Wager with a Warrior - Emma Prince Page 0,77
pushed back from the table and came to his feet. He stood looking down at Birdie’s father for a long moment. At last, he extended his hand, his brow furrowing with emotion. “Aye.”
When her father took MacWray’s outstretched arm in a firm shake, relief as palpable as a blast of fresh air washed through the great hall.
“There is only one other matter to discuss then,” Laird Gunn said, shooting Gregor a guarded look. “And that is the marriage between my son and yer daughter, Clive.”
Gregor’s mouth flattened, though he said naught. Cormack shifted in his chair, his golden brows drawn.
“About that…” Though Birdie had spent part of the ride back to the castle considering the need for mercy toward MacWray, she’d used the majority of the time to chew on her future—and just how much she was willing to sacrifice.
She drew in a fortifying breath, fixing her gaze on her father. It was time—time to take hold of her own fate for a change.
“I have always claimed to be a loyal, dutiful daughter. I hope to make ye proud in everything I do. And I thought I was doing right by agreeing to marry Cormack. But…but I cannae.”
Laird Gunn scowled in Gregor’s direction again, but Birdie’s father didn’t move. His gaze remained steady, though unreadable.
“Why no’?”
“Because I love Gregor MacLeod, and wish to marry him—if he’ll have me.”
A muffled grunt of shock rose from Gregor’s end of the table.
“Ye love him?” her father asked carefully. “He hasnae simply…” He had to pause as if the words stuck to his tongue like tar. “He hasnae simply seduced ye?”
“Nay,” she replied hastily. He needn’t know about what they’d done last night, else he might have another apoplectic fit. Besides, if anyone had done any seducing, it had been her. She’d been the one to go to Gregor, after all.
Gregor stood abruptly. “I love yer daughter, Laird,” he said, his eyes riveted to Birdie. “I willnae bring ye peace, or an alliance, or any advantage at all in marrying her, except that I promise to love and care for her, fight for her, and die for her if necessary. She’ll want for naught that is in my power to give her, even if that is only my heart.”
MacWray whistled softly through his teeth. He resumed his seat and folded his arms over his chest, content to no longer be the center of attention.
Laird Gunn blinked in shock at Gregor’s declaration. “That is a fine sentiment, MacLeod, but Clive, what the hell have we been doing these last several days if no’ building a path toward a marriage between our bairns?”
“If yer feud wasnae ever a feud at all, then ye dinnae need a marriage alliance to bring peace—ye already have it,” Gregor pointed out.
That gave the Gunn Laird pause, but when he opened his mouth to speak again, Cormack cut him off.
“I dinnae wish to marry Lady Roberta, either.”
“What?” Laird Gunn huffed.
“No offense meant, my lady,” Cormack said, casting Birdie an apologetic glance before facing his father. “But it is obvious that she and MacLeod are in love. We all saw their kiss at the bog. I cannae in good conscience come between them.”
“But…what of all our talk of uniting our clans?” Laird Gunn sputtered. “About an alliance that would withstand the tests of time and circumstance by binding us in blood?”
Birdie’s father looked rather crestfallen as well. Birdie couldn’t blame them. After overcoming so much mutual hostility, they seemed to have finally reached a point of accord.
“There is another way,” Cormack offered, casting a nervous glance at Birdie’s father. “I have formed an…attachment with yer younger daughter, Laird.”
“Tessa?” her father blurted.
Birdie caught her gasp with a hand over her mouth.
Of course. All the times her sister had praised Cormack, flushed at his smallest gesture, and shuttered the hurt in her eyes when telling Birdie how fortunate she was to be marrying him made sense all of a sudden.
And last night, when she’d encouraged Birdie to go to Gregor, Tessa had been so careful to ensure that Cormack wouldn’t be hurt. Even while urging Birdie to pursue her heart, she’d stifled her own.
Sweet, giving Tess. Birdie’s eyes filled with tears. The possibility of her sister’s happiness meant almost as much as her own.
“In fact, I wish to marry her,” Cormack said, gaining confidence as he went.
“I wish to marry him, too!” Tessa burst from the stairwell, dashing straight for the raised dais—and Cormack.
Apparently, instead of retreating to her chamber, she’d been listening to