She hurried out of the room before Kaden could call her bluff again.
She heard him laughing the whole way down the hall.
Much to his surprise, the wee beastie didn’t follow after the lass. Instead, she tilted her small furry head up at him and whined.
She looked utterly pathetic, as if taking another step in her exhausted state would be the end of her. She let loose a large, overly dramatic yawn and blinked her brown eyes up at him.
Kaden swallowed hard and then bent to pick up the wee thing.
Maggie didn’t move much at first, certainly not the same wriggling pup that she had been earlier this afternoon. This time, she merely licked at his arm, the only space that she could reach without having to move much. Another small yawn, and she promptly fell asleep in the crook of his arm. She was so small that he didn’t even need to use both arms to hold her in place.
He stroked the top of her head with just one finger, and she didn’t so much as stir. “Maybe ye’re nae so bad after all…”
18
“Are ye certain that ye daenae wish to go down for breakfast?” the maid asked as she finished helping Emily get dressed for the day.
As much as a big cup of tea sounded perfect right about now, Emily wasn’t anywhere near ready to face Kaden. She also didn’t wish to endure the questions and conversation about her wedding, or anything from Kaden’s sisters about why the two of them were suddenly so awkward around one another.
After a long, restless night, she needed some time to herself. She needed to remember her goals, the purpose of her stay here.
“I am certain, thank ye.”
“Shall I… say anything to the Laird?” the maid offered.
Emily shook her head and forced an uncomfortable smile. “Nay. I doubt that he’ll ask about me anyway.”
Besides, she was far too embarrassed about the whole thing. She was likely to turn fire red just at the sight of Kaden. She had felt herself nearly overheating the previous night, tossing and turning in bed.
With that, the maid bowed deeply before leaving the room.
Emily fastened the leash around Maggie’s neck, and the two of them set off in the direction of the library.
It took far longer than she would have liked, but at least she was starting to get the lay of the land. Little by little. Maggie already seemed to have gotten used to it, which Emily still couldn’t say for herself.
She hoped that she would be able to at least find solace in the books. It would at least be something familiar to her. Even thinking about how flustered Kaden had made her was better than thinking about the threatening note. It was her first day here. Under any other circumstances, it would be a perfectly reasonable reason for her to break off the engagement and go home.
Only, she was no longer certain that her father would care one way or the other if there was a threat to her life. Not with how frustrated he seemed to be with her.
Work was always the best distraction. Since she wasn’t yet comfortable attempting to do anything in the gardens by herself, this would have to do.
It didn’t take her long to locate more books on the history of the clans than she could read in a week’s time. She pulled out her own journal and started taking notes as she perused the books. If she could even gather enough content to make a chapter, then she would count this day a success.
It was very fortunate for her that these were books she hadn’t seen before. She had pored over every book in her father’s library at least three times and summarized everything that she felt was necessary for another to know or learn. When she was visiting lairds, she usually could only find books that discussed marriages and lineage, alliances between clans and lands that were expanded or traded.
More often than not, it was a bunch of lines that explained when and why something had happened. Dry and boring as it sounded. The ones that she had located so far in Kaden’s library were more comprehensive. Whoever had taken these notes truly knew what they were doing. There were comments about personality, details about location, and when the unions took place. It even mentioned when conflicts over unions started and the various ways they were resolved.
It was a great idea for the chapter on how to resolve conflicts between men.
It was such a shame that they tended to be such an emotional lot.
Emily’s mind flashed back to when Kaden had punched the drunken Laird who had tried to take advantage of her. Now that the petty man was sending them death threats, Kaden said he would handle that too.
But how was he planning on handling it, exactly? That was what she wanted to know, but hadn’t felt confident enough to ask about.
Still, researching the history of major conflicts that had been resolved without battle and comparing it to those that only relied on fists and swords? It had the potential to be fascinating!
Emily hurriedly set about getting her workspace ready, including her inkpots and papers, and started jotting down notes as she read. But as luck was never her mistress, the moment she got into the flow, she was interrupted.
