“And now?”
“So much has changed.” He slung his arm around her shoulders and tugged her close, kissing her on her temple. “For the better.”
The sailing from Noah’s shores to his own was swift, and when they disembarked, Ian’s men escorted Adam off the ship and to his new quarters. The man was belligerent, his words still a little slurred from the heavy amounts of spirits they’d been giving him to keep him mildly subdued. The bandage was no longer wrapped around his head, and the place he’d knocked into the tree now had a wicked red, stitched wound.
Despite being tired, he seemed otherwise to be all right. No lasting damage to his brain.
Adam did try to say when he first woke that it had been Ian’s fault he was injured. However, Ian and several witnesses to his accident were quick to point out that, no, indeed, Adam only had himself to blame.
Adam seemed to have blocked out his riding away from the fray, the abandonment of his men. Running smack into a tree when he wasn’t looking. The only thing he was grateful for regarding the mishap was that his horse wasn’t injured.
What the English prig did remember clearly was that Rhiannon had betrayed him. She’d rolled her eyes and told him how ironic that was coming out of his mouth after he had sold her to his friend.
“How long will you keep him?” Rhiannon smoothed her skirts at the base of the gangway as Adam hollered about his treatment while he passed them by. So much for spirits subduing him.
“Until I’m certain he does no’ plan to return to Scotland to wreak more havoc.”
“Ah. That seems as if it will be a long time coming then.” Rhiannon laughed. “Seems that is all my brother knows how to do.”
“Likely. I’ll give him a fortnight before the servants start making plans to ship him off to France.”
Rhiannon let out a sigh. “Might we send him back sooner? Mayhap his friend can deal with him.”
“That might be a death sentence.” He meant it as a joke, but the moment the words were out of his mouth, he knew the truth in them.
Rhiannon grimaced. This was a conversation they’d had before. She wanted her brother to suffer a little after he’d imprisoned her in their castle, but at the same time, she didn’t have the heart for vengeance. And he didn’t either. The man was a bastard, but that didn’t mean he deserved to die. The self-inflicted head wound was enough.
“I do hope he doesn’t put a damper on our newly wedded lives.” She frowned, watching him as he kicked and wriggled against the hold of the Sinclair men.
“Dinna fash, love. I’ve made sure he’ll be someplace we canna hear him.”
“The dungeon?” She glanced up at him, her mouth forming an O of surprise.
“Nay, lass, no’ the dungeon. He’d hardly survive a day, let alone as many as he needs. The rats would eat him alive if madness didna take him first. Just a room no’ near our own.”
“There is a lot of truth in those words.” She let out a sigh and pushed her hair out of her face. “He’s been coddled his whole life and gotten everything he wanted.”
“Aye, and we must remember that he put himself in this position in more ways than one.”
Rhiannon slid her arm around his and leaned against him, enveloping him in her floral scent. “And if he had not, we never would have met.”
“I dinna think that’s true. We would have met eventually, and I’d have still been a bachelor. I would have been immediately captivated by your charm, and the rest would be the same as now—minus the arsehole brother.”
She glanced up at him, all seriousness in her gaze. “Ah, things may have remained the same for you, but I might have been wed.” She pressed her lips together, obviously trying not to laugh.
“Dinna say such things,” he teased. “I would have murdered your husband, tossed ye over my shoulder and claimed ye as my own. That would have left a lasting impression.”
“Oh, it most certainly would.”
“But not the kind I’d need to be certain ye’d wed me after we buried him.”
Rhiannon laughed. “I might have been persuaded to come around. And you’d be lucky not to bear the brunt of my dagger if I had.”
“I will bear any injury ye believe I deserve.” Ian tilted her chin and kissed her briefly on the lips. “Welcome to Orkney, Countess.”
Ian’s chest swelled as his people swarmed from within the castle walls to greet them near the dock. They all looked on Rhiannon with surprise and joy. Several even pulled her in for a hug.
“My laird, we’re so glad ye’ve returned.” Mac, his seneschal, embraced Ian in a hearty hug.
