A spark of dread ran through Elysia upon hearing Clyde’s voice. She turned, glad she stood a distance from the cottage’s open door. At least, he couldn’t push her inside and shut the door.
“What do you want, Clyde?” she asked, never feeling comfortable around a man of solid girth since she was petite and did not have the strength to defend against him. Not so Saber, and that continued to surprise her.
He raised his hand, holding out one finger. “Cut myself.”
Elysia did not see any blood from where she stood and that worried her even more. “Sit down at the table,” she instructed with a nod to the small table and two benches Bliss kept outside. There were some men Bliss refused to tend in the cottage and having shared her concern with Chieftain Emory, he had agreed with her, hence the table and benches outside.
“You’ll tend me inside,” he ordered gruffly.
“I will tend you outside or not at all,” Elysia said, wishing one of her sisters would hurry and return.
Clyde scowled. “You tend Saber inside.”
She refused to argue with him and repeated, “Outside or not at all.”
“You need a husband who will teach you how to keep a civil tongue with a man,” he said with a snarl that curled his upper lip.
His snarl, far too similar to that of a dog about to attack, had her crossing her arms over her chest in hopes it would distract from the shiver that ran through her. “Since you find me uncivil, it would be best if Bliss tended your wound.”
“I’ll have you tend it, not your sister,” he ordered and took a step toward her.
“Elysia is not a healer, I am.”
Clyde turned to see Bliss walking toward him.
“Now sit down and behave or I will report your rude manner to the chieftain,” Bliss ordered, pointing to the benches.
“I can see to it myself,” Clyde snapped and pointed his finger at Elysia. “Hear this well. No man wants anything to do with either of you because of that crazy sister of yours. You’ll come begging me to marry Elysia and by then it might be too late.”
Bliss went to her sister as Clyde walked off and slipped her arm around her. “While I don’t wish Clyde on any poor woman, I do hope his warning proves true so that he leaves you alone.”
Elysia gripped Bliss’s arm. “Don’t tell, Annis. It will upset her.”
Bliss shook her head. “I was about to warn you of the same, though she would be angrier rather than upset and she would no doubt pay Clyde a visit.”
“Only worsening her situation,” Elysia said.
“I fear her situation has grown far worse. Come inside and I will tell you what I have heard.”
Annis was glad for an excuse to return to the woods. It was quiet there and a place where she could think and use the stones, twigs, dirt, and whatever else might help her build various small structures to see how they would go together to learn what worked and what didn’t.
Unfortunately, today wasn’t a day she could linger. She had promised Elysia she would not take long. She would find the bones she had dropped and hurry back. She had forgotten all about the bones she had collected for her sister. She could not even say when they had fallen from her hand, Brogan had annoyed her so badly.
She stopped walking. Why she found it so natural to refer to him by his name and not his title was a mystery to her. She had to catch herself to address him properly in front of others and yet when alone with him, his name was all that fell from her lips.
Lips.
She got annoyed recalling how close she had come to kissing him or that she had even given it thought. Or that his lips had enticed. She had never given thought to kiss any man. She cringed at the thought. But why hadn’t she cringed at the thought of kissing Brogan?
She couldn’t deny he was an attractive man, pleasant to look upon and not bad to talk with even though he teased her. She did feel sorry for what he had had to endure and it continued to anger her that his father thought him a fool when his lot in life had been caused by the man. Still, none of that was any reason to kiss Brogan. So why had she felt an urge to kiss him?
“The better question,” she asked herself, “is why you should be wasting your thoughts on such nonsense?”
She shook her head, clearing it, and made her way to the spot where she thought she had dropped the bones. It took a bit of searching but she finally found them. She scooped them up and was about to turn when she thought she heard footfalls and the rustle of branches.