Her eyes returned to him, narrowed. “Is that what this is? Ye refuse me and thenfeedme?”
“Aye.”
“In what world does that make sense?”
“The one where ye’re still avoiding the question I asked ye.Wife.”
She did not take the bread. Her fingers curled into the blanket instead, and Connor could tell that for once she had no sharp answer ready.
Violet exhaled, watching the bread in his hand until he placed it back beside the tea.
The tea cooled on the table, dark in the cup. The taste still lingered on her tongue. She drew the blanket higher beneath her arms and forced her voice into something steadier than her pulse.
“If I never give ye more heirs,” she asked, “what happens?”
Connor watched her from the edge of the bed. “That is nae an answer.”
“It is a question.”
He scoffed. “Are ye still trying to refuse me?”
“Will yeanswerit or nae?”
His gaze dropped to her hand. She had not noticed it had moved toward her midsection until his eyes found it. She lowered her hand at once and tucked it beneath the blanket.
“John is me heir now,” he said.
“And if Lachlan has children later?”
“They wouldnae take John’s place.”
“But they would be Lachlan’s blood too.”
“Aye. They wouldnae be mine to raise unless Lachlan gave them to me, as John was given to me.”
The way he said it made her fingers close around the blanket.Given. As if John had been a parcel set at a gate rather than a child born of Jane’s pain and Lachlan’s fear.
But then, hehadbeen a parcel set at a gate.
“Why do ye speak of Lachlan as if he is a problem to be managed?” Violet asked.
“He is.”
“But he is yer brother.”
“Two things can be true.”
Violet sat straighter, though the movement tugged at the weakness in her limbs. “He held John today.”
“And did he stay long enough to prove anything beyond wanting a moment?”
“That is unkind.”
“It is true. I ken me brother and ye daenae.”
“Ye think ye are being truthful, but frankly, I think ye are being cruel.”
Connor’s face hardened, chasing away whatever softness had been there. It should have comforted her. This version of him was easier to argue with.
