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Fergus nodded. “I’ll have it right with ye. And daenae fret, I willnae put anythin’ odd in it.”
“Gratitude,” Felix replied stiffly, before he turned and headed for a table in the corner.
Edwina did not follow him immediately. Instead, she watched his slow, weary shuffle and felt her heart swell with sorrow and hope. He had not lain with another woman and destroyed their marriage before it had even begun, but someone had tried to ruin it. And she had a feeling she knew precisely who it was, for who else would want to see her entirely miserable? Who else would want to steal away the sliver of happiness that she had grasped from the jaws of defeat? Who else would want her to walk down the aisle, believing the man she was about to marry was a lecherous rogue who would be disloyal and unfaithful at every turn?
Kenney Young, if ye cross me tomorrow, I swear there’ll be a funeral as well as a weddin’—
That was, if Felix did not kill him first.
CHAPTER19
Staringinto the dark red of the blackberry wine, watching the fruity sediment rise and fall, Felix did not know how to feel. Part of him felt numb, part of him felt elated, and part of him felt sick with dread. The latter seemed to be the strongest, tightening every muscle until he must have been sitting as rigid as a stone. All he could think was,It is happenin’ again. My life, my joy, all I’ve built… it’s bein’ threatened again.
“Ye’ve a rabbity look about ye when ye’re pensive,” Edwina said, stirring him from his bitter thoughts like the honey taken with sour medicine.
A laugh burst out of him. “Pardon?”
“Yer nose twitches when ye’re thinkin’, like a rabbit.” She tried to do it with her own nose, giving the impression that she sincerely needed to sneeze. “I suppose both of ye must be sniffin’ for what’s huntin’ ye, though ye neednae look too far from home.”
His laughter ebbed. “Ye think it was Kenney, too?”
“Undoubtedly.” She smiled sadly.
“But why? He wouldnae want to threaten this nae proceedin’.” Felix gestured between them.
She shrugged. “That’s why he dinnae send someone with poison that could actually kill ye. He just needed time. A couple of nights to make me worry, paired with the rumors of ye, so I’d believe whatever poisonhedripped in my ear. Or had someone else drip in everyone else’s ear. Ye understand my meanin’.”
“I’m nae sure I do.” Felix chewed on his lower lip. “What good would that do?”
“It wouldnae do any, which is precisely his plan. He wants me to be miserable, Felix. He doesnae want me to take any pleasure in bein’ married to ye, and what better way to ensure that, than to come up with ye layin’ with a mysterious woman a few nights before the weddin’? Could ye imagine my face, stormin’ down the aisle to ye, if we hadnae come here tonight? There’d be daggers comin’ out of my eyes, and maybe one hidden in my skirts for the weddin’ night.”
Her bluntness sometimes jarred him, particularly at her most honest. Other men might have found it vulgar and unseemly, but he found it rather refreshing… once he had gotten over the shock of whatever she had said, at least. Nevertheless, it was a welcome distraction from the gloom of his lonelier thoughts.
“Aye, but nay matter how drunk I was, I would’ve kenned if I had Kenney sittin’ opposite me,” he argued.
She stared at him as if he had a brick for a head. “It’s a wonder to me that ye can seem so intelligent, and then say somethin’ as daft as that.” She shook her head. “Kenney wouldnae have come himself, ye dobber. He’d have sent someone. The same person, perhaps, that spread the news of yer infidelity. I’ll wager the lad was paid handsomely, probably from my own dowry.”
“How would this man have kenned where I was?”
She cast him another despairing look. “He followed ye, Felix. Ye were contendin’ with all of that brigand business, so it wouldnae have been hard for him to wait until ye were separated from yer men. Who kens, he might’ve even dressed like a brigand so ye’d chase after him and he could lead ye off course.”
It was Felix’s turn to stare at her in disbelief, for it all seemed so obvious when she put it so simply. “It’s a bloody shame ye couldnae inherit yer faither’s titles and lands. With a mind like yers, I do believe ye’d have made the Earldom of Beckingdale one of the most fearsome in the country.”
“Aye, well, ye daenae have to tell me,” she replied with a grin. It did not quite reach her eyes, though. He understood. He was the same way whenever anyone mentioned anything to do with his father. “I suppose ye’re wonderin’ if this means ye’re forgiven?”
Felix bowed his head. “I dinnae want to raise the issue until ye were ready.”
“Be at peace, husband dearest. Ye’re forgiven. I daenae just want to forgive and believe ye anymore—ye are exonerated.” Her beautiful eyes gleamed in the low lights of the tavern; her fiery hair dimmed to darker, bronze embers.
Husband dearest—the endearment, whether meant in jest or not, constricted his throat. It should have made him want to flee as fast as possible, to sever any of the fond roots that were weaving between the pair of them, forming an attachment, but it did not. To his alarm, he wanted to hear it again. He wanted to hear it whispered in his ear as they lay tangled together in bed. He wanted to hear her cry it in a moment of passion. He wanted to hear it in every way it could be spoken by her.
“And I’m sorry for doubtin’ ye. Well, nae doubtin’ ye, but believin’ ye could do such a thing,” she added, tightening her grip upon his heart.
She might have been stubborn and rarely serious, but for someone who had endured so much of her own misfortune, she had a generosity and a kindness and a capacity for forgiveness that put him in awe of her.
“So, ye ken the rumors are nae true?” He had to look away, in case he truly lost himself in her striking eyes that called to him like home.
She chuckled. “I hope ye pay John well. He had somethin’ to do with me restored quarter-ounce of faith in ye… or was it sympathy? I forget. He dinnae give me the details, but he doesnae seem like the sort of man who lies, nae even for his Laird.”
