“How’s he handling it?” he asks after I end the call.
“As well as can be expected when your only daughter is kidnapped and forced to marry the son of your sworn enemy,” I say dryly.
“Given that said daughter was in the process of stealing the most precious thing the MacTavish Clan owns, I find it rather gracious,” he shoots back.
I’m dying to ask him what was in that case. What could possibly doom both families? But then I’d have to admit that I don’t know what I stole. That, I cannot abide.
Crivvens - Scottish slang for Oh, my God!
Chapter Sixteen
In which we learn that, "The sky is blue, the sun is yellow and the Blackwoods are arseholes."
Dougal…
I carry my despondent bride out to the terrace, seating her in a comfortable chaise lounge with a stack of books and a blanket, but she just stares bleakly down the road leading away from the lodge.
Of course, she would attempt to escape. I’d expected it, and she is going to get the spanking of a lifetime when she’s feeling better. My cunning wife disguised her trail well enough that finding her took most of the day and night. For one moment, when I looked down into the ravine at her still, pale face, my heart nearly stopped as I thought I’d lost her.
So it’s possible that I might be feeling softer toward her than I usually would have with such a flagrant display of disobedience.
“Where the hell is Lachlan?” Cormac says crossly when we all get on the encrypted video call.
“Lachlan?” I say sardonically, “The vicious but happy lad with a love of violence and a penchant for women of dubious morals?”
Cormac growls as Cameron laughs. “Shut it. We’ve got work to do here.”
“Don’t let Dougal here poison you with his negativity,” Lachlan shows up on screen, “he’s just bitter because out of the four of us, he’s the only one not getting laid.”
I make a mental note to falsify a doctor’s letter and send it to all his recent conquests, advising them to get tested for chlamydia with Lachlan’s “sincere apologies for his recklessness,” and assurances that he will happily pay for all their medical bills.
“Moving on,” Cormac sighs, “has your wife had a conversation with Blackwood yet?”
“Aye, just a few minutes ago. Isla understood the seriousness of this. It was the only way I got her to say ‘I do’ in the first place.”
“Oh, was that it?” Lachlan asks innocently, “I thought it was because you had her pinned down on the couch.”
“Ya’ do realize you will come within punching distance quite soon, little brother?” The insolent bastard just laughs. “Back to the call. Blackwood was very angry and, I suspect, heartbroken.”
“After everything that son of a bitch has done this week?” Cameron says, outraged.
“Imagine how you’d feel if someone carried off Sorcha, whatever the reason,” Cormac intervened, “And I don’t recall your wife skipping to the altar, Cameron.”
The rest of us laugh at Cameron’s discomfort because that’s the sort of arseholes we are.
“Moving on,” I say, “Isla was quite convincing, asking him to halt the hostilities. She told him that she didn’t want any of their men to die for her.”
“Good!” Cormac nods, rubbing his eyes again. I suspect becoming the mighty Chieftain of the MacTavish Clan hasn’t come with a single night’s full sleep, especially with the twins.
“Blackwood said something odd, though. When she was talking about the threat to their future, he said, ‘Diamonds don’t burn.’ Does that make sense to anyone?”
Cameron leans forward with a frown, “Well, they make most of their legitimate money from their diamond business.”
“Aye,” I agree, “the way he said it though… Do you think he means the item?”
“It would be mad to touch it,” Cormac says “but it depends if losing his daughter is unhinging the man. When his oldest was killed, by all accounts it nearly broke him. Especially after losing his wife.”
“You’re not tryin’ to make Blackwood all sympathetic now, are ya’?” Lachlan says crossly. “The sky is blue, the sun is yellow and the Blackwoods are arseholes. Don’t go shaking up my worldview.”
