“I’m certain that I want to get to ken ye, so we both ken marrying is what we want. I am nae here to toy with ye or play ye for a fool. I willna make ye think I’m interested only to ride away. I hope we suit. I want to find out if we do. I’m already yer friend. I hope to one day be more.”
“I hope so too.”
Magnus’s long legs bracketed Saoirse’s under the table. She rested her hand on his knee for a moment before pulling it away. She was more brazen that morning than she’d ever been. She couldn’t imagine doing that to any other man, but it felt right with Magnus.
“I should head back. I ken they’ll wonder why I didna go to the lists. I havenae seen Siùsan, so she probably already returned to the keep.”
“Aye. I have herbs to hang to dry and a few people to check on. Will ye walk with me?”
“I’d like that.”
They made their way back to the gate, but as they approached, they spied Callum, Alex, Tavish, and Mòr leaving the lists. Magnus and Saoirse glanced at each other before Saoirse went through the gate ahead of him. He hung back a minute before making his way to the men.
“Where’d ye disappear to?” Callum asked.
“I chatted with ma sister then found her gifts for her saint’s day.” Magnus realized Saoirse still had the candles. He knew the moment she remembered because he could see her behind Callum and Alex. Her hand went into her basket as she turned back toward him. But she decided it was better not to approach him. She dipped her chin, then hurried toward a storage building.
“Dinna outdo me, lad. I willna appreciate ma wife liking yer gift better than mine.”
Tavish rolled his eyes. “We all ken she likes yer gifts the best. How ye dinna have ten weans is beyond me.”
“Ye’re one to talk.” Mòr elbowed Tavish.
“We dinna have any more children than the rest of ye. Mairghread’s the one with the most at four. We each have three.” Tavish stood with his hands on his hips.
“That isnae what I meant. Everyone kens when Ceit loves ye and when ye irritate her. Ye’re nae discreet either.”
“I irritate her because she loves it when I make it up to her.” Tavish waggled his eyebrows. Óg listened to the brothers banter with one another. Riding into battle for the first time hadn’t made him feel as much like a man as when the four brothers allowed him to listen to their teasing about each other’s prowess with their wives. He realized he would never join in if he married Saoirse. The four of them were more likely to murder him. It made him wonder what other strains it might put on his relationships with the men he most admired.
“Callum, I got ma sister some candles and a brooch. I dinna want to do aught to get in the way of the gifts ye—the ones we can ken aboot.” He pretended to look disgusted since it was his sister Callum jested about.
“She’ll like that. But I think the best gift is ye being here. She’s worried aboot ye and Seamus. If it werenae for the sicknesses going around, she would have visited ye.”
“I ken. But I was rarely at the keep, anyway. I’ve missed her too.” Óg watched as Siùsan left the kitchens and spotted the men. She approached and slipped her arm around Callum’s waist.
“Ma bonnie temptation.” Callum leaned over to kiss Siùsan, and Óg wondered if one day he would greet Saoirse the same way, and if she would one day greet him by sliding her arm around him.
“Óg, Liam’s in the solar if ye wish to talk to him.”
“Thank ye. I will.” Óg nodded to Siùsan and was about to turn toward the keep. “Ye may as well all come. I’ve already explained this once today. I dinna want to do it thrice.”
“Explain what?” Callum looked between Óg and Siùsan.
“How I pulled a noose from around ma neck.” Óg led the way to Liam’s solar. As they passed the men’s wives, he invited them to come. He just wanted this conversation over with. Fifteen minutes later it was. He slipped away as everyone stood in stunned silence.
* * *
Saoirse waited by the postern gate two days after sharing meat pies with Magnus in the market. They’d danced together that night and the last, but they’d had little chance to do more than chat between partners. She’d asked a maid to give Magnus the candles he bought for Siùsan. He was due to leave with several of her cousins for a sennight-long hunting trip, so when she mentioned she needed to go to the sea caves to collect algae, he offered to go with her. It would be their only chance to talk without hundreds of ears near enough to overhear.
“Torquil doesnae come up for a breath when he starts a story.”
“I ken.” Saoirse grinned as Magnus pushed the gate open. He nodded to the guard posted at the portal and looked back for Albert, or whoever would accompany them.
“I didna request a guard, Magnus.”
“Saoirse, yer da—”
“Kens ye’re a trained warrior. If he thought ye’d do aught to disgrace any woman in this clan, ye’d be dead or already back at yer family’s keep.”
