Page 29 of Married to the Ruthless Highlander
In the silence that followed, Freya cast a sideways glance at her. “Thank ye for bringin’ me out here. It’s… nice to be away from the castle for a while.” She pulled her fur-trimmed cloak tighter around herself as an icy wind blew through the trees behind them. “I just wish it wasnae too cold for a swim.”
“Ye swim?” Ersie seemed surprised.
“When I can,” Freya replied shyly, neglecting to add that it was often her only freedom and the one thing she was better at than her twin.
Gazing out over the stillness, noting how clear the water was, she had a feeling that a quick dip would be enough to shock allthoughts of Doughall and the library straight out of her mind and body. Any residual heat from what he had done, the way he had kissed her, would be turned to ice, never to burn in her memory again.
Ye dinnae need the loch to distract ye. Ye can keep avoidin’ him easily enough.
All she had to do was stay in her chambers for the next twenty-something days. Maybe she could feign an illness, pretend she had a terrible cold that would keep her bedridden.
Nay… ye willnae be able to get out of the feast. Curses! Why did Doughall nae refuse the notion before the ladies started their overeager plannin’?
She must have groaned out loud because Ersie gave her a strange look.
“Ye’re nervous about the feast, eh?”
Freya lowered her gaze, pushing the toe of her shoe into the shingle. “I shouldnae be… but I cannae help but worry that the ruse is goin’ to go on for too long. I dinnae want to… raise hopes, ye ken?”
Me maither is goin’ to be devastated.
“This feast makes it all seem too…” she trailed off, waving a dismissive hand to finish her sentence.
Ersie nodded. “Too real?”
“Too…naepretense.” Freya grimaced at her clumsy phrasing, but she did not know how else to explain it.
“Is that nae the same thing?”
Freya laughed tightly. “Ye’d think so, but in me mind, it’s different. Anyway, I ken it’s silly to be nervous. It’s just a performance. How hard can it be?”
“Nae as hard as awakenin’ some feelings inside the Laird,” Ersie said with a sly smile. “If ye could manage that, ye’d have achieved the impossible. Truth be told, I wouldnae be surprised if yecoulddo it. I have it on good authority that he was in a black mood this mornin’.”
Freya arched an eyebrow. “Is that supposed to mean somethin’?”
“It means he didnae sleep, and I bet me horse that it’s because a certain someone went missin’ yesterday. A certain someone whose absence had him frettin’ more than he’d dare to admit,” Ersie said, grinning.
Freya swallowed thickly, knowing a great deal more than Ersie about what took place yesterday. Doughall had definitelynotbeen fretting when he found her, not unless his idea of worry was barking at her, then pressing her against the bookcases and kissing her in a way she had never dreamed of.
“Ye see, evenyeare gettin’ yer hopes up, and I am beggin’ ye nae to,” she urged, laughing stiffly. “Besides, I thought Doughall had placed ye in such an esteemed position because ye’re meant to be most loyal to him and nae whisper his secrets to me?”
Ersie snorted. “Nay. He chose me because I bested all of his men with me sword. Had it been a holdin’ me tongue competition, I doubt I’d even be allowed to guard the goats.”
They both laughed, and although they barely knew one another, Freya could not help but hope that Ersie might become a real friend. A friend who could protect her as well as any manandmake her feel at ease. What more could a woman with a threat hanging over her head want?
“I do think it would do the two of ye some good, though,” Ersie said, before whistling loudly to the horses that were grazing peacefully on the grassy bank above the shoreline.
Freya frowned. “What would?”
“Yer seein’ if ye can make his mask crack, if ye can make him feel all of the things he’s been hidin’ all these years,” Ersie replied as the horses plodded dutifully toward her. “I’d suggest ye start with jealousy…”
Horrified, Freya’s jaw dropped.
“It’d do wonders for yer self-confidence,” Ersie continued, a mischievous glint in her eyes. “And it’d do wonders for him to lower his walls for once.”
She swung up onto her gelding’s back in one smooth movement that immediately made Freya envious of her athletic prowess and turned the horse toward the woodland. “Now, let’s go, Freya. If ye want to make him sick with jealousy, then there’s work to be done before the feast! Aye, there’s nae a moment to waste!” she called over her shoulder as her horse began to plod away.
Freya clambered frantically up into the saddle of the mare she had been given—a sweet-natured creature that only made her miss Seileach more—and nudged her forward.
