Page 17 of Rehabbing the Beast
“N-nothing,” Quinn said, giving her grandmother a shaky smile. “Just feeling a little lightheaded. I think I overdid it today, that’s all.”
Siobhan shot a sharp, accusing glance at Seth as she went to Quinn’s side. “Ye are new here.”
* * *
FEELING A BIT LIKEsomeone had just cold-cocked him upside the head, Seth looked at the woman who spoke to him with the tone of a mother scolding a small boy for doing something naughty. Under the power of her cutting gaze, that was exactly how he felt.
Small and deceptively fragile looking, the woman’s hair was a pure, snowy white. She had familiar soft gray eyes and delicate feminine features. The woman could only be Quinn’s grandmother. She was still quite beautiful, a vision of what Quinn would look like in another fifty years.
She glared at him, demanding a response. Seth nodded as the woman cupped her hands around Quinn’s now-pale face.
“Well don’ just stand there, ye great oaf. Fetch me a chair afore the child faints.” Seth heard her, but he was still reeling from what had just happened. The final aftershocks were just fading when Malcolm MacDougal poked his head in.
“Siobhan, Rory’s got the cart waiting out—Jesu! Rory, get in here, boy!” Malcolm’s rich voice and the urgency with which he spoke rang palpably through the room and beyond. In a matter of seconds, a younger version of Malcolm flew into the room. He took one look at Quinn and immediately scooped her up into his arms as if she was a child.
“Don’t worry, Quinn,” he said soothingly. “I’ve got you.”
Rory’s voice held way too much affection, and the sight of him holding Quinn had Seth’s inner beast crouching and preparing for attack.
Others started crowding into the doorway, looking at Quinn then shooting daggers at Seth. The acceptance he found in the pub the night before was lost in their obvious concern for Quinn.
“What did you do to her?” angry voices demanded.
“Nothing. He didn’t do anything to me,” Quinn’s voice called out as she pushed ineffectively at Rory’s shoulder. “I’m fine, Rory. It was just a little dizzy spell from overdoing it. You can let me down now.”
Instead of listening, Rory tighten his grasp. “Not yet, Quinn,” he said quietly as his eyes bore holes into Seth. “You’re shaking like a leaf.”
“Here, give her this.” Someone shoved a glass of brandy into Siobhan’s hands and she lifted it to Quinn’s lips. Quinn put her hand around her grandmother’s and sipped. Within seconds, the color began returning to her face.
“Put her in the cart, Rory,” Siobhan commanded quietly. She had no need to raise her voice, Seth noted. When Siobhan Brennan spoke, the grumbling stopped. Rory nodded, and with one last, scathing look at Seth, left with Quinn in his arms, her head laying against his shoulder.
“Malcolm, if ye can give us a ride, I’d be much obliged.”
“Anything, Siobhan,” Malcolm said, following Rory outside.
“Go on then with the rest of ye,” Siobhan commanded, waving her hand. Like chastised boys they walked sullenly from the room, but their eyes promised retribution.
Siobhan sighed. “Men,” she lamented, shaking her head. “Too much testosterone and not enough brains.”
She crossed the room and regarded Seth, blocking his way when he would have followed Quinn.
“You’re him, are ye no’?”
Seth looked down at her from his much greater height. She looked straight through Seth’s eyes and right into the beast’s. The beast sat up straight, and stared back, stunned. No oneeverlooked at the beast, no one eversawthe beast.
“Him?” Seth blinked. His heartbeat had finally returned to normal. The last of Quinn’s warmth faded, along with the overall feeling of well-being. His limbs felt heavy and lethargic. He didn’t like it. Not at all.
“Aye. The one my granddaughter’s been pining for all this time.”
Seth’s eyes widened. He wouldn’t have been surprised if Quinn had spoken of him, but only in terms of being the rotten, abusive bastard that had given her a hard time over and over again. But the man she was pining for? That almost made it sound like she cared for him, and that was a possibility he’d never even dared to consider. How could she, with the way he had treated her?
Then again, Quinn Brennan was turning out to be nothing at all like he’d imagined. The little bit he’d glimpsed over all those months was just the tip of the iceberg. The tiny woman who had given him back his life and unknowingly stolen his heart in the process was making him realize that as smart as he thought he was, he didn’t have a fucking clue.
“I—”
“Doona tell me ye dinna ken or I’ll think even less of ye than I do right now,” she warned, her gray eyes flashing. “Ye stupid bastard,” she added for good measure.
Seth didn’t know whether he should be insulted or amused. Grown men didn’t dare speak to him that way, let alone a wizened old grandma less than half his size. At least he knew now where Quinn got her spirit. His eyes narrowed.
“And doona look at me like that,bauchaill.” Seth blinked. Had she just called him a littleboy?
“Listen te me and heed well. Doona be followin’ us now. Go back te your room and think long and hard about what ye want with my Quinn. Then tomorrow at mid-day, ye will either find yer way te my cabin te woo her properly with the intent of marrying her or ye will get your arse back te whatever rock ye crawled out from under and never let her set eyes upon yer cursed flesh again.”
With that, Siobhan turned her back on him, leaving him too stunned to speak for several minutes. He heard the clip clop of horses—horses?—going by, before he finally thought to move. When he stepped outside, he was met with the glares of at least a dozen townsfolk. Some were furious, some were curious, but all were looking at him.
Still reeling, he turned and walked back to the bed and breakfast.
