Page 96 of A Highland Bride Disciplined

Hamish’s teeth flashed. “Ye sound like a laird.”

“Aye,” Kian said, and let it sit.

Ollie and Connor, having eaten their body weight in bread, resumed guard duty at Mabel’s elbows. When a platter scraped too near, both boys slapped it back down with twin scowls.

“Gentle,” Mabel warned.

Ollie pointed at Kian. “Tell him.”

Kian managed solemn. “Aye, I’ll flog any man who steals yer mam’s carrots.”

“Even ye?” Connor whispered, eyes huge.

“Especiallyme,” Kian said, and the boy grinned for the first time, quick and shy.

Astrid, perhaps sensing she’d lost the heir skirmish, pivoted to softer ground. She reached for Elise when the bairn circled her way, and to everyone’s surprise, Elise settled on that immaculate bodice without fuss.

“Well,” Astrid murmured, genuinely moved now, voice going hushed at last. “There ye are, lamb.”

Scarlett’s face twisted oddly, mixed with wariness and gratefulness, as if this was a miracle she hadn’t expected. Kian felt something unknot behind his ribs.Good,he thought.Let even the sharp ones soften for her.

He caught Scarlett looking at him then, across the pale curve of the child’s head. For a breath, the hall went soundless. Her mouth didn’t smile, not quite, but the corners loosened like a truce. Heat ran low and steady under his skin, nothing like the wild flare he fought at night. This was steadier, heavier. Dangerous in a different way.

Campbell broke the spell by standing and making a toast so thunderously sentimental even Morag dabbed at one eye and then barked at herself for it. Cups clinked. Bread passed. Laughter rose. The keep felt full in a way Kian had worked a decade to earn.

Later, as folk drifted and plates emptied, Skylar snagged Scarlett’s sleeve again, dragging her toward the far end of the table where the candles smoked. “Right,” she said. “Proper accounting. Have ye kissed him since he returned?”

Kian pretended to be listening to Hamish describe a troublesome bullock, but his ears tilted shamelessly.

Scarlett made a face. “We’ve… spoken.”

“Spoken?” Skylar echoed, scandalized. “No wonder ye look sour sometimes. Ye need —”

Mabel cleared her throat, gentle warning. “Sky.”

“What? I’m protecting her interests.”

Scarlett’s gaze flicked briefly toward Kian as if she could feel his attention skirting their talk. She lowered her voice. “It’s… complicated.”

Mabel’s smile went rueful and kind. “It always is. But complicated doesnae mean hopeless.”

Skylar huffed. “It means slow. Idetestslow.”

“Ye detest anythin’ that makes ye wait,” Scarlett said, but the words carried affection rather than censure, and Kian found himself oddly pleased to hear that tone when she spoke of patience like she’d decided not to loathe the lesson if it came with the right teacher.

Tam leaned nearer and murmured, “Ye’ve won some ground here.”

“Feels like I’ve entered the field rather than won it,” Kian said.

“Same thing the first day o’ battle,” Tam replied.

Kian let his gaze return to Scarlett. She was listening now, really listening, head bent toward her sisters, one hand absently smoothing the bairn’s blanket where Astrid still held it, the other hand tapping a small rhythm on the table that matched the pipes drifting faint from the yard.

Family,he thought, startled at the word lodging where command usually did. He swallowed, reached for his cup,and forced himself to attend to the work of a host. Another round of bread here, a word with the steward there, the quiet arrangement of tomorrow’s beaters with Tam.

Every time he looked up, his eyes found the same thing. Scarlett’s copper hair, green eyes, a child cupped against borrowed silk, and the impossible sense that the keep had finally filled to the right edges.

When the meal drew to an end, Astrid rose first, excusing herself with the air of a queen returning to her chamber. Mabel leaned heavily on Campbell’s arm, her boys darting circles around their legs until their father barked them still. Skylar pressed a kiss to Scarlett’s cheek, then rolled her eyes dramatically at Kian before sweeping out, her skirts nearly tangling in her haste.