Page 146 of The Laird's Masked Passion
“What did he mean?”
Breac set down his cup. “Me lady?—”
“Dinnae call me that as though a title will make me too polite tae demand an answer.”
Murdoch looked toward Colin. Colin had not moved. Only his eyes changed, darkening with an emotion Elspeth could not read because he spent his life ensuring no one could.
“Leave us,” he ordered.
Breac and Murdoch obeyed at once. That alone told Elspeth the matter was worse than she wished.
Breac paused beside her. “Lady Elspeth, it was teasing… poorly chosen.”
“Go,” she snarled.
He went. Murdoch followed, closing the door behind them. The click of the latch sounded final.
Elspeth faced Colin. “Am I only a woman fer yer bed?”
“Nay.” The answer came instantly.
“Then what were they speaking about?”
“Words said before.”
“Before what?”
His jaw tightened. “Before matters changed.”
“What matters?”
“Elspeth.”
She hated the warning in her name. She hated more that the tone still had the power to make some foolish part of her wish to yield.
“Nay. Dinnae command me away from this.”
Colin straightened from the table. “Ye shouldnae have been listening.”
Pain sharpened into anger so quickly that it almost relieved her.
“That isnae an answer.”
“It is the truth.”
“And so is what I heard.”
“What ye heard was Breac provoking me.”
“With words ye once gave him.”
Colin looked away. The movement was small. It was also an admission. Elspeth’s throat tightened.
“I wasnae discussing what passed between us.”
“But ye discussed what ye expected from me.”
Colin’s expression hardened. “I expected an alliance. That is what the marriage was meant tae be.”
