Page 16 of Highlander’s Dangerous Love

“My future?” She asked. She still had an idea of what he was trying to say, but she wanted to see how he would say it.

“Aye. I mean…now that yer of age, there is talk that…ye might want tae find a husband.” Bryce’s cheeks were nearly as red as his hair at the admission.

“Who? Who is saying such things?” Gemma asked, surprised indeed to hear that she was at the center of such gossip.

He shrugged. “The men, mostly. We dinnae speak of ye in ungentlemanly ways, if ye were thinkin’ we did. ‘Tis just that…ye are a bonny lass, an’ we see how hard ye work. Ye would make a fine wife indeed.”

Gemma highly doubted that all their talk was gentlemanly. She had four brothers; she was not completely unwise to the ways of men. In fact, she rather thought her life situation was such that she understood the world of men better than they proclaimed to. Which was why she did not want to tell him about her betrothal just yet.

“I have set my cap at someone,” she said.

Bryce stopped the both of them in their tracks, and looked down at Gemma in surprise.

“Ye have?”

There was an incredulous look in his green eyes. Christ, he and Colin really did look alike. They had the same sharp jawline, same shaped eyes with similar hues, and deep red hair.

“I have, an’ I have very strong reason tae believe there will be a proposal soon.”

“Och, so ‘tis serious then,” he said, more to himself than to her. “Who is it?”

“I’d not like tae say, as it isnae yet set in stone, if ye please.”

Bryce chewed the inside of his mouth for a moment as he took in her words. She thought he looked upset, but he did not say anything about it to her.

“When does yer father come home? I ken he left in the wee hours of this morning,” he asked. The conversation shift was abrupt, but at least it steered them away from having to endure more awkwardness.

“In a month, hopefully. It is an easy journey, only tae Norway this time.”

“Oh, not far. Well, time will fly an’ he’ll be home in the snap of a haggis’s tail,” he said with a smile.

Gemma said nothing, but nodded and smiled, feeling a little ill at ease about this entire conversation.

“Shall I walk ye back tae the ladies? It seemed I interrupted ye,” he asked.

Gemma wrinkled her nose. She did not like being stolen away and then dropped like a dog bone when she was no longer interesting or useful, but such was the way of women in a world of men.

“Nay, I can walk back on me own. Thank ye, though.”

“Aye. ‘Tis always braw tae see ye about, Gemma,” he said, grasping her hand and bringing it to his lips for the briefest of kisses. He’d done that before in a joking manner, but he was quite serious today. The look that flashed in his eyes was not something she recognized. It was like a mixture of angry and amorous, but the words did not fit quite right together.

“Aye,” she said, but did not return the compliment. He turned around and headed back to the castle, walking more briskly than before.

As she walked along the seaside, back to the clearing where the ladies had set up the laundry, she realized what Bryce’s look had been as he kissed her hand.

It was lust.

Bryce did not letothers see him display emotion or any other sort of vulnerability. As the son of the laird, he would take over one day, and he did not want to be seen as a weak leader. When he arrived back at the castle, he was pleasant enough, extending greetings toward those who greeted him, stopping for casual chit chat and other miscellaneous business that required his attention.

But as soon as he was behind the heavy wooden door of his bedchamber, he let out his anger. With a roar, he flipped over his desk. It felt good to use his strength like that, so he grabbed a bottle of wine and smashed it on the stone floor, watching the little glass pieces shatter and scatter, and the wine slowly trickle in different directions. Then he punched the door of the armoire, which proved to be a bad idea — it hurt, and now his knuckles were bleeding. Shaking from his rage, he sat down on the edge of his bed, gazing down at his bloody hands.

Why was everyone he loved lying to him and keeping secrets from him? First his own mother and Captain Frazier, then Colin, who clearly had feelings for Gemma, and then even Gemma herself. He had seen Colin kiss her in the corridors that morning when he thought no one was looking. There was obviously something between them, and he would bet good money on the thought that Colin was the one from whom Gemma expected a proposal. It all made sense.

“That bastard!” Bryce exclaimed. Colin was trying to steal Gemma from him, wasn’t he? That conversation on the hunt — that wasn’t just time passed between friends on a long ride. It had been reconnaissance, Bryce realized. Colin had asked such things to gauge whether or not he could have Gemma. And now he had stolen her, right out from under his nose. It was…unacceptable. Betrayal, even. Why would his best friend do such a thing?

He flopped onto his back and stared at the canopy overhead, formulating a plan in his mind. There had to be a way he could fix all this. He was the son of the laird; he could turn the world right side up again.

After a while, he became restless, and decided that some exercise on the training grounds might help.