The Condemned Highlander (Highland Intrigue Trilogy 2)

“You think you know me so well?” she asked, annoyed that he did.

“I think we both have come to know each other more easily than either of us had expected, though there is lots more to learn and I do look forward to learning everything about you,” he said with a playful smile.

His mischievous smiles always felt like a tickle to her side that forced her to smile in return and not at all begrudgingly. “I look forward to the same.” She decided to tease as well. “This way I can point out your faults that need correcting.”

His soft blue eyes lit with delight, and he laughed. “You cannot think that I actually have any faults.”

“Not any faults, many faults.”

He laughed again and pressed a hand to his chest. “You wound me, wife, to think I have many faults. Name one fault of mine.”

A list went through her head, but not one slipped past her lips. Were his faults what actually charmed? She had never met anyone who could make people smile as easily as he did. He had a way of making people feel comfortable around him like an old friend they could talk with about anything. It struck her then, a thought she had had after speaking with him a few times after first meeting him.

She spoke without thinking. “Your smile prevents others from seeing your loneliness.” She struck a chord, seeing his body tense.

His smile vanished. “That is not a fault. It is survival.”

His tone warned her to leave it alone—for now.

It brought their playful banter to a quick end.

Brogan had never let anyone see past the shield he had erected through the years, yet Annis had managed to do just that. It had been a necessity to his survival, though lately with Annis at his side he had found the shield less necessary. But that did not mean he had any intentions of removing it completely. It served a purpose, and it would remain.

Annis watched the light sky turning gray, though her thoughts were not on a possible approaching storm. They were on her husband. He was right about them learning about each other, though her open and blunt nature was easy for people to see her for who she was. Not so Brogan. He had shielded himself with a stunning smile and charm, a mask of sorts so no one could actually see his pain and the loneliness that went with it. The curse had done more damage to him than he allowed anyone to see.

If she had not been so intent on her quest, she would have recognized it. Or was it that feelings for him had surfaced and robbed her of clarity? It did not matter. She would learn more about him in due time. She had to if she intended to stay wed to him.

She wanted to sigh with frustration. How many times did she need to warn herself that her quest came first, that all else had to wait?

Foolish.

What she needed to see, to admit, was that quest or not, the issue with Brogan was not going to wait. And it shouldn’t. It all was involved somehow and instead of looking at it separately she had to see it as a whole, only then would she be able to fit all the pieces together. Brogan’s voice broke through her thoughts, and she was grateful, needing a reprieve from them.

“The gray clouds grow darker. We will need to find shelter soon. There is a croft about an hour away. I have stopped there before when traveling and was given shelter.”

Annis kept her tongue from asking what kind of shelter he had been offered there and wondered if she would meet one of the many women that he had been intimate with.

16

She regretted her jealous thought when she met the old man and woman who worked the croft. They were kind and generous and she was more surprised when Brogan asked them if they required any help while he was there.

The man was reluctant to say, not so the woman.

“He is too proud to admit we do not have the strength we once had. I am not, since I worry what the years will bring when we cannot work the land anymore,” the woman said.

Annis hurried to say, “There is room in our flourishing village. You both are welcome there where others can offer help when needed.”

The older woman got teary-eyed and looked to Brogan and Annis understood she looked to him for permission. Strange how she did not see him as others did… a noble to be obeyed. It struck her then, Brogan may have eased her worries some of being his wife, but the magnitude of being Lady Annis cast a sudden doubt as to whether she wanted such a life.

Brogan smiled at the couple while wondering over the sudden change in his wife. No one probably noticed it. Even the slight nibble to her lower lip could barely be seen as could the tension in her squared shoulders. He would find out as soon as they were alone.