“Where were yethis day?” Liadan asked as soon as Ardahl entered the hut at nightfall. “I came to the training field at noontime hoping for—well, hoping. Ye were no’ there.”
He slid his gaze over her, head to toe, intimate as a touch. If he ever looked at her that way out in the open, they would be undone. “I met wi’ the chief and Dornach for a time. Then I was assigned to the border.”
“The border? Which one?”
“The west.”
The west. From whence trouble might well come at any time.
Ardahl set his weapons beside the door. “Where is my mam?”
“Here.” Mam stuck her head out from one of the sleeping places. “I ha’ saved your supper.”
“I will go and wash.”
Liadan followed him because she could do nothing else. She stood up against the wall of the hut with her hands tucked behind her so she could not touch. Just to be near him.
Her gaze followed his every movement as he stripped down. She had kissed him there. Andthere. And—
The taste of him flooded her tongue, and her heart beat so hard, it shook her whole body.
“Ye sat in wi’ the chief?” she asked, in an effort to distract herself.
“And his advisors.”
“Are ye one o’ his advisors now?”
He stopped splashing long enough to look up at her. “I am no’ certain what I am.”
“Fearghal holds ye in some esteem, despite—despite everything.”
“He is trying to decide how to handle the present situation wi’ Dacha and Brihan.”
“Aye, so. Will ye go to war?”
“’Tis possible.”
“Ardahl. How will I bear it?”
He shook his head, and his plaits—the same she had fastened that morning—beat upon his broad back like the traces on a pony.
“I spoke wi’ Brasha today.”
“Ye what?”
“I challenged her about her feelings for Conall. The woman is a—Well, I know but one word for that, and I will no’ speak it.”
Ardahl gave a harsh laugh. “I did try to warn him—Conall. He would hear none o’ it. She besotted him.”
“I believe she had a reason. That she and Cathair are indeed in it together. I just canna tell how.”
Ardahl said nothing.
“If they had some scheme to ruin ye, it must be driving them half wild to see ye so close to the chief now. D’ye think that is why Cathair told ye to watch your back?”
“I have little doubt.” He began to dry off.
Liadan stepped forward and took the cloth from him, then finished the task tenderly, running it over his bare chest and arms.
