She smiled up at him. “Oh, you have such a protective look about you. Are you worried what she’ll say to me?”
“I know ye can stand up for yerself. But ye are one against four, although Montrose is a good lad and no’ likely to participate in their pettiness. I’ll just be there to even the odds.”
“And make that horrid woman and her equally horrid daughter cower in fear of you? Brilliant idea,” she said with a trill of laughter. “You are a bad influence on me.”
“How? Because I want to protect ye?”
“I love the way you put them in their place yesterday. Is it sinful of me to cheer over the scare you gave them? I amrevelingin it, in fact.”
He held out his arm and grinned. “Och, come along, ye wicked thing.”
She took his arm, but held him back a moment, and her smile turned soft and gentle. “In all seriousness, Solway…your standing beside me means so much to me. Thank you.”
Gad, she was going to rip his heart apart.
He liked the fiery Miranda. But this sweet and aching side to her was irresistible and made him fall more deeply in love with her.
“Glad to be of service to ye. I’ll do my best to have those Lawsons quaking in their boots.”
“I’m sure you will be quite effective,” she said as they walked toward her in-laws, “especially with that deep, rumbling voice of authority that comes so naturally to you. And you do have a frightening scowl, as though you will swoop down and smite anyone who displeases you. But it is most odd…”
“What is?”
She cast him another soft look. “You treated me gently even as I was tossing everything I could find at your head that first night we met.”
“I have a very thick head. There would have been very little damage done had ye managed to find yer mark.”
She put a hand lightly to his brow and gave it a caress. “I’m glad my aim was off, even if you claim to be a thickheaded Scot.”
Aye, Miranda was definitely turning his heart upside down. “Come on, let’s see that rabble off.”
Their parting conversation with her family was mercifully brief, and the Lawson ladies were on their best behavior because he was standing beside Miranda and doing his best to look like an avenging beast of fury.
Miranda’s smile was bright and she waved cheerfully as their carriage departed. “Oh, your expression was brilliant! Lady Lawson practically swallowed her tongue to hold back the insults she was so eager to spew at me.”
He placed his arm around her slight shoulders to guide her back into the inn before the rain resumed and wind once again gusted to the point of rattling windows. “Do ye think Gwenys is awake yet? Would she like to join us for breakfast?”
“Give me a moment and I’ll check on her. I’ll meet you back in the dining room in a few minutes.”
“All right.” He watched her walk down the hall and had the unsettling feeling that she was slipping away from him with every step.
But he knew it could not be so. If anything, they had taken a step closer to forming bonds of friendship and trust. She would not have confided in him, spoken affectionately of her friends and her home, unless she was warming toward him. Nor would she have felt comfortable asking him to be her guardian protector when facing the Lawsons.
He was still brooding over Miranda when she walked into the dining room and took the seat beside his. “Gwenys is awake and will join us shortly. But you needn’t wait. I know you must be hungry.”
“And ye? Are ye no’ going to eat?”
She nodded. “I will as soon as Gwenys joins us. The poor thing was afraid to come out of our room until she knew her family had departed.”
“Och, the way they make her feel is shameful.”
“She’ll overcome it in time. I want to see her gain confidence in herself as I did when I was her age. It was a struggle for me, and probably took me far too long to learn to believe in myself. But I found it so hard at first to ignore what others said of me. Every insult felt like a knife being stuck through my heart until I realized they weren’t my friends, so why would I allow them to ruin my day? Over the years, I acquired true friends who stood by me. I learned they were the ones that mattered.”
Bram merely nodded, although he did not agree with everything she had said. Aye, she was a strong woman in many ways. But these Lawsons had inflicted much damage that had yet to heal. “We can both wait for Gwenys to join us before we fill our plates. Meanwhile, I’ll have my coffee, and I’ll order ye a fresh pot of tea.”
“That is thoughtful of you.”
He grinned. “No, it is purely for my curiosity. I am fascinated watching ye go through everything ye do just to drink a simple cup of tea.”
