Her response was immediate. He’d expected no less. “Yes, please. I’m about to pee myself.”
He smiled widely into her hair. The lass said the most peculiar and wonderful things. He led Griffin over to the base of a large tree and dismounted before helping Bri get off as well. He scooted closer to Griffin than was really necessary, so that the front of Bri’s body slid down his chest as he lifted her off the horse.
She rewarded him with a knowing glare, and he let out a small laugh before walking away to find his own tree behind which he could relieve himself.
He was back at Griffin’s side before Bri, and after a few moments of waiting for her to appear from behind a tree he hollered after her. “Bri! Where are ye lass? Are ye alright?”
A loud “Shit! Gosh damnit! Ow!” came from behind the tree.
“Lass, what the hell’s happened? Are ye covered? I’m coming yer way!”
“No! Don’t! I just . . . I wiped myself with the first leaf I could find, but it was prickly, and now there’s a sticker poking out of my rear!”
The sound of his own laughter rippled through the trees surrounding them. “Come on out, lass. Do ye need my help?”
He did his best to keep his composure as Bri made her way from behind the tree. Carrying the back of her dress with both hands, she hobbled slowly until she stood in front of him.
“I can’t get ahold of it. I think it’s in pretty deep. I need you to grab it.”
He couldn’t keep the corners of his mouth from twitching upward.
“But I swear to God, Eoin. If you look at anything but that sticker, I’m going to give you a swift kick in the balls. Do you understand me?”
“Aye, lass. I give ye me word! Now turn around and bend over.”
As soon as she turned away from him, he let go of the tight rein he’d been trying to keep on the corners of his mouth and gladly let them slide upward as he grinned at her white rear end, beaming in the moonlight.
The sticker was easily visible and, with one swift pull, he dislodged it, flinging it onto the ground.
“Alright, lass, ye can let yer dress down now, even though I’ll be sorry to see ye do it. Now, let’s get back on Griffin and make our way to see yer da!”
*
I’d never been more humiliated in my entire life. Not only did I get a giant sticker stuck in my ass crack while peeing in the middle of a forest, I had to have the most beautiful man I’d ever seen pluck it out.
At least, it would be easier to keep him in the friend zone now.
We’d just arrived at the castle, and Eoin was handing Griffin off to the stable master, when what I could only assume was my ‘dad’ burst through the large main doors of the castle.
“Blaire! Ach, I’m so pleased to see ye, lass! I doona like not having ye here by my side.” Mary was right about his screaming, and as he picked me up around the middle and swung me in a circle, I was sure my eardrums would burst.
When he sat me down and stepped toward Eoin, I nearly choked on my own spit when I got a good look at his face. No wonder Blaire and I resembled one another so strongly. He looked exactly like my own father. Same dark hair, same blue eyes, same small, circular patch of gray which stood out among his otherwise ebony-colored hair.
I had to blink quickly, swallowing hard to fight back the tears that threatened to break loose at the sense of overwhelming nostalgia. While my parents had divorced when I was young, I’d stayed incredibly close to my Dad up until his death only three years ago.
It turned out that I’d no real reason to worry about fooling Donal. He gave me little time to speak or respond to him in any way, immediately jumping into a conversation with Eoin and ushering us inside for supper.
As we sat down at the grand dining room table, I sat sipping on the glass of ale I’d been given and listened to the two men converse.
*
As he’d expected, Donal had immediately consented to bring all of his men to Conall Castle to help with their defense on December twenty-sixth, two days before the expected attack. In fact the agreement had been made before the first course was laid out, and the rest of the evening passed easily as the two men reminisced about his father and years past.
Eoin had known Bri had no reason to worry. Donal did not converse easily with women, and he’d have little to say to his daughter, despite his claims of how much he’d missed her.
Worry about Bri filled him. As Eoin glanced in her direction, he tried to cast a frown at the servant who was silently refilling her goblet for at least the sixth time. Bri’s eyes were visibly glazed, and she looked unsteady as she rested her chin against the hand she’d propped on top of the table. She’d said nothing throughout the meal, and with the amount she’d now drunk he greatly hoped she would continue to stay silent now.