Chapter 6
Ceana stopped beside the chair at Oscar’s right hand.
Is this really necessary?
At supper the previous evening, she had eaten alone in her chamber. This morning, the servants had given her the position of a future wife before the household had heard the official announcement.
A maid adjusted the cup near her plate and withdrew. Two others continued setting breakfast on the sideboard, though their gazes flicked between Ceana and Oscar. Meanwhile, the housekeeper supervised them slowly from the far end of the room.
Oscar sat at the head of the table as if returning from a festival with an unexpected bride belonged to the ordinary business of ruling MacKane Castle.
When he reached for his cup, Ceana remembered those same fingers closing around hers across the contract.
The memory brought warmth to her palm before she pressed it against her gown.
She took the chair without asking whether she should.
Paisley sat straight-backed across from her, already dressed for lessons. Tommy occupied the chair beside his sister, while Ness hid beneath the table. The boy tore a piece from his oatcake and lowered one hand.
Oscar looked at him.
Tommy placed the oatcake on his own plate and whispered to the tablecloth, “He saw me.”
Paisley nudged his cup closer before he could spill it with his elbow. The small correction seemed seamless, as if she’d done it many times before. Tommy drank and left a pale line of milk across his upper lip.
Once the servants had finished pouring ale and setting down the warm dishes, Oscar placed his cup on the table.
“Ceana Tulloch will become Lady MacKane,” he announced. “We will marry in one week.”
Ceana turned toward him. She had agreed to the marriage and the terms in the drafted contract, but she had not agreed to marry in seven days.
Oscar glanced at the housekeeper. “Prepare the invitations and send word to our allies. Use the list from our last formal gatherin’.”
The housekeeper paused with one hand on the back of an empty chair. Her eyebrows rose slightly. “Will Lady Ceana’s parents arrive before the date is fixed, me Laird?”
“The contract and invitation will reach them together.”
Her gaze shifted to Ceana for one brief moment before she inclined her head. “Aye, me Laird.”
She began discussing stores with a servant, though the faint tightening around her mouth made her opinion of Oscar’s decision clear enough.
Ceana looked across the table at the children. Oscar had announced the marriage before them and ordered half the household into action without asking how either child felt about another woman taking their mother’s place. She wouldn’t do that.
“What do ye think of this?” she asked.
Tommy smiled at once. “Does that mean ye will stay here forever?”
“If the agreement holds, I intend to remain.”
“Can Ness attend the wedding?”
Ceana glanced under the table. Two small horns had appeared between the hanging cloth and Tommy’s knee. “That depends on whether Ness can promise to behave.”
“She cannae,” Paisley muttered.
Tommy considered the judgment and nodded. “She could stand outside.”
Paisley folded her hands in her lap. Her expression remained polite when she looked at Ceana. “Faither has introduced women he intended to marry before.”
Ceana’s smile faded. “Aye?”
“Aye. Neither remained long.”
Tommy became deeply interested in spreading honey across his oatcake. He applied enough to cover the plate beneath it.
“What happened to them?” Ceana asked.
Paisley lowered her gaze. Tommy raised the oatcake and took a bite large enough to prevent speech.
Oscar reached for the bread. “The former arrangements are irrelevant.”
“Perhaps to ye,” Ceana replied. “I would prefer to ken why the children expect me to disappear.”
The housekeeper stepped closer to her chair. “Which Morrag customs would ye like included in the ceremony, me Lady? The seamstresses will also require time with ye this afternoon.”
The question closed the subject without exposing the children further.
Ceana gave the woman two brief instructions concerning her clan ribbons and turned back to her plate. Across from her, Paisley kept her attention on her folded hands.
Oscar finished breakfast soon afterward. A guard waited beyond the open door, and the faint clash of steel against steel drifted into the room.
“I will be at the trainin’ grounds,” Oscar said as he rose. “We will discuss the remainin’ details later.”
Ceana looked up at him. “Ye might begin by rememberin’ that I agreed to terms, nae silence.”
His hand paused on the back of her chair. The servants were close enough to hear them, and both children watched.
“We will speak later,” he said.
He left with the waiting guard before she could argue.
