Page 9 of A Highland Bride Disciplined

“Ye think she’ll stay put?” Tam asked after a beat, scratching his beard. “She’s nae like others. Got that wildness in her.”

“Scarlett Dunlop is Laird MacLennan’s first born daughter,” Kian said curtly. “She’s got pride enough. She’ll manage.”

The guards rotated through a new formation, but one man was a beat slow. Kian’s voice cracked like a whip.

“Reform that line! Do it again!”

Tam gave him a sidelong glance but didn’t comment.

Kian folded his arms and his eyes narrowed on the field, but his mind wasn’t on the footwork.

It was on her.

The way she stood, trembling but unyielding, between danger and a stranger. The curve of her jaw when she tilted her chin in defiance. The fire in her voice when she snapped back at him.

Ye’ll need to earn her.

He scowled.

“Is it just me,” Tam said casually, “or are ye more sour than usual?”

Kian ignored him.

Another stumble. Another barked command.

The guards were sweating now, confused by his sharpness.

Still, his thoughts drifted.

That damn look in her eyes.

That mouth.

He spun on his heel. “Double their drills,” he snapped. “And check their steel. I’ll nae leave this keep vulnerable while I’m gone.”

Tam raised a brow but nodded. “As ye say, Laird.”

Kian stormed off toward the keep, muttering under his breath. “Day one, and already she was under his skin. Damn her.”Needed to ensure Tam was provisioned for the road. Needed to make sure Morag knew what to do with Scarlett while he was gone.

He crossed the hall and found the head housekeeper in the north wing, already directing a pair of maids toward the chambers with arms full of linens and kindling.

“She’ll take the solar room,” Kian said.

Morag glanced at him from beneath her bushy brows. “Yer mother’s old chamber?”

“Aye. It’s warm and secure. She’ll need quiet while I’m gone. Where is she now?”

“I havenae moved her into any room. We had discussed the South wing, but we never settled.”

“Nay, she will go in the solar room.”

Morag didn’t comment, but he caught the brief pause before she nodded. “We’ll have it ready before supper.”

No doubt Morag was hesitant to prepare his late-mother’s old room, but it was only right for the lady of the keep to have the adjoined room to the laird’s chambers.

He took the stairs two at a time. The weight of Scarlett’s voice and the heat of her defiance still burning through him as he threw open the study door hard enough to rattle the hinges and stepped inside, slamming it behind him.

Tam was already there, sprawled near the hearth with his boots up, sharpening a blade with that lazy patience of his.