Page 44 of The Iron Earl

That, Lachlan couldn’t deny. His brother had been the beacon that was going to lead the people, the Vinehill estate into the future. Vibrations of Jacob’s death still took the ground out from so many of the men and women of Vinehill lands.

“Aye.” He glared at Domnall out the corner of his eye. “But to tell her? You know who Evalyn is—who her stepfather is. Her of all people?”

A low chuckle fell from Domnall’s lips. “Ye still attempting to be hostile to the lass, Lach?”

“Shouldn’t we all be?”

“Ye tell me.” Domnall lifted his forefinger from his thigh and pointed it at Lachlan. “Ye were the one that picked her up when she trailed.”

“I’m not an ogre, Domnall.” Lachlan’s hand gripping his reins curled into a fist. “You’d have done the same after seeing her feet.”

“Aye. But I also would have owned the reason as to why I picked her up to help her.”

Lachlan twisted in his saddle, turning fully to Domnall. “Exactly what are you insinuating?”

Domnall shrugged. “Why’d ye want her to ride with me, Lach?”

“You saw how uncomfortable she was, did you not? She felt trapped with me. Aside from Rupe, she’s talked to you more than anyone in the camp so I thought her more comfortable with you.”

“I see.” Domnall nodded slowly, disbelief evident in the squint of his eyes. “Ye be concerned on her comfort now, do ye? And it widnae have anything to do with the fact that ye couldn’t take her body next to yers?”

Lachlan scoffed. “No.”

Domnall’s eyebrow cocked. “Yer trousers told a different tale when she moved away from ye and onto my horse.”

“I don’t know what you saw, Domnall, but you’d be wise to keep your hallucinations to yourself, lest we think you’ve gone mad.”

“Bugger it, Lach—ye think to talk out of an ass’s arse to me?”

Lachlan’s left hand flew up, palm to the sky. “What do you want me to say, Dom? Yes, her body was far too close to mine. Yes, I reacted in spite of myself. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve had a woman? Far, far too long. That is all that was. All you saw.”

Domnall’s wide frame lifted in a heavy sigh. “If ye say it’s so, it’s so.” He nodded, looking out to the rolling hills.

For long seconds, neither man moved, their focus on the distant land.

“Ye ken she don’t belong in either world, Lach?”

Lachlan’s gaze lifted to the branches of the trees above, then dropped to Domnall.

His friend’s focus stayed on the horizon. “She cannot go back to her kin. Yet she does not belong in the kitchens neither.” He looked at Lachlan. “Mrs. Fitzsimmons widnae let the lass in her domain for more than a day. And I don’t rightly ken if she’ll take to being yer mistress.”

Lachlan’s hand that had momentarily relaxed clutched back onto his reins. “What do you know of it?”

“I seen how ye look at her, Lach. I saw what I saw today. Ye been planning on bedding her since we left Wolfbridge.”

“So what of it?”

“A lass like that.” Domnall’s head shook. “T’would be sacrilege to let her fall for that course.”

“What are you telling me, Dom?”

“I’m just speaking the facts. She’s already ruined in the eyes of her kind. Leaving with us, the nights on the road did that.”

“So?”

“So from here on, she’ll be the one that suffers whatever happens next. Not her demon of a stepfather.”

“And?”