“I do, and I also recall the other lasses ye pushed away because ye didna trust any who seemed too eager to make ye hers. An heiress for one. She was a baron’s daughter, aye? And several lovely lasses, though their beauty didna rival Ella’s.”
Ella’s reluctance over the last year to grow closer to him kept him from pushing her away, too, despite how she otherwise appealed to him. He knew her story. He’d been present when her husband returned her to Munro and repudiated her. Their sudden divorce shocked everyone, but he was glad for her and had spent the last year getting to know more about her. Yet, he still didn’t know if she truly returned his interest beyond friendship or not.
He told himself she needed time to get past the trauma of that experience, and until she did, he would remain a friend, keeping her at arm’s length for her sake. His injury had added another layer of distance, one he needed, because he didn’t want her to pity him. “So everyone kens I refuse to let her care for me?”
“Everyone who counts, aye. Annie’s quite cross with ye, and ye ken that’s no’ a place any man wants to be.”
Calum snorted. “Iain didna mention that.” He shrugged. “What can she do to make this worse? I already dinna ken if I have a future.”
This time Euan snorted. “Feeling sorry for ourselves, are we? At worst, ye have one good eye. At best, two of ’em. Why no’ wait until ye find out which it will be before chewing the leg off anyone who wants to help ye?”
“No’ anyone. Just Ella.” Had her kind nature fooled him? Did she think of him only as a friend to her, the same as anyone else in the clan she’d be determined to care for, rather than thinking of him as a man she might want for her husband? Had he misread her all along?
“So ye’d let Muireall or Annie?—”
“Nay.”
“Ye make my point for me.”
“Do I?”
“There’s aught Iain didna tell ye, or ye’d have mentioned it by now.”
Calum stilled. “What?”
“We just came from a meeting in the solar. Iain, Kenneth, me, the other scouts?—”
“I dinna like the sound of this.” Despite the assurances Iain had just given him, Calum’s gut twisted. Had they discussed removing him from the ranks of the scouts?”
“’Twas another incident like the one Kenneth and Cameron Sutherland just got into.”
“What happened to Kenneth?”
“They encountered Irish gallowglass warriors, and to help Kenneth protect Cat, Cameron tried to lead them away, fought, and was wounded. Kenneth is fine. Now, we’ve heard one of the Gordon warriors has been injured in a fight with some men who were passing through Gordon land a few days after Harlaw. Thelairds are no’ happy about the remains of the two armies causing trouble.”
“And no’ kenning where that trouble is heading, I’ll wager,” Calum said, on the one hand relieved that his fear hadn’t materialized, but on the other hand, angry that his condition meant he’d been left out of an important strategy session. How many more would he miss before he recovered? If he recovered. “I shouldha been there.”
“With the Gordon?”
“At the meeting, yebampot.”
“Ye’re no’ ready for that, and Mhairi would have Iain’s head if he got ye involved too soon.”
“I’ve naught else to do but lie here and fash myself blind.”
“No’ funny, Calum.”
“Ye try lying here for a sennight or more in the dark and see how ye feel about it.”
“I wouldna like it any more than ye do. But I’d accept help where it was offered.”
“So, back to the lasses, aye? I guess that proves ye are a better man than I.”
Euan stood.
There was no mistaking the sound of it. Calum stifled a groan. Now he’d angered his best friend, too.
“I’ll see to ye tomorrow. Perhaps ye’ll be in a better mood by then. In the meantime, think on this: ye are a valued member of this clan. Ye have an important future here. A good life ahead of ye. It might no’ be the one ye thought ye’d have, but ye will adapt. And yer friends will help ye—if ye will let them. And ye should. ’Tis what friends are for. Now get some rest.”
