Her sister-in-law snorted at her confession.“Verra well. Just dinna let mum hear you. ‘Twould be a lecturewithout end.”
Victor threw a kilt on and Catriona helpedhim pleat it. “I don’t know yet,” he admitted, turning theconversation back to the undead brain matter. “I’m going to tryboiled tar first. Hopefully it kills it.”
“And where do you plan to get boiledtar?”
“No clue. I’ll have to ask Lachlan.”
Later, when the trio was downstairs in thegreat hall having breakfast with Moira, Lachlan strode inside, hisshirt back on, still looking larger than life. His dark, unreadablegaze clashed with Veronica’s. Hero looked up from his favoriteplace in front of the hearth, recognized who it was, and went backto sleeping.
“Good morn, wife,” her husband said, takinghis seat beside her at the head of the table. “You are lookingquite beautiful.”
“It’s good of you to notice,” she saidicily, her pride still smarting from the previous evening’s lack ofsex. Not to mention the two guards stationed to shadow her everymove today. Even now they stood behind her. “You need to eat,” shesaid crisply. “I saw your morning workout. You should have a bearof an appetite by now.”
One eyebrow rose at her obvious ire. EvenMoira seemed aware.
“Is all well, child?” her mother-in-lawasked. She put down her eating dagger and looked at Veronica.
“Yes,” she lied, forcing a smile to herlips. “I just want to make sure my husband eats well.”
Lachlan gazed at her suspiciously, but letit go. Victor took the ensuing silence to bring the laird up tospeed about the pig fat.
“Can you get me some boiling tar?” Victorfinished. “And send word to Euan and James?”
“Aye and aye.” He called Veronica’s shadowsover to him and gave them the chore of riding to Campbell land withhis message.
“What of milady?” the one called Douglassasked.
“I am done for the day. She will remain withme.”
Veronica frowned at her food. She didn’tlike being talked about as though she wasn’t here. She also didn’twant to be thought of as someone who needed to be watched over. Itmade her sound like a child.
Lachlan must have noticed her reaction forhe bent his head to hers and lowered his voice. “We shall talk inour bedchamber after we break our fast.”
“Okay,” she said a bit stiffly, not lookingat him. “After breakfast.”
Unfortunately breakfast carried on foranother hour once Finn and Ramsay joined them at the head table.Exasperated, Veronica finally spoke up. “We’ll be eating the nextmeal by the time we finish this one.” She stood up. The men presentall took to their feet when she rose. “Please excuse me. I’ll be inmy bedroom.”
She didn’t look at Lachlan to glean hisreaction nor did she care if anyone thought her rude. She didn’tlike the esoteric and heavy-handed way her husband was behaving.Didn’t he want her for who she was? Or did he want to turn her intoa weeping, meek woman who became overwrought at the drop of ahat?
Once upon a time she would have faultedCatriona for being amongst the weak and meek, but Catriona wastaking to Kalari like a fish to water. Another six months oflessons and she’d make for a formidable opponent. Still, unlikeVeronica, her sister-in-law had been raised to be the idealmedieval wife. She knew she shouldn’t fault Catriona for being whoshe was, but it made her wonder if Lachlan saw Veronica as lackingby comparison. She didn’t sew much less embroider and, truth betold, she relied upon Maisie to run the household instead ofherself. She just wasn’t interested in the very things she wassupposed to be interested in by medieval standards.
By the time Veronica reached her room, shehad tears in her eyes, damn it anyway. She swiped them away withthe arm of her bliaut. She took off her expensive, ornate headbangle and put it back inside her chest of drawers. The bedroom nowfeeling hot from the three additional logs she’d put into thefireplace earlier, she opened the window’s heavy animal skin drapeshalfway to allow some cold air inside. There was no such thing asglass windows yet, unfortunately, so she doubted she’d keep thedrapes open very long at all. She looked down to the courtyard,seeing the swordplay amongst the Gunn warriors, but paid it littleattention.
The bedroom doors shut behind her. Shedidn’t glance away from the courtyard below.
“What is wrong, wife?” She remained quieteven though she could hear Lachlan coming up behind her. “What isthis aboot?”
“I could ask you the same thing,” shemuttered, unblinking. She finally noticed the soldiers sparringbelow. They were good, but not at Lachlan’s level. Her husband washuge, but lightning-quick in his reactions. “You’ve been behavingstrangely ever since we left the Campbells. No talking last night?Hell, no sex last night? Putting two guards at my door thismorning?” She clicked her tongue. “As I said, I could ask you thesame thing.”
He put his large, callused hands on herexposed shoulders, but made no move to turn her away from thewindow. “I dinna mean to offend you, my love.”
My love. His words got to her, madeher slump a little. Finally, Lachlan turned her around to face him.“I vow it, wife.”
“Then what is going on?” she whispered. “Areyou embarrassed by my ability to defend myself? Are you angry thatI killed that eater instead of you?”
“Nay,” he said sternly, lightly shaking herby the shoulders. “How can you think this?”
She shrugged, her feelings still smarting,though not as badly as before. “I care about what you think of me,”she admitted. “When you didn’t talk to me last night, didn’t eventouch me, then had Frick and Frack guard me like a child—”
