“Where have ye been?” Ian stood in front of her waiting for an explanation.
“With Gòrdan,” she said, as she slipped off her cloak and handed it to Gòrdan to hang by the door.
“I did not see ye on the path,” Ian said.
“We weren’t on the path,” she said, then turned to speak to his mother. “Such a lovely afternoon for this time of year. No, don’t get up, Beitris. I’ll see to supper.”
She brushed past Ian and headed for the kitchen without so much as a glance at him. He was about to follow her when Alex stuck his head through the front door.
“Niall and I could use your help with one of the horses,” Alex called, then shut the door again.
Ian stormed outside and found Alex waiting for him by the byre. “What do ye need me for? You’re the best man with horses.”
“I didn’t call ye out for help with the damned horses,” Alex said in a low voice. “Your brother is in the byre, and he’s in such a fury he’s like to put the cows off their milk.”
“I don’t have time now,” Ian said, clenching his fists. “I need to talk with Sìleas.”
“Just now, I think ye need to speak with your brother more. I’ve tried telling Niall that ye are not the horse’s ass ye seem to be, but I fear I wasn’t too convincing.” Alex slapped Ian on the back. “Go talk to the lad.”
“Ach!” Ian banged into the byre and found Niall brushing his horse down.
When Niall looked up and saw him, he threw the brush against the wall.
Ian grabbed Niall as he stormed past him. “Niall, what is—”
“Go back to France!” Niall shouted in his face.
Ian blocked Niall’s arm when he tried to drive his fist into Ian’s face. Before Niall could punch him with his other hand, Ian spun him around and held him by the neck. His own temper was flaming now.
“You’re a long way from taking your big brother, so I suggest ye not try that again,” Ian hissed in Naill’s ear.
There was no point in talking when they were both so angry, so he let his brother go.
Ian watched Niall’s stiff back as he stalked out of the byre with his fists clenched. So much for following Alex’s advice. Ian finished brushing the horse to calm himself before going back to the house.
By the time he got to the table, his brother and Gòrdan were sitting on either side of Sìleas, and Alex had taken the seat across from her. He sat down and glared at Alex as he started shoveling his food down.
His mother was speaking to him, but Ian couldn’t follow what she was saying when it was plain as day that Gòrdan was set on stealing Sìleas away—right under his own roof. God’s bones, the man’s gaze never left her face.
And what was Alex up to? He was putting on a full show of his dazzling charm. And from the way Sìl laughed at Alex’s foolish remarks, his charm was working.
Ian could hardly choke down his food.
Sìleas was determined to be cheerful. Damn Ian MacDonald anyway. First, he demands she ride with him, leading her to believe he was going to play the part of her husband before half the clan at the church. Then, as soon as they arrive, he sends her off as if she were still a child.
She threw her head back and laughed at Alex’s joke, though she had missed the first half of it entirely.
Was it too much to ask Ian to sit beside her? For five years, she’d had to listen to the women’s remarks about her missing husband. If one more matron had given her a look of sympathy today, she would have screamed right there in the church. And then the women would have even more to talk about.
She should be used to the humiliation by now. But it had been harder than she expected to watch mother after mother bring her babe forward to be baptized, while her own arms were empty.
Ian wasn’t even waiting for her at the church door. Fortunately, Gòrdan had been kind enough to take her home as soon as the ordeal was over. Of course, that meant she had to suffer Gòrdan’s pleading looks, but at least he had the good sense not to press her today.
“We need to tell them about the men we saw,” Gòrdan said in a low voice while the others were talking.
“No,” she mouthed.
Gòrdan didn’t look happy about it, but he’d do as she asked. She didn’t want to worry Beitris and Payton over nothing, just when they were both getting so much better. When she and Gòrdan saw the three strangers coming toward them on the path, she panicked, thinking they could be MacKinnons coming after her.
