Page 24 of Claimed by the Obsessed Laird (Highland Bride Hunt #1)

Chapter Seventeen

Isla smoothed down her skirts with shaking hands, reaching up to make sure that her hair was still in place.

She was sure that the men on the other side of the door would not much care for what she looked like, but rather if she had learned to keep her mouth shut after the mess of their first encounter.

And, if she was to be honest with herself, she wasn’t sure she could truthfully say she had.

“My Lady?”

She glanced around, jumping slightly as she realized that she was not alone in the corridor outside the dining room where Robert, Archie, and Camron were waiting for her to join them.

One of the maids, carrying a plate of food, stood before her with a furrowed brow and a look of confusion on her face.

“I thought ye would have already joined the?—”

“Yes, I was just about to,” Isla replied, trying to keep her voice as steady as she could. “I was just, um… Do ye need any help?”

She gestured to the singular plate that the girl was carrying, realizing too late just how ridiculous it sounded to offer such an excuse.

The girl raised her eyebrows at her with sympathy, perhaps aware that she was trying to dodge actually making her way inside, but she supposed she had no more reason to hide out here waiting for the inevitable.

“Let me get the door for ye,” she offered, and she pushed open the large wooden doors that led into the dining room and allowed the maid to enter before her.

She was sure that Robert would have something to say about it, as he seemed to have something to say about everything that she said or did, but she was already prepared for it. Or, at least, as well as she could be, given the circumstances.

She warmed her face with a smile as she followed the maid inside and moved at once to the head of the table, where Camron sat—she had asked to be seated beside him this evening, and he had agreed at once.

A chair was waiting for her, and she sank down into it, carefully crossing her hands in her lap as Camron greeted her with a slight smile that was clearly meant for her and her alone.

“Glad that ye could finally deign to join us, my lady,” Robert remarked flippantly, and her jaw set tight in an instant.

Her first reaction was to lash out at him, remind him that he was the guest in this house and that he would do well to act like it, but she bit her tongue before she could say anything that would have landed her in trouble, forcing herself not to react to his harsh words with anything other than a smile.

Camron reached over to squeeze her hand, almost as though he was trying to prompt some response out of her, but she did not react.

“A pleasure to see you, my lady,” Archie greeted her, trying to break the tension in the room.

She could not help but notice, now, the smarmy edge to his tone, something slithering about it, like a serpent coiling around a flower.

She gave him a tight smile, and a flash of annoyance showed in his face.

He must have known that he did not have the connection to her he once did and realized that his chances of exploiting their friendship to whatever cruel end he had intended were fading fast.

“The food looks wonderful,” Isla told the maid. “Send our thanks to the kitchen staff.”

“I’ll taste it before I send any thanks,” Robert laughed, and she bristled once more.

She did not care for the way he spoke to the maids here, as if they were nothing more than tools to make use of as he saw fit.

Isla might have been a little harsh to them at first, but it was only because she wanted to make Camron’s life harder.

Since they had gotten closer, though, Isla made sure she compensated for any bad behavior toward the staff.

As the maid bobbed down into a brief curtsy, Robert leered at her, letting his eyes linger on her as she left the room.

Isla stole a glance at Camron out of the corner of her eye, wondering if he had noticed it, too.

But if he had, he didn’t seem to react, perhaps aware that drawing attention to it would only make the situation worse.

“Well, let’s see what yer pantry has to offer,” Robert remarked, clapping his hands together and casting his gaze across the table.

In front of him sat a cup of whiskey that already looked to be half-empty; the ruddiness to his cheeks spoke to how far the alcohol seemed to have already soaked into his system.

Isla wondered if that was how he consoled himself when he realized how little time anyone here had for him; by drinking so much that he could not rightly think straight, even when he should have been trying to.

“I heard the two of ye were on a ride yesterday,” Archie cut in, his eyes darting between Isla and Camron.

Camron grinned, glancing at her, and the glint in his eyes told her that the memories were just as warm for him as they were for her. “Aye, we did. Went to one of the old fishing ponds my mother would take me to.”

“I’m glad ye had a good time with yer wife, my Laird, but we had really important things to discuss in yer absence.

Robert and I have been talking about the harvest and how the farmers’ taxes should be reconsidered.

Ye think fishing is more urgent than yer people?

” Archie remarked sarcastically, looking at Robert, who nodded in agreement.

“Believe me, cousin, when ye find someone for yerself ye will understand. I wonder really, would yer father have taken so well to ye still being unmarried at yer age?” Camron countered. He tried to keep his tone jovial, but it was clear from the way he spoke that he didn’t much mean it.

Archie’s jaw clenched.

“That is my point, cousin,” he muttered. “Ye put a woman first, and ye cannae see what is happening in front of yer eyes.”

Camron’s shoulders tightened. Isla could, at once, feel a shift in the air.

Camron might have been able to put up with a lot from this man, it seemed, but speaking ill of his mother making him doubt whatever had happened in his childhood was something else entirely.

