Was she upset over the fact that she found herself married to the wrong McCabe? ’Twas something Caelen hadn’t considered, and now that he was he didn’t like the thought at all.
“ ’Tis settled then,” the king announced as he put down his goblet. “We’ll gather the lairds and Ewan can name his brother the new laird of the McCabe clan.”
“What of our men?” Alaric asked Ewan.
Caelen leaned forward, for he had need to hear this as well. The McCabes had an awesome fighting force, but it would have to be split, which benefitted no one.
Ewan grimaced. “I’ll take a large enough contingent with me to see to the protection of Mairin and Isabel. Once we’ve arrived at Neamh Álainn, I can afford to send some back provided I am well satisfied with the king’s guard there.”
He looked to Caelen. “I thought to leave Cormac here since he is newly married and ’twould be more difficult for him to relocate to the McDonald holding with a new wife. I can’t spare men to give to you but I can send Gannon with you to aid in the training of the McDonald soldiers.”
Caelen viewed his brother with surprise. “But Gannon is your most senior man, your most trusted. He has protected you and your wife and child faithfully.”
“It is why I would send him with you,” Ewan said quietly. “You’ll need an ally, someone you can trust without question.” He glanced apologetically at Rionna as he spoke.
Rionna stared stoically past the men to the tapestries hanging over the fireplace. You could have broken stone on her face. No hint of emotion. Her eyes were guarded, no betrayal of her thoughts.
Then she turned as if deigning to acknowledge the men sitting around her. She gave a delicate, feminine sniff, but somehow Caelen knew it had cost her not to let out a decidedly male snort.
“It’s a wonder you allowed yourself to consort with people such as the McDonalds. Why bother with an alliance when we’re so clearly inferior and untrustworthy?” Rionna said.
Caelen nearly crushed her hand in his. His nostrils flared and he would have chastised her for speaking to the king and his brother thusly, but something in her gaze held him back. It wasn’t so much the anger, but hurt lurked where before she’d allowed no hint of what she was feeling to show.
It was gone so quickly he wondered if he’d imagined it.
The king chuckled while Ewan grimaced.
“I realize this isn’t easy for you to hear, Rionna. You have my apologies. I would not send my brother into a hostile environment without support.”
“He is more protected by being my husband than he is by your man,” she pointed out. “Perhaps you should concern yourself more with not insulting me.”
At that Ewan’s eyes narrowed. He was angry at the implied threat. Caelen was merely amused.
“Now, Rionna. You’ll have him worried you’re going to split my gullet while I sleep,” Caelen drawled.
He leaned over, wrapped his hand around her nape, and did what he’d been dying to do ever since she floated into the room. His lips mashed against hers. It was no kiss of seduction, accompanied by sweet gestures and honeyed words.
It was a command to be silent. To cede to his authority. It was a reminder of whom she belonged to.
The feisty little wench nipped at his lip. He tasted blood but he also tasted her sweetness. He didn’t rear back as she likely expected. He deepened the kiss until his blood was forced onto her tongue. When she tried to pull away, he hauled her against him until she was flat against his chest, her ample br**sts straining at her bodice.
Only when she went slack against him and the fight leeched from her body did he pull slowly away. He wiped at his mouth with the back of his hand, all the while staring into her eyes.
“See, Ewan, she’s perfectly harmless. You just have to know how to handle her.”
She sprang to her feet, her eyes flashing furiously. “You are the worst sort of braying ass!”
He battled a grin as she turned and flounced dramatically from the room. She’d be insulted to know that her usual long, mannish stride was completely ruined by the yards of material flowing at her feet. She looked like a woman in a pique.
And wouldn’t that infuriate her.
CHAPTER 4
“Jesu, Rionna, where did those come from?” Keeley exclaimed.
Rionna shut the chamber door with a scowl and then looked down as she realized what Keeley referred to.
“They’re br**sts!”
“Well, I can see that. The question is how you grew them overnight.”
Rionna stared at Keeley for a moment and then burst into laughter. It was either that or cry, and she’d poke her own eye out before she let that happen.
Keeley’s eyes were full of mirth as Rionna walked over to collapse on the bed next to her.
“He’s a … He’s a …”
“Yes, Rionna? He’s a what?”
“He’s a dolt! A pompous, overstuffed … windbag!”
“I can see your education is sorely lacking in the area of insults,” Keeley said dryly.
“I was trying to be circumspect,” Rionna muttered.
“I assume you were referring to your new husband?”
Rionna sighed. “It’s never going to work, Keeley. I look at you and Alaric. I see how Ewan is with Mairin. And then I look at Caelen.”
Keeley’s face filled with sadness and worry. “Do you think you’ll be so very unhappy?”
Rionna felt immediate guilt. Here Keeley lay recovering from a terrible injury. She’d married the man Rionna was supposed to marry and she likely felt horrible that Rionna was unhappy.