He sucked his teeth. “Nay. I’d remember lying with ye.”
The shock and anger on her face appeared all at the same time. “How dare?—”
Her hand flew, but Connor caught her wrist before her palm could connect with his face. Her breath caught, and for the first time since Connor had entered the cell, she looked startled.Properlystartled.
His fingers closed firmly around her wrist, and he noticed how small her bones were. Her cap slipped further back, freeing more of that chestnut-brown hair. A loose strand hung near her flushed cheek, and her blue eyes blazed up at him. In them, he saw fear, outrage, and an undisciplined urge to try again.
“Release me,” she demanded.
“Daenae strike what ye cannae best.”
“Daenaeinsultwomen ye have locked in the dungeons.”
“I insult thieves.”
“Then go find one!” The words came quickly, but her breathing was no longer steady.
Connor’s hold kept her at a careful distance, though not a safe one. She was close enough that he could catch the faint smell of travel on her—wool, cold air, and something clean beneath the dungeon damp.
The detail annoyed him because noticing it served no purpose.
Her gaze dropped to his hand around her wrist. She yanked, and this time, he released her.
She stumbled half a step back against the wall, caught herself, and tucked her wrist against her midsection as if she refused to rub the place where his fingers had been. Her eyes stayed on him, furious and still calculating.
Connor lowered his hand. It was very clear now that the woman in his dungeons was frightened.
She was simply not frightened enough to be harmless.
He should have ordered the guards back in. He should have had her searched properly, the bundle opened, her name forced out before she had time to reshape her lies. Instead, he waited one breath longer, because men and women, he had learned time and again, often gave away more in silence than under threat.
She gave him nothing.
Connor slid the key between his fingers. “Is this about Lachlan?”
Her demeanor changed almost immediately.
Good God. What did that bastard do again?
“Did me brother seduce ye and leave ye to deal with the consequences alone?”
Her anger faltered. The insult that had made her strike him became something more protective, and that was what caught his attention.
“I daenae ken what ye’re talking about,” she said.
Connor’s jaw tightened. “Oh, do ye nae?”
She didn’t respond, confirming his fears.
The old, familiar anger flared within him, cold and controlled. Lachlan had always left things behind him. Debts. Offended husbands. Insulted hosts. Broken agreements. And now, perhaps a child.
Connor had not seen his brother in months, and still the wreckage had found its way to his gate in a basket.
The woman glanced toward the locked door, then back at him. She had felt the change in him.Good.
“Where is he?” Connor asked.
“Who?”
