“Good, I’m glad everyone is great.” Lyon grunted, refusing to rise to the taunt. “So why are ye here?”
“We cannae wish to see our eldest brother for nae reason?” Phineas asked from Keith’s other side, as he helped the younger man upright.
Lyon was about to snarl a negative when Sander shrugged again. “She’s gone.”
Lyon’s head whipped around fast enough to cause the ache to start again, but he didn’t care. “Who is?” he snapped, holding his breath.
“Bonnie’s gone to Inverness, and she didnae say if she’s coming back.”
Keith nudged him. “And even if shedidreturn to Oliphant land, there’s nae way she’ll come back here. No’ after ye pushed her away.”
Good.Good. That’s what he wanted, wasn’t it?
So why did the thought of never seeing Bonnie again make him feel as though he’d eaten hot coals, which were now trying to burn their way out of his stomach?
He swallowed down the sour taste and tried to tell himself this was for the best.
But it wasn’t.
Itcouldn’tbe for the best.
Because the best would be holding Bonnie in his arms forever.
Uttering a muffled curse, Lyon squeezed his eyes closed tightly.
Sander had stopped pacing, and now cleared his throat. “Da, as the laird, has some business to take care of in Inverness. Usually he’d send me, as ye ken, but with Tiffany’s health so delicate, I dinnae want to leave home.”
Delicate healthwas Lysander’s way of saying he was wrapped around his wife’s little finger, and he couldn’t bear to be parted from her.
On his other side, Phineas shifted. “I could?—”
“Nay!”
Lyon opened his eyes in time to see Sander glaring at their archeologist brother, his brows waggling.
“Nay, ye cannae go, Phin. Remember? Ye have that thing to take care of.”
“What the— Oh.Thatthing.” Phineas nodded quickly. “Aye, I have that thing to take care of, so I cannae go to Inverness.”
Lyon swore Keith’s cough had started as a chuckle.
With another muttered curse, he pushed himself to his feet, then had to wait for the dizziness to pass. “Just get to the point, Sander.”
His brother didn’t seem fazed by his growl. “Since I cannae go because of Tiffany, and Phin cannae go because of that thing he has to do, that just leaves ye. To go to Inverness. For Da.”
Lyon narrowed his eyes at his brother. “Dinnae think I am fooled by all this.”
Sander just shrugged, and to Lyon’s surprise, clapped him on the shoulder. “Ye’re a prickly bear at times, brother, but we want ye to be happy. Da needs ye to go to Inverness, but once ye’re there, it’s up to ye if ye find Bonnie and spend more time with her.”
Nay, he would notspend more time with her.When Lyon found her, he vowed to take her in his arms once more and tell her everything, especially why he couldn’t offer her a future, despite how wonderful their pasts—and perhaps their presents—were.
She deserved that much, didn’t she?
Aye.
Still, he couldn’t allow his brothers to manipulate him soeasily. “I hate ye all,” he growled, glancing at each of them in turn.
And damn them, but Lysander, Phineas and Keith all broke into wide smiles. Sander patted his shoulder once more.
