which I’m not.”
“I don’t believe ye,” Glynis said. “And I don’t want to talk about it tonight.”
He tried to make Glynis see sense, but it was like bailing the sea with a creel. Eventually, he tired of talking to himself in the darkness, so he lay down on the cold floor and wrapped his plaid around himself. He was tempted to tell her there were other beds in this house that he wouldn’t be turned out of. But he thought of his parents’ vicious fights and bit his tongue.
Clearly, he wouldn’t be getting his deepest desires fulfilled tonight.
After tossing and turning on the hard floor all night, he awoke abruptly to a room filled with sunlight and sat up. The bed beside him was empty.
So, for the second morning of his marriage, Alex went looking for his wife. As he was crossing the hall, his mother poked her head out from behind the screen.
“Get your father,” she said. “I must speak with the two of ye alone.”
Being trapped alone with his mother and father was the last thing he needed right now. “Later, Mother. Have ye seen Glynis?”
“It’s about her that we need to speak,” she said. “This is important, Alex, so get your father. Now.”
His father was in his bedchamber—alone, for once. A short time later, the three of them were sitting at the small table that was behind the screen in the hall. Alex would rather be boiled in oil than sit with the two of them in a small space, but here he was.
His father leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms on his chest. In the surly tone he reserved for Alex’s mother, he said, “What is it, Morag?”
His mother opened her mouth to shout at him, but with an effort she stopped herself.
“Fergus, ye must remove every woman from this house who our son has bedded at one time or another.” His mother made this astonishing statement in a calm and reasonable voice, as if she were saying they were out of salt or needed another barrel of wine.
Alex and his father exchanged glances, but they were both too startled to say a word.
“Are ye men such fools that ye can’t see what is happening?” she asked.
“I’ve no idea what ye are talking about, Mother.”
“It comes as no surprise that your father is wholly lacking in consideration for a new bride,” his mother said. “But, Alex, can ye no see how it hurts Glynis to have these women about?”
“What is it ye think I’ve done?” Alex felt self-righteous, which was a rather new sensation for him. “I’ve not touched a woman since I was wed.” Hell, he had not even touched his wife.
“I am relieved to hear that,” his mother said, pressing her hand to her chest. “Then it isn’t too late to mend things with Glynis and convince her to stay with ye.”
Alex felt as if the ground were shifting under him. He knew Glynis was upset, but was she planning to leave him already?
“What are ye saying, Morag?” his father asked.
“That the two of ye are mistaken if ye don’t think these women have found ways to let Glynis know they’ve been in Alex’s bed before—and expect to be again,” she said, and Alex had the impression she was talking about herself as a young wife as much as she was about Glynis. “Ye don’t help matters, Alex, by being an even worse flirt than your father.”
“I joke with them,” he said, lifting his hands. “It means nothing.”
“And just how is Glynis supposed to know that?” his mother asked.
“I gave her my promise.”
“Just as every philandering husband in the Highlands has done before ye,” she said, “including her first husband and your father.”
“I will no change my household to suit ye, M—”
“Ye will do it, da,” Alex said, cutting his father off. Then he left them to find his wife.
* * *
Alex found Glynis walking alone on the beach. She was barefoot, his island lass. Seeing her like this, he felt a deep longing for her that had nothing to do with salvaging his pride or needing a mother for his daughter. Alex wanted this woman at his side, and to have her look up at him with a smile in her eyes.
When Glynis saw him, she stood still and waited for him, with the wind blowing her hair and skirts. She looked so pretty, but her eyes were sad.
“Sit with me?” he asked.
She gave him a tight nod and let him take her hand. He led her up the beach to sit in the tall grass where it was dry. Still holding her hand, he told her about his conversation with his mother and father.
“I’m going to try to explain this to ye and be truthful,” he said, rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand, “though ye won’t like part of what I have to tell ye.”
“I want the truth,” she said.
“All right,” he said. “From the time I was a young lad, my father told me that men like us needed women like we need the sea—and that one woman would never do for us. So there were always women about my father’s house. Willing women, if ye catch my meaning.”
He glanced at Glynis. She was staring out to sea, but she was listening.
