Page 30 of The Winter Laird

Brianagh sneaked a look at Nioclas. His face was serious.

Erin leaned over and murmured into her ear, “That’s Daniel, the clan elder. He’s the oldest in the clan, and Nick’s closest advisor.”

Daniel continued. “He rescued us from evil, a man who would destroy us if it suited his purpose. When we stood with MacWilliam, we stood together, and we haven’t sat down. For twenty-two years, we’ve been waiting for the day when we would welcome a Lady MacWilliam, and we now have her. Clan MacWilliam, I present to you Lady Brianagh MacWilliam, formerly Lady Brianagh O’Rourke!”

The silence was deafening while everyone digested that their laird had just married an O’Rourke—clearly they hadn’t expected that. Then Aidan started to applaud and was quickly joined by Erin and Donovan. The rest of the clan followed suit.

The whispers were almost as loud as the clapping.

“Now, ’tis time for the standing up,” Aidan called out.

Nioclas shot his brother a look of death that made even Erin squirm. The crowd began to cheer again. The rowdy suggestions tossed about made Brianagh blush from head to toe.

Nioclas stood, and the entire room quieted immediately. “There will be no standing up,” he said, his voice ringing clearly throughout the hall. “I thank you all for coming and for attending my wedding. You are all welcome to stay at the castle tonight.” He held his hand down to Bri, who quickly realized she was supposed to follow his lead and took it. She followed him out of the hall and up the stairs.

“I think we’ll let them talk for a while yet about your former surname,” Nioclas said as they walked. “It will take them a few weeks to forget you’re an O’Rourke, but once they choose to, the tale your family has spread will not be mentioned again.”

Brianagh didn’t really hear all of what he was saying—that wine was stronger than she thought—but she did hearformer surname? “What do you mean by that? The former surname part?”

He opened the door and brought her into a chamber much more luxuriously appointed than hers. Whereas she had only a small stool, straw mattress, and washstand, his chamber had two stools, a large washstand, an ornately carved dresser, and a huge bed, which was the focal point of the room. Complete with posts, an ornamented canopy, and richly embroidered hangings, the bed was laden with coverlets, pillows, and fur blankets.

She would’ve bet her leather slippers the bed was not made out of straw.

“This is your chamber?” she asked in wonder.

“Absolutely not,” Nioclas replied. “My chamber mirrors your own. This is the guest chamber.”

“It seems overly fancy for a guest.” She touched one of the tapestries on the wall.

“My sire, when he controlled the clan, believed it best to make one of the rooms fit for royalty. No one was allowed to sleep in it, but it was displayed to all.” Nioclas snorted. “He simply wanted to prove that he had the gold to own such a chamber.”

“Did he have the gold?”

“My mother did,” Nioclas replied, “and once it was gone, he killed her.”

Brianagh covered her mouth with her hand. “I’m so sorry.”

“It was a long time ago, lass.”

“Why are we in here now?”

“Because the laird would be expected to spend his wedding night in the best chamber with his chosen lady,” Nioclas replied softly.

“Which brings me back to the question I asked. What did you mean by former surname?”

Surprised, he responded, “Where you’re from, do the women not take the man’s surname as her own once the vows are spoken?”

“Well…sometimes,” she replied, careful in her wording. “Most times, actually. I suppose my question is, are we really married?”

“Aye.” He looked at her curiously, but his expression changed to wary. “That was our agreement.”

“I thought we were just going to pretend to get married! How do I explain this when I get back?” Realizing what she said, she snapped her mouth closed and shut her eyes.

She really, really didn’t mean to say that.

Nioclas’s face went carefully blank. “Are you betrothed to another?”

“Um—”

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