Isla reached across to touch his hand, silently promising him that she was as irritated as him and that she would not allow for such a thing to go uncommented on.

“Camron showed me a cairn the two of them built together,” she replied, keeping her tone light, trying to make it sound as though it was nothing more than a polite correction. “And a family crest she carved into the oak tree.”

“Yer father would never have allowed her to spend so much time away fae the Keep,” Robert replied, shaking his head. “He had a better handle on his woman, Camron. No doubt ye could learn a thing or two from him.”

“What do ye mean by that, sir?” Isla snapped, the frustration she had been working so hard to contain suddenly boiling over before she could take hold of it.

For an instant, Robert looked rather taken aback, surprised that she would have the nerve to speak to him in such a fashion. “That she wouldnae have spoken to a guest the way ye do,” he replied, his voice laced with accusation.

“Please dinnae mind her. She might still be dizzy from the ride. Camron, why dinnae ye tell yer wife to go have some rest and let us men talk business at last?” Archie smirked at her bitterly.

Why was he acting like this all of a sudden? She thought he was on her side. He was acting like he was… jealous of her intimacy with Camron. Could that be possible?

Camron looked over at her for a moment, his eyes locking on to Isla’s, as though he was truly considering the answer to that question.

For a moment, she hesitated, praying that he would not fall on the side of Robert, no matter what kind of relationship he’d had with his father, no matter how close the two of them had been.

But, instead, Camron took Isla’s hand and lifted it to his mouth, pressing a kiss against it without taking his eyes off her. Soothing her, it seemed, was of greater importance to him than trying to make Robert feel as though he was being treated with some ill-gotten respect.

And, when he finally turned his attention to the man before them, he lifted his chin slowly and surely.

“My wife can speak for herself,” he replied. “Especially to a man who has done nothing but disrespect and talk down to her since the moment he set foot in our home.”

Robert spluttered, the redness on his face deepening. Camron lifted a hand to quiet him before he could go any further.

“And I wouldnae have her any other way.”

His words, though spoken softly enough, land with the weight of a cannonball between them. Striking not just Robert, but Archie, too. Robert rose to his feet, almost knocking over one of the cups on the table.

“Well, I have nae intention of sitting here and allowing her to speak to me in such a manner if ye’ll no’ do anything to stop it,” he blustered as he stormed towards the door.

The way he walked, it was clear that he was expecting Camron to rise to his feet and call out to him, to apologize and tell him to stay. But Camron did not move a muscle.

“If that’s how ye feel, so be it,” he replied calmly.

Robert stood there for another moment in the doorway, glaring as though he could barely contain himself, but then, he threw the door open and barged past the maid who was still lingering in the corridor beyond.

Isla’s gaze met hers for the briefest moment, and she could tell at once that the girl had heard the conversation as it had unfolded; heard the way that Camron had defended her and stood up for her when Robert had tried to turn on her.

And, as she turned to make her way back to the kitchen, Isla bit her lip.

Perhaps, for a change, the gossip of the Keep would not be about the scandal of their wedding but the small flickers of love that were beginning to bloom between them instead.

Isla reached across the table to pour Camron a drink, noticing that his cup was low. When she took to her seat once more, the two of them exchanged a glance, something shifting between them as he chose her, undeniably, over the memory of whatever past the walls of this Keep held.

Archie had been stunned into silence, too shocked to say anything to the sudden excitement that had exploded around him. Camron glanced at him, cocking an eyebrow, prompting some kind of response.

“And ye, Archie,” he remarked. “Perhaps it’s time fer ye to find some new lodgings for a while. A change of scenery would do ye good.”

His words were not quite barbed, but close to it. Archie did not move a muscle, except to smile slightly.

“Make no mistake, my Laird,” he remarked, glancing towards Isla. “I have no problem with how yer wife chooses to conduct herself. Ye dinnae need to cast me out along wi’ Robert.”

Camron eyed him for a long moment, clearly trying to make sense of whether or not he believed what he was being told. But, instead of battling him on the matter, he just nodded.

“Then ye’ll join us fer dinner?” he remarked, casting his hand across the food laid out before them. “We’ve quite a lot to get through, given that we’re down a guest.”

And, as they began to eat, Isla found herself falling into a comfortable pattern at his side; the two of them running in unison for what felt like the first time, at least when there were others here to see it.

He filled her plate with generous portions, and she made sure his cup was always filled.

When dinner was over and the plates were cleared, he offered her a hand, helping her rise to her feet.

His touch, even as gentle as it was now, answered the very questions that she had posed to herself and her sister in her letter the day before.

She might not have known exactly what love looked like when it came from him. But the way he touched her, the way he cared for her, the way he stood up for her… she was starting to make sense of it.

And, as the two of them made their way to their chambers together, she knew that, with Robert finally gone, they had all the more time to spend together. And she got the feeling that he intended to make the very most of it.