His departure seemed routine, though Ceana did not miss the timing. He had announced he was remarrying and returned to the part of his life he could control.
Soon enough, the servants began to clear the table. One maid lifted Ceana’s cup and reached for her plate, but stopped when Ceana remained seated.
“I can escort the children to their lessons, me Lady,” she offered.
“They arenae preventin’ me from doing anythin’ important.”
The maid’s eyes moved briefly toward another servant. “Aye, me Lady.”
Tommy climbed down from his chair and attempted to coax Ness from beneath the table. The goat emerged with a strip of fabric in her mouth that appeared to have come from one of the napkins.
Ceana took the cloth and handed it to Paisley. “Does yer braither usually begin every mornin’ by stealin’ from the table?”
“Only when Ness helps,” Paisley said, folding the damaged linen before setting it aside.
Ceana asked about her studies, and Paisley answered as carefully as she could. She enjoyed embroidery and reading, though she spoke of both as duties completed at the proper hour. Tommy interrupted twice to describe Ness’s skill at escaping the stables.
“Do ye usually breakfast with yer faither?” Ceana asked.
“When his duties allow it,” Paisley replied. “He trains with the men most mornings, and few people choose to spend time with us.”
The words returned Ceana to the formal greeting in the entrance hall.
Paisley had made herself quiet enough to require little attention.
Tommy stirred up trouble whenever adults looked the other way.
Oscar supplied teachers, guards, governesses and every material comfort a laird’s children could need, then allowed his work to consume the hours they might have asked from him.
Ceana had agreed to help manage his household. She would not stand beside him at public gatherings while his children competed with clan business for whatever part of him remained.
If she were to become the lady of the castle, she wouldn’t stand for that. The children came first.
They must always come first.
“Where are the trainin’ grounds?” she asked.
Paisley’s eyes lifted quickly. “Beyond the western courtyard.”
“Faither doesnae like interruptions while he trains,” Tommy piped up.
“Then he shouldnae have announced our impendin’ nuptials before breakfast was finished.”
Ceana rose and smoothed her gown, ignoring the cautious looks Paisley and Tommy exchanged while she crossed toward the door. She stepped out into the corridor and made her way to the western courtyard.
She followed the clash of steel through the western courtyard and past the stables.
Each strike grew louder as she approached the training grounds, joined by shouted corrections and boots scraping across the damp earth.
The sight of men drilling in pairs inside marked rings appeared before her as she drew even closer, while younger warriors waited beside racks of blunted weapons.
Soon, several faces turned toward her. Their attention lasted only until a sharper clash drew every eye toward the largest ring.
Oscar fought inside it without a shirt. He caught his opponent’s blade near the guard and twisted.
The movement tightened the muscles across his shoulders before he drove the other man backward.
Pale scars crossed his back, with darker marks along his ribs and upper arms. Several warriors nearby bore fewer signs of battle than he did.
He shifted his weight and avoided the next strike.
His abdomen rippled as he turned, and his thighs bulged beneath fitted trousers.
Sweat covered his chest and followed the firm planes of his stomach, while fine dark hair spread across part of his chest, narrowed below his navel, and disappeared beneath his waistband.
Ceana’s steps slowed.
The separate lives Oscar had promised seemed sensible while he stood fully dressed across a contract.
Looking at his bare body made that agreement more difficult to contemplate with the same calm.
Her mouth had gone dry, and warmth gathered low in her belly before anger restored her ability to move.
Oscar disarmed his opponent with a clean twist of his wrist. The blunted blade stopped near the warrior’s throat without touching him.
“Yer weight moved too early,” he noted. “Anyone watchin’ yer feet would have ken where the strike was comin’ from.”
The warrior adjusted his stance.
Oscar demonstrated the movement once, his control making the correction appear simple. Then his gaze found Ceana at the edge of the yard. She was still looking below his face.
Heat rose into her cheeks when their eyes met. Oscar made no move toward his discarded shirt. He returned his attention to the warrior and completed the instruction while Ceana stood waiting before half the training yard.
The delay sharpened her purpose.
“Me Laird, I need a word.”
