“We can decide on that when they come to the gates—and they looked verra ready to do that as we slipped round them to get here. That is, if they dinnae all die in battle.”
For almost two hours they drank ale and talked on Arianna’s troubles. There was some talk about the battle to come but they all knew no final plans could be made until there were Camerons and more MacFingals involved. Brian was just beginning to believe he would escape any questions concerning him and Arianna when the men decided to go and wash before joining everyone in the great hall, only to watch Callum shut the door on the other three. The younger man then turned around, crossed his arms over his chest, and gave Brian a look that was both surprisingly mature and a bit threatening.
“I dinnae believe there is anything more that I can tell ye,” Brian said.
“Nay?” Callum smiled but it was not a particularly friendly expression. “Ye have spent many a night alone with my wee cousin.”
“We were fleeing her enemies and hoping to draw at least some away from those boys.”
“All day and all night?”
“Fleeing an enemy is an exhausting business and your cousin is a fine, weel-bred lady unused to such things.”
“Yet she found the time and strength to tell ye all about Claud and his unkindnesses, her sad life with the Lucettes, and, I think, her fears. Or did ye just discover them bit by bit as ye drew closer?”
“I am nay certain what ye are implying.”
“Och, aye, ye are. A mon who does naught but help a lass run and hide or turn a kind ear to her woes doesnae look ready to gut some mon just because he is holding that lady in his arms.”
Brian hid a wince, heartily cursing the man’s keen eye. “Lady Arianna is a grown woman and a widow. If ye have any questions about what did or didnae occur between us mayhap ye should talk to her.”
“I will and she will eventually tell me everything. The lass cannae lie to save her life. What I wish to ken is what ye mean to do about what did or didnae occur between the two of ye.”
“Lady Arianna returned to Scotland to rejoin her family. She is a bonnie, weel-bred, highborn young woman who will undoubtedly make a verra good marriage with a mon of equal standing.”
“Ah.”
“What do ye mean by ah?”
“Just that ye are an idiot.” Callum opened the door and then looked over his shoulder at Brian. “Ye may wish to ponder on the fact that the lass already walked the path of making a good marriage with a mon of equal standing and it led her straight to misery, didnae it?”
Brian glared at the door after Callum shut it behind him and resisted the urge to throw something at it. He had thought a lot on how Arianna had once done as society and her family had expected and how he could give her so much more than that thrice-cursed Claud. It did not matter. If he convinced her to stay with him, marry him, everyone would think he had done the very thing he had sworn he would never do—marry for land and money.
He winced. That concern carried the strong taint of wounded pride. Brian did not like to think that he was so deeply concerned with how others would see him. If Arianna ever thought he had wed her for whatever dowry she would have, for what he could gain, bitterness would settle into her heart. He had seen it happen, watched what everyone had thought such a perfect match turn sour, man and wife no more than cold, bitter strangers. Brian was certain it would hurt less if he let Arianna walk into the arms of another man rather than marry her and watch the warmth they shared fade away.
Shaking his head, he refilled his tankard. There was very little time left for him and Arianna to be together. Tonight would be his last chance to savor the passion they shared for the battle would come tomorrow and, when it was done, she would leave. He sat down, put his feet up on Ewan’s worktable, and began to plot a way to spend at least part of the night with her without risking a long, painful death at the hands of her cousins.
The door to Arianna’s bedchamber began to ease open and she tensed. She could not believe any of the men in Scarglas would attempt to force their way into her bed. In fact, she had looked around the great hall earlier and thought there was probably not another keep in the entire world so fully packed with big, strong, handsome men. Not one of those men would need to try and steal a woman’s favors.
“Arianna?”
“Brian! Ye frightened me,” she complained as she sat up and watched his shadowy form approach the bed. “What are ye doing here?” She thought that low chuckle he made one of the most seductive sounds she had ever heard.
“Why do ye think I am here, love?”
“But what if my kinsmen catch ye in here?”
“They are all abed and I will be out of here ere they open their eyes in the morning.”
“And ye dinnae fear that one of the men ye are sharing quarters with will say something?”