Mary pulled back. “Why are you doing this? Why are you going to all this effort? What do you want from me?”
It almost sounded like fear in her voice. “I want you.” He was surprised to realize it was the truth. It wasn’t just about stung pride and proving she wasn’t immune; it wasn’t just about winning her heart for his mission. He wanted her for himself.
“We’re already married. You have me.”
“Do I?” He smiled. “I very much doubt that.” He leaned back, eyeing her speculatively. “What is it exactly that you object to?”
She rolled her eyes. “You’ll not hear a recitation of your finer points from me, my lord. I’m sure you’ve heard them well enough from others.”
Perhaps she was right, but he was surprised how much he wanted to hear it from her. Not her admiration but her respect. The thought made him frown. “I’ve never met a woman like you.”
“One who doesn’t fall at your feet?”
She was teasing him, he realized. He shook his head. “You sound like my sister.”
“The one who was married at Dunstaffnage?”
“Aye, I only have one sister. Her name is Helen.”
A frown gathered between her brows. “I wish I’d had a chance to meet her. Whom did she marry?”
“The son of the MacKay chief.”
Her eyes widened. Obviously she knew something of the feuding history between the MacKays and the Sutherlands. “I remember meeting him. That must have been an interesting wedding feast.”
He laughed. “It was. You should have seen Will trying to keep the peace. You’d have to know my brother, but he’s one of the fiercest warriors I know and always ready to fight. He’s not a peacemaker. I think he spent the better part of three days trying topreventfights by threatening to beat the men senseless if they did.”
“That sounds familiar,” she said with a smile. “I’m sure there must have been a lot of fights between you when you were young.”
“Drubbings, you mean. One-sided, for the most part.”
“It’s hard to think of you being on the losing end.”
He shrugged as if it meant nothing to him. “It made me work harder. My brother made me the warrior I am today.”
“You are close?”
Suddenly, he realized his mistake. Damn it. He’d been jabbering on as if he hadn’t just broken from his family.
“Wereclose,” he corrected.
But from the way she was looking at him, he feared she’d picked up on the mistake as well. “Why did you change your allegiance?”
Damn. “It’s complicated,” he hedged, and then turned the question back to her. “Did you ever consider returning to Scotland?”
A sharp look of pain crossed her face. She nodded.
“Aye. Once.”
“What happened?”
For a moment, he didn’t think she was going to answer. She reached over and picked a piece of grass, making tiny knots over and over. “I lost my sister.”
She gave a brief rendition of what had happened. How her sister had appeared one night at Ponteland to bring her home after Atholl’s arrest, how Sir Adam had arrived ahead of the king’s men, how they’d raced across the countryside only to be caught in the middle of the battle. “I’ll never forget that moment. One minute I was looking at her and the next, the bridge exploded into flames. It must have been lightning, though I didn’t recall hearing any before. There was a loud boom—the strangest thunder I’ve ever heard—and then everything went black. I woke up, and my sister was gone.”
Something about the story niggled at his consciousness. “Sir Adam was there?”
She nodded. “I heard his voice right before I fell. He was a godsend. Were it not for him, I’m sure David and I would have been imprisoned. He had his men look for Janet for hours, but it was as if she’d vanished.”
