Page 24

“My condolences for your loss,” Garrick said.

“And to you for yours.”

They drank a toast to their departed fathers, and Garrick was reminded of the condolences he’d exchanged with Lady Sara at Kenshire. Though her father had been old and ill, surely it had not made her loss any less painful.

So much death and more to come, at least here in the borderlands.

“He fought hard, and fought well. Our clan mourns him still, but he left this world fighting for what he believed in,” Graeme said. “Peace. An established border. His clan’s survival.”

Garrick remained silent. He couldn’t say his own father had done the same. They’d fought for Edward’s cause, not their own. Though he’d be named a traitor if he shared such thoughts aloud.

“You wanted to speak to me.”

“Your charge . . .”

Emma.

“How did you come to escort her here, without a chaperone?”

He and Graeme had spoken of women in the past. They’d even made jests about who would be bound by marriage first. But this was different. This was Emma.

“I stopped at Kenshire to offer condolences to Lady Sara, and it seemed her sister-in-law needed an escort to Dunmure.”

“To Alex Kerr?”

“To his wife.”

“I see.”

“Her lady’s maid was unable to ride after our first day of travel. She’s behind us still, and if you can receive her, she’ll likely arrive in just a few days.”

“Hmm . . .”

He knew what was coming next. But that didn’t make it any easier to hear.

“Is Lady Emma spoken for?”

The hand at his side tightened.

“You will have to ask the lady herself.”

Whether it was his tone or his expression, Garrick wasn’t sure, but Graeme immediately picked up on the feelings Garrick had been trying to deny for days.

“Is she spoken for by you?”

Yes!

Beyond Graeme’s predilection toward the company of fine women, which was much like his own, there was nothing that would not recommend him to Emma, something that filled Garrick with an uncomfortable feeling of jealousy. And yet he could not lie.

“Nay, she is not. I travel to Linkirk to secure my own betrothal.”

Graeme’s eyes widened. “Your own?”

He ground his teeth, wanting the conversation to end. Quickly. “Aye.”

“Your mother.” Graeme knew the situation well.

“She has arranged it, aye. The Earl of Magnus’s daughter.”