Mac (Mountain Men 2)

“Baking?”

Bryn follows me.

“Aye,” she says with a frown. “You act as if I just told you I took a trip across the moon for my morning cardio.” She rolls her eyes heavenward. “Are you feelin’ alright?”

I reach for one of the muffins, and she tries to slap my hand away. “You’ll burn your fingers off!”

She isn’t successful, though, and I manage to snag a piping hot muffin that’s faintly scented of cinnamon and sugar. I toss it from hand to hand and Bryn giggles, snatches a plate from a nearby stack, and hands it to me.

“Thanks very much,” I say, feeling every eye in the kitchen on the two of us. I’m not very hungry for a muffin, but I want to take their eyes off of Bryn.

It doesn’t work.

“Mornin’, Mac,” Leith says, sitting at the head of the table where he belongs. As Clan Captain, he’s the one in charge.

“Morning.”

It’s nearly lunchtime, but sometimes my family lingers in the warmth of the kitchen, especially when there’s baking brewing.

He looks sternly at Bryn, then his eyes come questioningly back to me. He looks curious, but will save any questions for later.

Bryn gives him a questioning look, as if she recognizes him. Then she looks to Tate, and back to me. What an odd thing to do. I wonder what it is that's on her mind, and decide I'll ask her at the first opportunity.

"Did you bring us a guest, then?"

“Aye,” I say, pulling a chair out for Bryn at the far end of the table, where Mum and Islan sit. They stare at us, wide-eyed and a little slack-jawed. Mum’s the first one to get her bearings.

She smiles in welcome at Bryn.

“This is Bryn, everyone. Paisley’s the one over there baking muffins. Tate’s the lad to Leith’s left and you met Leith’s wife Cairstina last night.”

“Hello,” Islan says, turning a warm smile on Bryn a split second before she glares at me.

I shrug my shoulders at her, and she shakes her head, rolling her eyes at me before Bryn sees.

“Hi, there,” Bryn says. She smiles at Islan and Mum, but I can see the way her hand trembles when she rests it in her lap.

“I might as well get this out in the open,” I say loudly. I don’t want Bryn to suspect my motives, and I want her at ease regarding who she is. “This is Bryn Aitkens. Most of you are familiar with the Aitkens family in Inverness.”

It isn’t most of them that are familiar. It’s all of them. They know exactly why I brought her here and suspect what I have planned. It's exactly why Islan’s glaring at me, since she knows my motives.

“Oh, aye,” Mum says with forced nonchalance. I can tell the way her eyes focus on me as she speaks that she has quite a few questions. “Your mum was ill last winter, wasn’t she?”

“Aye,” Bryn says. “She was.”

“How’s your mum now, lass?” Mum asks politely, and for a moment I wonder if she’s just trying to make Bryn feel at home the way I have, or if she’s genuinely curious. She’s as loyal to our Clan as possible, the matriarch of all, but I wonder for a moment if there isn’t an unwritten rule that the matriarchs of the clans look out for each other. I know Mum’s become good friends with Maeve, the McCarthy Clan matriarch from Ireland.

“She’s recovered, thank you,” Bryn says politely. “Though I don’t quite know if she'll ever be exactly the same." She gives me a little look, saying with her eyes what she doesn't say out loud, and I know exactly what she's thinking. She doesn't want her mum to return to being the woman she had been. I don't blame her.

“Cuppa tea, lass?” I ask, when Aisla, one of the younger members of our staff, comes to the table with a steaming teapot.

“Aye, please,” Bryn says, holding her cup up.

“Milk, no sugar,” I tell Aisla. I feel everyone’s eyes on me, silently questioning. I know the way the lass takes her bloody tea. What else do I know?

“Thanks for that.” Bryn takes her cup and sips it eagerly, as if she’s grateful she has something to do with herself.

There’s a sound of heavy footsteps behind us. Everyone goes still.

I jerk my head at the door and ignore the way everybody looks at me. I need to find out why she's gone so still, what exactly is on her mind. At the kitchen entrance, I hear Dad’s voice.

“Who the hell brought her here?”

His eyes are furious, his entire face mottled with rage. For Christ’s sake. He was there when I decided that I was going to seek vengeance by going after a member of the Aitkens clan. He knows this was part of the plan. He may not know that I was planning on bringing Bryn here, but he knew it was a possibility. But his memory’s failing him, and he doesn't often remember details.