“Ach, nay more talk aboutthat,” muttered Angus, but Artan and Old Meg ignored him.
“That lass had ne’er e’en been properly kissed ere ye stomped into her life,” Old Meg told Artan. “She wouldnae have understood lust. Nay, she would have run from the fire in innocent confusion, especially if she didnae have any true feelings for ye. But she didnae run, did she? Nay, she jumped right into that fire with both feet. Of course she has feelings for ye, fool, and ’tis why she is so desperate to be a perfect wife for ye. As I watch Cecily now, I can almost hear the lectures Anabel gave her. Talks of duty, submissiveness, and all of that. Near every day the woman lectured the poor lass.”
“Mayhap I should return to Dunburn now and get some retributions,” Artan said, his voice hard and low.
“’Twould take weeks,” said Angus, “and ye need to do something about our Sile now.”
Artan nodded even though he had no idea what to say to his wife. He had no skill at discussing feelings, certainly not his own, and he suspected he would need to talk about how he felt as well. He was strongly tempted to wait and see if Cecily pulled out of this strange mood on her own or call upon his sisters for help. Inwardly, he shook aside those ideas. They were born of cowardice. They would also not work as well as a little honesty between him and Sile. He just wished he had some skill at wooing and speaking the sort of soft words a woman liked.
“I wish ye would cease looking as if I had just asked ye to cut off your own leg,” muttered Old Meg.
“That might be less painful,” he drawled, and briefly grinned at the look of feminine disgust she gave him. “I will do it, Meg, dinnae fear about that. I just cannae be sure I will do it verra weel. I have little skill at wooing.” He felt himself blush faintly beneath the intent look she gave him.
“Nay, I suspicion ye havenae needed any.”
“’Twould sound vain if I were to agree with ye.”
Old Meg shrugged. “’Tis just the truth. All that doesnae matter. Cecily isnae like one of those lasses ye took your ease with in the past. Best ye start thinking of what ye can say that will make her understand that she doesnae need to be anything but what she truly is.”
Artan nodded and left the room. He needed to go for a ride, a hard, fast ride. He always thought better when he rode, and he needed to do a lot of hard thinking now. It would not be easy to get his Sile back, and he was far too aware of the fact that he lacked the proper skills to fight this battle. He wished his sister and her husband lived nearer to Glascreag. Liam Cameron was a man who knew well how to woo a lady. Sweet words tripped off the man’s tongue with ease. Artan had not really envied that skill until now.
Once on the back of Thunderbolt, Artan gave the horse its head. He rode hard for several miles, letting the wind and the rhythm of his steed clear his mind. When he finally reined in, coaxing the horse into a slower pace, Artan looked around to mark where he was and realized he was nearly at the eastern border of Glascreag lands. He smiled and idly patted his mount’s neck. Thunderbolt might be getting old, but he still had the ability to take a man far and fast.
“Good mon,” he murmured, turning the horse and letting the animal amble back in the direction of the keep and the warm stables. “Take your time, lad. I need to think. If only a woman could be as simple to ken as a good horse.” He laughed softly when Thunderbolt snorted and shook his head. “Aye, I ken that I would soon tire of that.”
Artan was halfway back to the keep but no closer to having a plan when he espied his cousin Bennet. The man hailed him and rode up to him to fall in at his side. At first Artan resented this intrusion, but then decided it could prove useful. With his golden hair and blue eyes, Bennet never lacked for a woman’s attention. Although Artan had never noticed that the man had any great skill with soft words and flatteries, Bennet had to be doing something right to make so many women smile.
“What are ye doing riding about all alone and somber when ye have such a bonnie wife at home?” asked Bennet.
“’Tis my bonnie wife who has caused me to be out here ambling along like an old mon.”
“Ah, ye have made her angry, have ye?”
“Nay, not for days, and therein lies the problem.”
Bennet frowned in confusion. “I must be particularly witless today for I dinnae see the problem. Ye dinnae like the fact that your wife isnae angry at you?”
“I am nay an easy mon to live with.” Artan waited patiently for his cousin to stop laughing before he continued, “For my wife to be all sweet and smiling for so long just isnae right. She is too sweet, too obedient, too virtuous. She obeys my every command and rushes to see to my every need.”
“Most men would be on their knees thanking God for the gift of such a wife, especially a virtuous one.”
“Weel, I didnae mean I thought she ought to be smiling a welcome to every mon she sees,” Artan snapped.
Bennet nodded. “Ye mean too virtuous in that she has all the fire and life of a dead herring.”
Artan knew he was blushing for he could feel the faint heat of it in his cheeks. Even though he would like nothing better than to wipe that big grin off his cousin’s face, swiftly and violently, he ignored it. He needed to get his Sile back, and despite all Old Meg had advised, he still had no real idea of how to do that. It galled him to admit it, but he needed help. A lot of help.
“Sile has turned herself into the perfect wife, or what that bitch Anabel told her a perfect wife should be.”
“Why would Sile heed anything that woman ever said?”
“Just because the woman turned out to be a conniving bitch who cared naught for the child in her care doesnae mean every word she uttered was a lie. And we both ken how some training can get a deep hold on a person. Old Meg says this is all because Sile needs to part of a family.”
“Sheispart of a family. Our family.”
“I didnae say it made any sense. Old Meg says Sile is doing this because I didnae make it clear that I liked my lass just as she was—all spit and fire. Sile is wearing herself to the bone trying to make herself perfect.”
Bennet nodded. “Aye, she has looked weary of late. So tell her ye like her as she is.”
