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“She’s not listening.”

“When Reid was pursuing you, did you listen to anyone else when he was in the room? Even after I explicitly forbade you to even glance his way.”

They were speaking to her. Or rather about her.

“You forbade Allie to speak to Reid?” she asked.

Allie grimaced, pushing away the trencher she shared with her husband.

“She did. Would you care to enlighten our guest with your recollection of when Highgate End hosted the council—”

“I remember the event well,” Gillian said, turning to Clarissa. “I’d met Reid once before, at The Wild Boar, and he was, how shall I put this delicately—”

“A complete arse,” the man in question interrupted.

Clearly he’d been listening to their conversation—with some amusement, it would seem. But when Clarissa attempted to look at him, she met Aidan’s eyes instead.

“You’re being kind,” Gillian teased Reid. “I’d have used a stronger word, but it will do.”

Allie sat back, lifting a cup of wine to her lips. She was clearly enjoying the memory, or at least her sister’s retelling of it.

Gillian frowned. “I knew immediately she was attracted to him—”

“And still is.”

“Reid,” Gillian admonished. “Would you please allow me to finish?”

The rogue, for certainly that was the best word to describe him, lifted his mug in silent acquiescence.

“And I will admit to being a mite stubborn about his pursuit of my sister—”

“Or her pursuit of me,” Reid said.

This time it was Allie who intervened, swatting her husband on the arm. In response, he pulled her toward him and kissed her. To imagine such a thing! In front of a room full of men . . . and the kiss was no small peck on the cheek. In fact, he stopped only when the banging of mugs and cheers became so loud they were impossible to ignore.

“As I was saying . . .” Gillian smiled. “I was convinced Reid was not the best choice of a husband for Allie.”

After what she’d just witnessed, Clarissa was inclined to disagree.

“But being the mature and thoughtful sister that I am—”

“Ha! You hated him until the very moment he begged you to reconsider his suit. And perhaps afterward for a time as well.”

For a man whose honor was being maligned, Reid seemed to be taking it all quite well. In fact, he appeared to be enjoying it. Or at least, he enjoyed sitting next to his wife.

All had turned out quite well for them.

Clarissa looked at Aidan again, unable to resist.

He watched the couple as she had been doing. Was he thinking about their situation too? But they were not Allie and Reid. Allie had risked angering her sister. Clarissa risked angering an entire force of well-trained knights under the brutal guidance of a man who hated her. Or at least, thought no more of her than he would his prized warhorse.

Nay, that probably overstated her importance to her father.

“Well, I do not hate him now,” Gillian said. “In fact, I believe I’ve said this on more than one occasion, but I was wrong. You are, in fact, the most beautiful of couples.”

“I’ve said the same for years,” said the deep voice that fluttered Clarissa’s insides. “Reid Kerr is the most beautiful man I know.” It was the first he’d spoken at the meal.

Everyone at the head table laughed, and none harder than the man at the center of the jest. When Reid looked at his wife, his expression was unmistakable. At least, it was unmistakable to her now. Clarissa knew what it was like to be looked at with desire. With love.