Ian cleared his throat. “Morning, Sil.”
She pressed her lips into a tight line and set to stirring her porridge with a good deal of vigor. For the next several minutes, the only sound in the room was the scrape of spoons in bowls. For all the attention Sileas gave her porridge, she didn’t appear to be eating much.
Finally, she set down her spoon. Looking past Ian as if he weren’t there, she said, “Where is Niall?”
Ian cleared his throat again. “I believe he went out for some fresh air.” He tried desperately to think of something else to say to her.
“Some fresh air would do ye good as well,” Alex said to her. “You’re looking peaked. How about I take ye out fishing today and let the sea breeze put the color back in your cheeks?”
When Ian kicked him, Alex lifted the finger resting against his cheek to signal that Ian should be patient.
Sileas narrowed her eyes, considering. Then she said, “I’d like that verra much. I haven’t been fishing in years.”
“Meet me on the beach in an hour, and I’ll show ye how it’s done,” Alex said.
What the hell was Alex up to?
The door to the kitchen swung open, and Dina came in, wiping her hands on her apron. “Are ye finished?” With a sly smile for Alex, she added, “Or will ye be wanting more?”
“Can ye see to Payton’s breakfast, Dina?” Sileas said, as she got to her feet. “I have some things to attend to. And then I’m going fishing.”
Without waiting for Dina to respond—or sparing a glance for Ian—Sileas left them and disappeared up the stairs.
• • •
The icy wind froze Sileas’s cheeks and made her eyes water. Despite Alex’s smooth, sure strokes with the oars, their little boat bobbed in the choppy water.
Sileas’s emotions were as wild as the sea today. She was furious with Ian for sneaking into her bed without even asking her. After keeping her waiting for five long years, he had expected her to be grateful—grateful!—that he had decided to “accept the situation.”
She was not a “situation.”
Ian’s kisses had sent an unfamiliar storm of emotions raging inside her. She was so hungry for Ian’s affection, and the desire he stirred in her was so overwhelming, that she had almost lost herself to it. But she knew that for him it was only a physical need. Ian wanted her, but for the wrong reason—or at least not for the reasons she needed.
“You’re not afraid of a wee bit of weather, are ye?” Alex called out, grinning.
Sileas shook her head. Like him, she was an islander and as comfortable on the sea as on land. “All the same, I’d say it’s a poor day for fishing.”
“Well, ye don’t believe I brought ye out here for the fishing, do ye?” Alex said.
She shook her head again and watched as he skillfully maneuvered the boat around some rocks to a sheltered cove, where the sea was quieter.
“ ’Tis time we had ourselves a talk.” He rested his oars and leaned forward. “You and I have some scheming to do.”
She pushed back the hair whipping across her face. “Scheming?”
“Aye, scheming,” Alex said, and waggled his eyebrows. “Now, you and I both know that ye love Ian and always have.”
“Ye don’t know my feelings.”
“I am on your side, lass,” Alex said. “So let’s not waste time lying to each other.”
She folded her arms and looked out to sea. “I’ll no spend my life hoping Ian will care for me.”
“I’m no saying ye should accept less than your due,” Alex said. “But I suspect Ian cares for ye more than he knows.”
“Seems to me,” she said between her teeth, “that not knowing that he cares is the same as not caring.”
“Sometimes a man needs to be pushed a wee bit,” Alex said. “Hitting him over the head with the skillet a couple of times was a good start.”
Sileas felt her cheeks grow warm. “Ian deserved it.”
“I haven’t a doubt that he did,” Alex said. “But ye can’t blame him for trying to get ye under the blankets.”
“Hmmph.”
A seal popped his head up and looked at her with its black eyes for a long moment before disappearing again below the waves.
“Do ye remember how the four of us lads used to sail to Knock Castle to take ye out fishing with us?” Alex said. “It was always Ian who talked us into it. Not that the rest of us didn’t like ye, mind, but we were lads off having adventures. We wouldn’t have brought ye along if Ian hadn’t insisted.”
“He just felt sorry for me,” she said.
“Aye, Ian always did have a soft heart,” Alex said. “But he liked having ye around. He was always talking about the funny things ye said or how quick ye were to learn something.”
“I was a wee girl,” she said. “He doesn’t know me now.”
