“I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve that,” she murmured.
He shrugged. “Ye care for her as if she is yer mother. Delphine loves ye. Perhaps it’s better than she doesn’t know. She might tear Gregor’s throat out with her teeth. I wouldn’t put it past her to get to him, even in the dungeon.”
Emma missed a beat, absorbing this information. “The dungeons? Gregor is in the dungeons?”
“Aye, he is. I don’t allow that sort of thing to happen in my keep. I’ve made examples of men before, and now I’ll make one of Gregor. I haven’t decided how long he’ll stay there. I told my chief advisor, Lady Tabitha, about the whole thing, and she sides with me. She sends her sympathies, by the way.”
Emma’s cheeks were hot enough to fry eggs now. She stared down at the smooth stone beneath her hands, wishing she didn’t feel so very small and frail.
“I owe ye my thanks, Me Laird,” she said, her voice tremulous. “If ye hadn’t come along when ye did—”
“I brought ye these,” Thomas interrupted bluntly, setting down a small box on the table and pushing it towards her. He caught her eye and grinned. “Sweets. I thought they might soothe ye after what nearly happened last night.”
Emma opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out beyond a weak “thanks.”
Should she refuse the gift?
No, that felt rude. Ungrateful, even. Her hands reached out of their own accord, pulling the box before her. She lifted the lid and peered inside.
The familiar scent of fennel, ginger, and aniseed rose to her nose at the same time that she realized what the little lumpy, hardened balls inside the box actually were.
“Comfits!” she breathed. Her mouth was already watering. “I love these!”
He’d given her so many, too!
Grinning, Thomas reached over to steal a comfit, popping it in his mouth.
“Aye, I know ye love them. That’s why I brought them.”
Emma hesitated. “How do ye know?”
He shrugged carelessly, his attention already wandering. “I saw ye eating them before. Go on, have one.”
Emma did, closing her eyes and placing the ball gently on her tongue, savoring the rich flavors, sweet and bitter, at the same time. She opened her eyes and found him staring directly at her, a strange expression on his face. He immediately averted his gaze, clearing his throat as if he were uncomfortable.
The moment was gone in an instant, of course, and he was the same old smirking laird as always, glancing across the table at her with a smile on his face.
“I think ye should tell Delphine what happened.”
Just like that, Emma’s good mood evaporated.
“What? I can’t tell her.”
“Aye, but ye should. Tabitha knows, and I didn’t swear her to secrecy. Gregor ought to suffer for what he’s done, but if Delphine finds out from someone else—”
“I can’t tell her,” Emma interrupted more sharply than she intended. “I won’t.”
Thomas tipped his head to one side, his expression ever so slightly pitying. It made her furious for some reason, and that fury mingled with the strange, tingling feeling in her gut, making a potent and unfamiliar sensation.
“Iwon’t!” she insisted.
“Have ye told anyone else? Come, Emma, be honest. Have ye?”
She opened her mouth to say “no,of course not.” But Riley immediately sprang to mind, and she did not respond.
“I knew it,” Thomas said, with too much smugness in his voice. It was so infuriating.“Look, Emma, I’ll not tell ye what to do…”
“It sounds like that is exactly what ye are doing!”
