Page 51 of How to Heal a Highland Heart
He chuckled. “I’m surprising myself, lass.” He scrambled off her to settle beside her and motioned her toward the top of the bed. “If we’re to talk, ye should scoot up to where ye are more comfortable.
Once they were both situated, sitting side by side, she turned to him, aware of the length of his muscled legs pressed against hers. His bright-blue eyes watched her with expectation. She’d never sat with a man like this. In fact, she’d never had a personal conversation with either of her other husbands. Suddenly, she wasn’t even certain where to begin or what to ask. She twisted her fingers together, feeling foolish, and Brodee’s hand came to rest on hers.
“I’ve been with many women,” he said, his voice low and perhaps tinged with regret. “I think it best for both of us if we dunnae talk about where I discovered how to do things.”
She nodded in full agreement.
He inhaled a long, slow breath, and she got the feeling he was trying to order his own thoughts. “I was to wed. ’Tis true. But I never joined with her, and I did nae… That is to say, I did nae…”
“Ye did nae care for her?” she guessed, wanting to help him out of what was clearly a miserable topic for him.
He frowned. “Nay. I did care for her, but as a friend. My father bade me to wed her. And I was prepared to do what I needed to for the good of the clan.”
“What happened to her?” Patience asked, feeling a bit guilty for leading him to talk of it without revealing that Kinsey had told her he’d killed this woman and his leman.
“She was murdered. But ye already ken that, dunnae ye?”
A hot flush singed her cheeks, and she nodded. “I’m sorry. I should have said. I just—”
“It dunnae matter.” He gave her a long look. “I’m used to the whispers now, though my innocence was proven recently and the real murderer finally found.”
It was interesting to her that he’d not mentioned the leman yet. It had to be the leman he’d been referring to that night he’d told her part of people died when they lost someone they loved. “Will ye tell me of it? I dunnae believe ye to be a murderer—”
Amusement lit his eyes. “If ye did, it would be quite foolish of ye to be sitting here beside me.”
“Aye, it would. But I dunnae believe ye to have murdered two women.” His eyes narrowed, and his mouth thinned. She bit her lip, wondering if she had pushed him too far. When he said nothing, she continued. “I would like to ken about yer past, though, given…given ye are my future. And I… Well, I see hope in that future.” God above, she wanted to fan her face she was so embarrassed.
His eyebrows jerked sharply up at her words. “Ah, lass.” His shoulders dropped as if he bore a heavy weight upon them. As if her words were almost more than he could take. He squeezed her hand. “I dunnae ken what ye heard, but I can imagine. When I was much younger, I got entangled with a lass my father did nae approve of. But I did nae care.” His eyes broke their connection to hers, and he stared past her. “I did nae care for many reasons, but the two main ones were that my father made me feel much the way it seems Kincaide made ye feel.” Brodee’s gaze returned to her. “I was born the second son. My elder brother, Broch, was taken from my father by my mother when he was a newly born bairn. We were born just a few breaths apart, but those breaths made all the difference to my father, and he did nae let me forget my place in birth and his heart behind my brother. Nae ever. Nae for a minute.”
Her heart ached for him. She reached for him, and he startled, as if surprised. He was very much caught up in his memories now.
“See this?” He pointed to the inking on his right shoulder that she’d noticed before. The ink of the circle was darker than the ink of the dagger that went through it.
“What does it mean?”
“It means I’m the second son. The lesser son.” His tone was hard, but his pain radiated from him. She hated his father in that moment, because she could see clearly that he’d made Brodee feel second-best and it had caused him heartache. Was that why he was the king’s right hand? Was that why he was so ruthless in battle? To feel the best somewhere?
“My father gave me this moments after I was born. He gave my brother one, too, but his is a circle with a sword through it. A sword is the first weapon a warrior would choose, just as the first son is the one my father would choose. But he was left with me, the dagger, when my mother took Broch away.”
“Do ye…Do ye speak to yer father?” she asked, thinking of her own father, whom she’d not spoken to in over a year since he’d first wed her off. The next two times she learned of her fate by missives from him. He didn’t even deem her worthy enough to tell her face-to-face.
“Aye.” Brodee sighed and reached up to tug a hand through his hair. She could not help but watch in fascination at the way his body moved so fluidly, muscles rippling. “My father tried to make amends with me last year when my brother was sent to our home on a mission for the king. Broch did nae ken he was my brother, and we did nae at first, either. My mother died shortly after taking him and kept who he was a secret. She wanted to punish my father, I believe.”
“Why did she nae take ye, too?” Patience asked softly.
“I think because I was ill.” He shrugged. “I dunnae ken for certain.”
“May I?” Patience asked, motioning to his tattoo.
He nodded. She traced her finger around the circle and then over the dagger. “This marking dunnae make ye less than yer brother.”
Brodee caught her fingers and brought them to his lips to kiss the tips. Her belly tightened at the desire that shone in his eyes. “And the words of a fool dunnae make ye worthless.”
Her breath caught. He was right, of course. She was beginning to see that, understand it. “Two fools,” she corrected. “My father has always treated me just as poorly as Silas did. Ye should nae trust him. I heard talk that ye are to go on a mission with him so he can prove himself to the king.”
“I dunnae trust him, Patience,” Brodee said, brushing his fingers down her arm. She shivered at his touch and the wonderful feelings it evoked in her. “So dunnae fash yerself.”
“What was the second reason that ye disregarded yer father’s wishes about the woman ye got involved with?” she asked, unable to leave be her memory of what he’d told her. She wanted to know all about him.
