Page 24 of The Laird’s Wrong Wife

“But the condition remains.”

Tommy leaned out from behind the arch again. Paisley caught his shoulder before he exposed them fully. Their attention remained fixed on Ceana and Oscar.

“One hour,” Ceana insisted. “Every day. If ye expect me to become their stepmaither within a week, they willnae wait a week for ye to begin showin’ up.”

Oscar looked toward the arch. His expression changed when he saw the children, though Ceana could not read the thought behind it. He faced her again and moved closer until retreat would have required her to step out of the ring.

“And what if I refuse? What if I say I daenae want this arrangement?”

Ceana laughed, her eyes briefly dropping to the ground before returning to his face. “Then ye kidnapped the wrong bride in more ways than one.”

CHAPTER 7

The next evening found Oscar seated at the desk in his study. He squared the stack of correspondence against the edge, though every sheet had already been aligned. One corner still seemed out of place, and he adjusted it with his thumb. Then he closed the household ledger and moved Tommy’s carved horse from beside the inkpot to the far end of the desk.

The toy had appeared there three days before. Oscar could have sent it back to the nursery. Instead, the crude little beast had remained among accounts that governed rents, winter stores, and the repair of the eastern wall.

He opened the ledger again. A column of figures waited beneath his hand. He read the first entry twice without absorbing its meaning. His body retained a pleasant heaviness from the training yard, despite the bath and clean clothes. It also retained a sharper memory of Ceana standing among his warriors and looking at his bare chest.

She had made no effort to conceal her attention, and her gaze had followed a bead of sweat down his stomach before lifting to his face. He had enjoyed that look enough to resent her for giving it to him where his men might notice.

Her accusation had proved harder to dismiss.

His children lacked nothing. Paisley had tutors and suitable companions whenever she desired them. Tommy had guards, warm clothes, and discipline applied as consistently as he allowed. Both would inherit security few children possessed.

But none of that accounted for how often Oscar sat with them.

A cacophony of voices rose beyond the door. Tommy’s voice carried clearly, followed by Ceana’s lower reply and Paisley’s attempt to quiet them both. Oscar had barely risen when the door opened.

Ceana entered as if the study belonged to any person bold enough to cross its threshold. Tommy followed with two cushions clutched against his chest, and Paisley came last, closing the door carefully behind her. Her eyes moved from Oscar to Ceana as she waited for one of them to send her away.

“We have come for the first family hour,” Ceana announced.

“I didnae agree to one.”

“Ye also failed to refuse, so…”

Oscar looked at Tommy, who had already dropped the cushions before the fireplace. Paisley remained near the door.

Disappointment would push Tommy toward louder methods of seeking attention. Paisley, as he had been made aware, would accept dismissal without protest and remember every moment of it.

Ceana watched him with infuriating serenity. She understood the position in which she had placed him.

“One hour,” he acquiesced.

Tommy cheered and threw himself onto a cushion. Paisley crossed the study more slowly. She sat near her brother only after Oscar left the desk and took the chair facing them.

Ceana settled on the second cushion, arranging her dress beside the fire. “We shall ask questions. Each person may ask one of anyone present. Refusal requires a forfeit.”

“What sort of forfeit?” Oscar asked.

“One chosen by Tommy.”

That seemed to please the boy immensely.

Tommy pointed at him. “Have ye ever lost a fight?”

Oscar sighed and nodded. “Aye.”