Shona gasped dramatically and clutched at her chest. “Say it isnae true!”
The false affront on her face eased some of the tension in Emily’s shoulders. Were they truly just friends?
“It’s true.” Kaden almost smiled, but not quite. He clenched his hands around the edge of the table with a shrug. “Though I fear that I’ve been doing everything wrong. If she doesnae hate me now, she will, eventually.”
“Ye’re far too hard on yerself, Kaden. There is nothing in ye to hate,” Shona answered immediately, sounding upset that he would even dare to imply such a thing.
“She didnae much care for me to begin with.” Kaden sighed.
“I doubt that very much. The lass could be professing her undying love and obsession to yer face, and ye still would think that she was indifferent toward ye.” Shona rolled her eyes. “But it’s nae going to be like seducing an old lass at a feast, ye ken? She’s a lady and agreed to be yer wife… that requires softness.”
Kaden gave her a look.
“Daenae give me that look, Kaden. Ye ken that I’m right. Ye can andwillwin her over. Ye have a good heart. They might have tried on more than one occasion to rip it out of ye, torture ye past sanity, but they didnae break ye.” Shona turned and placed her hand on his. She gave it a soft, reassuring pat. “Ye ken that justas well as I do. Just as I ken that it’ll always be a fight to stay away from that dark place.”
Now Emily almost wanted to cry.
This woman seemed to know Kaden better than she could ever hope to. It might be an irrational reaction, but she couldn’t seem to make herself stop, either.
“Ye wouldnae be drawn to her if she didnae ken her own mind,” Shona said confidently. “Ye just need to remember what it is like nae to bumble about and bash into things all the time. Which—and I ken this will be even more difficult—ye might have to trust her more than ye are comfortable with. Ye cannae have that much to lose. She already agreed to marry ye.” She paused and tapped her chin with her finger. “Actually, now that I’ve said it out loud, perhaps the lass isnae very smart, after all.”
Kaden shoved her back, and she giggled, nearly toppling off the table.
“Alright, alright! I’m just saying, never underestimate the power of a gesture. Hm?” Shona concluded and rose to her feet. “Are ye settled?”
She nodded toward his hand, before picking up the supplies that she had brought with her.
Kaden nodded.
“And if ye need me, I’ll be here to knock some sense into ye. It’s the least I can do.”
Kaden nodded again. “I’ll try, thank ye.”
21
Just what am I supposed to do with this information?
The thought kept rolling around and around in Emily’s mind. She supposed that this was simply a thing that wives had to endure, was it not?
Whether she liked it or not, she had always heard that men liked to keep the company of more than one woman. While she had never heard about her father having mistresses, her mother had certainly talked about it.
When they were setting the terms of their agreement, it was the least he could have done to mention that it was his intention, so that she could have made her own choice on the matter. Perhaps she would have made another choice, or not agreed to anything at all.
Maggie was on the bed, her wee head resting on her paws, watching as Emily anxiously paced back and forth. She was likely to wear a track in the carpet at this rate. She wrung her hands anxiously as she attempted to figure out what her next move was going to be. Her father wouldn’t take her back. She wasn’t welcome back to Reid Castle, and he had made that perfectly clear to her.
And yet, she had no intention of being a second-string woman.
Kaden shouldn’t have kissed her. That was all there was to it.
It was selfish. It was cruel. It was misleading, and he should never have touched her. Shouldn’t have hinted or implied that he wanted to have anything more with her, only to turn around and?—
Emily stopped that train of thought.
She was hurt. She was jealous. Both things that she wanted nothing to do with. She wasn’t this woman. She wasn’t the lady who worried about a man or centered him in her life. She had more important things to worry about, and yet she still felt like crying.
What was wrong with her?
She needed to pull herself together.
