Page 54 of A Highland Bride Disciplined
She had asked nothing of him. Not once.
Not about his childhood. Not how his journey had gone. Not how he had slept. Not how he’d fared in the city, if his business had been successful, or if the letters she’d sent had helped or hurt.
And he had noticed. She could see it in the careful way he was waiting.
“No,” she said quietly. Stubbornly.
Kian tilted his head.
But before he could respond, the door opened, and Tam entered with his usual silent tread. He walked over to the opposite side ofthe table from her, and whispered something in Kian’s ear which he nodded to quickly.
Tam straightened and both looked toward her silently.
Scarlett startled. “Aye?”
Kian stood. “I must away, Scarlett. Tam can escort ye back. Or… wherever ye plan to go now that the bairn is bein’ watched.”
Tam gave a polite nod. “Library’s been lit. If m’lady prefers to read.”
Scarlett stared at both of them.
And still, she hadn’t asked him a single thing about himself. She wouldn’t even be able to guess whichhisfavorite room in the keep might have been. The hem of her skirts was twisted into an impossible spiral, and her knuckles whitened around it in an almost painfully tight grip.
Still Kian didn’t move, but something about his expression had shifted. He was more guarded than before. Which only served to confuse Scarlett. They were just having a pleasant dinner, and though she realized he knew more about her than she knew about him, it was still pleasant… but now it was as if she was a stranger again.
Scarlett shook her head slowly. “No. Thank ye, Tam. I’ll go back to me chambers.”
Tam offered his arm, but Scarlett stepped past it.
Kian didn’t speak.
She didn’t look at him as she passed.
But the sting of her own selfishness throbbed in her chest like a bruise pressed too hard.
As she walked through the halls, the wine warm in her belly and her thoughts colder than she wanted to admit, Scarlett pressed a hand to her ribs.
Am I cross with him still? Is that why I refuse to learn more about him? But the kiss…
In the quiet of her chamber, she sat at the window, staring out into the dark.
And for the first time in days, Elise’s absence didn’t fill her with peace.
It filled her with questions.
About what kind of wife she was.
And what kind of woman she might become if she couldn’t learn to ask, and listen, and let go of fear and pride.
What kind of mother she might be in the future…
Tam leaned an elbow against the back of the chair next to him.
Kian looked up from the drink in his chalice that he’d been studying after Scarlett had left the dining hall. “Well? Tell me there’s news worth yer noise.”
Tam leaned in, already shaking his head like a man delivering the worst tidings. “There’s always news, m’laird. It’s the worth of it that’s questionable.”
Kian groaned and pressed himself to standing. “Let’s hear it.”
