Page 78 of His Forgotten Highland Bride

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Brenna woke alone. It wasn’t uncommon to find Ronan sitting by the window if he’d suffered a terror and couldn’t get back to sleep. But looking across the room, she didn’t see him there, either.

She washed and dressed quickly, wanting to see him and put off her unease. Downstairs, she didn’t find him in the hall, and her heat began to pound in earnest now. She was about to turn for the stables to set out looking for him when he stepped inside the hall. She nearly collapsed from the relief of seeing him whole and hearty. But as she stepped closer, she saw all was not well.

“What has happened? Your skin is chilled, and your hair is wet. Were you swimming?” Everyone knew Ronan didn’t swim for fear of drowning. He bathed in the shallow stream behind the castle.

“Aye. My dreams revealed the truth, and while I doubt I’ll never be one for swimming, I realized my drowning was not without help from Ewan.”

Brenna gasped. “He tried to…?”

“Aye. All this time I thought he’d saved my life.” Ronan shook his head.

“He’s a monster.”

“I saw him today, by the lake.” This was said so low she thought she’d misheard.

“He is still nearby? He’s not gone from here as we had hoped.” She clenched her fingers into tight fists, wishing she could face the devil that moment to put an end to this.

“He made it clear he still plans to take over the clan.”

Brenna glared toward the gate, wanting to go hunt Ewan down herself. He might be larger, but she was so full of rage that she was sure she could best him.

She was distracted from her anger by a messenger she recognized as being from Cluny Castle. The message was most likely from Ronan’s MacPherson brother. “Have they found your mother?”

Ronan shook his head and let out a breath. “No, my mother’s destruction continues across the Highlands, it would seem. She married the MacColl laird of all people and escaped from him with all of his funds.”

“Oh my. Why ever does she need so much coin?”

Ronan’s gaze flickered over her, and she suddenly felt embarrassed in her common wool gown without the smallest amount of frippery. She’d not really cared how plain her gowns were until then. They but served a purpose. She didn’t need anything fancy.

“I know that look, wife, and you have nothing to worry about. I’m aroused by you, not your clothes, as evident by how hard you make me while wearing men’s trews.”

She laughed and felt more at ease as he explained.

“Some women must purchase the charms they lack and will pay a high price for such things to distract men. While others, such as yourself, come by them naturally.” He made a point to leer at her until her cheeks turned pink. “Lovely.”

Suddenly, she was irritated with her gown for a different reason because it was in the way.

“Now you’ve gone and done it,” Ronan said.

“Done what?”

“You’ve licked your bottom lip in that way that means you wish we were alone.”

How could he have known that from such a simple gesture? Not that she cared as he bent to brush his lips over the shell of her ear.

“Come, there must be something you wish to show me in our chambers.”

Brenna thought they’d need a better excuse, but not right now. She turned and followed him to their room.

***

The next day, Brenna spent much of the day with Jane and the other women taking stock of their larders and estimating their expected harvest. She knocked on the door to the study before entering to find Ronan looking over the ledgers. She placed a piece of parchment down before him. “This is what we can spare from the kitchens.”

He rubbed his temple and offered her a smile. “Thank you. Ye are as giving as you are lovely.”

“They are your family. I like to think you’re more like the MacPhersons than the Grants.”