“Oh God”, Drust grumbled as Bren leaned in to kiss his wife again. “If the two of ye dinna stop looking so blissfully happy, I swear I’m going to lose the contents of my stomach!”
Bren was unfazed. “Jealous, are ye? Shall we find ye yer own wife, brother?”
“Nay!” Drust actually shuddered at the thought. “That’s the last thing I want, or need.”
“Suit yerself, though ye dinna ken what yer missing, little brother.” Bren grinned at him, taking another bite of his bread. “I’m taking Faith for a walk in the hills this morning. Ye can mind the castle, then, if ye’ve nay interest in courting a wife.”
Drust muttered something under his breath about men being led around by the ballocks by a woman, but didn’t object outright.
“Is he all right?” Faith asked when they had walked some distance away. Bren had his arm protectively around her waist, as if he was prepared to do battle should anyone so much as look at her.
“Drust? Oh aye, that’s just the way he is. He’s always been the dark and serious one.” He gave a little laugh. “I swear one of these days some woman is going to knock him right on his miserable arse and then bring him to his knees, and I canna wait to see it.”
Faith smiled at the incongruous image of Drust on his knees before a woman. “I hope so. He seems… unhappy. I wish there was something I could do.”
Bren fixed her with a dark look. “Ye belong to me, ye stay away from my brothers. From all other men, for that matter. I dinna want to have to kill anyone for touching ye, least of all my family.”
Faith returned his murderous look with one of exasperation. “I didn’t mean it like that.” She would have some work ahead of her to temper her husband’s jealous streak a bit, but for the most part, she found she didn’t mind his possessiveness. It made her feel safe, cherished. But she wouldn’t let it get in her way, either. “Drust is my brother by marriage now. I want him to be happy, and Iwillhelp him if I can.”
Bren heaved a sigh. He wouldn’t always be getting his own way with his new wife, that was apparent already. It was but a small concession to make for all he had in return. He could let her have her way... in some things, as long as he had his way in the bed chamber.
“Drust blames himself, I think, for what happened to our mother, even though it was long ago now. He was only fifteen years old. There wasn’t any way he could have defended her against so many armed men. But he canna see it for himself.”
“No, there wouldn’t have been. He would have been killed.”
“I’ve told him so, many times, but he canna seem to let it go. I think he believes he should have died that day, and perhaps a part of him did.” He shrugged. “I suppose he has to work things out for himself. We have all tried to help, but he willna have any of it.”
“And what about Eian?” she asked gently. “Was he there too?”
“Aye, he was there, but he was verra young. He tends to past wounds in quite the opposite way; by drowning himself in women and excess.” He gave her a wry smile. “Seems the better of the two methods, if ye ask me.”
“Hmmph. And what about you, Bren?”
He looked away from her, staring at the path ahead, his expression growing distant as if he thought of the past. “Well, I didna have a choice in the matter ye ken. I was made Laird and Chief, and that was what I had to do. I grew up verra quickly, in that year. But it was nay hardship, really. It is what I was born to do, it’s in my blood, as it will be in the blood of my own sons.”
They walked for a moment in silence, and when they came to the top of a grassy hill overlooking the sea loch, Bren stopped and pulled her down to sit beside him. He put his arm around her, making her feel very small and delicate under the thick and heavy strength of his muscles, and looked out into the distance. The wind blew the soft waves of his hair back, showing the strong, square form of his jaw. She reached up to trace it with her finger.
“This is one of my favorite places to come, to be alone. I never thought I’d prefer to share it with someone else. I never thought I’d find ye, Faith. I didna even ken who ye really were, no’ even when I wanted ye so badly the verra first time I saw ye. I had nearly given up and resigned myself to bachelorhood forever.”
“I don’t understand, Bren. Why would you not marry someone else? Why hadn’t you married already?” She smiled. “Although I must say I’m most grateful you waited for me.”
He pulled her down into the soft grass with him, and they lay on their backs, watching the clouds. “Because, as the story goes, there is only one true mate for each Mac Coinnach chief, and though not everyone believes the old lore anymore, I always kenned in my heart that it was so. I couldna wed another, forfear that I would be bound to someone else when finally I found my true mate. I couldna imagine a worse fate than that. Thank god for Dirc and his meddling ways. And for my brother’s complete disloyalty to his Chief. He had Eian take the ring from its place in the chest, and it brought ye home to me. I should have kenned ye at once, but I thought I couldna be that lucky. And I should have kenned ye were the one when ye made me so angry more often than not.”
She raised an eyebrow at him. “I made you angry?”
He laughed. “Furious. I couldna control ye, and I couldna control myself either. Still canna. I think I shall often find myself furious with ye, Faith, because I think ye will try me at every turn.”
“And I think I’ll find myself furious at you too, if you plan on trying to control me”, she said sardonically.
“Then we shall have to spend most of our time together making amends to one another… in bed. I can be verra good at making amends, lass.”
Faith swatted at him, laughing.
Bren rolled to his side, propping his head on one hand and tracing the delicate line of her jaw with the other. “I want children, Faith. I want lots of children.”
“Do you then?” She smiled.
“Aye.” He looked down at her, his eyes growing darker with emotion. “I want strong sons to carry on my name and my legacy, and beautiful daughters to coddle and spoil.”
