He briskly walked out of the hall and made his way to the morning room. Thankfully, his mother was inside, busy with her embroidery.
“Darragh, what a pleasant surprise,” she said with a smile. “What are ye doing here, instead of chaperoning sweet Talia?”
He paced the room, unable to keep still.
“I am too busy for such matters, Maither,” he said, harsher than he had intended. “I came to ask ye to take me place today.”
She quirked an eyebrow. “Is something wrong, Darragh?” she asked.
“I… She…” He breathed deeply. “I had to force Hayden McFarden to leave because he put his hands on hers in the most unseemly manner and she didnae think to correct him.”
“Is that so?” she drawled.
He frowned at her. “Why arenae ye seein’ the gravity of the matter, Maither? She was behaving improperly and nae like the lady she was trained to be. Ye should understand me.”
“I do understand ye, Darragh,” she assured. “But perhaps ye misunderstood what happened?”
“I daenae ken why I came to ye,” he snapped, storming off.
He didn’t wait to see if she had moved to the Great Hall as he had asked of her, and did not stop until he was finally behind the door of his study.
The realization that all of his frustration and anger at Talia’s suitors was because he wanted her attention for himself was more than he could handle. When had desire taken root in him? Surely he did not like her.
He paced the room, trying to make sense of the feeling.
He couldn’t possibly like her—or any other woman, for that matter. Not when there was still so much he had yet to achieve for his clan. He could not afford to distract himself with such paltry emotions when he had yet to fix the damage his father had done to the clan.
With that resolve, he decided to tackle the mountain of work that awaited him on his desk. He had already begun making a list of the repairs to be done and had received an estimate from the builders and artisans who would be tasked with the restoration of the castle. Soon, he would have the money he needed to protect his people, and that would be the ultimate satisfaction for him.
Darragh was engrossed in his work when an insistent knock sounded at his door. He looked up with a frown, wondering who it was.
Cohen would have knocked once and entered without waiting for his permission. Amber and his mother would do the same. Whoever it was must not be someone who frequented his study.
Perhaps it was a maid or a footman come to announce the arrival of another suitor. No matter, he didn’t want to be disturbed with any reminders of Talia for the day.
He ignored the knock and continued reading through the correspondence on his desk. The knock came again, louder, and he frowned.
“Enter!” he barked.
The door opened a crack at first, then a head of red hair peeked inside, then the last person he had hoped to see stepped into his study.
“Me Laird, may I speak with ye for a moment?” she asked.
Devils!
10
“That will be all for the day, I hope, me Lady?” Talia asked Orlagh, who gave her a patronizing smile.
The last of her suitorshad just left, and she was so tired from having to smile and be polite, especially since she wanted nothing more than to find Darragh and demand an explanation for the rude way he had treated Hayden.
His irate face flashed through her mind again, as well as their argument, and she couldn’t understand why it had bothered him so much to see her and Hayden being comfortable. If anything, he was supposed to be happy that his plans might be actualized sooner than later.
Wasn’t that what he wanted?
“Are ye tired of meeting all these suitors, dear Talia?” Orlagh tittered, coming to sit beside her.
“Aye,” Talia answered, pouting. “I have just about had enough of this search for a husband. There is a reason I didnae want to be married in the first place. ‘Tis rather tedious.”
