Page 44 of The Laird’s Sinful Secret

“We prepare fer the worst and hope fer the best,” Euan said finally. “But I’ll nae have this clan caught unprepared because we underestimated MacKenzie’s ambitions.”

“What about the lass?” Malcolm’s voice came from near the hearth. “If her faither’s men are this close, perhaps it’s time tae reconsider⁠—”

“Reconsider what?” The question came sharp, dangerous. “Sending her back tae a man who abandoned her? Using her as leverage in a game she never asked tae play?”

“Using her as the solution she represents.” Malcolm met his gaze steadily. “Marry her, Euan. Make it public, make it binding, and make it clear that any attack on this castle is an attack on Keith’s own daughter. Even he wouldnae be bold enough tae risk her life in whatever scheme he’s brewing.”

The logic was sound. Cold, calculated, and entirely too familiar. This was what his councilors had been saying since the day he’d brought Moyra through those gates—marry her and solve all their problems with one political alliance.

But every time he considered it, he remembered the fury in her eyes when he’d first suggested it. I’d rather die alone than marry ye. Those words had cut deeper than any blade.

“I’ll nae force the issue,” he said, his tone brooking no argument. “Nae while there are other options.”

“What other options?” Fergus’s frustration was palpable. “Keith’s made his position clear—he wants our lands and he daesnae want his daughter. We’re the ones stuck trying tae protect a woman whose own faither willnae claim her while he masses scouts at our borders!”

The accusation hung in the air, and Euan felt the weight of every eye in the hall. They weren’t wrong—Moyra’s presence there had complicated everything, made them a target in ways they hadn’t been before.

But saints help him, when he thought about sending her away, about forcing her into a marriage she’d made abundantly clear she didn’t want, something in his chest twisted painfully.

“The decision stands,” he said quietly. “We prepare our defenses. We increase patrols. We ready ourselves fer whatever Keith might attempt. But we dinnae use that lass as a pawn any more than her faither already has.”

“Even if it costs us everything?” Malcolm’s voice was gentle but relentless.

“It willnae.”

Silence fell, broken only by the crackle of the hearth fire and the distant shouts of guards organizing on the walls. Euan could feel the weight of their doubt, their concern that sentiment was clouding his judgment.

Maybe they were right.

Maybe he was letting his growing feelings for Moyra MacKenzie interfere with the cold strategic thinking a laird needed.

But when he remembered the way she’d looked at him on that clifftop—the trust in her eyes before the ground had given way, the heat that had sparked between them when he’d caught her—he couldn’t bring himself to care.

Some things were worth more than strategy.

“Get those patrols organized,” he ordered, needing to move, to act, to do something other than stand here defending decisions he wasn’t entirely certain were wise. “I want hourly reports on any movement within five miles of our borders. And someone find⁠—”

“Euan.”

The soft voice made him turn.

Moyra stood in the doorway, her copper hair slightly disheveled, green eyes wide as they took in the assembled men and the tension crackling through the hall like lightning before a storm.

“I thought I told ye tae stay in yer chamber,” he said, more sharply than he intended.

Her chin lifted. “Ye did. I chose nae tae listen.”

Despite everything—the threat outside his walls, the councilors watching this exchange with far too much interest, the absolute disaster this day had become—Euan felt his mouth twitch.

Saints, but the woman had a stubborn streak.

Moyra had expected many reactions when she entered the great hall. Anger, perhaps. Frustration that she’d disobeyed his direct order.

She hadn’t expected the flash of what looked almost like relief in his eyes before it disappeared behind his laird’s mask.

“Everyone out.” Euan’s voice carried absolute authority. “Now. We’ll continue this discussion later.”

The hall emptied with surprising speed, though Moyra caught more than one curious glance thrown her way. Niall paused at the door, exchanging some silent communication with Euan before nodding and closing the heavy oak panels behind him.