"Aye, ye are, Clyde. My only friend actually. Why do ye ask me such a question?"

Mia was not sure what Clyde was going to ask her about, but she was almost too certain it had something to do with Archibald. And she felt awful to have to lie to him.

"Mia, I want to ask ye something and I want only the truth. Is that clear?"

Mia heaved a sigh.

"Nae need to breathe down like that, lass." He chuckled. "Something has happened between ye and that pompous Laird Macnab, has it nae?"

He asked what she had expected him to, but it didn’t make the question any easier to swallow. "How did ye ken?" she said quietly.

"Ach… The way he held you, the way you both looked at each other. I just kent that there is something going on."

“Well, I dinnae ken what ye think ye saw but—”

“Mia, ye ken ye have never been great at telling lies,” Clyde interrupted, focused on his riding. “Do ye have feelings for the Laird?”

Mia frowned. She had hardly fully acknowledged her feelings for Archibald to herself. Hearing someone else say it to her so plainly made her realize how true it was. But this was her husband’s brother. “Dinnae be silly, Clyde… I never said so. Do nae go heaping accusations on me.”

Mia needed to stand her ground. She was sure that she could trust Clyde, but it was a truth that she did not want to speak.

“Need I remind ye that ye’re married to my brother, the Laird of Murray Castle? What are ye doing getting involved with Laird Macnab kenning how much the man repulses Bram?”

“Och, quit yer scolding, Clyde. Ye are making all sorts of assumptions, and I do nae support any of those claims.”

Clyde looked exasperated. He sighed. “Tell me the truth, Mia. We are friends.”

He was right. They were.

Mia was tired of feeling so much and having to hide it. She desperately wanted to speak to someone. She could barely stand to look at herself in the mirror. She was a married woman, the Lady of Murray Castle, who had relations with a man who wasn’t her husband. The Highland Wolf had taken her purityandher affection.

Nottaken. She hadgiventhem to him.

“Ye are right.” Her voice was so low it was almost lost with the wind. “I might be falling for the Highland Wolf.”

"What do you meanfalling?" Clyde asked incredulously.

Mia gathered herself and began to speak. "It started out with us meeting by chance during the ball. Then I found out his reputation for being a seducer, and I thought he might be able to help me… to teach me how to make yer brother desire me.”

She had to stop there. She did not know if it was wise to let Clyde know that they had been intimate with each other. He wouldn’t tell Bram, but Mia knew it would torture him to have to lie to his brother.

"After a few lessons, I found myself desiring him in a way I never desired Bram." Her shoulders slumped. Mia felt a little lighter now that her secret was out, but she was filled with dread in anticipation of Clyde's response.

Clyde had been silent as she spoke, likely considering the weight of what he had just been told.

"I wish ye had nae told me." His words pierced a dagger through Mia's heart. "Now that I ken, I worry Bram will just ken by looking at me." He slowed the horse down slightly as the castle was in view. "I understand that my brother has nae been good to ye, but this thing with ye and Laird Macnab is nae befitting of a lady, Mia."

He stopped speaking, perhaps because he could feel Mia’s sadness and fear.

Clyde sighed. "But ye're closer to me than I could ever be to my brother. Ye're like my sister.” She turned around, and he looked at her with the love she wished to have seen in her father’s eyes. “I'll keep yer secret, Mia. Dinnae cry, ye'll be all right. Nae one is going to find it out from me. And I do believe in love… I can imagine how unbearable this must be for ye."

Mia squeezed his arm, taking the comfort that he so freely gave.

"If anyone asks ye why yer eyes are a little wet, ye tell them it's the ankle," Clyde said with a grin, getting off his mare at the castle gates.

After lifting her off the horse and cradling her in his arms, he signaled to the guards to take the horse to the stables.

And he let them know that Laird Macnab and his war chief were not so far behind.