Page 24 of Promised to the Forbidden Laird

Roy had no answer worth offering. He crossed the courtyard before the messenger mounted. The man straightened at his approach, with one hand resting upon the dispatch case.

“The petition from Lady Donaldina,” Roy ordered, though without anger. “Give it tae me.”

The messenger hesitated. “Me laird⁠—”

“It concerns me name as well as hers.”

That was true, though not the whole of it. The letter had not yet been placed beneath the messenger’s official seal. He surrendered it reluctantly.

Roy read it where he stood. Donaldina’s words were precise, measured and entirely reasonable. The circumstances had altered. The alliance no longer served its intended purpose. Clan MacNicol required stability rather than the enforcement of an agreement made eight years before.

Not one sentence accused him of abandoning Lachlan. That absence should have pleased him. Instead, he found himself more troubled by the care she had taken not to speak of him at all.

Roy folded the petition along its existing crease and walked toward the inner stair.

“I thought ye meant tae let it go!” Hamish called after him.

Roy did not turn. “I dae.”

Donaldina opened her chamber door herself. Surprise crossed her face when she saw him, followed swiftly by caution. Her gaze dropped to the parchment in his hand.

“Ye… stopped the messenger,” she concluded.

“I merely delayed him,” he explained.

“By taking me letter?”

He handed her the letter, her fingers brushing his. He pretended not to notice the effect it had on him.

“Ye had nae right tae read this,” she told him.

“Nae.”

The admission seemed to unsettle her more than any argument could have. Roy entered the chamber, leaving the door open, yet the space still felt increasingly confined.

“If this is truly what ye wish,” he said, “I will see that it reaches the King exactly as ye wrote it.”

Donaldina looked down at the folded petition. “Then why bring it back?”

“Because I wanted tae hear ye say it.”

Her chin lifted. “The letter says it plainly.”

“Aye, the letter is very sensible.”

“I hadnae realized sense offended ye.”

“It doesnae.”

He moved closer. Donaldina remained where she was, though her fingers tightened upon the parchment. Roy stopped only inches from her.

“I simply dinnae believe it.”

Her eyes flashed. “Ye believe ye ken me wishes better than I dae?”

“Nae.” His gaze moved over her face. “I believe ye are trying very hard tae remember what they were before I arrived.”

Her breath caught softly, and Roy should have stepped away, but he did not. “Every time ye look at me,” he continued, lowering his voice, “ye blush before remembering ye are meant tae hate me.”