“Well what?” Kate blinked at him through dreamy eyes.
Callum glanced heavenward, then back to her. His jaw clenched, and beside him, Graham tried hard to conceal his grin. “Will ye be my wife, Kate?”
Graham slipped out of the room as Kate smiled, nodding her head, and Callum near sprang for the bed.
Callum did not meet Angus outdoors that eve, and the burly warrior was quite astounded to hear his battle-hardened laird’s laughter filling the great hall.
“I’d never be believin’ it if I didna see it wi’ me own eyes.” Angus pulled his head back from its spying position behind the thick curtain separating him from the hall. He snatched his pouch of brew from Brodie’s mouth, spilling a godawful amount on his cousin’s plaid and cursing in the process.
Brodie stepped around Angus’s bulky form and peered around the curtain while his cousin guzzled a long swig, covered his mouth, then belched.
Pulling back, Brodie offered him a look that said he was the biggest dimwit ever to wield a sword and he deserved to be killed for it. “What the hell are ye coverin’ yer mouth fer? He canna hear those swine sounds ye make over all that laughin’, ye drunken fool.”
Angus bristled, his broad shoulders stretching his plaid across his chest. “I was tryin’ to avoid freein’ me delicate breath in yer face.”
Brodie snorted. “The only thing delicate on ye, Angus, is yer swing.”
His neck near broke from the force of Angus’s enormous fist meeting his cheekbone. “Would that be what ye were meanin’ by delicate, eh, Brodie, ye son of a whore?”
His cousin merely shook the stars away from his eyes and then threw the full weight of his body upon Angus. They toppled over backward, taking the curtain with them when they crashed to the ground, already swinging.
Everyone in the hall craned their necks to see what the fuss was and then went right back to their conversations. Only Kate gaped and rose to her feet.
“Good Lord, they are going to kill each other! Callum, do something!” He looked at her like another head had just sprouted from her shoulder. “Are you simply going to sit there?” she demanded.
“Aye.” He nodded. When she folded her arms across her chest and glowered at him, he chuckled. “What would ye have me do, lass? They fight all the time. Dinna they, Graham?”
“Aye, they do,” his friend happily agreed.
Kate could not believe her ears. She had seen them tossing punches here and there while they rode to Skye, but this was preposterous! “Well, if you are not going to do anything about it, I will.” She hefted her skirts before Callum could grab her and pounded off toward the two men hammering each other into the rushes.
“Stop it this instant!” she shouted at them. When that failed, she bent neatly and slapped Brodie, since he was on top, across the back of the head.
Behind her, a collective gasp rang out from the inhabitants of Camlochlin while Callum, Graham, and Jamie leaped over tables to get to her before she found her own face embedded to the back of her head.
“She’s a damn braw lass to put her hands to Brodie!” someone whispered, astonished.
“Aye, I heard she stabbed our own laird in the leg when first they met,” said another.
“I heard the laird is takin’ her fer a wife.”
“A fittin’ choice fer a MacGregor, I’d wager.”
Before Callum reached her, Kate had Brodie up on his feet, his ear painfully pinched between her thumb and index finger. “That. Is. Enough!” She emphasized each word with another harsh tug. “And you, Angus. Get up immediately so that I can get a hold of you.”
The massive MacGregor lifted his head off the floor and turned it toward Callum. His laird’s pitiless gaze told him to do as he was ordered.
When Kate held both men firmly by their ears, she stomped her foot. “This fighting will cease. Do you hear me?” She shook both hands while she made her demand, rattling their heads. “If you both enjoy fighting so much, mayhap a bit more training will do you some good.” Immediately, Angus’s worried eyes darted to Callum. “If I see you hitting each other again, you will have to come outside and wield your swords against me.”
Every jaw in the great hall dropped. “Ye?” Angus looked mildly ill.
“I dinna train wi’ women,” Brodie drawled, then yelped when she tugged his lobe nearly off his head.
“Well, you will with me, Brodie MacGregor. Won’t he, Callum?”
“Nae,” Callum informed her sternly.
Kate’s head snapped around with such force her hair fanned across her face. She regarded Callum with a look he had never seen on her before, and one he would not want to see her wearing while she was wielding a weapon.
