“A note!” Allie pulled back, gray eyes baleful, cheeks damp. “I was told you had drowned, and yet I felt nothing through our twin bond. Nothing! No sign at all that anything was amiss.”
“Allie, we have no twin bond.”
“We do!” She pointed a finger in his face. “I thought you gone, and it nearly sent me into an early grave!”
“Aye, that is true,” a man’s voice agreed.
Tristan lifted his head to see Ethan Penn-Leith walking toward them, Sir Rafe at his side.
“I feared for her health, she wasgreitingso,” Ethan continued.
As usual, Tristan’s brother-in-law appeared cheerful and ebullient, hisgreen eyes lit with bonhomie. The Scot had no sense of self-preservation, wearing every emotion on his face for all and sundry to see, particularly his devotion to Allie.
In short, Ethan reminded Tristan of an overly-exuberant puppy.
It was not a compliment.
“Exactly!” Allie pointed at her husband before turning back to Tristan. “And then, I received a paltry few sentences in a letter.” She placed her hands on her hips and parodied hisKendallvoice. “All is well, Sister. The reports of my demise were greatly exaggerated. Have a good life.”
Tristan chuckled. “It was hardlythatterse.”
“I read between the lines.”
“I said I loved you.”
“Details, Tristan. I needed details!” She smacked the back of one hand against the palm of the other. “How did you survive? Were you injured? How did Isolde fare? Instead, I had to wait for Hadley to arrive and tell me all.”
Tristan pulled Allie into his arms again. Over his twin’s head, he could see Isolde similarly hugging her younger sister with the rest of her family gathered around.
“I’m sorry, Allie.” He pressed a kiss to her hair. “I should have realized.”
“Yes, you should have.” Her words sounded muffled against his waistcoat. “But thank you for the apology. Marriage appears to have softened your Kendall-ness.”
“It has,” he confessed readily. “I heeded your advice.”
“Finally!” she said on a hiccupping laugh, tears brimming once more.
She stepped out of his embrace, digging for a handkerchief to wipe her eyes.
“I am glad tae see ye be well, Kendall,” Ethan said, taking his wife’s place in front of Tristan. “The world would have lost a brilliant light had ye perished.”
Trust the Highland Poet to have something grandiose to say.
And then, Ethan did the most astonishing thing of all—
He pulled Tristan in for a backslapping hug, a friendly expression of brotherly affection that Tristan had no recollection of ever beforereceiving.
Something of his amazement must have shown on his expression over Ethan’s shoulder, as Sir Rafe nodded in approval.
And Tristan realized.
Sir Rafe had invited Allie and Ethan, as well. And then excused himself from the drawing-room to fetch them. To ensure that—just as Isolde was surrounded by those she loved—Tristan would have his own family to greet him.
The gesture was . . . touching. Astonishing, even. To receive such thoughtful kindness—goodwill that was for his benefit alone. Particularly from a man he had assumed the worst of and always treated with disdain.
“Uffa!” Allie stared at her handkerchief in exasperation before tilting her head back in an attempt to staunch her tears. “I detest that I can’t stem this weeping!”
Ethan chuckled, tugging her into his arms. “Ye ken why that be, my love.”
