Page 77 of Scandalous Scot
Ross, despite having eaten supper already, had served himself from the tray. Mouth full, he made a sound. Everyone stopped to stare, Alastair breaking the silence.
“You’ve somethin’ to say, brother?” he said to Ross. He was teasing him, and it struck Ian for the first time that their MacKinnish uncles had a connection a lot like theirs. They might be older, and from a time and place very different than their own, but their bond was the same.
“Mom told us about Grey, but you? I don’t believe it.” Rhys exchanged an incredulous glance with Reik.
“Màiri is the daughter of the laird of a neighboring clan,” Ian said.
“Dern doesn’t have a daughter. It must be Kelbrue,” Reik said, surprising Ian with his knowledge of the local goings-on. But it shouldn’t have surprised him. In some ways, Reik was the smartest of them all.
“Ask ’em how they met,” his grandfather cut in. Everyone in the chamber laughed, except for his brothers and Dermot. Ian would prefer not to relay the story, but apparently he had no choice. They all looked at him in anticipation.
“We met near the loch,” he said, sitting up. Rhys and Reik waited, but he was done with his story. It was all they’d be getting from him.
“They met when Ian kissed the lass before he even asked for her name,” his grandfather supplied. “Then he told her father, who demanded they wed.”
Rhys whistled. “Leave it to Ian to come through time with a bang.”
He cleared his throat. “There’s a bit more to it than that.”
Actually, a lot more to it, including his wife’s family, who would play an integral part in the history his brothers spoke of, a family Màiri was rightfully reluctant to leave.
Yes, there was more to it than they could possibly imagine. It killed him to consider parting from his brothers, but he wasn’t the same man that had been dropped at the foot of Hightower Castle. Ian had to step up, even if it tore his heart out.
30
“Ian, don’t do this.”
They’d entertained his concerns earlier, but now that everyone else had gone off to bed and only the four of them remained awake and in their grandfather’s solar, his big brothers were ganging up on him. More than a pitcher or two of ale later, they’d started berating and pleading with him in turns. Maybe he kind of liked the fact that they were so pissed off. Even though they were his brothers, and Ian knew without a doubt they loved him, it still felt good to have all three of them begging him to reconsider. It made him feel the love.
But he couldn’t do it.
“She’ll agree to it for my sake. So I can see Mom again. Find out if Dad’s okay. I can’t believe you guys, of all people, can’t see this from my point of view. Your wives all want to go. It makes sense for them, but Màiri’s worried about leaving her father. Would you have me take her away from him forever?”
Grey, drunk as a skunk, heaved a laugh. “Who says it’s forever? We haven’t talked about this, but we have the cross. Two of them, given Mom has the other. They’re like plane tickets that don’t expire.”
All three of them looked at him, their eyes gleaming.
“What?” He shook his head, having thought it out already. “No way. That’s not an option. I won’t promise her we can come back. It’s too risky.”
“Staying here at the start of a long and bloody war isn’t risky?” Rhys looked as if he could be on a Braveheart poster, minus the war paint.
“Jesus, you look different,” Ian said, shaking his head.
“No, I don’t.”
“And how would you know? Did you bring a mirror back with you?”
“OK, that’s enough,” Reik, ever the mediator, broke in. “You’re coming back with us. End of story. Grey’s right. If Màiri is worried about leaving her father, you can visit. There’s no reason to think it won’t work.”
Ian sat up straighter, looked his brother in the eyes, and put it all out there. “Maybe. Maybe not. But if I do . . .” He looked at Grey, who nodded. “I’ll be getting a new job.”
The look on Rhys’s face almost made him reconsider. He wasn’t angry, exactly, and he definitely wasn’t as surprised as Ian would have expected before talking to Grey. Actually, if he were being honest, it wasn’t Rhys’s expression that gave him pause. It was the idea that he might be the only McCaim brother not to work in the company. That he’d be the odd man out.
“I’m only still there because of you. Because of Dad. But every day that goes by, I feel more and more hollow. As if I’m missing my calling and time is running out.” He shrugged, trying to minimize the effect of his words. “I guess I’m the black sheep of the family.”
Reik snorted. “If there’s a black sheep, it’s not you.”
Rhys pulled his legs up under him and leaned forward. “No one here is surprised, least of all me. It sucks. You’re damn good at your job. But you’re right, it’s not you.”
