Page 24 of Kilted Hate

Enya planted her hands on her hips and tilted her head. “Then maybe ye ought tae find the places she is and be there,” she quipped back. “I’ve already told ye. This is as hard fer her as it is fer ye.”

He knew that. Not only had Katherine made her feelings perfectly clear, Domhnall was fully aware that she had been forced into this. He had spent some time considering herposition over the last few days. English lasses were not the same as Scottish ones. In Scotland, the women often were as hardy as the men. In England, the women were treated as commodities.

Katherine was being used as a pawn in a game far bigger than either of them, and she had no more power over her fate than he. Taking his sister’s words several days before into account, he also realized that he had been offered the far better deal. While Katherine had been torn from everything she had known, he remained as laird in the same castle, ruling over the same lands, and looking after people he had known all his life.

Katherine knew no one. She had not even arrived with a maid, which Domhnall had found strange. From what he knew, a lady always had a maid. He had tried to work out why she had arrived alone but had reached no conclusions. Perhaps he ought to ask her, and maybe, had he not been avoiding her like she had a plague, he might have already known.

“So?” Enya pressed when Domhnall did not reply.

“So?” he repeated.

“Domhnall, ye’re being impossible. Whether ye like it or nae, ye have tae marry Katherine, and I fer one am nae going tae stand by while ye treat her like a leper.”

“All right,” he sighed. “I will try harder.”

Enya gave him a piercing look.

“I will. I swear,” he said, lifting his hands in assurance.

“Maybe ye can start now then,” she said, jerking her head towards the doorway. “Go and find her. Tak’ a walk around the gardens together.” Enya’s eyes widened and she gave him a determined look. “Avoid the streams.”

Domhnall couldn’t help but laugh at Enya’s expression, and while she tried to stop herself, Enya found herself letting out a little giggle too.

Giving her a quick kiss on the head and leaving the great hall, Domhnall strode through the castle in search of his future bride. Enya did make valid points, and in truth, he knew everything she said to be true himself. If they were going to be forced together, he supposed he ought to try and make the best of it, as stubborn as the woman was.

Rounding a corner, he met Kai and Magnus coming the other way. The three came to a stop, and Kai said, “I’m leaving for the MacDonald lands. I’ll be travelling back with Ava.”

Ava was Kai’s closest friend, and the MacDonald’s had been an allied clan for long before Domhnall was even born.

“Laird MacDonald is away, and willnae mak’ the wedding,” Kai continued. “I dinnae want Ava travelling all this way by hersel’. I’ll collect her and accompany her back here.”

“And the fact that ye have a soft spot for her has naething at all tae dae with it, I suppose,” Domhnall said with a slight smirk.

Kai shook his head. “Nae, I dinnae.”

“Och, come on, Kai,” Magnus added. “The whole castle kens that ye carry a flame for her. Though with all the other lasses ye have in yer life, I’m surprised ye have time for another.”

Kai smirked then. “I like tae keep me options open.”

“As open as a barn door,” Domhnall quipped.

“That’s just rude,” Kai replied.

Domhnall and Magnus chuckled.

“Maybe,” Magnus said through his laughter, “but probably true.”

Kai rolled his eyes and tried not to look like he found their jibing amusing.

“Are ye leaving directly?” Domhnall asked a moment later.

“Aye.” Kai nodded.

“Then be careful, keep yer eyes open, and stay safe.”

Domhnall then gripped his brother’s forearm and pulled him against his shoulder in a warm embrace. Magnus and Kai shared the same farewell, before Kai nodded to them both and turned back down the corridor.

Magnus and Domhnall then continued walking.

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