"Aye, well, I'm playing for time. Once I reject the ransom, your father's next step is to send an army to Achnasheen to get ye back. I’d like to put that off as long as possible." He eyed her, seeking some sign that she relented toward him. He didn’t find one. "Unless you'll allow me to tell your cousin that you've decided to marry me and ye want to establish a truce between our clans."
"I would."
Surprise had him releasing her arm and staring at her. "What did ye say?"
She paused a couple of steps above him and glanced back. "I would like to see a truce."
"So you'll marry me?" He knew even as he asked that he was a fool to get all excited. Nothing in her mien this morning indicated she’d changed her mind about him.
He was a fool. Already she was shaking her head. "Dinnae be a looby, Mackinnon. Of course I willnae. But if you'll let me leave with my cousin, I swear I'll speak on your behalf to my father."
"Your father willnae listen, lassie. He’s wedded to the old ways. If he thinks I despoiled his daughter without wedding her, the old ways mean a crowd of dead and wounded Drummonds and Mackinnons before summer’s end."
He waited for her to give him the sharp edge of her tongue for hauling her upstairs last night in full view of his kin. But she spoke steadily. "Aye, perhaps. And perhaps no’, if I can convince him that nothing happened."
Callum moved up to take her arm again. "That will need more than a wink and a smile."
Usually when he touched her, she went as stiff as a board. This time, she hardly seemed to notice as they resumed their climb.
He noticed. He wanted her more with every minute. Last night what few snatches of sleep he'd managed had been tormented with sensual dreams of Mhairi Drummond coming to him. Desire had warmed her blue eyes, and her arms had been outstretched in longing.
"My father knows I've never lied to him." They paused on the landing outside the bedchamber. "He’ll believe me when I tell him that ye respected my chastity, whatever tales are spreading across the glens."
"Because of that gossip, he'll need to make some gesture."
"Perhaps he'll allow ye to court me like an honest man."
A grunt of sour laughter escaped him. "No’ likely, lassie. He's more likely to lure me to a parley then string me up from Bruard's walls and laugh as the crows pick out my eyes."
And cut off his balls with a blunt knife besides.
Mhairi regarded him seriously and with a hint of sadness that made his heart ache. He hated to see her unhappy. Which was mad when he was the principal cause of any unhappiness she’d felt over the last days.
"Mackinnon, my father is old. After his death, John will become laird. John is angry now, but under most circumstances, he’s a reasonable man, a man of his word."
"Aye, I've heard that."
"John will listen if ye come to him, talking an end to the bloodshed between our clans." She regarded him steadily. "A concession now means he'll think of ye favorably when he’s chieftain of the Bruard Drummonds."
"You're talking politics, lassie."
Her lips tightened in displeasure, but her voice remained calm. "As ye said, Mackinnon, we’ve both been brought up to take our place at the head of a clan."
He frowned, as a sudden unpleasant thought struck him. "Ye dinnae fancy yon John Drummond, do you?"
She sighed with frustration. "There has been nae talk of a match."
There wouldn’t be, if he had anything to say about it. "Would ye be happy if there was?"
She left him in suspense for far too long, long enough for jealousy to scrape his gut to ribbons. Although the part of his brain that still worked told him that she answered within mere seconds.
"For now, I’m content to stay at my father's side."
What about after now? He searched those pure, pale features for some sign that she was in love with her cousin. John Drummond was considered a good man. He might even make a good husband.
Over my dead body, he wanted to protest. But if she'd set her heart on her cousin, Callum had even further to go to win her than he'd imagined.
Did she love her kinsman? He doubted she’d tell him if he asked.