My eyes widened. "I didn't realize you had such an opinion."
"I didn't. Not at first, at least. But you had plenty of time to do better, and you never did, and then you took haring off back to this—this?—"
"Hideaway?" I suggested, liking the term Mistress Baird had used, even if it did make me sound like a coward.
"Humph," Maggie replied.
"You're right, of course," I said, and smiled at Maggie's flustered huff. "Were the staff gossiping about me?"
Maggie looked down at the floor, her arms dropping so her fingers could tangle and twist. "A bit," she said softly, in such a way as to make it clear that the staff certainly was, and it wasn't just them.
"I see," I said, trying to ignore the nervous flutter in my belly, the warning ring in my ears that I was making some kind of mistake.
Maggie looked up, her lips pressed grimly together for a moment before she took a breath and spoke. "You're going to have to buck up your courage, milady. He'll need you soon enough, and Iknowno matter what else, you won't want to let him down."
My face flushed with heat as Maggie reached out and caught my limp hands and squeezed them once before releasing me and heading for my door.
"Thank you, Maggie. I appreciate your candor," I managed, and she offered me a grim smile before taking her leave.
She's right, I thought, but it didn't sound quite like my own voice. And it felt a bit like a stranger had just called me a coward.
Chapter Twenty-Four
TORION
The crackle of wheels on the brick was faint but sent me running out of the front door of the keep, nearly barreling into a young boy.
"Milord, they're coming?—"
"It's clear enough he knows that, Freddy, now get out of his lordship's way!" a maid called from inside.
I paid them no mind, my eyes tracking the carriage slowly approaching the keep, my feet nearly stumbling in my haste to get down the steps. It had been nearly a month since Brigid left the keep for her cottage, and even though I'd seen her there only a few days ago—the most recent of several regular visits—I was plenty eager to have her back here, even if it was only temporary.
Unless you can convince her to stay.
I shushed the thought, not wanting to raise my own hopes too high. Brigid was returning now out of a less than pleasant duty for us both, and the setting and company weren't likely to endear her to my goals of placing her back under my roof.
The carriage came to a rocking halt, and I shot a glare at the young porter, hurrying to beat him to opening the door. My poor staff had seen the worst of me over the past few weeks, my moods cycling through a morose sulk after my returns fromthe cottage, a sour temper midway through the week, and an impatient fervor in the day or so leading up to when I might leave again.
None of those moods were present as I opened the carriage door to find Brigid's face flushed and wearing a slightly harried expression as she eagerly leapt out and into my arms.
"I'm sorry I wasn't able to come myself," I said first.
"You'd only have been stuck with pins too," Brigid said, rising up on her toes. I held her too close, and her body pressed temptingly against mine, an unnecessary reminder that I'd spent three days without her touch. As if I wasn't counting the minutes.
"Pins?" I asked, head spinning from my omega's proximity. It was like being able to breathe again, I only smelled the clean air of the hills I loved when Brigid was close, her clear perfume turning the heady senses of the world back on for me.
"A carriage is not an ideal place for a final fitting, Alpha Feargus," a stern voice called from the carriage.
My arm tightened around Brigid's waist as she tried to pull away from me, but she pushed me back to the open door and I recalled my manners, offering my hand for the older woman. She waved me away, only leaning out and pinning Brigid with a direct stare.
"I must hurry on to my shop to complete the rest of the order now. I'll send it on when complete, and you'll let me know if anything needs…adjusted later on?"
Brigid nodded, her smile wobbling in a way that made me tense. "Thank you, Mistress Baird."
I opened my own mouth to echo Brigid, but the door snapped shut and a rap was heard from inside, the driver hurrying to obey.
"She seems like a formidable woman," I noted, and Brigid sighed and leaned into me as the carriage circled the drive. "How are you?"
