‘Lady Arabella,’ he said, slowing his horse’s pace so that there was some distance between them. ‘I would speak privately with you.’
When her maid glanced back across that growing space, the lady waved her off. The lass matched his horse’s gait and they rode for a short time in silence as he tried to choose his words more carefully than he had earlier. Once again, she saved him.
‘Sir...Brodie,’ she began quietly without looking at him. ‘I have been raised to carry out my duty for my family. Marrying whoever is named as the next chieftain of your family is that duty. And I will carry it out, no matter my personal feelings on the matter. I assume you will do the same?’ Her blue eyes rose until they locked with his.
‘I will carry out my duty,’ he said, nodding. Brodie could not be certain what his personal feelings were on the matter when she stared at him so, but later he would sort through it all. For now...
‘Lady Arabella, I...’ He stumbled over the words he now wanted to say. ‘I should not have said such things about you.’
‘Did you mean it? About needing cattle or horses more than me?’ she asked. Neither her tone nor her expression gave away her feelings on his words.
‘Do you wish to hear the truth?’
‘I prefer the truth. I hear so little of it.’
‘Aye, we need more cattle.’
Silence sat between them, but neither looked away.
‘Then the good thing about getting a wife is that she’ll be bringing the gold with which you can buy more cattle.’
The lass shifted in her saddle then, he could tell she was going to move away. Brodie reached out and touched her hand. She startled at the contact of their skin yet did not pull away.
‘Aye. But I still should not have said that.’
‘Aye,’ she agreed as she lifted her hand from beneath his and gathered the reins. ‘You should not have.’
Now, as she rode towards where the others were, he laughed aloud for the first time in a very long time. Arabella glanced back and nodded at him, wearing the first genuine smile he’d seen on her face.
There was more to this lass than he had thought. Mayhap marrying her, if he had to, would not be so bad at that?
Chapter Three
Malcolm approached the table, making his way through the crowd of Mackintoshes gathered for the meal. More than once, she noticed that he stopped to speak to one or another young woman. Her brother had that effect on women. Tall and handsome, he drew many an eye as he moved on towards the dais. He smiled at her as he took his place next to her.
‘So, two more days and we will be gone from this place,’ he whispered to her as his cup was filled by a very attentive and buxom serving woman.
‘Two more days and, aye, we leave,’ she said. ‘I, however, will be brought back to remain here for ever in a few short months.’ He stared at her, perusing her face and then her eyes.
‘Are you unwilling to marry here? Have you changed your mind?’ He lifted her chin and narrowed his gaze. ‘Tell me the truth.’
This was the only person with whom she could share her true feelings. They’d shared their mother’s womb and spent much of their lives together since their birth.
‘Willing or not, I will do what is expected of me. You know that,’ she whispered. ‘I just wish I knew more about the two of them. I wish I had more time. I wish...’
She stopped. Her wishes meant nothing in the negotiations or what would come after it. Her throat burned with unexpected tears and she lifted her cup and drank some of the ale to wash them down.
‘What can I do to ease your burden and your worries, sister mine?’ She knew he would help her, if he could.
‘Marry the one selected as tanist?’ she suggested. Malcolm laughed loudly at the inappropriate comment, loudly enough to draw attention. Her aunt frowned a warning, the one that meant her behaviour was unseemly.
‘Think not that I shall escape a marriage bargain like yours,’ Malcolm said. ‘If there had been a daughter, have no doubt that I would have been offered like the sacrificial lamb that you are.’ He leaned in and added, ‘And think not that I can avoid being sold to the next highest bidder.’
Someone, one of his friends, called out his name and Malcolm emptied his cup before leaving her side. At the last moment, his expression grew serious.
‘Truly, is there aught I can do to ease your mind on this marriage and the bargain made?’
‘Find out what manner of men they are.’
