’d always been that way.
Her eyes turned dull. “Look, Braden, I’m not a fool. I know I can never have you. I know you don’t share my feelings and I wished I’d never spoken of them. Unfortunately, I can’t take them back. Can we just forget what I said and go back inside before both of us catch our deaths?”
Braden nodded. Not because he was afraid for himself, he’d survived much worse conditions than this, but because he didn’t want to see her sick. The depths to which he would go to keep her safe didn’t bear investigating. In truth, that place in his heart where he found concern for her frightened him more than anything else ever had.
Reluctantly, he took her by the arm and led her inside.
When they entered the stable, Sin’s voice rang out, “Guess you two will have to run around naked for a bit since all your clothes are now wet.”
“Actually,” Braden said as he wrung the rain from his hair, “I was thinking of raiding your pack for some clothes.”
“I somehow thought as much.”
Braden handed Maggie one of Sin’s plaids and his spare shirt.
Maggie took them and quickly changed in private, all the while her thoughts churned. Why had she ever spoken those words? And why did they torment Braden so?
The man had always been an enigma to her, but no more so than he was tonight. Shouldn’t love make someone happy?
She scoffed at the thought. When had loving Braden ever made her happy? The sad truth of the matter was that loving Braden had only caused her misery. Nothing but misery.
Crestfallen, she belted the plaid.
When she returned to the center of the stable, she saw Braden wrapped only in a plaid, his chest bare and glistening in the low light. Her throat dried at the sight.
It was going to be a long, long night.
Before she could give the matter anymore thought, Sin jumped to the floor. “Hope there’s a way to bolt the doors.”
Maggie frowned at his odd behavior and comment. “Why?”
“There’s a sortie of women headed our way and by the looks of them, we could be in for a nasty battle.” Sin made his way to the door.
Maggie’s frown deepened. What was he talking about?
Braden cursed as he reached the door first and searched for a latch. “Wouldn’t you know it,” he said bitterly.
“There’s nothing to bar it,” Sin finished for him. “Well, doesn’t this beat the devil?”
Even more perplexed, she stared at them. They looked as if the angel of death were upon them and they had forgotten to get Last Rites. “They’re just women. Tell them you’re not interested?—”
“And they’ll try and change our minds,” Braden said, interrupting her.
Maggie rolled her eyes at his dire tone. “No, they won’t. You forget I’m a woman. I know how they think.”
“And I know how they act,” Braden said as he rejoined her. “They’ll not leave until they get what they want.”
Maggie laughed at his ego. “You’re being ridiculous, Braden. You’re not that irresistible.”
His look bore into hers. “You think not? Then explain to me why Tara is on her way here after I already told her I had no interest in taking her.”
Before she could think to respond, Seamus’s three eldest daughters threw back the doors to the stable.
“Knock, knock, lads,” Tara said, her hands on her hips as she surveyed them. “We’ve come to see to your comfort.”
Thirteen
