He grabbed a torch as he went inside and used it to light the coals in the brazier that he found in what presumably had been the captain’s lodgings. Ignoring the box bed along one side of the room, he pulled up a stool for her to sit on, but she shook her head.
She looked uncomfortable and maybe a little nervous.
He frowned. “What is this about, Izzie?”
He couldn’t help but notice how pretty she looked tonight. Her cheeks were rosy from the cold and her lips were so red it looked as if she’d been biting them.
Christ, not the thing he should be thinking about. Being here like this was dangerous. God, how he wanted her.
What a mess. What the hell was he going to do?
She fished around in the leather purse that she wore tied to her waist and pulled out what appeared to be a folded piece of parchment. “It’s about your betrothal—or rather your former betrothal. I hope you will not be too distressed to hear that my cousin realized she is in love with someone else and can no longer marry you.” He was too shocked to react; he simply stared at her. This only seemed to make her more jittery. Her hands fluttered as she handed him the note. “Here. She wrote you a note to apologize.”
He took the note, quickly scanned it, and slowly crumpled it in his hand. He could feel the anger rising inside him, mixing with the unfamiliar taste of humiliation. “And she thought a quick note of apology would suffice to break a betrothal that has been negotiated for months between two of the most important families in Scotland?”
His voice was deceptively calm as the storm of emotion unleashed inside him. The piece of parchment in his fist had become a tight ball. He threw it into the fire of the brazier where it quickly caught flame and disintegrated into black.
Izzie was having second thoughts about the wisdom of her being the one to break the news to him. Too late she remembered that the messenger was sometimes killed.
She’d known he would be angry, but she’d thought that he would also be… what? Relieved? Happy because he could marry her? Aye, maybe both those things, foolish though they were.
Realizing it was too late to back out now, she stood her ground and told herself to be patient. It was the shock. “Ella wanted to speak to you in person. She said she tried at the feast.”
“And tonight?”
Heat rose to her cheeks. “She had something else to do.” Elizabeth had gone to see Thom MacGowan. She intended to force him to listen to her, and Izzie was fairly sure how she intended to do that. “I told her I would tell you.”
“Which I’m sure you were happy to do,” he said caustically. “No doubt this is exactly what you wanted. Did you tell her something? Is that it?”
Whatyouwanted, he’d said. Not him.
The heat in her cheeks grew hotter. Did he think her that desperate to run to her cousin when he wouldn’t put a stop to it? She looked down—well up—at him with not a small amount of rebuke. “If you are referring to what has happened between us, I didn’t say a word before Ella made her decision. As I said, my cousin is in love with someone else. I tried to warn you, but you didn’t want to see it.”
All of a sudden he did see it. His face drained. “MacGowan? God’s blood, could this be any worse? Is that who she thinks she is in love with?” He uttered a very crude curse. “She has broken a betrothal to me to run off with a blacksmith’s son? She has made laughingstocks of us both.” He took her arm. “Tell me you are jesting. God, please, tell me this is a joke.”
Izzie told herself not to overreact—he was speaking out of anger—but was his image the only thing he was thinking about?
What about me?
“It is not a joke,” she replied. “Ella loves him—she has for a long time, although she only realized it recently. There will be talk, but she is strong enough to weather it.” He was, too. “It is your pride speaking right now,” she said. “I know you don’t love her.”
“What the hell does that have to do with it? She has brought humiliation and dishonor down upon us both.” He cringed. “God, I can just hear it now.”
Izzie stared at him. She knew it was her own disappointment at her unrealistic expectations of what his reaction would be at work, but she wasn’t sure she liked him very much right now. The arrogant, self-important knight who took himself too seriously and was cold beneath a layer of surface charm had returned.
Maybe he had never left. But then why did it feel as if her heart were breaking?
“I am sorry you are disappointed,” she said quietly. “I will leave you now. I’m sure my cousin and Jamie can answer any other questions you might have.”
Through the haze of anger Randolph caught something in her voice—something was wrong. Very wrong.
Ah hell. What was he doing? He shouldn’t be lashing out at her. None of this was Izzie’s fault.
“Wait,” he said, grabbing her wrist. “I’m sorry. Your cousin deserves my anger—not you.”
“I hoped she might deserve something else. Something like your gratitude.”
It took him a moment to realize what she meant. “My God, you are right.” He didn’t have to break his word to have Izzie. “It is not a complete disaster. When we marry, it won’t be so bad.”
