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“Come, drink with me.”
When the last bit of her yellow gown disappeared, he turned to Aidan. Joining him, he lifted his mug and his brother did the same.
They drank in companionable silence until Aidan broke it. “You are an arse, you know.”
Graeme didn’t need to ask what he meant. “I suppose I am.”
Staring at the fire, he raised the mug to his lips and drank. “You are also a lucky man, Graeme.”
He frowned. “Aye. Lucky indeed.”
Aidan looked confused—and well he should. Graeme hardly understood himself. He turned to look at the hall, mostly empty with the exception of a few servants who had begun to push the trestle tables to the side of the room against the walls.
“What is it? What could possibly be wrong? You yourself said Lyndwood will not work against us. Douglas is coming in two days’ time to speak to you personally about what happened. All is as well as can be expected for the moment.”
He looked up, not wanting to talk about Gillian with his brother, but needing to do so. “It’s not the border troubles.”
“Then why are you so distant with Gillian? The wife you didn’t want but were lucky enough to get anyway?”
“Nay, I didn’t want her. Not Gillian nor any wife. Not after Catrina. And then Emma.”
There, he’d said it aloud.
But Graeme already wished he could take it back. He didn’t believe he meant it, and surely it wouldn’t help matters to voice his insecurity.
“What do either of them have to do with Gillian?”
Was his brother daft?
“You want me to explain it to you?” he asked incredulously.
“Aye, I do.”
Graeme shook his head. “I’ll not—”
“You were never in love with Catrina. Not in that way.”
“We were promised to each other for years—”
“What does that matter? You pledged as children to be together. The foolish actions of our relatives tore the alliance apart, aye, but be thankful it did. Otherwise you would now be married to a woman who is more akin to your sister than—”
“Aidan!”
“I just meant . . . the two of you were friends. Nothing more. You know it as well as I do, brother. And you also know she belongs with Bryce Waryn.”
“Of course I know that. She is expecting a child, so I’ve heard, and I’m happy for them. But that isn’t what I meant.”
“And Emma.” Aidan shrugged. “You cannot say you cared for her?”
He didn’t answer.
“She is a beautiful, charming woman, aye. And you, for some unfathomable reason, were looking for a wife. ‘To start a family,’ as you said. But it was nothing more than that. None of this has shite to do with Gillian.”
Graeme looked at Aidan incredulously. “It has everything to do with her. Don’t you see, brother? Catrina. Emma. Mother. Even when they care . . .”
She asked for more than he could give.
“As I said earlier. You are an arse.”
