to better the clan, no more, no less. What did it matter that her heart now belonged to a warrior, an outsider, a man with no prospect of bringing an alliance?
She had always known that someday she would wed, but the possibility had seemed distant, hypothetical, especially after her father’s accident. With so much responsibility to bear, she’d begun to assume that she could remain here forever.
And she’d foolishly let her emotions become entangled with Gregor in the meantime. But now that the possibility of marrying a total stranger loomed, a stark, lonely future spread before her.
Well, if Gregor wasn’t going to fight for her, then she’d have to fight on her own behalf.
“I cannae wed now,” she blurted, forming the argument as she went. “I am needed here.”
She turned imploring eyes on her father. “If I marry Laird Gunn’s son, I will be expected to go with him to the Gunn keep. I willnae be able to stay and help ye, Father, nor look after Tessa, nor the clan. Who will run the castle?”
“Overseeing both the castle and the clan was never meant to be yer responsibility, Birdie, a bhobain,” her father said gently.
“Nevertheless, they have fallen to me,” she countered. “I dinnae resent the work, either. I’m proud to serve our clan this way.”
When her father pursed his lips, clearly torn, she threw another argument at him.
“What’s more, ye arenae yet fully recovered,” she said, lowering her voice. “The physician said if ye push yerself too far, too soon, another bout of apoplexia could strike.”
“The Gunns are yer closest neighbors,” Gregor interjected evenly. “Ye will be naught more than a day’s ride away. It would be easy to visit often. Or mayhap ye can arrange for ye and yer future husband to remain here for the first year of yer marriage. If they are open to a marriage alliance in the name of peace, they may also be open to such an arrangement.”
“But that is a big if, MacLeod,” her father said, frowning. Yet from the pensive look in his eyes, he was actually considering Gregor’s proposition.
“Whatever is causing the current feud, ye’ll need a different tack than open combat to solve it,” Gregor replied. “A marriage alliance may work, or it may no’. Ye willnae ken unless ye reach out to the Gunn Laird and present yer plan.”
“I wouldnae call this my plan,” her father muttered. “But it is a potential path to lasting peace, nonetheless.”
He scrubbed a hand over his beard, releasing a breath.
“What do ye make of all this, Daughter?” he muttered, casting Birdie an uncertain look.
It was the first time either of them had asked her what she wanted, what she thought. Her father she could forgive, for as Laird it was his duty to consider the clan first and Birdie’s wishes second. But Gregor…
It more than stung that he’d gone straight to her father with this scheme instead of speaking with her first. Aye, mayhap he desired her in the base way men hungered for women, but he couldn’t truly care for her feelings and treat her so callously at the same time.
She swallowed, then swallowed again when a response still eluded her. Her galloping heartbeat filling her ears, she looked between Gregor’s stony gaze and her father’s searching one.
“I…”
Unconsciously, her hand rose to the gold chain around her neck once more. The weight of the gemstone at the end tugged on the chain, anchoring it against her skin beneath her gown.
When her grandmother had come from the MacWrays to wed her grandfather, who was soon to be Laird, she’d brought the necklace with her. It was a symbol of the nature of their truce, and a sign of goodwill between the clans.
Decades ago, there had been a dispute about the exact location of the border separating their lands. The bog to the north of Ben Loyal produced a wealth of iron ore that both clans wanted to control, but to the south, a topaz cache had been found in a cave within the mountain.
Eventually, they’d agreed that the MacWrays would control the topaz mine and the Morgans the iron-producing bog. To seal the treaty, Eatha MacWray had become Eatha Morgan.
What must it have been like for Eatha, a lass of only eighteen at the time, to travel across the border and wed a stranger? The clans’ futures, and the promise of peace and prosperity for both, had rested solely on her shoulders.
Yet Eatha had risen to the challenge, wedding Birdie’s grandfather, birthing