Devil of the Highlands Page 0,51

mount to a run as soon as he'd passed under the gate.

Evelinde wondered briefly where he was going but then pushed the worry away and hurried on to the stables. If Lady did not seem tired, she would take her for a ride. Just a short one since she didn't know the area, but even a short, fast ride would help soothe her.

"My men saw ye from the wall about half an hour ago. So, I saddled up to meet ye," Tralin greeted as he reigned in before Cullen's mount on the edge of the woods surrounding the hill Comyn castle sat on.

Cullen grunted. He would have done the same the other day had Tralin and his parents not already nearly been to the castle by the time his man had alerted him that a party approached. Cullen suspected the men on the wall had been too distracted watching him trying to break the new horse to notice the approaching riders. Or perhaps they'd been watching his wife trying to get herself killed charging across Angus's paddock, he thought with an irritation that soon faded as he recalled she'd been rushing across the paddock because she'd feared he'd done himself an injury tumbling from the horse.

His wife was like to drive him crazy at this rate, Cullen decided with exasperation. One minute he was scared witless, the next furious at her for risking herself so, and the next he was touched that she'd feared for his well-being. Truly, marriage was turning out to be like a ride on a boat in rough weather; up and then down and then up and then down again. Someone should have warned him that marriage could make a man seasick.

"So? To what do I owe this your presence? Or need I ask?"

Cullen's eyes narrowed. "What do ye mean by that?"

Tralin shrugged, then arched his eyebrows. "Do I dare ask how married life is treating ye?"

"Nosy beggar," Cullen muttered.

Tralin burst out laughing at the insult, and asked, "Trouble in paradise?"

When Cullen merely sighed unhappily, he reached out to slap him on the back encouragingly and turned his mount back toward Comyn castle. "Come, friend, I suspect ye could use an ale, and I would enjoy one, too."

Cullen hesitated. He shouldn't really be there. It was nearly an hour's ride to Comyn and would be the same back, and he had much to do, but he'd needed to ride off his frustration and confusion and had somehow ended here. Now that he was at Comyn, he might as well have a drink before he returned Cullen reasoned and urged his mount forward with a nod.

"So," Tralin said, once they were settled at the trestle table in the Comyn great hall. "How is the fair Evelinde?"

Cullen smiled reluctantly and admitted, "She is fair."

"Aye," Tralin agreed, watching his face with interest. "Even in the overlarge gown and with her hair looking as if she'd come straight from her bed, she was fair, but she was fairer still when she came down after changing and fixing her hair."

Cullen nodded, a smile curving his lips as he thought what Tralin said was true, but his wife looked most beautiful when she was naked, her bright blue eyes darkening with the passion he stirred in her.

"She seemed to have a personality to match," Tralin added, when Cullen remained silent. "So I can only assume whatever trouble it is has brought ye here is yer fault."

The image of his naked wife shattering, Cullen straightened abruptly and turned an offended gaze his way. "What?"

"Well…" Tralin shrugged. "I doona see her being stubborn and proud. You, on the other, hand are both."

Cullen grimaced at the truth of those words and sighed. "I didna plan to come here, but now that I am…" He shrugged, and said, "You are better with women than I. At least they seem to like to talk to ye."

"That's because I actually talk back," Tralin said dryly, then asked, "What happened?"

"I found out she's been crying herself to sleep," Cullen admitted unhappily.

Tralin's eyebrows rose. "Why?"

"She did not realize I had brought her clothes," he admitted. "The woman seemed to think I brought her to Donnachaidh with naught but the gown on her back."

Tralin shrugged. "How could she know otherwise? Did ye tell her ye had?"

"Nay, but she should ha'e kenned that I'd no bring her here without her belongings."

"How could she know that?" he asked with amusement. "She doesna ken ye, Cullen. And ye must admit, you are no the