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She stared into the fire for a moment. Graeme had learned his wife adored a fire, even on warm days like today, and wondered if they’d be sitting next to one even during the summer.

“But Graeme, you cannot . . . I cannot lose you.”

“And what man, do you suppose, would pose a true challenge to me?”

She considered the question only briefly. “Geoffrey Waryn.”

“One man?”

“And his brothers?”

“Even the youngest?” he asked with a smirk.

“Though Neill is yet young, they say he is proving to be the strongest and most powerful of all the Waryn men.”

“I’ve heard as much. But thankfully all three of them are allies to Clan Scott.”

“Lord Clave? He appears to be—” Gillian’s face whitened as she realized what she’d said.

“Appears to be?”

“I’m sorry, Graeme. I should not have said his name. I was not thinking.”

He looked at Gillian, her soft cream shift nearly skimming the ground, her hair pulled back in a braid as it was each night, and tried to quiet his body’s response.

“There is no need for you to be sorry.”

“But Lord Clave . . . Emma . . .”

Graeme took a drink and sighed, crossing his legs in front of him.

“Emma Waryn is a beautiful woman,” he started. “And when I offered for her . . .” He stopped, not really wanting to continue.

“Yes?” she pressed.

He forged ahead.

“I offered for her because she was here. And obviously saddened by Garrick’s betrothal. I thought . . .” He couldn’t believe he was saying as much aloud. “I thought perhaps she was sad because he was getting married. And unlike my brother, I was prepared to marry. I’d thought of myself as nearly married for years—”

“Being betrothed to Catrina.”

“Of sorts. Our families had discussed a betrothal before the rift occurred. After that, she and I remained good friends. We thought to change her brother’s mind.”

“Which of them was against the marriage?”

“Toren, mostly. Alex and Reid did not seem as impassioned to continue a feud started by our fathers.”

Gillian shuddered.

“You don’t care for Reid.”

“Nay,” she said. “Not at all.”

Graeme took another sip. “He is actually a good man. Though for some reason he tries hard, successfully at times, to hide it.”

“Well, I do believe you are better off without him as a brother-in-law.”

Graeme laughed. “Perhaps.”