I stiffened as I sat, every muscle clenching as if they desired to strangle me. I was suddenly breathless, and me heart pounded painfully at the hope-filled words I’d stopped allowing myself to imagine I would ever hear. “Why?” I had to pause and cough as my throat suddenly filled with cobwebs. “What reason would Bri have for believing such a thing?”
“Arran’s behavior as of late. He has never been a stranger to the drink, but he has been drinking more than ever lately. And I have no seen him in the company of another woman in a long time. I do admit that he seems rather sad, but until Bri mentioned it, I dinna put it up to being from a broken heart.”
It was hard for me to imagine Arran drinking more than he already did. The very day Arran had sent me away from him, he’d said he would soon share his bed with another. If he had not, perhaps Eoin was right. It filled me with a hope I could scarcely allow meself to believe without proof of his feelings.
“Has he told ye that he loves me, Eoin? If he did, surely he would have told his own brother. Ye have always been his closest friend, and now that ye are married to Bri, what would have been the harm in him expressing his feelings to ye?” Rising from my crouched position on me knees, I stood, feeling the need to move about the room, the rush of mixed feelings making the space suddenly seem too small.
“No, lass, he hasna told me, but I think Bri may be right. There was something that happened shortly after our wedding that should have warned me of his feelings for ye.”
I paused in front of the fireplace, keeping my back toward him, reluctant to allow him to see my eyes slowly filling with tears. “Aye? What happened?”
“There was a small fire set after the wedding that I was required to attend to, leaving Bri alone in our bedchamber. When I returned, I found Bri pinned to the wall outside of our bedchamber, with her dress falling below her breasts and Arran kissing her quite madly.”
I spun, my desire to hide my emotions suddenly forgotten. “What?”
“Aye, lass. I hit Arran, and he fell to the ground unconscious, and I threw Bri in the dungeon.”
I interrupted, unable to stop myself. “Ye threw me in the dungeon? On our wedding night!”
Eoin looked down at the floor. Someone else had clearly already reprimanded him for his actions. “I dinna throw ye in the dungeon, did I? It was Bri, but I doona wish to talk about it. It is no the point.”
“Aye, fine.” I smiled at him briefly, urging him to continue.
“Arran blamed his actions on having too much to drink, but no man, no matter how drunk, would kiss a woman in such a familiar way unless he’d already done so many times before.”
He quieted, and it was me turn to feel guilty. Regardless of how happy Eoin was with his new bride now, it was I who had been promised to him by me father, and I’d been unfaithful to him by the feelings I’d held for his brother.
“I’m sorry, Eoin. My behavior was disgraceful, and ye did nothing to deserve me betrayal of ye.”
“Ach, think nothing of it, lass. Ye and I were no meant for a marriage together. All I want now is for me brother to be happy and for ye to find happiness as well. If that is something that the two of ye may find together, ye have me every blessing. If ye still love him, Blaire, we’d like ye to return home with us.”
“Do ye truly believe he still loves me?” The words were already bubbling to the front of me mouth, but I wanted one more reassurance before agreeing to come home.
“Aye, I do. And Bri is certain of it. She’s a wise woman. I’ve yet to find her wrong in anything.”
“Then aye. I will come.”
“Well done, Eoin,”
Bri’s voice in the doorway startled us both, and we stood to welcome her back.
“I knew you could convince her to come without me. Now, let’s head to the castle. We’ve all been gone too long. Mother and Mary will both be in a tizzy.”
*
The wedding was arranged quickly. Only three days following his victory, Arran stood next to Edana in front of the crowd filled with his new clansmen. His brother would certainly be surprised upon his arrival back at home to find that he had moved away and now was a married laird. But Arran was sure he would be happy to have the security of having a guaranteed ally in the place of Ramsay’s former territory.
Their ceremony was coming to a close and, while he repeated the words asked of him, each promise made was made to the woman who owned his heart, not to the woman who stood beside him now. As he closed his eyes to kiss his new bride, it was Blaire’s face that he saw leaning into him.
Chapter 14
Tormod scooted further up the rock upon which he sat along the hillside cliff in an effort to avoid yet another spray from the ocean as the waves crashed upon the rocks. It was a cold evening and the water was freezing, just another reason he was thankful he and his fellow clansmen did not live in such close proximity to the ocean.