“I think that when ye returned home,” she said, pinning him with a look, “ye realized ye wanted a wife who would fit into your Highland clan more than ye wanted my dowry.”
Rory shrugged. “It doesn’t matter now.”
His acknowledgment that she would make him an unsuitable wife hurt, though she had told herself as much. She recalled with grim amusement how not very long ago she had thought herself such a prize.
“What about the brother ye mentioned?” she asked. “Ye speak as if the two of ye are close. Surely ye at least told him.”
“Nay,” Rory said.
This struck her as odd indeed. She narrowed her eyes at him. “Are ye already married?”
“Nay,” he said again, but this time she heard hesitation in his voice.
“You’d best tell me the truth.” She leaned in front of him and gripped his arm so that he would look at her instead of the damned fish.
“I don’t have a wife.”
He met her gaze and spoke in a firm tone. All the same, she sensed there was more to this tale, and she waited for it, tapping her fingertips against her knee.
“Well, there was talk,” Rory said, dragging the words out, “about a possible match with the daughter of a neighboring clan chieftain.”
“I see,” she snapped. “This is why ye came alone for your bride. Ye hoped to escape your obligation without anyone at home ever finding out ye nearly got caught in a disastrous marriage with no advantages at all.”
“I wouldn’t saynoadvantages,” Rory said with a glint in his eye.
“Don’t attempt to divert me with false flattery. I’ve known far too many charming men for ye to succeed,” she said, crossing her arms. “And I understand better than most that the marriage of a chieftain’s close kin is made to benefit the family and clan.”
He could not deny it. As the brother of the MacKenzie chieftain, Rory was expected to make a marriage alliance that served the clan.
“This talk of a possible match is what finally brought ye to Edinburgh, isn’t it?” she asked.
Rory shrugged as if this was of no importance. “I had to know if I had a prior obligation.”
“And you believed that if my brother had not already dishonored the contract, he would readily agree to destroy it.”
He had not come to fetch his bride but to avoid marrying her—and that was when he believed she had an enormous dowry. When he discovered that Archie was banished and she was in danger, Rory was trapped by his sense of honor to abide by the contract.
Sybil was like a rock tied around his neck at sea.
“A Highland chieftain’s daughter would suit ye well,” she said, annoyed with herself for being upset. “She’d be a far better choice than a Lowlander noblewoman who’s lost all her wealth and powerful connections.”
“Ye did not hear me say I wanted to wed the lass.” Rory’s eyes were fierce as he bit out the words.
“Do ye want her?” Sybil asked, her voice coming out in a whisper.
Though it should not matter that he wanted someone else, Sybil held her breath as she waited for his answer. She understood Rory’s desire to wed a Highland lass who would fit easily into his way of life. That only made sense. But the thought of him desiring aparticularHighland lass made her stomach tighten into a hard knot.
“I was prepared to wed the lass if I was free to do so because my clan needs the alliance with hers.” Rory paused. “But nay, I do not want her for my wife.”
Her rush of relief was brief. Rory was simply using his obligation to her to avoid an unwelcome marriage his chieftain wanted to force upon him. She could hardly blame him since she had been thwarting her brother’s efforts to marry her off for years.
“Why not?” she could not help asking. “What’s wrong with the lass?”
“I’ve no objection to her,” he said. “I don’t even know her.”
Sybil narrowed her eyes at him. There was something more to this than Rory was telling her.
***
