“What business might that be? I wasnae aware that ye even kent one another,” she pressed.
“Business,” he repeated annoyingly.
Well, it wasn’t annoying, but she wanted an answer.
Her stomach fluttered under his attention, as if his companion and her mother were not nearby.
“I believe that me husband is in his study, Laird Muir. I should be happy to guide ye there,” Iona offered, glancing at her daughter.
Emily would rather henotgo and meet with her father. Even though the expression on his face hadn’t changed in the slightest, she could have sworn there was an impish glint in those warm, dark eyes.
How could he have the reputation that he did? Was it the scars? The fact that he spoke in a voice so low? How could they not hear the teasing undertones when he spoke?
“This way.” Iona smiled as she waved a hand in the direction of the hall to the study. Kaden said nothing, but nodded curtly as he turned to follow. “If ye need anything while ye are here with us, daenae be afraid to speak up, of course.”
Emily wasn’t sure that she cared for the way her mother kept looking over her shoulder back at her every few moments as they headed toward her father’s study.
Once they were there, Iona knocked on the door and didn’t wait for an answer before pushing it open and poking her head inside. “Husband, ye have visitors.”
“Hm?” Hamish’s voice asked.
But Iona merely pushed the door open further to make room for them.
Kaden walked into the room and held out a hand for Hamish to shake.
Hamish nodded at Iona, and while Emily attempted to shoulder her way into the study so that she could eavesdrop on the meeting, Iona practically pushed her back into the hallway.
“To what do we owe this unexpected pleasure?” Hamish asked as the door swung shut.
Emily dug in her heels to keep her mother from pushing her further out. She was stubborn enough that she almost shot out a hand to hold onto the door frame so that she couldn’t be moved. But Kaden’s answer shocked her.
“We didnae finish our conversation about yer daughter being unwedded the other night.”
Whatever Emily had been expecting him to say, that wasn’t it.
“What?!”
There was no denying the satisfaction that he felt at hearing the small voice behind him through the thick wooden door. It would have been amusing to see the look on her face when he told her father that, but hearing her indignation and surprise was enough for now. He would have another opportunity shortly.
That marked the second time he felt the urge to smile around her.
He had to focus on the matter at hand, and that was the man standing in front of him.
The other man looked thrilled that Kaden had come here to take him up on his offer. Which was something Kaden had chosen to do for different reasons that he didn’t much care about sharing with the older man.
“Ah, aye, of course…” Hamish trailed off as he moved to clear some space for the three of them to sit and speak better.
Peter, Kaden’s man-at-arms, was there for support and to bear witness to the whole thing. As of yet, theirs was the only relationship that had picked up right where they had left it.
Kaden hadn’t needed to explain anything, and to this day, Peter hadn’t asked him a single thing about his time in captivity.Kaden had no intention of sharing a single detail about that with anyone. It was none of their business.
“Since ye came all this way, I can assume that ye ken all about me daughter?” Hamish asked as he poured each of them a drink and settled into his chair.
Peter chose to remain standing, but Kaden indulged the older man and sat stiffly in the indicated chair. He had half a mind to make the situation uncomfortable by asking him just what it was about Emily that he was supposed to have heard.
It was strange to him that Hamish would consider perpetuating the harmful rumors about his daughter. Then again, perhaps the man was simply tired.
“She has a mind of her own, that one. I suppose she is a bit too independent for her own good, and I have nobody but meself to blame,” Hamish sighed.
