At the sound of the door opening, Ian jumped to his feet. Sileas came in, looking over her shoulder and laughing. She was a vision, with her cheeks rosy from the cold and loose tendrils of hair curling about her face.
Her laughter died when she turned and saw him.
“Where have ye been?” Ian stood in front of her waiting for an explanation.
“With Gordan,” she said, as she slipped off her cloak and handed it to Gordan to hang by the door.
“I did not see ye on the path,” Ian said.
“We weren’t on the path,” she said, then turned to speak to his mother. “Such a lovely afternoon for this time of year. No, don’t get up, Beitris. I’ll see to supper.”
She brushed past Ian and headed for the kitchen without so much as a glance at him. He was about to follow her when Alex stuck his head through the front door.
“Niall and I could use your help with one of the horses,” Alex called, then shut the door again.
Ian stormed outside and found Alex waiting for him by the byre. “What do ye need me for? You’re the best man with horses.”
“I didn’t call ye out for help with the damned horses,” Alex said in a low voice. “Your brother is in the byre, and he’s in such a fury he’s like to put the cows off their milk.”
“I don’t have time now,” Ian said, clenching his fists. “I need to talk with Sileas.”
“Just now, I think ye need to speak with your brother more. I’ve tried telling Niall that ye are not the horse’s ass ye seem to be, but I fear I wasn’t too convincing.” Alex slapped Ian on the back. “Go talk to the lad.”
“Ach!” Ian banged into the byre and found Niall brushing his horse down.
When Niall looked up and saw him, he threw the brush against the wall.
Ian grabbed Niall as he stormed past him. “Niall, what is—”
“Go back to France!” Niall shouted in his face.
Ian blocked Niall’s arm when he tried to drive his fist into Ian’s face. Before Niall could punch him with his other hand, Ian spun him around and held him by the neck. His own temper was flaming now.
“You’re a long way from taking your big brother, so I suggest ye not try that again,” Ian hissed in Naill’s ear.
There was no point in talking when they were both so angry, so he let his brother go.
Ian watched Niall’s stiff back as he stalked out of the byre with his fists clenched. So much for following Alex’s advice. Ian finished brushing the horse to calm himself before going back to the house.
By the time he got to the table, his brother and Gordan were sitting on either side of Sileas, and Alex had taken the seat across from her. He sat down and glared at Alex as he started shoveling his food down.
His mother was speaking to him, but Ian couldn’t follow what she was saying when it was plain as day that Gordan was set on stealing Sileas away—right under his own roof. God’s bones, the man’s gaze never left her face.
And what was Alex up to? He was putting on a full show of his dazzling charm. And from the way Sil laughed at Alex’s foolish remarks, his charm was working.
Ian could hardly choke down his food.
Sileas was determined to be cheerful. Damn Ian MacDonald anyway. First, he demands she ride with him, leading her to believe he was going to play the part of her husband before half the clan at the church. Then, as soon as they arrive, he sends her off as if she were still a child.
She threw her head back and laughed at Alex’s joke, though she had missed the first half of it entirely.
Was it too much to ask Ian to sit beside her? For five years, she’d had to listen to the women’s remarks about her missing husband. If one more matron had given her a look of sympathy today, she would have screamed right there in the church. And then the women would have even more to talk about.
She should be used to the humiliation by now. But it had been harder than she expected to watch mother after mother bring her babe forward to be baptized, while her own arms were empty.
Ian wasn’t even waiting for her at the church door. Fortunately, Gordan had been kind enough to take her home as soon as the ordeal was over. Of course, that meant she had to suffer Gordan’s pleading looks, but at least he had the good sense not to press her today.
“We need to tell them about the men we saw,” Gordan said in a low voice while the others were talking.
“No,” she mouthed.
Gordan didn’t look happy about it, but he’d do as she asked. She didn’t want to worry Beitris and Payton over nothing, just when they were both getting so much better. When she and Gordan saw the three strangers coming toward them on the path, she panicked, thinking they could be MacKinnons coming after her.
It was foolish. Why would they come for her after all this time? All the same, she and Gordan slipped off the path. They took the shortcut to his house, where he gave her a nip of whiskey while his mother scowled at her.
“What’s that you’re saying?” Ian asked, glaring at Gordan from the far end of the table.
She kicked Gordan to remind him of his promise to say nothing.
“That I’d best be getting home,” Gordan said and stood up. “My mother will be waiting.”
She tilted her head back and gave Gordan a grateful smile for not telling. “Thanks for seeing me home safe.”