The group of warriors nearby glanced toward Oscar. He collected the practice sword from his opponent and tested his grip before turning to Ceana.
“What’s it about?”
“‘Tis about the children.”
The faint twitch at the corner of his mouth disappeared. “Is either of them hurt?”
“Nay.”
“Are they in danger?”
Ceana stepped across the boundary marking the ring. One warrior moved as if to warn her, then stopped when Oscar allowed her to continue.
“They are lonely,” she said.
Oscar handed the practice blade to Lennan without taking his eyes off her. His man-at-arms accepted it and stepped away.
“Me children have everythin’ they need.”
“They have food and enough guards to defend a small village. Those things cannae perform every duty of kin.”
Oscar snatched a cloth from the rail and wiped the sweat from his neck. Ceana forced her eyes to remain on his face as the cloth traveled across his chest and down his side.
“They have tutors and servants,” he added. “Paisley receives every instruction suitable for her position, and clearly, Tommy has freedom enough to terrorize half the castle.”
“Ye daenae understand, do ye?”
Oscar narrowed his eyes. “Understand what?”
“Tommy wants attention because he doesnae get it from ye. He risks his neck because mischief guarantees someone will look at him. Paisley behaves so perfectly that everyone forgets she needs company as much as he does.”
Oscar’s shoulders stiffened, and his hand closed around the cloth.
Ceana knew she had hit a sore spot. The children mattered more than the pride that could be seen hardening his expression.
“A servant can supervise lessons,” she continued. “And sure, guards can protect them, but neither can replace time at their faither’s table. They need to ken that clan business hasnae displaced them.”
Oscar made a small motion with two fingers. The warriors obeyed without question, gathering weapons and moving to the far side of the grounds. Lennan directed them beyond the next ring, creating more distance than Oscar had requested.
Ceana saw movement behind a stone arch near the stables. Tommy peered around its edge until Paisley caught his sleeve and pulled him back. Both children remained close enough to watch.
“Once we marry,” Ceana said, “the four of us will spend one hour together every day.”
Oscar lowered the cloth. “Ye have spent one mornin’ in me castle.”
“One mornin’ showed me what the contract failed to mention.”
“And, let me guess, now ye intend to restructure me family?”
“I intend to perform the duties ye asked me to accept. We can share a meal, walk, tell stories, or speak without half yer warriors waitin’ at the door.”
Oscar stepped closer. Without the other men between them, the heat of his skin reached her. His sweat darkened the waistband of his trousers, and his breathing remained steady despite the exertion.
“Ye ken what, I changed me mind. We must start tonight. We cannae afford to waste any more time.”
Oscar scoffed. “Anyone ever tell ye that ye bargain like a raider?”
Ceana raised her chin. “I learned from the man who stole me.”
His gaze remained on her face, though it dropped briefly to her mouth. Then he closed more of the distance. He could have removed her from the ring with little effort, but his hands remained at his sides.
“Ye willnae contradict or command me in front of me warriors,” he warned, lowering his voice.
“Ye announced before the household that I will become Lady MacKane. Ye cannae demand I carry the title while forbiddin’ me to speak about the family attached to it.”
“That is nae the point.”
Ceana glanced toward the men now training beyond the second ring. “I see I may have chosen the location poorly.”
Oscar’s jaw tightened. He stood close enough that the hem of her gown nearly brushed his bare feet. She could see his pulse in the damp skin at his throat. Her eyes dropped once to the dark line disappearing beneath his waistband before she forced them back to his face.
“But the condition remains.”
Tommy leaned out from behind the arch again. Paisley caught his shoulder before he exposed them fully. Their attention remained fixed on Ceana and Oscar.
“One hour,” Ceana insisted. “Every day. If ye expect me to become their stepmaither within a week, they willnae wait a week for ye to begin showin’ up.”
Oscar looked toward the arch. His expression changed when he saw the children, though Ceana could not read the thought behind it. He faced her again and moved closer until retreat would have required her to step out of the ring.
“And what if I refuse? What if I say I daenae want this arrangement?”
Ceana laughed, her eyes briefly dropping to the ground before returning to his face. “Then ye kidnapped the wrong bride in more ways than one.”