"Did he hurt ye?"Cormac asked, ignoring her.
"No, but I can take care of myself.I was about to kick him in the bawsack if he tried to touch me."
"Ye should not have to.'Tis my job to protect ye while ye are under my care."
"And does protecting me mean ye nearly slice open a man's neck in front of me, then sit me on yer lap where all yer men can see?"she frowned.
"Aye, it does.And my men see nothing when it suits them."
Una looked about the room to find that every single one of them was indeed keeping himself thoroughly occupied and not glancing at them at all.
She rolled her eyes.
Then Cormac murmured in her ear, "Ye left our bed without giving me a good morning kiss.It put me out of sorts.Then I come downstairs and find ye surrounded by men mooning over ye.I did not like it."
"Mooning over me?I was sewing their garments."
"Did any of them propose marriage in that time, even in a joking manner?"
Una blushed and stayed quiet, because two of his men had in fact, jokingly, sworn they would marry her if she'd have them.
Cormac squinted at her silence."Tell me which ones and I'll make sure they never speak another word again," he growled.
"Would ye stop it, this instant!There is no need to behave like an angry boar."
"I dinnae like the thought of other men fussing over ye."
"Well, ye'll just have to survive it."
"Barely."A beat."Have ye eaten anything, sweeting?"
"No, I was not hungry.What of ye?Did ye break yer fast?"
"Aye, bread and cheese and ale."He paused."Do ye have any mending left to do?"
"I seem to have finished the pile from this morn.Do ye have something for me?"
"Nothing at present.Though perhaps in the future ye could mend something for me."
"What is it?"
"My broken heart," he said."It refuses to beat properly since ye abandoned me this morn."
Una snorted and burst out laughing."Who knew the Shadow could behave like such a spoiled bairn when he does not get his way."
Cormac grinned."Ye have no idea, love."
***
THE REMAINDER OF THEmorning flew by with everyone taking their ease, either within the inn or outdoors.Some snoozed by the fire or flirted with the maids.Others played cards in the barn or the common room.Ale flowed freely.
It was not long before Una realized something.By afternoon their party was the only one in the inn.The earlier guests had gone, the rooms filled with his men, and it slowly became clear that Cormac had hired out the entire establishment.Tam, who she discovered was quite the gossip, confirmed it: “Shadow did not want any man he did not know making ye feel unsafe.”For some reason that endeared him to her all the more, until she remembered that Cormac was doing it for Fenella.Who she was not.
She mended three more garments in the afternoon.Even Cormac brought her a shirt with a collar that had been coming away for months.She reattached it properly and he held it up afterwards and examined it with such satisfaction that she found herself smiling.
Her smile distracted him so completely that he turned to leave and walked straight into the doorframe."Ouch!Dammit!"
She giggled and tried to muffle it behind her hand.
