seemed to like him well enough when the two o’ ye were rolling around on top o’ me in me deathbed,” Fearghas snapped.
“’Twas no’ yer deathbed,” she snapped right back, and then her eyes widened in horror. “Ye were awake?”
“A dead man would have been hard-pressed no’ to wake up had the two o’ ye fallen on top of him and commenced to moaning and rolling about as ye did on me,” the Maclean roared, and then took a deep breath and said more calmly, “Ye’ve ne’er, ever shown such an interest in any other man, no’ once through the years, lass. So I thought, well, ye obviously liked him and should marry him. I just had to sit back and wait fer the two o’ ye to come to that conclusion yerselves. But ye two idiots were avoiding each other. Ye barely even looked at each other unless ye thought the other was looking away . . .” Grimacing, he admitted, “It fell to me to see to it meself.”
Evina narrowed her eyes and growled, “So ye sent us out alone in hopes we’d misbehave, and put Gavin on us to catch us in the act?”
“Which ye did,” her father pointed out, and added triumphantly, “Which just proves ye do like him!”
“I don’t!” she snapped. “And I will no’ marry him. I’d rather have me arms and legs cut off than do that.”
“Would ye rather marry our other brother here?” Aulay asked suddenly, and gestured to Rory.
“Aulay!” Conran growled.
“’Tis who her father offered her to,” Aulay said with a shrug.
“What?” Evina asked, glancing from brother to brother with bewilderment.
“It seems ye kidnapped the wrong man,” the Maclean explained quietly. “That is Rory Buchanan. Ye brought Conran Buchanan home. But thinking Conran was Rory, ’twas Rory I offered marriage to in me message.”
“What?” she repeated, her voice growing weaker. Worse yet, her eyes now sought out Conran, appearing bewildered and wounded.
The combination was enough to move Conran to say, “O’ course she’ll no’ marry Rory. She can no’. No’ when she could be carrying me child.”
The way Evina glanced down sharply to her stomach and covered it protectively with one bemused hand just underlined her innocence for him. He hadn’t got the chance to spill his seed, but she didn’t appear to know that and truly believed she might be carrying his child.
“Oh, well, if she’s carrying his child, then I suppose I’d best no’ marry her,” Rory said with a shrug, and then said to the Maclean, “Ye’ll have to make the offer to Conran instead. ’Tis his bairn.”
“Damned right,” Conran said, nodding grimly. If anyone was marrying her, he was. He wasn’t letting someone else raise his son . . . that she couldn’t possibly be carrying, he realized with a frown as confusion welled up within him.
“Over me dead body,” Evina snarled.
“Gentlemen,” Fearghas said into the silence that followed. “Tildy here will show ye to yer rooms. I think perhaps I need to have a word alone with me daughter.”
When Aulay nodded and speared Conran with a look, he sighed and fell into line with his brothers as they all followed Tildy out of the room. He told himself it was for the best. He didn’t think he wanted to marry Evina, but every time she said she didn’t want to marry him, he wanted to change her mind. And the thought of someone else marrying her just made him want to break something. It was better for him to get away from her and think this through alone, where he could make a decision that wasn’t based on hurt pride, or whatever she was stirring in him.
“I’m afraid two o’ ye will have to share a room,” Tildy said quietly as she led them along the hall. “We’ve only two o’ the three guest rooms left. These last two rooms here,” she added as they passed Conran’s room and continued on toward the two doors beyond it.
Conran considered just going to his room, but knew Aulay wanted to speak to him and would just hunt him down, so followed his brothers, and murmured, “Thank ye, Tildy. We’ll sort out who gets which room,” when she opened the first of the two doors for them and turned back in question.
The old woman stared hard at him for a moment, but then stepped away from the door. “Very well,” she said grimly, and then turned her gaze to Aulay, her expression softening. “Would ye like me to have