There was a stunned silence. Everyone in the room exchanged uncertain glances, except for Betty and Kenneth, who looked at one another with a secret smile Magnus did not appreciate. Kenneth looked altogether too pleased with himself.
“I will add that there is nay question about the lady’s honor havin’ been compromised. Nothin’ has, nor could have, taken place between us, save for her asking for me help.”
Magnus studiously avoided looking at the long dining room table behind the assembled company, trying his best to push out of his mind the image of Leah on her back, her tongue in hismouth, and her quick, uneven breathing as he ground his hips against hers.
He looked at her father, who appeared to be the only man in the hall who was not yet convinced of the proceedings.
“I will take her as me wife, and that will be the end of things,” Magnus stated, giving the Earl such a fierce glare that the man finally took a step back.
“Me wife will kill ye for makin’ her miss her best friend’s wedding,” MacIrvin said, looking genuinely worried as he contemplated having to deliver the news.
Magnus snorted. “Better that than Lady MacIrvin having to travel to England to watch her friend marry a man older than her faither,” he snarled, shooting the Earl another glare for good measure.
Finally, he turned to Kenneth. “Inform the council as swiftly as possible of the news and ensure they’ll be present at the wedding tomorrow. They have hounded me enough to take a bride, the least they can do is watch me wed her.”
Betty walked forward before anyone else could comment, muttering under her breath. “I must fetch the gown I picked out for her. I chose the best color, I must say.”
Magnus sighed heavily. “What are ye mitherin’ about, woman? Ye didnae even ken she would be here, how can ye have her dress picked out already?”
“Och, silly boy,” Betty chided, “I told ye months ago that she was on her way. It isnae me fault that ye didnae bring her as quickly as I expected. It’s pale blue—it’ll look bonnie with that head of hair.”
Magnus could only shake his head in disbelief as the other occupants of the room stared at her in confusion.
The healer motioned to Iona, who came forward to take her arm.
“Come, dear. We have much to prepare for. How I have waited for this day.”
Leah was unsure how long she had been sitting, staring into the fire, when a knock sounded at the door. Expecting Katie, she went to the door, but she took a step back in shock when she found Oskar waiting outside.
“Can I come in, lass?” he asked, glancing up the corridor as though concerned he was being watched.
“Of course,” she said quietly.
He ducked beneath the entryway and crossed the room to stand beside the fireplace. “I wouldnae like yer Laird to see me comin’ to yer chambers alone at night. He might kill me before I had a chance to explain.”
Leah frowned. “Explain what?”
Oskar cleared his throat a couple of times before continuing, but his eyes were very dark and sad as he looked at her.
“We both ken this isnae what ye planned when ye hid from yer faither. I dinnae ken why ye didnae ask for me protection instead—ye must have kenned Daphne would do anythin’ for ye.”
Leah shook her head. “I didn’t want to pull you into my problems. It is not your fight, Oskar, and with Evander just born, I didn’t want Daphne to have to worry about me as well.”
He sighed, some of the tension leaving his shoulders. “Aye, well, that makes sense, I suppose. But ye ken that ye are always welcome in me castle.”
Leah nodded, trying to fathom where he was going with this.
Oskar stepped forward, no more than five feet away from her, but his bulk blocked out much of the firelight.
“Is he forcin’ ye into this, lass?” he asked, his voice low and threatening in a way she had not heard before. “I’ll kill him if that’s the case, the battles it might bring upon me clan bedamned. If I came back and Daphne heard I had done nothin’ while ye were coerced into marriage, she’d kill me herself.”
“No, Oskar,” she said quickly. “I promise, he has not forced me.”
“Ye’re sure?” he asked, taking another step forward.
For a fleeting moment, he looked as though he planned to take her hand, before he thought better of it.
She shook her head, feeling a smile tug at her lips as she thought back to Magnus’s fierce countenance in the carriage and all that had passed between them since then.
