Page 142 of The Laird's Masked Passion

“Ye dinnae have tae earn yer place here,” he said tenderly.

The words struck the place her father’s letter had wounded.

Colin looked down at their joined hands. Then he lifted hers to his mouth and pressed a brief kiss against her knuckles. The tenderness of it undid her far more efficiently than argument.

“The room looks well,” he gestured with his eyes.

Elspeth swallowed. “The representative may still be an idiot.”

“Almost certainly.”

“And if he insults the household?”

“I will let ye speak first.”

Her mouth curved. “How generous.”

“I have learned yer tongue is often more damaging than me sword.”

“That is the kindest thing ye have ever said tae me.”

He almost smiled.

“Me lady, the cook wishes tae ken whether twelve pies are sufficient,” Skye spoke from the corridor.

Elspeth called back. “Fer the guests or fer Niall?”

A maid laughed somewhere beyond the doorway. Colin’s smile appeared fully then. It was small, reluctant, and entirely hers.

“Fer Niall,” he said, “make twenty.”

Elspeth laughed and drew him toward the door. She did not notice that she left the room carrying the household keys at her waist, and his hand remained at the small of her back as they walked together into the castle that was slowly becoming hers.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Colin was fastening his sword belt when Elspeth entered the study.

She did not knock.

This was no longer remarkable. Elspeth regarded closed doors as invitations to discover what men were attempting to conceal behind them.

Colin glanced toward her. “I am expected in Council.”

“I ken.”

She remained near the door, twisting one finger through the fringe of her sleeve. The nervous movement troubled him more than any argument might have done.

“Did something happen?” he asked, immediately focusing all of his attention on her.

Elspeth crossed the room. She had spent much of the morning with Margaret. Colin had seen them in the courtyard, speaking with the housekeeper while servants carried linens toward the guest chambers.

“I wish tae ask ye something.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “That generally precedes trouble.”

“This isnae trouble.”

“Then ye have already surprised me.”