Chapter 22 #2
“Do ye think that ye can find yer home here?” Kaden asked, not sure if he even wanted the answer in the first place.
At least he didn’t want to know if it was a negative answer. Anything was better than sitting here, eating in silence.
Emily didn’t answer for a long time, feigning sudden interest in her food.
“There is nothing between Shona and me,” Kaden murmured, glad to finally have it all out in the open.
He had been hoping to find a way to broach the subject at some point today, but there hadn’t been a good moment. Now wasn’t exactly a good moment either, but he needed to make sure that she knew.
“That’s what I was trying to tell ye before.”
Emily’s eyebrow rose, and she shrugged with feigned indifference. “Why should I care?”
Kaden smirked, barely containing a low laugh. “Because ye care.”
“What ye do and who ye do it with is none of me business. This isnae—”
“A real marriage. Aye. So ye have said.” Kaden pushed his nearly empty plate to the side. He leaned over the table, the solid wooden surface protesting slightly under his bulk. “But ye still care, nonetheless.”
Emily started to shake her head. She was certainly a very stubborn woman; there was no denying that.
“I wouldnae have done what I have done if I didnae want ye to care,” Kaden admitted.
“There was a time, after I returned, when Shona was the only kind hand that reached toward me. We had a kinship from when we were young, and there was a dalliance, but it was never anything serious. It was never something that either of us was interested in pursuing further, I assure ye of that.”
“This is likely just some game that ye are playing with me,” Emily replied. “Just another manipulation, is it nae?”
Kaden knew that any answer he could give her right now wouldn’t be something that she wanted to hear. Nothing that he could say to her was likely to make it any better. “Nay, it’s nae.”
All he could do was be honest. She would believe him, or she wouldn’t.
“Right. And why would I believe ye?”
“Just how do ye suggest that I prove meself to ye?” he huffed, a hint of his temper coloring his words.
“Ye cannae take that tone with me!”
“And what are ye going to do about it? Do ye think that I should just sit here and be content with ye having more misconceptions about me? As if I havenae had to deal with that from enough people in me life?”
Emily stopped short. She floundered because she didn’t care for the look on his face.
Was she truly misjudging him like everyone else? She knew how frustrating it was to speak the truth and to not have anybody around you listen to it at all. He could only imagine that she had given her own father a similar look many times before.
Her mouth snapped shut.
Perhaps it was her own pride that kept her from apologizing. Perhaps it was because she wanted to be correct so that she would have a reason to fail. Some sort of validation that she was right in the end, that this wasn’t going to work.
But the look on Kaden’s face said something else. The tension between them wouldn’t break despite the thunder outside and the rain pelting the dirty glass panes of the windows.
There was still tension between them. A discomfort that he couldn’t quell, and no matter how hard he tried to break it, any attempt at conversation fell short.
Rain was falling heavily on the roof by the time they had finished eating.
Kaden hoped that the warmth of their drinks would at least keep them cozy during the long ride back to the castle.
If they made it before the heavens opened fully, the warm hearths there would ensure that neither of them caught a cold.
Kaden paid, and they got up to leave but they didn’t make it to the door before lightning flashed and thunder boomed.
“I wouldnae try to leave if I were ye,” the tavern wench called to them. “I had the kitchen staff move yer horse to the barn, me Laird. The storm is only going to get worse.” She moved to stop them and shut the door.
Kaden glanced at the other shivering bodies that had only just arrived a few moments ago, already soaked to the bone and warming by the fire.
“There are plenty of warm rooms upstairs. The owner requested one to be readied for ye. I meant to tell ye before ye were finished with yer supper.” She glanced around at the very busy tavern as if that were enough of an excuse to hold them up. “I’ll show ye and Lady Muir up to yer room?”
Emily barely contained her laugh. “I suppose she’s nae entirely wrong, is she?”
The knot in Kaden’s chest finally started to loosen. At least that meant she was not ending their engagement. Or so he hoped.
The woman led them upstairs, Emily making polite commentary as they walked. Kaden lingered behind to count the number of men downstairs and find the best way to leave the tavern quickly.
He didn’t even bother looking at the room as Emily started to giggle. All he knew was that a key was pressed firmly into the palm of his hand, and he followed her inside.
Though it only took one proper look to see why she was giggling manically.
There was only one bed.