Page 18 of His Forgotten Highland Bride

“I’ll not foul my meal by eating next to a snake,” Will said with a glare in Ewan’s direction.

“You may sit wherever you choose.” Ronan wasn’t expecting so many of his men to take him up on the suggestion. This was not a small matter. All of his men were loyal to his wife. Soon, he was sitting at the high table alone with Ewan, and his entire guard sat with Brenna.

Ewan had said she was out for power, and it seemed his men had given it to her. Will and Hugh were Grants; they would never bow to a woman who was only a Grant in name—unless there were something else afoot.

“Why did she cut you?” Ronan asked his uncle, who was digging into his meal like a starving dog. Ewan had once been Ronan’s best friend. They had been like brothers. He trusted the man as he would believe his mind.

Even after the debacle that caused Ronan to marry Brenna, Ewan had told the truth of what happened despite the consequences. He and the other man had been drunk and gaming. The other man had pulled a knife on Ewan when he’d not liked the way his luck had turned. Ewan had defended himself, even admitting that he’d taken the matter too far by killing the other man.

Ewan sniffed before setting down his eating knife. “I see they’ve planted a seed of doubt, just as she wished them to.”

“You haven’t answered my question.”

“Very well. It happened the night my father died. He was very sick, and Brenna told him the time had come for him to name his successor until you returned. She suggested herself, and she did this when I disputed her claim. I only wished to preserve the seat for you, and this is what I got.”

Ewan was already on his second mug of ale as he turned back to his meal. If it weren’t for the fact Ronan had known Ewan all his life and had never heard him lie in all that time, he might question the man. But Ewan had once saved Ronan’s life while Brenna was unknown to him. Except for that night they’d shared, he didn’t know her.

He’d seen how her sister manipulated everyone to get what she desired. At the time, he’d thought Brenna was the victim. But perhaps she was merely a pupil waiting for an opportunity to unleash her skills on her new clan.

Still, Ronan couldn’t shake the feeling something was wrong. If his wife was the power-hungry tyrant Ewan made her out to be, why would his grandfather and his men follow her unthinkingly? One thing was sure—he’d find out the truth soon enough.