“You spoke to him, didn’t you?” He swore. “I knew there was something odd going on. Damn it, Ella, I told you to stay away from him.”
Elizabeth glared back at him. “I thought a request from me would be easier to swallow than an order from you.”
“And he agreed this time?” His eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Why?”
Elizabeth didn’t flinch. She wasn’t going to give her dogged brother any bone to sniff. “I don’t know why. Maybe he liked hearing me beg. Does it really matter?”
Jamie watched her a little longer and then shrugged, apparently satisfied. “Nay, I suppose not. But as grateful as I am for what he did to help with Archie, I can’t say I’ll be sad to wave him off tomorrow when he leaves to fetch his widow.”
Tomorrow? She glanced over one more time and willed Thom to look in her direction. When he didn’t, she turned away.
It’s for the best, she told herself.
Then why did it hurt so terribly?
“I’ve missed you, Thommy. We’ve all missed you.”
Thom gave Jo a small smile that was surprisingly wistful. “I’ve missed you, too,” he said. It was good to see her—really good. He paused, his eyes meeting hers intently. “You are happy? He treats you well?”
Joanna’s mouth split into a wide grin. “I am obnoxiously happy, and James treats me like a queen.”
Thom studied her a few moments more, and seeing nothing to dispel the truth of her words grumbled, “He’d better. ’Tis how you deserve to be treated. After what he did—”
She put her hand on his arm to stop him. “That was a long time ago, Thommy. James has changed.”
Thom held her gaze a little longer before nodding. If Joanna’s state of bliss was any indication, Thom was willing to concede that Douglas had changed—at least in some ways. In others, he was exactly the same. His ambition where his sister was concerned, for example.Randolph. Thom gritted his teeth and tried—unsuccessfully—to prevent the muscles in his neck from bunching.
Mistaking the cause of his reaction, Joanna squeezed his arm and forced his gaze back to hers. “Truly, Thom.” She smiled. “And I don’t need a ‘big brother’ to watch out for me anymore, I know how to fight my own battles.”
He suspected she did. But it would never stop him from watching out for her. “Aye, well, that’s the thing about siblings. You have them whether you like it or not.”
She laughed, but then after a moment sobered. “I wish you would come home more often. Johnny misses you—and so does your father.”
Thom didn’t say anything. What could he?
Sensing Elizabeth’s gaze on him again, it took everything he had not to look in her direction. He didn’t trust himself. When she’d seen him walk into the Hall a short while ago and burst into tears, he’d nearly forgotten everything and gone to her.
He was a bloody fool. For three years he’d had to work to put the past behind him, and just when he’d finally succeeded, he lost his damned mind and kissed her.
You did a lot more than kiss her. He fought a pained groan as the memories assailed him again.
He might have resisted the temptation to look at her, but Joanna hadn’t missed Elizabeth’s one-sided exchange. “She misses you, too. More than she wants to admit.” Thom’s mouth fell in a hard line; he didn’t say anything. “Has it helped?” she asked. “Has staying away made it any easier?”
He was tempted to pretend he didn’t know what she meant. If it had been anyone other than Jo, he would have. But she knew him too well. She’d been there. She’d seen his broken heart and understood because she’d had one, too. And for the same reason: Douglas pride and ambition. Hers might have turned out differently—and Thom didn’t begrudge Jo her happy ending—but she had to realize that not all bards’ tales came true. And unlike Jamie, who had loved Jo since almost the first day they’d met, Elizabeth had never loved him. She’d never even been aware of him like that.
But she was aware of him now, he thought with not a small surge of satisfaction.Veryaware.
There be dragons... He pushed the dangerous thoughts away.
“Aye,” he said. “It has made it easier.” At least until recently.
“And you are happy?”
A wry smile turned his mouth. “I’m a soldier fighting in a war; there is not much cause for happiness. But I like what I’m doing, and I am satisfied with how things have progressed so far.”
“You have done well for yourself,” Joanna said. “The earl speaks highly of you.” She paused and glanced over at her husband, who sat with Elizabeth and some of the other men, including MacLeod and Boyd, at the high table with Carrick. “James said you acquitted yourself well on the mission, andthatlot,” she said with a nod in the direction of the Phantoms, “are hard to impress.” She smiled. “I’m proud of you. It couldn’t have been an easy adjustment when you first arrived.”
It hadn’t been. The other men-at-arms had made it about as difficult on him as they could. But the blacksmith’s son had withstood everything they’d thrown at him and proved that he had a place among them. He’d earned his right to be there, even if some thought his blood should have barred him from any consideration of knighthood.
