Page 47 of Bride Takes a Laird

Since Magnus had no time to deal with the lord, he would put him off with a missive and pay the price for his bride. The fact that the man mentioned further action almost made him smile because he would rather take up arms against a nefarious lord by the border than his clansmen, a duty he was most bitter about. But alas, he had no time to scuffle with Kendra’s supposed betrothed. His search for the betrayers was most important now. Instead of vengeance for Ned’s death, he reasoned his vengeance now ingrained in him the need to unveil his traitorous clansmen.

Chapter Seventeen

Morning light filteredthrough the window casement, alerting Kendra that it was time to rise. Her eyes shot open and she rubbed the sleep from them. She rolled onto her back and felt Magnus beside her. She hadn’t heard him arrive during the night and must’ve slept like a rock. He lay next to her with his eyes closed, his breathing easy and quiet. She took a moment to gaze at his handsomeness. He wore a bit of scruff on his cheeks. The light beard appealed to her and made him appear even more fierce. She wanted to stroke his face to feel the coarseness of his whiskers, but she didn’t want to wake him.

Magnus’s eyes flipped open and he stared at her for a moment without speaking.

“Good morn. I was just about to rise,” she said but didn’t make a move to get out of bed. “How was your journey?”

“Unremarkable.”

She disbelieved him because the look in his gaze and his somber tone alluded to the fact that something had happened. He wasn’t about to share it with her however and so she didn’t press him. The silence of the bedchamber unnerved her. Magnus was being quieter than usual. He seemed displeased with her but he wasn’t about to impart why.

“I should get up,” she said and tossed the covers from over her.With his sullen mood, she thought it best to retreat from the chamber.

Magnus took hold of her arm and pulled her back. “There’s no need to run off.”

Kendra thought that he might kiss her but he made no move to do so. To appease him, she settled back in the bed and waited to find out why he wanted her to stay.

“Kendra, would ye ever keep something from me? Something important that I should be made aware of?” His eyes seemed to implore her as his eyes pierced hers, unblinking.

She shook her head. “Like a secret?”

“Aye? A secret. Would ye purposely keep me in the dark about something that ye should confess? Something that perchance ye should tell me as your husband?” He leaned on his side, his eyes continuing to stare at her intensely.

His scrutiny made her uncomfortable and she swallowed before answering. “I am certain that I know not of what you speak of because I wouldn’t deliberately keep something from you. Why would you ask such a question?” Kendra’s shoulders tensed as she waited for him to answer.

She wondered if he meant the secret of her papa accepting Heatherington’s bride price. But then, she reasoned he couldn’t know about that. Only she, Linet, and John were privy to that secret and she didn’t deem her friends would speak of it to Magnus. Then she remembered she’d told his mother about it and hoped with all her heart that Lady Faye had kept her secret. She didn’t want to be a burden to Magnus and have him return Heatherington’s bride price. Kendra hoped to solve the problem on her own. He had enough to deal with concerning his clan and his brother’s death. If what he’d asked her wasn’t about Heatherington, she thought perhaps he’d viewed the manuscripts. Was that what had him filled with angst this morn?

“I only wondered… Never mind. I should rise too. There’s a duty I must see to early this morn.” He flung back the bedcover and shifted his legs to the side of the bed.

Kendra didn’t know what troubled him and until he told her, she’d be the one in the dark. She hurried and washed and pulled a tan-colored frock over her head. After, she pulled the length of her hair into sections and braided it, then coiled it and secured it with a tie.

Magnus had dressed by the time she’d finished. He marched across the chamber to the antechamber and picked up a volume. He glared at the table and turned hastily toward her. “Have ye touched these manuscripts?”

“Oh, I forgot to tell you… I took care of adding the sums and accounting that needed to be entered since Ned had…” She trailed off and changed her thought. “The manuscripts are current. You need not worry about it now. If you will look, you shall see—”

He cut her off with a bite to his tone, “Kendra, ye shouldn’t have done that. It was my…”

She waited for him to finish his sentence but his mouth hung open.

“Your, what? Are you pleased? Appreciative? I know how much the task weighed on you and when I lived at home I often took care of such matters for my father.”

“Nay! I am most disappointed. It was my responsibility as the laird of this clan and I was going to get to it. Ye had no right to do so, especially without telling me first. Ye should not have touched these manuscripts. I trust no one to handle the matter but me. And until I put a steward in place, I should be the one to keep track of the clan’s accounting.”

Kendra tried to resist the tremble that came to her, but her voice shook, “But I was only—”

“Ye disappoint me, Kendra. I cannot discuss this right now because I have men to bury.”

She realized how upset he must be with having to bury his soldiers. “I am sorry you lost men. Can I do anything to help?”

Magnus continued to scowl at the accounting volumes and didn’t glance at her when he answered, “Nay, there is naught for ye to do. They were my clansmen and their families are suffering at their loss. I must make it right.”

Kendra thought perhaps the weight of his men’s deaths added to his reaction of her helping him do the accounts. She wanted with all her heart to lessen his sorrow and to help him but he wouldn’t allow her to. As his wife, wasn’t it her duty to aid him when he needed her? Magnus didn’t seem to know that but at the moment, she refrained from reminding him of that fact lest she anger him further.

Without another word, Magnus hastily left the bedchamber, thudding the door behind him.

Kendra tried not to let his disgruntlement get to her but tears gathered in her eyes. She pressed her eyes to abate them. Why he was bothered by her aid daunted her. She’d only tried to help him but he took his duties of being laird to heart. She wished he understood that and that didn’t mean he had to bear the burden of everything. If he allowed her to help him, she could ease his troubles. How could she make that known to him?