Page 25 of The Laird’s Wrong Wife

The boy’s mouth fell open. Ceana looked equally interested, though she hid it by smoothing her dress.

“Every man who fights long enough loses,” Oscar elaborated. “The clever ones learn why.”

“Who struck ye?” Tommy asked.

“Ye have used yer question.”

Tommy folded his arms. His displeasure lasted until Paisley turned toward Ceana.

“Do ye really mean to stay after the weddin’?” she asked.

Oscar glanced at his daughter. She kept her hands folded in her lap, yet one thumb pressed hard into the other.

Ceana gave the question the attention she might have given a clan elder. “I daenae make promises lightly. I agreed to become part of this household, and I intend to honor that agreement.”

Paisley’s fingers loosened before Ceana asked what she enjoyed when no task had been set for her. Paisley hesitated before admitting that she liked music and stories about distant places.

“Stories are dull unless there is a battle,” Tommy commented.

“Yer sister was speakin’, sweetness.” Ceana’s admonition carried no anger. “Ye may disagree when it is yer turn.”

Tommy closed his mouth.

Oscar was so shocked by the boy’s response that he had not noticed Ceana turn her green eyes on him. “What makes ye laugh?”

He blinked, searching for an answer, and found only the duties that filled his days. “There is little about clan business that amuses me.”

“That is a refusal,” Tommy declared. “Ye owe a forfeit.”

“Ness makes Faither laugh,” Paisley stated softly.

“She doesnae.”

“She ate one of yer letters,” Tommy said. “Ye laughed when Lennan tried to pull it out of her mouth.”

Oscar remembered Lennan pursuing the goat around the courtyard while half the guards pretended not to watch. A sound had escaped him before he could prevent it.

Ceana burst into laughter, the sound filling the study. Her head tipped back, and a strip of firelight caught her throat. Oscar found himself watching her instead of correcting his children. It was the most fascinating thing, just how her warmth reached every corner he had kept orderly.

“Can ye dance?” Tommy asked her.

“I can.”

“Paisley cannae.”

Paisley flushed. “Some of us have it hard, alright? I cannae step on people’s feet.”

A light silence fell over the four of them as Oscar took another glance at Ceana. However, it was clear she would not let it last.

“Every good dancer once stepped on someone’s feet,” she said, rising. “Come, I shall show ye.”

She placed Paisley’s hand correctly and adjusted the girl’s shoulders with gentle fingers. When Paisley stumbled through a turn, Ceana slowed down and steadied her.

After several attempts, Paisley completed the step. Her small smile hit Oscar somewhere beneath the ribs.

“She needs to see the whole dance,” Tommy declared. “Faither can do the man’s part.”

Nay. Nay, nay, nay.