“ ’Twas not his fault,” Rionna said softly. “Sarah and I tricked him.”

“You have a deft hand at trickery, wife, wouldn’t you say?”

His tone took her aback. Her mouth fell open at his accusation. She couldn’t be sure exactly what he accused her of, but whatever it was, it wasn’t good.

Her chin went up a notch. “I merely wanted to assure the men that I was well.”

He gestured widely, his hand sweeping over the assembled warriors. “As they can see, you are hale and hearty, no thanks to your foolishness. Now if that is all, we’ve training to finish.”

Her chest clutched at his dismissive, caustic tone. “My foolishness? What is it you speak of, husband?”

He took a step forward and stared down at her, his face so cold that she shivered. “I will speak to you later, when I am not so gripped by anger. Until then, return to our chamber and do not leave it. Are we understood?”

Her mouth fell open. She gaped incredulously at him. What on earth could she have done to anger him so?

She was sorely tempted to knee him in the cods and leave him writhing on the ground in agony. She pressed her lips into a thin line and sent him a stare that would wither a flower in full bloom.

She turned and when Gannon would have taken her arm, she jerked away and gave him an equally icy stare. Over her lifeless body would she obey her husband’s dictate to wait in their chamber for him to take her apart for some imagined slight.

She stomped inside and went in search of Sarah. Caelen should be filled with joy. He was going to be a father. It had been his wish for his seed to bear fruit with all haste so as to further seal his leadership over his new clan.

Now the McCabes and the McDonalds would be joined by blood. Caelen had everything he wanted. Why then did he look upon her as though she’d handed him the worst betrayal?

“You cannot avoid the laird forever,” Sarah warned.

Rionna shot her a glare. “ ’Tis not avoiding as much as it is me not obeying his almighty dictate. He can go to the devil. And to think I wore a dress for him.” She looked down in disgust at the beautiful amber gown that had a fair number of wrinkles in it now.

Sarah chuckled and resumed her knitting. The two women sat in Sarah’s cottage as the fire blazed in the hearth. ’Twas past the hour of the evening meal but Rionna had eaten—at Sarah’s insistence—in the quiet of Sarah’s cottage.

“You can’t miss meals now, lass,” she’d cautioned Rionna. “ ’Tis likely what made you faint. You didn’t break your fast and then you overexerted yourself.”