“May I speak freely?”
That made him look at her again, the smoke-gray eyes connecting with hers in that way they had. “D’ye ever do aught else?”
“I try to be tactful. Indeed, I do. ’Tis no’ in my nature.”
“I ha’ noticed. Pray, say wha’ ye will.”
“I believe Evan to be either mad or ridden by a demon. The devil may well supply him wi’ the whisky, but I do no’ believe denying it to him will help. Indeed—”
“He may become enraged at being denied? Aye, ’tis possible.” Alan shifted uncomfortably. “It has always been so—he could ne’er accept rebuke as a child and would fly into a temper if he heard the word ‘nay.’ So it came to pass that Father—and Mother also—avoided speaking it to him. But,” he hesitated before finishing, “I do no’ think him mad.”
“Aye, ye think it the act o’ a sane man, beating his horse and stabbing his own brother between the ribs?”
“He may become maddened from time to time. He stabbed me because I was about to get the better o’ him. And that he could no’ bear. And that argues a sound mind.”
“Reason it awa’ as ye will. He tried to kill ye.”
“He did no’ succeed. As ye can see, I am far fro’ dead.”
“Still and all, he is a vicious brute.”
“On that, we can agree. Which is why I mean to be on guard against him. Here, help me up.” He shifted again, using his arms.
“I will no’. Ye are to lie there until the bleeding stops.”
“It has stopped.”
“And will start up anew if ye move about like a fool.”
He cocked a brow at her. “Fool, is it?”
“What else might I call ye?”
“Verra well then, I will get up by mysel’.”
He struggled to do so, trying to disguise the resulting grimace.
Annista was around the bed in an instant and lending him her shoulder for support.
He peered down at her. “I thought ye had sworn no’ to touch me.”
“Except for necessity,” she gasped. He was heavy, but even as she struggled to steady him, he straightened onto his two feet.
“I wish to go out and make certain Chieftain is well protected. Should Evan come back—well, he would like naught better than to tak’ out his ire against me on my horse instead.”
“That is a long way to walk. And the stable boys are on guard.”
“Ye think they could handle Evan in a rage?”
D’ye think ye could?But Annista did not say that. A man had his pride, and she did not wish to insult him. “Let us go slowly, then.”
“Aye, so. The only way I may go.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
It surprised Alan when Annista lent him her shoulder. But he hastily warned himself not to place too much meaning upon the act. As she said, necessity was necessity.
It surprised him less to encounter his mother out on the gallery. She promptly began fussing over him.
