Granny? Suspicion perked all Gray’s senses to battle status. Both Granny and Trulie summoning him to the garden could only mean the two were up to something. He closed his eyes and rubbed his knuckles across his forehead. He had the distinct feeling that the pounding ache in his head was about to get a lot worse.
CHAPTER21
The pegged hinges of the wooden garden gate groaned as it creaked open. The iron latch clattered back into place as it shut. Someone had just entered the garden. Trulie didn’t have to turn to know it was Gray. Her body tensed as her senses shifted into high gear. No one else affected her that way, and up until their disagreement about the night of the fire, the ripple of energy had always been pleasant.
She wiped her damp palms across the folds of her dress and nervously shifted in place. Ever since the day of their disagreement, the flash of energy whenever Gray neared was more of a sting than an acknowledging caress. It was as though the energy slapped her, reprimanding her for not striving to make things right between them.
“Calm down, Trulie,” Granny said. “Jitters don’t solve anything.”
“I can’t exactly control the jitters.” Trulie clenched her teeth. It wasn’t like she had a switch she could flip to shut off her emotions.
A rush of yearning warmed her as Gray walked toward them. The set of his wide shoulders, the strength in his stride—a feast for her eyes and a balm for her soul. She wet her lips, hoping Granny’s plan would clear the tension between them. By the determined set of Gray’s jaw, he was wound as tight as she was. This had to work. If it didn’t, she didn’t know what would.
“Ye called.” Gray forced the words out as though the very act of showing up in the garden displeased him beyond measure.
Granny’s eyes narrowed and her thin lips flattened into a determined line.
Not good.Trulie glanced uneasily between Granny’s scowl and Gray’s thinly masked insolence. Gray was about to get hit with both barrels of a Granny tongue-lashing, and he was too wound up in his own little world to know it.
“I knew your mother,” Granny said as she slid her bent thumbs around the waist of her apron and spread her feet into battle stance. “If you took that tone with her, she would’ve thumped a knot on that hard head of yours.”
“Ye are not my mother,” Gray said before Granny finished speaking. His chin inched a bit higher and his narrowed eyes clearly showed what he felt about Granny’s revelation.
“I may not be your mother”—Granny’sI have had enough of your attitudetone shifted into warp drive—“but you are going to listen to what I have to say and you’re going to listen good. I’m tired of Trulie moping around this place because you’re so wrapped up in what you think you know and how you think things should be. The two of you should be planning your life together, but instead, you’re damned and determined to drown yourself in your past. You’re too thickheaded to realize what’s for your own good. How can you be a good chieftain when you walk around with your head so far up your ass?”
Trulie covered her mouth and held her breath. If Gray’s face turned any redder, he would burst a blood vessel.
“Out of respect for Trulie ... and yerself,” he said, in a growled warning, “I shall overlook yer insults.”
“Hmpf.” Granny blew out an unimpressed huff of air. “Don’t do me any favors.” She jabbed a bony finger at the reflecting pool centered in the garden. “If you think you can yank yourself away from wallowing in self-pity for five minutes, I have something I think you should see.”
Again, Trulie glanced at Granny and then back to Gray. The man’s stance said he was thoroughly infuriated. If he clenched his fists any tighter, the corded muscles in his arms were going to snap. Had Granny pushed him too far? Trulie hugged herself against the nauseating roll of her butterfly-filled stomach.Please don’t leaveechoed over and over in her mind.
“Ye go too far, old woman.” His tone rang with cold deadly warning. He eased forward with the smooth, lethal ease of a predator about to lunge. “I could banish ye for such disrespect against the MacKenna.”
“Then do it,” Granny said. She threw out her chest and squared her narrow shoulders. “Or show me how wise your mother raised you to be by learning from what I am about to reveal.”
The man’s furious, unblinking stare slid back to Trulie.
“Please,” she whispered, her clasped hands begging him to try.
The corner of his mouth twitched. His frosty glare seemed to thaw a degree or two. “Proceed,” he finally barked.
* * *
It tookevery ounce of self-control Gray had ever known to keep from stomping out of the garden. Damn that old woman and her disrespectful tongue. If any of his clan had witnessed her behavior, he would have been forced to oust her from the keep permanently. he swallowed hard and allowed himself another glance at Trulie. The soft yearning in her eyes made them glisten wet with pleading. He would do it for her, go through whatever ridiculous ritual the old woman seemed hell-bent on doing. But he only did it for Trulie.
“Over here, Gray.” Granny pointed to a moss-framed flagstone close to the low rock wall surrounding the reflecting pool. “Stand right there.”
Aggravation pounded through him with every beat of his heart. The old woman spoke to him as though he were a mere lad. Thank the gods it was just the three of them within the privacy of the garden. With one long stride, he moved to the spot Granny indicated.
“And you stand here.” Granny nodded to Trulie and motioned to a spot beside Gray.
Trulie’s pallor concerned Gray. She looked decidedly unwell. A twinge of guilt twisted through him. The strain of the last several days had not been easy on his lady love either. He stared down at the water, wrestling with his conscience. It was not his fault, he silently argued. If only the lass had seen that terrible night, she would understand why he felt as he did.
Granny turned toward the outer gate. “Tamhas, you may enter now. They are both ready.”
“What game is this?” Gray bared his teeth at Tamhas’s aloof expression. Surely, the old demon didn’t side with the women? Lore a’mighty, the man’s own beloved sister had died in that fire.
