Page 21 of The Chief's Wild Promise
Makenna cleared her throat, embarrassment stealing over her. “Good afternoon, Tadhg.”
The warrior didn’t respond. If anything, his glower darkened.
She attempted an encouraging smile. “How are ye feeling?”
“I’ve been better.”
“Are ye in pain?”
He grunted. A heavy silence fell in the infirmary then. Tadhg didn’t seem bothered by it though. The look on his face made it clear he wished she’d leave. However, she couldn’t. Not yet.
“I’m sorry for attacking ye yesterday.” Her pulse started to race. Apologies didn’t come easy to her; it was something her kin had all complained about over the years. But Tadhg could have died because of her, and for that reason alone, she swallowed her pride now. “It was rash.”
He pursed his lips.
“I mistook ye for the enemy,” she pressed on. “The Campbells of Breadalbane razed one of our villages.” Her breathing grew shallow as she recalled the devastation that greeted her patrol two days earlier. “They grow increasingly aggressive … I fear that one day, they’ll try to take Meggernie for themselves.” She paused there, resisting the urge to squirm. Tadhg was a man of few words. His stony silence made her babble like a fool. “My clan is everything to me,” she concluded hoarsely. “I know it’s a poor excuse … but I wanted ye to know.”
“Ready, lad?” Garia approached then, her healing basket full of bandages and unguents over one arm.
Tadhg nodded. His expression softened slightly as his gaze shifted to the healer.
“I shall leave ye to tend yer patient then.” Makenna stepped back. She’d tried her best, but it had been like talking to a stone wall. She wouldn’t linger where she wasn’t welcome.
She was turning away when Tadhg’s gruff voice forestalled her. “Has the Mackinnon forgiven ye yet?”
Makenna swung back to face him. She then frowned, giving him his answer. Just the mention of her husband-to-be made her temper flare. She didn’t want Bran Mackinnon’s forgiveness. “He’s not an easy man to like,” she replied stiffly. “I don’t know how ye all put up with him.”
Tadhg snorted. “Och, Mackinnon’s not that bad … ye just need to learn how to handle him.”
Garia coughed, as if smothering a laugh, at this, while Makenna’s cheeks started to burn. “Any other advice?” she asked, unable to stop censure from creeping into her voice.
His gaze glinted. “Ye could start by talking to the man rather than swinging a blade at him.”
10: BATS IN THE EAVES
“YE DID, WHAT?”
Kylie stared at Makenna, her lips parting in shock.
“Kneed him in the cods.” Makenna dug her needle into the hem of the green damask surcote she’d wear for her wedding. “Although not hard enough, I fear.”
Kylie murmured an oath. Meanwhile, Liza made a choking sound.
“Do ye wish for a husband who’s … incapable of performing his … duties?” Liza asked, incredulous.
“That would be a boon, aye,” Makenna replied. Heat rose to her cheeks then as she recalled the feel of Mackinnon’s arousal, hot and hard against her belly—and the dizzying wave of excitement that had rolled over her in response. Curse her, she’d tried to forget that incident. After visiting Tadhg in the infirmary, she’d gone straight upstairs to join her sisters—although she was now wishing she’d hidden in her bower instead.
Tensing her jaw, she made two more neat stitches upon her wedding surcote. She usually liked needlework. It was a vastly different task from taking her turn at the Watch on the walls, riding out on patrol, or sparring with the other warriors, but she enjoyed the detail, and the sense of accomplishment afterward. Sewing relaxed her. Not now though.
“Mackinnon had it coming,” she muttered.
Kylie sighed before reaching up to pinch the skin between her eyebrows. She then met Liza’s eye. The two women sat opposite each other before the gently smoldering hearth. “I think our sister wishes to make her marriage a battlefield.”
“It would seem so,” Liza replied as she continued to wind wool upon a spindle. “But she’ll learn better soon enough.”
“She could do far worse than Bran Mackinnon.”
“Aye,” Liza agreed. “She could have ended up being wed to a man like Leod.”