Caelan nodded once. “It will be done.”
Aaron rose from his chair and crossed to the window. The harvest festival was approaching quickly. That alone would require another appearance with Edith.
His jaw tightened.
He did not doubt that she would play her role properly. Still, an unfamiliar feeling stirred in his chest at the thought of standing next to her again.
A knock sounded at the door, interrupting his thoughts.
“Are ye expecting someone?” Caelan asked, his hand already moving toward the dirk on his belt.
“Aye.” Aaron nodded, raising a hand for him to stand down. “’Tis Edith’s maid. I sent for her before ye arrived.”
The door opened, and Violet stepped inside, dipping her head. “Ye sent for me, me Laird?”
“Aye,” Aaron said. “Tell Lady Edith to meet me here before supper.”
“Aye, me Laird,” she said, then turned and left.
Caelan’s gaze lingered on the door a moment longer than necessary, and Aaron noticed the familiar look of amusement on his face.
“Something ye wish to say?” he asked with a slight frown, expecting more teasing about Edith.
Caelan glanced at him, then back at the door. “The lass has caught me eye,” he admitted.
Aaron’s brows rose slightly in surprise. “And?”
“She seems to be occupied,” Caelan added thoughtfully. “With another man, perhaps.”
Aaron let out a breath, his lips curling slightly. “Then ye may find her difficult to win.”
Caelan huffed a quiet laugh. “A challenge.”
Aaron paused briefly. “I wish the lass luck,” he said.
Caelan scoffed. “Luck?”
“Aye,” Aaron said. “She’ll need it.”
Caelan laughed loudly. “And here I thought ye were encouraging me.”
“I was,” Aaron teased. “She wouldnae hope for a better man than ye.”
Caelan grinned, before walking out of the study to return to his post. He shut the door behind him, and silence settled over the room once more.
Aaron returned to his desk and reached for the report he had abandoned earlier. He read the first line, then the second, then the first again.
Damn it.
Edith would be here before supper. And now, for reasons he refused to examine too closely, it suddenly felt impossible to focus on anything else.
He tossed the report back onto the desk. The damned thing might as well have been written in a foreign language.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Aaron crossed to the window.
The courtyard below was bathed in the late afternoon light, the castle buzzing as clansfolk arrived for early supper preparations.
