In Scot Water - Caroline Lee Page 0,42

front of her. He reached up and took her hands, his touch gentle, despite the anger in his tone.

“Ye are amazing, Evelinde. Ye are caring and strong—so strong—and resilient and brilliant and brave. Yer parentage matters naught when it comes to what’s in yer heart.”

Her eyes widened at the conviction in his words, but she didn’t have a chance to say anything. He tugged her closer and wrapped his arms around her. He propped his chin atop her head and rocked her slightly.

“Ye’re amazing, Evie, and I’m blessed to call ye mine. Yer parentage matters naught,” he repeated in a whisper.

Her heartbeat slowed to match the steady drumming wafting in the windows with the scent of rain. He didn’t seem to hear it—or at least, he hadn’t mentioned the odd drumming sound—and Evelinde wondered if she was imagining it.

She was still angry, still confused by his lie— Had he lied? Or had he just not told her the full truth? Was it possible he thought he’d told her?

“It matters to me,” she muttered mulishly.

He sighed and moved his chin out of the way so he could speak. “Ye ken how I was raised, Evie. I was beaten—hurt—and yelled at. They told me I wasnae worth the mud I slept in. My mother was so young when we were born, and she didn’t know how to stand up against her uncle for us. The three of us grew up together, really, in that hell, but she never recovered.”

Her heart ached for his pain, and despite her irritation, she wrapped her arms around his middle, trying to show him she cared. When he exhaled, his breath ruffled her hair.

“We lost Mam when we were twelve and saw no reason to stay. I didnae ken who my father was until I was half-grown. Da loves me, loves us all, and sees value in what we can do, ‘tis true. But I am no’ a different man than I was this morning when ye married me.”

Evelinde sniffed and pressed her cheek against his shoulder. “I suppose so,” she murmured.

So why did it still feel as if he’d lied? Could she still trust him?

Why did her heart hurt so much?

Because he’d broken it.

She stiffened in his arms. He’d broken her heart? Nay. To do that would mean…

‘Twould mean she loved him.

Blessed Mother, could she be in love with her husband?

“Are ye still angry, Evie?” Malcolm asked.

Liam’s sleepy voice rose from the pallet. “Mama? Are ye mad at Malcolm or Granda?”

The question jerked her from her contemplation of this terrible, wonderful realization. “I’m not mad at yer—at yer Granda, Liam,” she called.

Granda. Who would’ve thought her sons would call a laird Granda?

“But ye’re mad at me?” Malcolm asked in a low voice, his smile obvious.

She didn’t answer, but pulled out of his arms. “Go to sleep, honeybun,” she managed to say to her son, as she headed for the bed.

“I want to go home, Mama.”

Her heart clenched to hear the tears in that little voice, but Evelinde was too close to breaking down herself. So she blew out a breath and didn’t look at her husband, when she called out, “We are home now, Liam.”

Without saying more, she focused on her evening ablutions. As she pulled her gown off and hung it on a peg, she wondered if she’d need finer gowns now that she was a laird’s daughter-in-law.

Behind her, Malcolm sighed as he climbed into the bed. “Tomorrow is a new day, Evie.”

‘Twas the first full day of their marriage. The first day of the rest of their lives.

But she said naught as she pulled back the coverlet and climbed into bed as well. She was careful not to slide up next to him, as she wanted to, but held herself stiffly along one edge of the bed.

It wouldn’t be a problem; the bed was wide enough for an entire orgy of people. But tonight it wouldn’t see any excitement, she knew.

“This is new to me too wife,” he whispered from his side of the bed. “But I want to learn to navigate it with ye.”

He was a brilliant, thoughtful man. A good man. Wasn’t he?

He lied.

Did he though?

Ye love him.

Blessed Mother, she did.

Squeezing her eyes shut on the confusion and hurt, she rolled over on her side, facing away from her husband.

It was a long moment before she felt him move. He rolled toward her, and she felt his arm snake around her side, a moment before he pulled her back against him. Her