Annie supposed she was right, although it seemed Inis had taken to acting a wee bit helpless when Niall was around. And Niall always had a flowery compliment of some sort ready. Annie could understand the twins being somewhat smitten, since they were young, but Inis? For all her dainty, fragile looks, she was solid as rock regarding their cause. Or at least she had been. Was she attracted to Niall?
Not that Annie cared, of course.
“We are nae going to have a recurrence of Monday night today,” Cora answered. “I hardly think the pastor would take kindly to the smell of rotten fruit and vegetables inside his church.”
“Anyway, no one even kens we are waiting out here,” Deidre added, “so ’tis nae an issue.”
“Aye. Our purpose today is to shame those men in front of their wives,” Fenella said. “And the signs we all carry will do that without us having to say a word.”
Aileen turned to Annie. “We really are nae in need of bodyguards. Can ye persuade them to go home?”
Annie glanced over her shoulder at the three men positioned with hands on sword hilts, feet spread in battle pose, and sighed. “We would have a better chance at becoming members of Parliament.”
It wasn’t that she hadn’t tried. Niall had been adamant that she wasn’t going anywhere unless he accompanied her. Owen and Aidan had stood stone-faced beside him, looking as formidable then as they did now. She’d tried to explain there would not be any violence with the men escorting their wives from church. Niall’s reply had been that the Highlanders’ presence would insure it. She’d even succumbed to baiting him, asking him if the training he’d given her wasn’t good enough. That had backfired though. Niall had simply grinned and said he wasn’t through with her training yet.
Annie felt her body grow warm as she recalled the kind of training he’d already put her through. How many times she’d been pressed against him yesterday. How many times his arms had held her pinned to him. How many times his face had been inches from hers, so close she could feel his warm breath on her nape or in her ear. And—worse—how many times her body had reacted with want. Even now, muscles deep in her belly clenched at the thought of the many ways he’d touched her, his hold firm but never harsh. Even while trying to defend herself, trying to break away from him as he instructed, her traitorous body had wanted more intimacy, more…
“Are ye all right?” Cora was peering at her oddly.
Annie blinked, pushing away what was rapidly turning into a fantasy. That path only led to ruin. She was already ruined, but at least Niall didn’t know. Just like he didn’t know when she practiced throwing sticks at a tree, in her mind she was really striking Broderick. But that was her secret.
“I am fine. I was just…thinking.”
“Doona fash. Ye are nae going to get hurt today,” Fenella said.
“None of us are, with the Highlanders here.” Kiara started to giggle again and Nairna joined her.
Fenella glared at both of them. “’Tis nae what I meant. Are your brains addled?”
The twins sobered and Annie felt sorry for them, but at least they had an excuse for addled brains. They were young. She had no excuse for her own brain being in a similar state.
“Church is out,” Aileen said as the front doors opened. “Signs up!”
They had rehearsed how they would stand and they now took their positions on either side of the walkway. Annie’s sign readDid your husband knock me unconscious Monday night?while others readAsk your man about Monday nightorWherewas your husband Monday night?and evenRotten fruit, rotten men.
There were gasps from the ladies, some paling and others trying to ask questions. The club had agreed not to answer them, but merely to point to the signs they held. Red-faced men took hold of their wives’ arms to lead them away while the women looked back. Annie couldn’t help but smile as the last of the congregation disappeared into waiting carriages. The rumble of voices left no doubt the women were already asking questions.
“I think we succeeded,” she said to the rest of the group and was met with a chorus of agreement.
“Those men will have hell to pay,” Fenella said with a satisfied smirk.
“And it serves them right,” Aileen said.
Cora smiled. “Hopefully their wives will refuse to cook today and those men will go hungry.”
“And withhold other favors as well,” Deidre added.
Annie was about to make another comment when she felt a masculine grip on her own arm and turned.
“Let us be gone from here,” Niall said. “Owen and Aidan will see the other ladies home.”
She felt too good to argue. “Everything went just as we planned,” she said as they walked away. “Total success.”
Niall shook his head. “The only thing ye succeeded in doing was making those men mad. Time will see what happens.”
Chapter Twelve
Annie wasn’t quite sure if she felt like a prisoner being escorted to trial or a lady being guarded from the cruel world the next morning as Niall walked on one side of her and Aidan on the other on her way to work. Perhaps Inis had the right of it yesterday when she said she felt like Guinevere surrounded by knights…except, if the grim expressions on her escorts’ faces were any clue, Guinevere was probably being escorted to the stake.
