She pressed one finger to his chest and tapped without realizing what she was doing. “You would do a lot worse. I know exactly what kind of foul tricks you are capable of. You and my brother were always making trouble.”
She stopped suddenly, pulling back her hand and letting it drop. Horror filled her gaze and made his chest squeeze.
“I miss him, too, Annie.” Her stare was stark and empty, but he could feel her pain. “I’m sorry,” he added.
She nodded and averted her face as if she didn’t want him to see her hurt when all he wanted to do was take it away. He had to resist the urge to reach for her, something that he never would have thought of before. She’d always welcomed his touch. More than welcomed. She’d basked in it like a kitten stretching in the sun.
But he sensed that it was too soon for that kind of intimacy, and worse, that she might not welcome it.
He had to be patient. But that wasn’t a virtue that came naturally to him, especially when it was warring with his desperation to reforge the connection between them as soon as possible. Like in the next minute.
“Robbie is fine,” he assured her. She gave him a very suspicious sidelong glance. “At least I assume he is, as I haven’t seen him since he left this morning.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Where did he go so suddenly, and why am I only hearing about this now?”
Niall shrugged. “I don’t know. You’ll have to ask your brother. But I think he volunteered to take some silver to your clansmen on Molach.” He paused. “I suspect he was eager to be away for a few days.”
She couldn’t hide her disappointment. “I don’t understand. Why would he be eager to leave?”
Niall arched his brow. “Can you not think of a reason?”
The hot pink flush that rose to her cheeks suggested she could. “It was a misunderstanding. Robbie knows that.”
“I’m sure he does. Just like you know what the real problem is.” She looked down, hiding her discomfort by brushing nonexistent dirt from herleine. He hesitated but took the chance and reached down to lift her chin with the back of his finger. She didn’t flinch, which felt like a major victory. “You know that you can’t continue practicing with the lad. It isn’t fair to him.”
She wrenched away. Perhaps realizing that he was touching her or perhaps because she didn’t like what he said.
But he proved that he did know her well when instead of objecting, she just clamped her mouth down with the mulish expression that he remembered. After a moment of stewing, she glared at him. “He isn’t a lad. And it’s no business of yours.”
It sure as hell was. The only man she was going to roll around in the dirt with was him—even if he had to temporarily disable every guardsman in the castle. But instead of pointing that out, he smiled. “I thought you were interested in learning how to defend yourself?”
She lifted her chin defiantly. “I am.”
“You have another instructor in mind?”
“I’m sure I can find someone.”
“Even if you can, they won’t be as good as me.”
“Still arrogant, I see.”
He shrugged. “It’s not arrogance when it’s the truth. Ask anyone.”
“I don’t need to.”
He grinned. “Been listening to stories about me, have you?”
She snorted. “I meant that your skill doesn’t matter, as you won’t be instructing me in anything.”
He shrugged as if it didn’t matter either way. “It’s up to you. But I’ll have to find some other way to pass the boredom for the next month.”
“I didn’t agree to that.”
“I thought you said it wouldn’t matter ‘whether it was a month or a year.’”
“It wouldn’t.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
