“Until I find out what truly happened.”
“Aye.”
She stared at him, the sound of the festival a thin thread far off.
Clever.
Risky.
Clean.
The kind of plan that would pull half the teeth from Laird MacGee’s smile in one morning and put the other half on the ground by night.
“Why?” she asked. “Why would ye help me?”
“I want peace,” he said. “Noise wastes men, and this ends noise. At least for a while.”
“And ye daenae intend to marry.”
“Nay,” he said. “Nae again.”
Something seemed to shift behind his eye, but she didn’t bring it up. Not now.
“Me maither,” Erica said. “She needs protection. Either a carriage to bring her to safety or guards to remain behind.”
“Done.”
The word dropped final. He had not blinked.
“I am certain this arrangement comes with terms,” she said. “What are they?”
He shifted on his feet, a satisfied smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “Ye stay at me side the entire time and be around when I need ye. Daenae worry, it willnae be all the time. Ye daenae make other ties without telling me first. If we post men at Bryden for a season, they take orders on security and payment from me. Ye daenae play shy in public and then bold in the dark.”
“I have nay time for shy,” she said.
“Good. Then we are aligned.”
“Nae yet. I have me terms as well,” she said. “Protection covers me maither and the castle. Ye daenae seize grain, and ye arenae going to starve me folk to feed yer own. The month ends clean unless we both say otherwise, and if I find proof that clears me faither’s name before then, ye stand and say it loud.”
“Aye,” he agreed. “All of it. If proof runs the other way, ye hear it from me first.”
Her throat tightened. “I will hear it.”
“Aye.”
Silence pressed in for a breath. She tasted iron and steadied it.
“So ye will address me as yer bride?” she asked, keeping it practical.
“Aye,” he said. “‘Tis how the arrangement usually works. Have ye never seen a married couple before? But daenae worry. Ye’re safe for the time ye will be with me. I willnae let anyone bring dirt to ye or yer name.”
Her mouth moved before she could stop it. “Proud.”
“Accurate,” he said.
She almost smiled. “When do we start?”
“How soon?”
