“I daenae ken why ye had to?—”
“Why did ye behave like a brute?”
Behind her, David stood with a ledger under his arm. He had the good sense to look down at the floor. “I will step out,” he muttered. “We can speak about the stores before bed.”
“Aye, that is a fine idea,” Isobel agreed without turning. “Out with ye.”
David gave Logan a look that seemed to say,I prefer climbing ladders to this,and slipped through the door. The lock clicked, and Isobel planted herself a few paces closer to her brother. She then folded her arms as if she meant to pin him in place with her stare.
Logan finished pulling the shirt over his head and set to work fastening the buttons. “What did ye wish me to do?” he asked. “Ask to take her shoes and comb her hair?”
“I wish ye would make an effort for a woman who crossed countries for ye.”
Logan laughed, a low guttural sound. “Ye have met Emma. Do ye still think she is the kind of woman that can bemadeto do anything?”
Isobel threw her hands up in despair. “The least ye could do was show hersomekindness.”
“Iwaskind. As kind as one could be to an Englishwoman.”
Isobel narrowed her eyes at him, then stepped closer and jabbed two fingers into his chest. “Ye think I daenae see ye, do ye nae? Ye put on that cold face and make yerself an iron wall because ye are afraid of the part ye cannae control. It doesnae make ye look strong. It makes ye look like a man who would rather chase kindness away than owe it a single inch.”
“I ambeingmeself,” he insisted. “Folk already ken me as the arrogant Pirate Laird. I daenae have to try to earn that name. It comes to me, whether I ask for it or nae.”
“Oh, please, daenae play coy with me, Logan,” she scoffed. “I ken what ye are doing. Ye are trying to scare her away so ye willnae have to show her any part of ye that isnae listed in a ledger or mentioned in rumors.”
He snorted. “Ye think a bunch of rumors will frighten an English lady who walked into this yard despite the tales they tell of me.”
“Me point still stands. The woman came here to confront ye. If anything, that already makes her stand out. I would hate to watch ye throw her—this—away because of some pride ye have refused to shelve for a few minutes.”
“Oh well, I believe I was kind enough. Even kinder than I usually am. Ye should have seen her face back in the study. She looked very angry.”
“I daenae blame her,” Isobel said. “It had to be what drove her here in the first place. I am guessing she didnae receive the letter ye sent her.”
Logan shook his head.
A minute of silence passed before he opened his mouth to speak again.
“I willnae lie to her, if that is what ye are asking, Isobel.”
“Nay one is asking ye to lie,” Isobel responded, her tone harsher than she must have intended. “I am only asking ye to start being nice to her. Ye want her to flinch so ye can say,See? I was right to keep the door shut.I willnae let ye do it.”
He met her eyes and held them. “Ye willnae let me?”
“Aye,” she replied, calm as a judge. “Ye will attend dinner, and ye will behave like a perfect gentleman. Ye will speak to her as if she is a person and nae a plan to get the council off yer back. Yewill listen to her when she answers. Yer future wife isnae a nail in a wall. She is a woman with a life ye are asking to tie to yer own.”
He narrowed his eyes. “She has ye ensnared already. English witchcraft must be a real thing.”
Isobel laughed, quick and bright, not in the least wounded. “Yewish. She has been nothing but kind since she set foot in the castle. Ye will return the courtesy, and if courtesy is too fine a word for ye, call it basic human decency and be done with it.”
He reached for his waistcoat. “Ye are very free with orders.”
“I am free withsense,” she corrected. “Daenae try to ruin this, Logan.”
He let out a breath that took more of the tightness with it than he intended to show. “It is dinner, nae a treaty.”
“It isboth,” she said. “Ye treat it that way, and ye might find it feeds more than yer stomach.”
She turned on her heel with the crisp efficiency of a captain who trusted his crew to follow. At the door, she looked back once. Her face had softened.
