She wondered if anyone had ever looked at him and seen the loneliness beneath the steel.
“Maxwell,” she said softly.
He blinked, as if startled by the gentleness in her voice. “Lass.”
She stepped closer. “Thank ye.”
“For what?” he asked.
“For respecting Frederick. For speaking kindly of me.” She hesitated. “And for letting him see I am safe.”
He stared at her a moment, something unreadable flickering behind his eyes.
Then he inclined his head, almost a bow. “Ye are safe.”
She felt warmth bloom through her core again, and cleared her throat, lowered her gaze, then lifted it again with a small, uncertain smile.
“Me laird,” she said quickly.
He hesitated.
Then slowly nodded.
Ariella smiled and disappeared back inside the keep.
11
The knock on his study door that afternoon was sharp and quick.
Maxwell did not look up from the ledger in front of him. Ink blurred slightly where his quill had paused too long on one figure.
“Enter.”
The door opened. Finley stepped in, cloak damp at the hem, hair wind tossed, a folded scrap of parchment in his hand.
“A rider from the south road,” Finley said. “He was half dead from the speed he kept.” He lifted the parchment between two fingers. “This is for ye.”
Maxwell’s gaze dropped to the seal.
Hunter.
His jaw locked before he could stop it. “Leave it.”
Finley crossed the room anyway and set the letter on the desk. “He said he was told to put it in yer hand and nay other.”
“Ye have done that,” Maxwell said. “Go see that the man is fed.”
Finley did not move. “I will. After I ken what sort of fire this is going to stoke.”
Maxwell’s mouth thinned, but he broke the seal.
Ink slashed across the page in a hand he knew too well. Even before he read the words, he could feel the recklessness in the strokes, the frustration cramped into every line.
Brother,
Did you truly do it? Did you stand there and say the words the priest meant for me? Have you finally gone mad, or are you just that eager to tie me down by the neck?
I hear I am wed and did not even warm the lass’s hand. You would pick that way to steal my future.
