Adam blinked in surprise.“Did ye really?”
She nodded, which seemed to please him.
Now the ladies wanted to know everything.“Tell us about the weddin’ feast.”
“How many guests were there?”
“What was served for dinner?”
“Roast venison,” he replied, just as she was saying, “Fresh salmon.”
He added, “Roast venisonandfresh salmon.”
She said, “’Twas a magnificent feast with dozens o’—”
“Hundreds o’ guests,” he blurted, then amended, “At least itseemedlike hundreds.”
“Oh aye,” she said.“My da spared no expense, so happy was he to see me wed to such an esteemed warrior.”
“Warrior?”Pitcairn scowled at Adam, as if his memory had been stirred.“What did ye say your name was?”
“Ronan.But I’m sure ye wouldn’t have heard o’ me.’Tis my first visit to Scotland.”
His answer seemed to satisfy the laird.“What’s your weapon o’ choice?”
She answered for him, fearing he might know nothing about Irish weapons.“He’s an expert with the axe.”
“Indeed?And do ye have your axe with ye, Sir Ronan?”
Eve paled.She hadn’t imagined the laird would want to see it.
But Adam knew what to say.“Nay.We came in peace.I thought it might be unwise to greet the Scottish king with an Irish axe.”
“True.”Pitcairn chortled.“It could be considered an ‘axe o’ war’.”
It was a terrible jest.But everyone at the table laughed, Adam most of all, who raised his cup to the laird in a salute.
The rest of the evening went smoothly enough.If Eve misspoke, Adam was there to soften her words.When Adam paid her husbandly attention, she was careful to mirror his mood.
After a few cups of wine, the border between fact and fiction began to blur.The adoration Adam expressed felt real.His words of affection made her heart melt.His warm glances made her blush.The touch of his fingers upon her arm stirred her blood.The press of his thigh against hers seemed right…and comforting…and arousing.
How could it not be real?
After their simple meal of mutton pottage, they shared a dish of blancmange.
Adam spooned a bite of the sweet, milky dessert into her mouth, lowering his gaze to her lips.
It might have been moor muck for all the attention Eve paid it.She was far more intrigued by the soft glow of his gaze.His gentle smile of encouragement.The inviting temptation of his mouth.
Swallowing down the blancmange, she returned the favor, taking the spoon and feeding him.
“Mmm.”
That wee sound seemed to curl around her ear into her brain, bringing every nerve to life.
There was a tiny drop of blancmange left on his lower lip, and it took every ounce of her restraint not to lean forward to lick it away.
Adam recognized the smoke in Aillenn’s gaze.It was raw lust.And it wasn’t the blancmange she lusted after.
