“What ye have done this night just might be.” Leith did not really want to think that Parlan might have done Aimil a favor.
“Nay. T’will depend upon how badly Rory wants her or what is to be gained through the marriage.”
“I cannae give ye an answer to either of those.”
Parlan swore and ran his hand through his hair, unable to conceal his agitation. “I cannae allow this marriage.”
“Ye cannae allow it?” Leith glared at the man. “Ye are a MacGuin nae a Mengue. ’Tisnae your place to allow or to disallow.”
“Aye, but ’tis I who hold her now.”
“She is to be ransomed. T’was said ye would send word to my father on the morrow.”
“Ransoming can be a difficult business,” Parlan drawled, quickly putting together a plan. “A lot of haggling may need doing. Could take a verra long time.”
“Rory may wait.” Leith found himself uncomfortably allied with Parlan to stop Aimil’s marriage to Rory.
“Aye, and he might weel expose himself as the depraved bastard he is. Surely your father would stop the marriage then?”
“I cannae say,” Leith reluctantly admitted. “Since she first showed signs of womanhood, he has been blind to her existence. I was meaning to speak to him on the marriage, but your brother captured Aimil and me. Rory’s uncle, James, and my father were like brothers. They both wanted the families joined in marriage. James died twa years back naming Rory as his heir. That could make my father all the firmer in his decision.”
“God, a promise to a dear friend now dead. They are the hardest to change. Does Aimil favor Rory?” Parlan asked.
“Nay, she says she doesnae even like him. T’was why I meant to speak to my father. The way things stand between Aimil and my father, however, it could make him push all the harder for the marriage.” Leith spoke with weariness weighting his voice for he did not have the strength to wrestle with such problems.
“Why? What did the girl do to turn Lachlan against her?”
“She grew up. Aye, ye may weel look puzzled but there isnae any other explanation. She was his favorite. He took the pair of us everywhere. Then, one night she wore a new gown that revealed her budding woman’s figure and he has turned a cold side to her ever since. None of us kens why, and my father offers no answers.”
“There must be a way,” Parlan growled as he started toward the door.
“Weel, I will be verra glad to hear of it if ye find it.”
“If there isnae another way, I will wed the cursed wench myself,” he snapped, and left abruptly, leaving Leith staring after him in stunned surprise.
Chapter Five
Lagan entered Parlan’s chambers after a terse “Enter” had answered his knock. He shut the door and looked at the bed with raised brows for Aimil still slept there. It was rare that a woman was in Parlan’s bed come the morning. Parlan would take his fill of the woman and then sleep alone. It was a habit Lagan could not recall the man breaking before without having had too much drink. Lagan leaned against the bed post and eyed Parlan who was shaving.
“Shouldnae ye at least give the poor lass a pillow for her head?”
Drying off his face, Parlan strode to the side of the bed. “I have put her head on a pillow three times, but she moves off it.”
“Strange she didnae wake when ye did so.”
“I think the bed could collapse about her and she would sleep through it. I even put her shirt on after I awoke and she never even blinked.”
“Sure she still lives?” Lagan teased.
Parlan grinned. “Aye, though I did wonder at first. Never seen a person sleep so sound. Only able to rouse her once during the night”—he ignored Lagan’s mockingly sympathetic noise—“and she was certainly with me in body but, after she fell asleep again so quickly and so deeply, I began to think she never really woke up. I will be curious to see if she remembers the incident.”
“Ye dinnae think something ails her, do ye?”
“I never thought on that. I will ask her brother,” Parlan said even as he strode from the room.
While he was gone, Lagan studied the girl. She was flat on her back with her legs and arms flung out. Her long fingers were lightly curled toward her upturned palms in a soft childlike gesture. Nearly obscured by her mass of hair which seemed to fill each empty space on the bed, her face was turned sideways. Lagan had reached the decision that she really was quite lovely when Parlan returned.
“When he could stop laughing, Leith said she does this when she has overworked herself.”
