Chapter 21
The punch was clean.
Evan barely had time to brace before Niall’s fist connected with the bridge of his nose, a sharp crack of cartilage that sent white light bursting across his vision. His head snapped back. For half a heartbeat he tasted nothing but copper and heat.
Then the blood came. It spilled hot over his lip, down his chin, dripping onto the polished floorboards of the study. He staggered once, more from surprise than pain.
Niall flexed his hand and muttered under his breath, “God’s teeth. That hurt.”
Evan blinked the sting from his eyes and let out a breath that was half laugh, half hiss. “That hurtye? Bloody hell, Niall, ye’d have made a fine dockside brawler.”
Niall knelt by him. “Shite. Sorry. Are ye—”
“I’m fine.” Evan pressed his fingers to his nose and winced. Not broken. Just bloodied. “I’ve had worse.”
Which was true. Ruby crossed the room in three swift steps, a cloth in her hand. She reached for his face, her fingers gentle as she tilted his chin upward.
“Hold still.”
She pressed the cloth beneath his nose, her other hand cupping his jaw to keep him from flinching. Her touch was cool and careful, and he found himself wanting to lean into it.
“Was that really necessary?” she asked.
“Aye,” Evan replied. “We already known MacInnes has people watching us. He mustnae suspect I’m working with Niall and Bryce. He must think our relationship fractured beyond repair.”
“Well this looks pretty convincing,” Ruby said, her voice radiating disapproval. “You’re going to have one hell of a shiner in the morning.”
Bryce had already stormed out an hour earlier—slamming the door and growling curses as he went. The servants would talk. The locals would speculate. By morning the estate would hum with the story of brothers who could not forgive old wounds.
Good. They needed the rumors to reach the right ears.
Ruby dabbed carefully at his upper lip. The cloth was already soaked through. She folded it, pressed a cleaner section against his skin.
He caught her wrist. “Ruby.” She looked up at him and he saw the turmoil in her eyes, the fear. “Ye understand why I have to do this? It has to look as though I have nothing left.”
Her throat worked. “I know.”
Evan drew the cloth from Ruby’s hand and pressed it to his own face, more to have something to do than from need. This was the part he had not planned for properly. Leaving her. He wanted to say something clever. Something reassuring. Something that would make this easier.
But nothing came.
“It’s only ten days,” he said finally. “Until this is over.”
“Ten days,” she echoed. “Any longer and I’m coming after you. That’s a promise.”
He pulled her to him, arms tight around her shoulders, breathing in the scent of her hair, memorizing the shape of her. Then he straightened.
“Tell Bryce,” he said to Niall, “that he better be ready.”
Niall gave a sharp nod. “I will.”
Evan grasped the door handle, pulled the door open and then slammed it behind him hard enough to rattle it in the frame. The sound echoed down the corridor. Good. Let it carry. Let the game begin.
As he stepped outside, dark was beginning to settle over the land. Clouds rolled low and heavy across the sky, swallowing the last of the light. The air smelled of damp earth and coming rain.
Evan stalked away from the house and padded around the back, towards the outbuildings. The plan was simple in design, dangerous in execution. He would give MacInnes what he wanted: a man cut off from his family. A man with grievances. One who no longer had anything left to lose—and sowing those seeds would start here.
The store room he needed sat at the rear of the property, thick-walled and windowless and with a door bound with chain. Evan took the keys from his pocket and paused only a moment before unlocking the door and pushing it open.
