MacIrvin wore the same apologetic expression, but his eyes were dark and calculating as he looked Magnus over.
“There will be war,” he said simply as Magnus approached them. “If ye dinnae act now, ye are puttin’ yer clan in danger for the sake of a lass.”
“Are ye declarin’ war?” Magnus asked angrily.
“I’ll do what I must to protect the honor of me friend, the alliance be damned,” MacIrvin said, his eyes sorrowful but steely.
Magnus opened his mouth to demand that he explain himself further, but Burton was already advancing on him.
“I don’t care what you brutes are planning. My daughter is coming home with me and will marry the Marquess I have selected for her. If he will still have her, that is, after this mess she has created.”
“I cannae allow her to marry an old man she doesnae ken,” Magnus growled, his shoulders tensing up as he squared off against him.
The strength of his desire to protect Leah from that fate was greater than anything he had ever known. It was not just that he could not allow it; he could not even imagine losing Leah at all.
In such a short time, he had grown accustomed to her presence in his castle and enjoyed her company. The thought of her being taken from him and married off to a stranger—never seeing her again—was unbearable.
What is happening to me? I have lost all sense of reason because of the lass.
“Ye willnae take Leah anywhere,” he snarled.
“Lady Leahwill do as she is told, and you would do well to remember who her father is. What say do you have in what she can and cannot do? None!”
Magnus used his bulk to tower over the man and, with some satisfaction, saw the Englishman pale in the face of his fury.
“And ye will remember whose castle ye stand in, Lord Burton, and just what led her here in the first place!” he thundered.
“This is preposterous!” Burton bellowed. “I have never been so insulted in all my life as I have been in these accursed Highlands. MacIrvin, I will have my satisfaction. You shall see it done!”
All three of them stopped speaking abruptly, however, as someone cleared their throat delicately from the doorway.
“M’Laird?”
Magnus turned to see Betty standing there, looking entirely unphased by the near-brawl she had walked in on. The light from the window beside her gave her an ethereal look, and her robes billowed about her even though there was no breeze.
“What is it, woman?” he barked.
She bowed her head even as the Earl scoffed at Magnus’s rudeness. “I have seen to the lady. She will be quite well. She was merely overwhelmed with the stress of the situation. She needs rest and some food inside her, and she will be quite alright.”
Betty’s sharp eyes were not looking at Magnus; they were trained on Lord Burton, who, Magnus noted with interest, would not meet her gaze.
“I shall go to her,” Magnus said urgently.
He was desperate to see for himself that Leah was well and that she had recovered.
He had never felt so helpless as when he had watched all the color drain from her beautiful face. As she fell to the floor, he swore that his heart had stuttered. He had wanted to wrap her in his arms and never let her go.
The Earl spluttered a protest, and this time, it was Magnus’s turn to threaten him in anger.
“Just try and stop me. Either of ye,” he snapped, stalking back the way he had come.
Having woken up from an uneasy dream, Leah was now overcome with emotion as she sobbed in Katie’s arms. Her life and every hope she had clung to seemed to have been dashed to nothing. She felt sickened by the thought of yielding to her father’s demands and meekly following him back to London.
“It’s alright, Leah,” Katie said gently, running her fingers down her friend’s long hair. “It will work out for the best.”
“You cannot know that,” Leah cried despairingly. “I am such a fool.” She pulled away with an irritated groan, wiping her eyes in frustration. “I can’t remember the last time I fainted. Never from memory, and yet I have done it in front of my father and Laird MacWatt.”
Katie gave her a knowing stare and leaned back to look at her more closely. “And what, pray tell, does it matter what Laird MacWatt may think of you?”
