Ruth accepted the bundle. “Oh, but I want to be at the chapel with you.” She snuggled the babe close. It immediately quieted down.
Brighit glanced at her brother and clan members, her face tight with concern. “I’m not—”
Peter moved nearer to her. “Please, Brighit.” His voice was quiet. “Let it stand.”
Ruth and Martha shifted uncomfortably as if a fight was ensuing that they preferred not to be a part of. A marital argument. Brighit nearly gasped at the idea.
“No.”
Sean’s face lit up. “No? You don’t wish to be wed to this Norman?”
“This is not right,” Brighit said.
Tadhg came alongside her. “It is not up for discussion.” He glanced toward Sean. “You’ve had your say. She doesn’t have a choice. She’ll obey as she always does.”
Brighit’s teeth ground against each other. It was always the way of it. She was a good daughter. A good sister. She would do as she was told. A fuss was never stirred by her. She was obedient. Her jaw ached with the tension.
The other men were glancing toward each other. Toward Tadhg. Peter’s eyes were on her alone. Unwavering. Searching her face as if he could know what was in her mind. The inner corners of his eyebrows raised as if in sympathy. Almost as if he’d discovered her well-hidden anger and resentment. Warmth radiated through her chest. He recognized she was angry enough to spit.
When he dipped his head, she felt the loss of his sympathy. She’d felt less alone when she thought he understood.
He turned to Tadhg. “Would you give us a moment to speak alone?”
A loud eruption of objections bounced against the walls and the babe wailed again.
“He shouldn’t be alone with her.”
“She doesn’t know her own mind.”
“How can you think to force her into marriage?”
Without saying a word, Tadhg raised his hand and the hall full of men fell silent save for the child.
Ruth bounced the babe trying to quiet her down then with a shrug and a smile, she said. “I will go see to her.”
Tadhg watched her and the child leave before turning back to Peter. “We will remove ourselves so that you may speak.”
Objections arose again but Tadhg strode with purpose to the far side of the hall and his men followed.
Peter turned her to him. He was all she could see. He pulled her in close.
“None of that!” Sean said from the across the room.
Peter withdrew slightly but kept his hand at her waist, out of sight within her cloak.
“What vexes you so? That I will do this? Or that it comes from your brother rather than from me?”
The strike of a hammer on an anvil seemed to ring in her ears. He knew. He knew just how she was feeling. He knew exactly what bothered her.
“My lord,” Brighit said but he placed his warm hand against her cheek, immediately disorienting her.
Her eyes closed unbidden. His touch sent heat to every part of her. She opened her eyes. His smile was no less than the sunshine on her face. She sighed in defeat.
“Why do you not just tell them nothing happened?”
“They would not believe me. And something did happen. You know that.”
And if what they had both wanted had happened, if he had been less of a gentleman, they would be going through this anyway.
