“Were ye still dressed as a lad when Seigine saw ye?”
Brighit hesitated the slightest bit, and said, “I was still dressed as a lad.”
Darragh nodded thoughtfully before asking, “Cathair used his hands to beat ye?”
Brighit nodded. Swallowing, she opened her mouth to continue but nothing came out, her eyes were wide with fear. Chagrined, Darragh poured her some mead from the carafe left for them on the chest. “Mayhap this will help ye.”
After one sip, she got up and ran behind the single screen to the chamber pot, retching loudly. The sweetness of the drink must have sickened her. In two strides, he was beside her, pulling the loose hairs away from her face and rubbing her back. “A ghráidh.Ye have been through much.”
“I will be fine.”
He heard the tears in her throat, but her face remained dry. He eased her back to sit down and brought her some water. “Mayhap this will be better, but drink it slowly.”
Settling down beside her, Darragh took her hand. “If this was something that could wait, I would say we could discuss it later but…” He turned wide eyes on her. “…ye have kept it to yerself for so long. ’Tis best ye tell yer story.” He kissed her forehead before looking into her eyes. “I believe ye will feel better after ye tell me what happened.”
Brighit nodded. “Cathair engaged me with his sword, laughing when I thought to fight back, but he quickly got the upper hand. I had no chance against him.”
“I was a lad he needed to put in his place. I didn’t think about how fast he could be, then he knocked me down and got on top of me. I couldn’t breathe.”
Darragh’s breath stilled, his mind imagining the scene as she described it. Her delicate body subdued by the huge warrior. No wonder she’d been afraid of Darragh. Mayhap it wasn’t even pain from her bruises that first night that had caused her to lash out, mayhap his size had simply reminded her of the beating and fearing for her life.
“He backhanded me. He wanted to know who had sent me.”
“He asked whosentye?” The man believed she had intentionally intruded on his land.
She nodded. “He wanted the name of my leader and said he wouldn’t get away again.”
Brighit sat gazing into the distance as if not seeing anything.
Darragh assessed her condition before he spoke, giving her his back. “Why would a single lad on Cathair’s land be of such great concern to him, Brighit?”
“I do not know.”
“A group of lads on his land could be cause for worry, and he would demand the name oftheirleader.”
She said nothing.
He closed his eyes to rid them of their moisture before facing her. “When ye feel ye can trust me with everything, we can talk. I will await ye below.”
“Darragh, I—”
“Do not.” He gave her his most scathing expression. “I made my decision about ye a long while ago. It is up to ye now to make yers about me.”
Once in the hall, he leaned back against the wall, feeling as if he’d been in a terrible battle. His insides ached and his eyes burned. How could he reach his wife if she refused to show herself to him?
The door was suddenly yanked open, and Brighit appeared in the frame, looking down the hall toward the stairs before turning to find him there beside her door. “I have made my decision. May I tell ye what I’ve done? And mayhap ye can help me know what I need to do?”
Chapter 24
Darragh sighed out his relief as he followed her back into their room. He helped himself to the mead and swallowed down the contents before facing her again.
She looked at him and dropped the thumb she’d been absently nibbling. “Ye know, don’t ye?”
She said it like a statement and Darragh was not about to argue with the truth.
“If ye refer to the fact that Niall took ye out with the other lads, including yer brothers, then aye, I had my suspicions.”
“Do not be vexed with them. Niall was hoping we would have a memorable adventure. Nothing more.”
