She had never felt such pleasure before, had never allowed herself such vulnerability and exposed her very soul to him. When he had said those words, had he meant that what she felt, what she perceived they both felt,thatwas how it was truly meant to be between husband and wife? Or had he known in that moment he would deny their marriage?
‘Do I believe you’d do as you’d say?’ she said. ‘Within reason.’
His brows drew in. ‘I always do as I say.’
‘You brought me no food and, though vows were exchanged, we aren’t married,’ she said and quickly wished she hadn’t. They weren’t here for that. They weren’t here for anything. Except they said words before her clan and he had never meant them.
‘I met your sisters.’ Rory took another step. This room was meant for papers and perhaps a few people inside, but Rory was so large just that slight step further into the room made it seem so much smaller.
‘How are they?’ she asked.
He reached down and picked up a single parchment, laid it back. Picked up another, then let it fall to the ground. ‘They’re alive and well,if that is what you ask. I think you and your father do not credit them enough with intelligence. I found them rather interesting.’
Suddenly needing more room, Ailsa stepped back. Rory noted her movement and raised a brow. What had happened between this morning and now? Exhaustion had blurred her earlier indignation and anger, but she was still shamed and he was still in the wrong. Now she felt as if he set a trap and she merely needed to set foot in it. If he had originally approached her like this, she would never have agreed to marrying him.
‘They are interesting and quite opinionated.’
‘Where is your mother?’
She thought he’d know some of the clan’s interests, but then, when had there been time? ‘Dead. She died giving birth to them.’
‘I’m sorry.’
She almost felt that he meant it, but he was a good liar. ‘She was a gentle soul. I think if she had lived, we would have given her a very difficult time. My sisters especially. They are a bit more...free.’
‘Than you?’ He took a journal off the shelf and flipped through it. She’d held that journal just moments before. It looked diminished in his large hands. From here she could see the scars along his knuckles and in the tender crook ofhis thumb, and knew he’d earned them. He was a warrior now, but at one time he’d had to train, at one time he’d made mistakes.
‘I’m free.’
‘Apparently, because here you are instead of in Hamish’s rooms.’
Here was one of her mistakes. Forgetting the passing of time in this room, allowing Rory to find her. She was married and it was conceivable he would search for her. The other mistake was walking further in the room and allowing Rory access to the information.
‘I told you why I was here.’
‘You’re not organising. You’re searching for a cure.’
She wouldn’t lie to him, but that didn’t mean she would tell him the truth. Last night proved that he didn’t trust her. She’d never been more vulnerable in her life. She said she’d help him, gave a vow before God, and he’d...hurt her. ‘I said I would help your friend.’
‘But you didn’t come here when he was struck down, only when you thought McCrieff’s Chief needed help.’
She would grant some allowances for their differences, the fact they were strangers, but never this. ‘Don’t you dare accuse me of such a thing. It was you who demanded we wedimmediately. You who barred me from reaching your friend. Since that time, I’ve done everything I can for him. This clan has continued to stay by your friend’s side to care for him as well. I’m here to find a cure for them both.’
‘Both?’ he said, a note to his voice. ‘So you, too, believe Hamish suffers from what Paiden does.’
She was unused to politics, to subterfuge. Everything she said felt as though it was cloaked in lies. On the surface, her husband should know everything, but he’d shown he did not trust.
Could she blame him? His friend could be dying. Still, with last night unresolved between them, she would not expose herself or her clan again. ‘Hamish has been ill for many seasons.’
‘But it has worsened overnight?’
‘What are you accusing me of, Lochmore? Shouldn’t all of this have been discussed before we said our vows?’
‘We’re not married,’ he said.
She couldn’t hide the flinch as his cutting words struck right where she had stewed all day, but she did turn her back so she didn’t have to see the simmering rage in his eyes boring into her. She’d placed some trust when she married Rory, even more trust when she’d lain beneathhim. Now this? ‘If you’ve said your piece; you should go. I have work to do here.’
Silence, but she refused to turn again to see if he left or stayed. She did have work to do; kneeling again on the cold floor, she attacked another stack of papers.
