Kayden sighed, shaking his head. “I daenae ken. It’s very confusing.”
“Have ye tried to think about it?”
Kayden snorted. “I havenae been able to do anything but.”
“And what is it that confuses ye?”
He took a deep breath. “Well, for one, she is asassenach.”
“And redcoats are the bane of our existence, I understand. But she’s nae a redcoat.”
Kayden shot him a sidelong glance. “I ken that,” he said dryly.
“Do ye?” Jacob scoffed.
“Of course I do!”
“Well then?”
Kayden covered his face with his hands and rubbed it in frustration. “I’m nae me faither. He kent how to protect me maither, how to be a husband. I daenae.”
“I guess he started out just as clueless as ye are. But ye cannae run away and expect to learn. Have ye tried speaking with her?”
Kayden blew out a breath. “It isnae that easy.”
“What’s stopping ye?”
Kayden stared out into the night, at a loss for words. Jacob watched him somberly.
“I ken that ye think ye cannae trust her because she’s asassenach, but she hasnae done anything to make ye distrust her.”
Kayden shook his head. “I suppose nae.”
“So, what is really holding ye back?”
Kayden gave a deep sigh.
Jacob leaned his forearms on the stone, watching the mist roll over the lower fields. “Ye ken what it looks like from the outside?”
Kayden grunted. “I imagine ye’ll tell me, regardless.”
“It looks like ye married her to secure Ashcombe’s favor, then put her on a shelf like a prized sword ye’re afraid to draw.”
Kayden gave his cousin a flat look. “She isnae an object.”
“Then stop treating the situation like one,” Jacob replied easily. “The clan watches. They see a laird circling his own wife as if she might bite.”
“She might,” Kayden muttered.
Jacob barked a short laugh. “Aye, that much I believe. But she has spirit. Folks like that either settle into the clan or… bolt. And ye ken what will happen if ye keep acting like she is a negotiation rather than a woman.”
Kayden’s jaw tightened. “This marriageisa negotiation.”
“Aye,” Jacob agreed, shrugging. “But it is also a household. And households run on more than ink and promises.”
Kayden said nothing, eyes fixed on the hills.
Jacob nudged the stone with his boot. “So I will ask plainly. Are ye planning to treat her like a wife, or like a banner ye hang over the gate to keep the English at bay?”
