Page 11 of The Chief's Wild Promise
MacGregor eventually shattered the brittle silence. A deep groove had etched between his coarse eyebrows, and his green eyes had hardened. “That’s the nature of war,lad. Mackinnon bought our loyalty … but that didn’t mean we intended to go to the grave with him should the battle not go his way. He knew that too. If the tables had been turned, yer father would have done the same.”
The heat in Bran’s belly started to pulse. The bastard wasn’t even embarrassed, or contrite.
Stepping back from the table, he folded his arms across his chest. “The fact remains that yelied, MacGregor.”
The clan-chief snorted. “A wee falsehood … and one that hurts no one. Yer father insultedme, by rejecting my offer of Makenna’s hand.” He gestured to the lass in question then, who’d held her tongue during the exchange yet was now looking decidedly uncomfortable. “My youngest daughter has as much value as my eldest. Had yer father lived, he would have come around to the idea. Makenna is bonnie and sturdy … she will make ye a fine wife.”
She made a soft choking sound at this. Bran didn’t blame her. MacGregor had just spoken of her as if she were a carthorse.
Bran didn’t look her way though. “If ye won’t honor yer promises, why should I?”
Freedom was close now. Soon he’d be riding away from Perthshire, never to return.
Anger sparked in MacGregor’s eyes. Aye, the brash fool who’d welcomed him to Meggernie was but a ruse. “I fought the Macleans in good faith,” the clan-chief ground out. “And lost fifty of my warriors during that battle. We limped home, bloodied and defeated.Fiftymen, Mackinnon … warriors who should be defending my borders from the Campbells. Instead, they died for a cause they didn’t even believe in.”
“Aye, so that ye could get the alliance ye craved,” Bran shot back. “Don’t make it sound as if ye did it out of friendship for my father.”
“The agreement I made with him still stands,” MacGregor growled, his large hands curling into fists at his sides. “Yewillwed my daughter … or make an enemy of the MacGregors.”
Makenna’s soft gasp followed these words. Danger crackled through the air now, and Bran was aware that they were all teetering on the brink.
Everything depended on Bran’s response.
His blood roared in his ears. God, how he wanted to just turn and walk away from all of this. He had the chance. The door was open. All he had to do was go through it. The night before, he’d lain abed, imagining this moment, savoring the shock and anger on MacGregor’s face.
But now that the moment was upon him, he couldn’t do it. His damn honor wouldn’t let him. What he needed MacGregor to do was get angry enough toreleasehim from his bond.
Leaning forward, he placed his hands on the table between them, his gaze seizing the older man’s. MacGregor’s heavy features had gone taut now, red flushing across his cheekbones. “Aye … I’ll wed yerferaldaughter … and ye can have the warriors and weapons that were part of the deal,” he ground out, even as his gut clenched. “Unlike ye, I’m a man of my word.” He paused then before going for the throat. “But it ends there. I care not if the Campbells bay at yer door like wolves … I won’t come to yer aid.”
MacGregor stared back at him a moment before growling, “Ye offend me, Mackinnon.”
“As ye have doneme… and now we are even,” Bran replied coldly. “Be grateful that I am honoring yer devious agreement at all.”
Christ’s bones. If Mackinnon didn’t stop yapping, he’d soon find his teeth scattered over the floor.
Makenna could see her father’s temper rising in a crimson tide.
The young clan-chief had insulted his honor, provoked him, and was now changing the terms of the agreement he and Kendric Mackinnon had struck. Their argument had now escalated to threats.
Blood was about to be spilled.
“Why would I give my precious daughter to a man who won’t name himself my ally?” Her father said finally, each word vibrating with fury. His fingers flexed at his side then, their tips brushing the grip of his dirk.
Makenna tensed, dropping her arms to her sides. She needed to be ready to respond too.
“Don’t then,” Mackinnon shot back, his tone goading now. His lean face was taut, his silver eyes glittering with dislike. Makenna’s gaze narrowed. Sly bastard. He’d been waiting for this moment. Discovering that he’d been lied to was the excuse he’d needed. “And I shall pack up today … and takeallmy warriors and the weapons ye need back to Mull.”
“That’s what ye want, isn’t it?” Her father countered. Like his daughter, he was no fool. “To worm yer way out of this marriage? Ye think if ye vex me enough, I’ll lose my temper and cast ye out of my castle?”
Makenna’s pulse leaped into a gallop.
How she wanted her father to do just that. She longed to be rid of Mackinnon. The vile-tempered man hadn’t even been here a full day, and already she wished they’d never met.
But she had to be practical. She had to think about her clan’s welfare.
They needed those twenty warriors and the cartloads of fine weapons the Mackinnons had hauled all the way from Dùn Ara. Things with the Campbells of Breadalbane had reached a tipping point, and those resources would make the difference.
“I am willing to keep my part of the bargain,” she blurted out before she lost her nerve. If only her voice didn’t sound so strangled.