“I can do without a butler,” his wife snapped back, lifting her chin. “I am not helpless. If you hadn’t noticed, while you’ve been gallivanting about your precious fields, I’ve been taking care of four children!”
“Gallivanting?” he repeated incredulously. “Gallivanting?I’ve worked meself intae the bluidy ground. Forye!”
It was all for her.
It was always for her.
And it cut–it sliced to thebone–that it wasn’t enough.
That no matter what he did, she would always be Lady Brynne Weston, granddaughter of a duke…and he would be Lachlan Campbell, the second-born son of a man who’d inherited his title because some dobber fell off a ladder.
“Well ye dinna have tae bother yerself with the boys and the twins any longer,” he said when her lips flattened and her gaze went to the tree beside him. “Me father will collect them tomorrow, and they’ll go tae where they should have been tae begin with. Callum’s soon for Eton, with Blaine not far behind. Lady Heather can manage the two little ones and the twins easy enough with a few nannies tae keep them from toddling off.” His mouth hardened. “Then ye willna have tae concern yerself with them.”
Brynne’s eyes cut to his. “While I do believe their needs will be better met at Kintore Manor, sending them awayisa decision that should have been made between the both of us.”
He gave a snort. “Dinna pretend ye ever wanted them here.”
“I won’t lie and say I haven’t been overwhelmed, but that is only because I don’t know the faintest thing about being a mother to four children! If you had bothered to tell me how many there were, and that we hadn’t the resources to afford a nanny or a governess–”
“Ye never would have come,” he said flatly.
“That’s…that’s not true,” she argued.
But all Lachlan heard was another hesitation.
“Then let’s talk about what’strue. The second ye saw the castle, ye wished ye had never married me. That’s true, isna it? Aye, that’s what I thought,” he sneered when her cheeks pinkened.
“If you’d justtoldme the state of things–”
“And what was I tae say?” His shout was loud enough to startle a pair of nesting warblers. Chattering in disapproval, they swooped low overhead before disappearing further into the orchard. “Leave yer fancy manor tae live in a place that’s a stiff breeze away from tumbling over?”
“At least I would have known to bring an extra bucket for rainy nights!” she cried. “How could you think so little of me? My love for you is notconditional, Lachlan. I would have followed you anywhere. To a castle in the Highlands, or a cottage by the sea. The destination was never important.”
Would have.
Wouldhave.
“Then why havena ye told yer brother, or anyone else for that matter, that we’re married? I’m not a fool, Bry. I know that ye are ashamed of me. Ashamed ofus.” Just speaking those words aloud caused a reddish flush to spread across the front of his chest and up his neck. He felt as if he were being boiled from the inside out, like a salmon tossed into a pot.
“That’s a despicable thing to say, and hurts you as much as it does me.” She stabbed her finger at him. “This winter has been difficult, I won’t deny it. And the spring hasn’t started off any better. I don’t like fishing tadpoles out of my bath, or waking to sheets soaked through with rain. I don’t know anyone in their right mind whowouldfind pleasure in such things. But they were bearable because of you. Because of the vows we took and the love we were supposed to have for each other.”
He wondered if Brynne was even aware that she was speaking in past tense.
“Supposedtae have?” Snatching her by the wrist, he yanked her against him. Their bodies collided and the sparks were immediate; a burst of fireworks shooting off across a dark and turbulent sky. But then, they’d never lacked for physical attraction. Perhaps he’d let the burn of it blind him to what he should have seen all along.
“I love ye with every fiber of me being,” he said hoarsely while she stared at him in defiance. “With every breath I take. With everything that I am and hope tae ever be. It’s not me love that is in doubt, Bry. So I’ll ask ye this one last time, and then let it rest.” His grip tightened. “Why have ye not told Weston that we’re married? I dinna claim tae know everything, but I do know one thing, and it’s that people dinna keep secrets out of pride.”
She struggled for an instant and then subsided, her eyes flashing with brilliant shards of green as she tossed back her head to glare.
“Is this some–some sort oftest?” she exclaimed furiously.
Another non-answer.
Another evasion.
His shoulders slumped as his anger abated, leaving him empty and achingly hollow.
“Aye,” he said heavily as he let her arm slip through his fingers. “And ye just failed.”
