He dropped his hand from her face and then turned to fix the rest of the room with his glare. “Can someone tell me what in God’s name is going on?”
Everyone started talking at once. Ewan closed his eyes and then roared for silence. He turned to Mairin. “You tell me what happened here.”
She glanced down at her hands but not before he saw the betraying quiver of her lip.
“I’ll tell you, Laird,” Diormid said loudly as he stepped forward. “She ordered Heath, Robert, Corbin, Ian, and Matthew to take on the tasks of the women.” The disbelief and outrage Diormid felt on behalf of his men was evident. “She instructed them all to do the cooking and the cleaning and the scrubbing of the floors!”
Ewan watched as Mairin’s expression went flat. Her lips drew into a thin line, and then she simply turned away and would have walked out of the hall if Ewan hadn’t quickly caught hold of her arm to prevent her departure.
“Lass?” he asked pointedly.
Her chin wobbled, and she blinked furiously. “You’ll just yell, Laird, and I have no desire to be humiliated again in front of my clan.”
“Tell me what happened,” he said in a stern voice. He was determined that he not show weakness in front of his men. What he wanted to do was pull her into his arms and kiss those trembling lips. She was on the verge of tears, and he’d do damn near anything to prevent her crying.
But what he had to do was be fair and disciplined. He had a duty to everyone involved to be fair and impartial, which meant that if his wife had hatched another of her hare-brained schemes, he was destined to make her cry.
Her chin went up, which relieved him. He far preferred her belligerence to her tears.
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She pointed at Heath. “That … That idiot struck Christina.”
Ewan stiffened and jerked around to see Heath helped to his feet by Diormid.
“Is this true?” Ewan asked in a low voice.
“The bitch was impertinent,” Heath growled. “She deserved my reprimand.”
Mairin gasped in outrage. She would have flown at Heath again but Ewan caught her by the waist and yanked her to his chest. Her feet kicked at his ankles but he wouldn’t let her go. He turned to Alaric and thrust Mairin into his arms.
“Do
Alaric wrapped his arm around her waist and simply held her against his chest, her feet inches from the floor. Mairin looked outraged, but Ewan was more interested in Heath’s explanation.
He turned back to Heath once more and pinned him with the full force of his stare. “You will tell me everything.”
Mairin struggled in Alaric’s arms but he held her fast. “Ewan, please,” she pleaded. “I would tell you all that happened.”
She was beyond furious. She was so sickened by the men’s treatment of the serving women that she was ready to take Ewan’s sword and gut them all. If she could lift it, she’d do just that.
She turned to Alaric when Ewan continued to ignore her. “Alaric, may I borrow your sword?”
Alaric raised a startled brow. “Lass, you couldn’t lift my sword.”
“You could help me. Please, Alaric, I’ve a need to shed some blood.”
To her surprise, he laughed outright, the sound loud in the quiet room.
Tears of frustration pricked her eyes. “Please, Alaric, ’tis not right what he did. And now he’ll make excuses to Ewan for his disgraceful behavior, for all their behavior.”
Alaric’s gaze softened. “Ewan will take care of this, lass. He is a fair man.”
“But he’s a man,” she persisted.
Alaric shot her a puzzled look. “Aye, I just said so.”
Before Ewan could again demand an explanation from Heath, the hall erupted once more. Women poured into the room, their cries rivaling that of any warrior. To Mairin’s astonishment, they held an assortment of makeshift weapons, from pitchforks and sticks to rocks and daggers.
Ewan’s mouth gaped open just as Alaric finally let Mairin loose from his grasp. She landed with a thump on the floor and cast a disgruntled glare in Alaric’s direction. But he, like every other man, turned to stare in astonishment as the women converged on them.
“Lass, are you all right?” Bertha demanded from the front of the crowd of women.
Christina hurried over to Mairin, grabbed her hand, then gestured for Maddie before pulling Mairin to the assembled women.
Mairin squeezed Christina’s hand as she stared at the darkening bruise on Christina’s cheek. “Are you all right?” Mairin whispered.
Christina smiled. “Aye, thanks to you, my lady.”
“Laird, we be wanting a word from you,” Bertha bellowed.
She waved her pitchfork for emphasis as Ewan continued to stare at the women in astonishment.
“What the hell is going on?” Ewan demanded. “Has the entire world gone mad?”
