“God, lass! What are ye doing in my bedchamber? Eoin would be none too pleased to find ye here.” The man stood with great effort, and I could tell from the glazed expression in his eyes that he’d been either unconscious or close to it when I opened the door.
“I know that I haven’t been here long, but you are the one in the wrong room. You must be his brother?” I started to stick out my hand, but changed my mind as I felt the shoulder of my dress begin to slip.
“What the hell are ye talking about, Blaire? Ye know I’m his brother. Ye know me as well as ye know anyone else around here! God Blaire, I knew ye could be cruel, but I doona see why ye would punish me so! Ye have to know how hard it was for me to watch ye marry him! And why in the name o’ God are ye talking like that? I know I’ve had too much to drink, but ye sound nothing like yerself!”
He swayed slightly and leaned back against the wall. His eyes were red, and I could tell it was more pain than drink that made them so. A hurt behind his reddened eyes went beyond his being drunk.
Something I’d said had upset him. This Blaire had hurt him, and once again I’d forgotten all about her. I’d also forgotten the accent Mary had been so insistent on. No wonder he thought Blaire sounded odd. I was making all this up as I went along. It couldn’t be good for my brain to be dreaming up something this complicated.
As my current coma state crossed my mind, an uncomfortable flicker of a thought tugged at me, but I was too occupied with the situation in front of me to give it much thought.
I walked toward him and tried to remember the accent once again. “I’m sorry. I dinna mean to upset ye. Ye look as if ye are about to collapse. Let’s get ye to yer room. Aye?”
He nodded somberly before responding. “Aye. That’s where I thought I was when I fell over outside the door. I’m a fair mess, no? I’m sorry, lass. I doona like for ye to see me so.”
“Oh, shhh. I’ll help ye down the hall, and we’ll forget all about it.”
“Thank ye, Blaire, but I can make it on me own. I just missed by one door. I’m a bigger sot than I thought if I canna make it that far.”
He pushed away from the wall and tripped with his first step but caught himself by placing his hand on my shoulder.
I snickered and placed my arm around his back, using his side to hold my dress in place as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder. I didn’t see how I was going to get him to his room without my dress falling to my feet, but it was clear he wouldn’t make it through the door without my assistance.
“Well, looks like ye are a bigger sot than ye thought, no? Let’s go. Ye can use me for balance. But doona fall on me, or I’ll be trapped under ye for a week.”
“There’s an idea, lass, and the kind I should keep to myself now that ye’ve married me brother.”
He threw his arm sloppily around me as I started toward the door.
“Come on.”
We waddled down the hallway, doing our best to help one another. He leaned on me to stay upright, and I leaned into him to keep from exposing myself in the hallway. This act was exactly the sort of self-deprecating comedy that I could see myself dreaming, and whatever unconscious thought had been nagging at me seemed to recede.
With each step, my dress slipped farther and farther off the shoulder that was underneath his hand, and I increased the pressure of my right side into his ribs.
It was a short distance to his room, but it seemed a mile, each of us struggling with every step. As we made it to his door, he removed his arm from around my shoulder and stepped away from my side.
I quickly made to squeeze my arms back against my own sides, but not before his first step away landed on the bottom of my dress, starting its descent to the floor.
Unable to catch the gown before it slipped off my shoulders, I threw myself against him to keep my chest from being exposed.
I glanced up at him to try and explain myself, but stopped as he backed me into the wall next to his chamber door.
“What do ye think ye are doing, Blaire? We canna do this! We shouldna have in the first place, but ye have married him now! We must stop.”
“I . . . I,” I had no idea how to respond. Obviously, Blaire had been involved with both brothers. Not that I could blame her, Arran was just as handsome as his brother. I couldn’t imagine what their parents must have looked like to have two boys who appeared so different but were both equally breathtaking. He interrupted my thoughts before I could respond.
“God help me, Blaire! I’ve tried to stay away from ye. It felt like ye were ripping me heart out watching ye wed Eoin. I thought at the very least ye wouldna seem so pleased to be doing so. Ye have to know I dinna mean a word I spoke to ye this morning.”
He bent down then, his hands on my hips to keep him steady. With his cheek pressed flushed to mine, he continued his plea.
“If I’m being a fool, Blaire, put me out o’ me misery and tell me so. If I’m not, I doona think I can stay away from ye anymore.”