Page 42 of Hold Fast

“Una, wait,” Ewan said, his voice thick from his tears.

She stopped and turned. He climbed off the bed, gently ruffled Connor’s hair, and came to her.

“Thank you, Una,” he whispered. “I am forever in your debt.”

She felt the blush heating her cheeks. She cleared her throat. “Of course.”

Just then, her stomach growled, the gurgle sounding dreadfully loud in the quiet room.

“Have you eaten?” Ewan asked.

“I will eat later in the kitchen.”

His heavy brows pinched together and his mouth tightened, displeased.

“Wait here,” he commanded before striding quickly out of the room.

Barely a few minutes later, he returned with a plate of bread and cheese, fruit, and roasted venison. He thrust it into her hands and nodded toward the chair and table next to the hearth. Una was prepared to snap that she was perfectly capable of feeding herself and that she had no need of being ordered to meals like a child, but just as she opened her mouth, her stomach growled again, even louder than before.

“Una, please dinnae be stubborn. You are the most important person here, and you need your strength.”

The most important person here. It was nonsense, of course, but even more ridiculous coming from thelaird. And yet she couldn’t help the butterflies that swarmed in her belly as she held his gaze.

Ewan arched an eyebrow and cocked his head. With a sigh, she sat and ate while Ewan returned to sit on the edge of the bed.

She had just finished her meal when someone knocked on the door. It creaked open and Angus, one of Ewan’s brothers, poked his head in.

“Fiona tells me it is my turn to sit by him.”

“You dinnae have to,” Una said. “I am here. Go about your business.”

“This is my business,” Angus said, coming into the room. “She also bid me to tell you that you will be sleeping with Joan and in the bed, nae on a pallet on the floor.”

“Certainly Joan doesnae want an intruder.”

“I am told it was Joan’s idea to begin with.”

Angus seemed to wear a permanent scowl. Always serious, always reserved. Grumpy, Cat once called him in passing. But he looked downright cheerful as he took the chair next to the bed.

“Evening, Connie,” he said brightly. “How do you fare? Do you care for a nap, or would you like to hear about how Kenneth got tossed into a pig sty this afternoon?”

Connor’s smile was weak but bright. “Tell me the story, brother.”

Ewan stood and stretched, groaning as he reached his arms high in the air, an action that made his chest look impossibly even more broad.

“May I walk you to Joan’s room, Una?” he asked, standing a respectful distance away.

After receiving assurances from Angus and giving him more detailed instructions than were necessary, she followed Ewan into the hall. The guard that had been stationed outside the door for the entire week was nowhere to be seen and the hallway was empty. He led her to a door that Una remembered leading to Cat’s chamber and knocked. When there was no answer, he opened a door and ushered her in, opening another door in the interior wall and revealing a quaint little chamber with a wood posted bed, a cheerful fire in the hearth, and dozens of skeins of yarn looped around hooks on the walls.

“This is Joan’s room?” Una asked, knowing the answer. The riot of color had Joan written all over it.

“Aye,” Ewan answered. “This was my mother’s dressing room, but Catriona decided she couldnae bear for Joan to sleep below with the servants, and so she insisted Joan make it her own.”

“How thoughtful,” Una said, and she meant it.

The room was silent except for the crackling fire, and Una became very aware of how small the chamber was because of how large Ewan loomed within it. He took a step closer, looking into her eyes.

“I am so sorry, Una. Again. I was an ass. Can you forgive me?”