“I beg yer pardon?” Laird Douglas spluttered, rising to his feet.
“I believe I have made meself very clear,” Darragh said with a frown.
“Ye promised me a wife, McGhee!” Laird Douglas snapped.
“And ye will get nothin’ from me,” Darragh declared with a calmness that she didn’t herself capable of.
“I willnae let this insult slide, McGhee,” Laird Douglas threatened. “I willnae let ye?—”
Darragh shot the man a cold look that made the words die in his throat.
Talia’s emotions hovered between amusement at seeing a large man like Laird Douglas cowed by a mere look from Darragh and admiration at how effective one look from Darragh could be.
The man stormed out of the Great Hall in a rage that amused her.
Eventually, she approached Darragh, folding her arms across her chest. As amusing as she found the situation, he didn’t seem to share her opinion, and she almost felt bad for him.
He pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers and heaved a deep sigh.
“To think that was a man ye considered worthy of me hand,” she tutted, coming to lean against the table he was sitting at. “I am almost offended that ye made the decision on me behalf. I would have liked to decide for meself.”
“Leave me be, Talia,” he sighed. “I am nae in the mood to talk about it.”
“I assumed ye wouldnae be,” she said. “I would feel embarrassed as well if I had invited him. I thought ye had looked into him before inviting him here.”
“Talia,” he growled in warning.
“To think such a handsome man lacks intelligence,” she said with a mocking sigh. “Imagine if I had married him. Our children would be lucky to inherit me intelligence. I would have blamed ye endlessly had?—”
“For God’s sake, woman!” he snapped, turning to her. “Can ye leave me be? I already ken how much of an odious cad he is. May I mourn the waste of time that conversation with him was?”
She stared at him for a moment, but when she saw the twitch in his lips, she was unable to contain her laughter. It spilled out of her uncontrollably.
Her shoulders quaked from the effort, and she placed a hand on her belly to steady herself. But just as her laughter began to subside, she heard a lovely sound that drew her gaze to him.
He was laughing.
Darragh was actually laughing.
Talia’s heart rate quickened as the rich sound washed over her. Satisfaction flooded her veins. She had managed to make this usually brooding man break his habit. She smiled as she watched him.
His eyes found hers, and for a moment, the hall faded away. Talia forgot the annoying man who had just left, forgot the reason she was in this castle in the first place. All she could see at that moment was Darragh as he smiled at her. Her heart fluttered in a way it never had.
She was very aware of his heat and his scent as they enveloped her, and she watched the moment his eyes began to darken. He swallowed thickly and eyed her lips, and she eyed his in turn and felt her mouth go dry.
They were full and pink, and she wondered in that moment if he wanted to kiss her and what it would feel like to be kissed by him. Her tongue darted out to wet her lips, and his eyes darkened even further as he followed the movement.
He leaned forward a little, and her eyes dropped. But before their lips could meet, the door to the Great Hall swung open. They both sprang apart.
“My, my,” Orlagh said, stepping into the room. “Is that me son I hear? ‘Tis nice to hear yer laugh again. Thank ye, Talia.”
Talia looked at Darragh and was sad to see the grim look he always wore. He stepped as far away from her as possible, and she found herself missing his warmth.
“Good morning, Orlagh,” she greeted, turning to smile at the woman, hoping that her disappointment didn’t show in her voice. “How are ye this fine morn’?”
“I am well,” Orlagh answered with a broad smile, her eyes darting between the two of them.
Talia kept her expression neutral, but she could feel her cheeks flushing under the woman’s scrutiny.
