“Who would have thought an English lass would be the solution to all our problems?” Kenneth mused.
“What do ye mean?” Magnus asked, turning to face him.
“The council are content, ye have a bride. The clans are content, ye have an alliance. Laird Gibson has left yer wedding without a suspicious move. It seems we have come to peace, at last.”
Magnus nodded, looking out the gated entrance to the castle at the lands beyond. They seemed rather greener and more beautiful this morning. Perhaps he was seeing them through the eyes of his new bride—she did tend to see beauty in everything.
“Aye. So the council is content?” Magnus asked skeptically. “I take it I will be able to avoid another meetin’ where I must explain every second of me day to them, then?”
Kenneth clapped him heartily on the shoulder. “Whatever gave ye that idea, M’Laird? They are waitin’ for ye as we speak.”
Magnus sighed. “Of course, they are.”
They made their way back inside, even as Magnus wished he could face his councilmen alongside his new bride.
CHAPTER 20
Magnus suppressed a yawn.
Mortimer and one of the more senior members of the council were debating a minor land dispute between two families. They had already dissected Magnus’s choice of bride, congratulated him on the wedding, and expressed their satisfaction that Lord Burton hadleftthe castle, but inexplicably, they were still talking.
Magnus longed for a whittling knife and a branch to carve. It might distract him from his desire to flip the table on its end and tell them all to leave.
Perhaps a swim would shake the feeling of melancholy that had settled in his chest.
He had a new wife, whom he had deliberately agreed to keep at arm’s length to ensure she was happy, yet now he was desperate to see her. They had only been apart for less than an hour, and healready wished to know her opinion on the council meeting and bemoan the constant prattling of the men around the table.
As if his mind had conjured her against his will, the somber murmuring of the men in the room was interrupted as the doors opened and Leah stepped into the hall.
Once again, she seemed surprised that Magnus was in a meeting. However, he was gratified to see that her presence had the desired effect.
Slowly, the men began to clear away their papers, and Mortimer gave her another warm smile that Magnus wanted to wipe off his face. He felt even angrier when she returned it, fixing his gaze on Mortimer.
Objectively, Mortimer was a handsome man, his blonde hair swept back from his face, clean-shaven and tall enough. Magnus frowned at him, and Mortimer paused tucking away his papers as he caught him staring and raised his eyebrows at him.
“Is everything alright, M’Laird?” he asked. “Perhaps ye have another matter of business ye needed to discuss?”
“Nay!” Magnus replied hurriedly, standing up and ushering them all out of the room. “I shall speak to me bride.”
Leah looked over at him, her hand coming up to push her unruly hair from her face. “I am sorry,” she mumbled, looking overat the men as they filed out. “I didn’t mean to interrupt the meeting.”
Magnus waved a hand at her. “It is a blessin’,” he said solemnly as the last of the men filed out and they were finally alone.
“I have been meetin’ with your housekeeper,” she admitted, brandishing another piece of paper before her. He wondered if she ever spoke to anyone without taking notes. “She has been most helpful but has explained to me that you tend not to entertain much.”
Magnus grunted and gave her a meaningful look. “And that’s the way things shall stay.”
“You can’t expect me never to see my friends. Katie must visit, as must Daphne, Oscar, and Evander. They should be able to come and see us.”
“Us? That can be reserved for yer castle, lass. This one doesnae receive visitors.”
Leah’s brow furrowed at his words, and she lowered the paper in her hand to her side, looking disappointed.
Magnus went over to the fireplace and poked at the logs, suddenly feeling annoyed and tired. It was not entirely down to his own choosing that the castle received no visitors, after all. After Elizabeth’s death, they had come under attack from Gibson’s men, and Magnus had been embroiled in years of war.
He had started to believe that war and the heat of battle was all he was good for. He certainly hadn’t had any time to make friends.
He had no close acquaintances outside of the castle walls, and, until now, he had been quite content with that.
