Spending time with them this past few days, since Darragh started avoiding her, she had come to realize just how efficient, hardworking, and interesting their personalities were. She had always envied the young women in her village, who seemed to have found a community in the women in their immediate families.
She had always wondered what it would feel like to have long talks with her mother while her sisters tended to her hair and discussed recipes and the men they found attractive.
In its mischievous magnanimity, fate had decided to grant her this boon, since she did not have very long before she would have to move out of McGhee Castle and into her new home, wherever that might be.
Her chest tightened at the thought.
She did not want to leave.
She did not want to leavehim.
Even as she thought it, she knew that soon she would not have a choice in the matter. She could not remain here if Darragh did not want her to, and she needed to marry so he could get the funds the clan needed.
So she needed to marry, whether she wished to or not.
“Are ye sure?” Amber asked, studying her face intently as if to pick up signs that she was not completely sure of her decision.
“Ye ken ye daenae have to pretend with us,” Orlagh chimed in, her hand stilling on the stitch she was adding to her embroidery project. “Ye daenae have to do what ye daenae want.” Her eyes were warm and soft.
Talia was almost tempted to reveal all her secrets and revel in that warmth. Except that would not truly help her cause. She could not afford to fold now.
“I am fine,” she replied with a tight smile, her cheeks aching with the effort. “I am making this choice of me own free will. Nay one is forcin’ me.”
“But ye daenae love him,” Orlagh pointed out, her green gaze piercing her, ferreting out all her secrets.
“How would ye ken that?” Talia asked with an uneasy chuckle, averting her gaze.
“I have seen the way ye look at him, this new suitor of yers. Ye daenae have the glow of a young lady excited to get married. Ye daenae look at him the way ye look at—” Orlagh broke off, as if realizing that she was not supposed to say that out loud.
Of course, she was right. Talia did not look at Laird Alan the way she looked at Darragh. How could she, when the latter drew her gaze with a magnetic force that she was helpless against? On more than one occasion, she had caught herself staring at him longingly. She was willing to bet that she had stars in her eyes whenever he was near.
She was not surprised that the people around her had noticed. She had not been particularly good at concealing her fierce attraction to him.
She was sure that many clansmen were planning her wedding to Darragh in their heads, and Orlagh already treated her like a long-lost daughter. It would not be hard to become her daughter-in-law. Of course, Orlagh would resist the thought of planning a wedding that did not feature her eldest son as the groom.
“Me Lady,” Talia started, mustering a smile. “I do ken what I am doing. Laird Alan will be good to me, and this marriage will be good for the clan. This way, everyone gets what they want.”
“But what happens to whatyewant?” Amber asked quietly.
“It doesnae matter, dear Amber. Some of us are fated to love but nae to be loved back,” Talia replied, her smile fading.
“Bah! I would wager that he loves ye. He is just too headstrong to admit it,” Orlagh said with such strong conviction that Talia would have laughed if she were not close to weeping already.
“Ye cannae be sure of that, me Lady. He is the only one who can confirm his feelings. Nay one can presume to ken what is in his heart,” Talia reasoned, looking away from the pity in their eyes.
If she stared at it for too long, she would start feeling sorry for herself and burst into tears, and she did not think bursting into tears would make her feel better. It would just make her resentment and self-pity grow to the point that they might suffocate her. She could not let that happen. She was to be a bride, after all.
Swallowing her pain, she turned back to her companions. “I would truly appreciate it if ye grant me this boon. Trust me, this is the best way to make me happy.”
“We will do our best,” Amber promised.
“It will be the best wedding McGhee Castle has ever seen,” Orlagh declared.
Talia did not doubt it.
“Seeing how long ye have been sitting there, I willnae be surprised if ye put down roots like a tree,” Jenson said by way of greeting as he stepped past the departing maid, Cohen hot on his heels.
“And by all accounts, one that is going to wilt and die soon,” Cohen drawled, his gaze flitting over the bottles of liquor scattered around him. A half-full one on the desk was on its way to meet the same fate as the others.
