‘You could tell me what this means?’
His gaze followed hers down to her hand and then came back up to stare at her. Then down once more as though he did not believe what he saw there.
‘I have my suspicions, but thought I would ask you since I saw you do it earlier.’ His gaze narrowed for a moment and then something that resembled respect filled it.
‘Do you think yourself clever, Lady Arabella?’
He reached down and eased her fingers out of the gesture. His hand was warm and strong and almost twice the size of hers, yet he did not use that size and strength against her. A shiver shook her at the thought of such a thing.
‘You are ill,’ he said, releasing her hand and turning to call someone. She grabbed his hand to stop him.
‘I am not ill. I only wished to ask you about those gestures. What are you signalling to the others?’ she asked.
‘Others?’ he asked in a rough tone. ‘What others?’
He would not tell her. She had witnessed something he did not wish her to see. His reaction told her the truth—they were messages or words about her. Mayhap more insults about her between him and his friends? The thought of that burned her. Knowing only one way out of this situation, she lifted her face and smiled at him.
‘Forgive me, sir, if I have overstepped the bounds of hospitality. I think my stomach has calmed now. I will seek out your...’ She began to rise, but he took hold of her hand and held her there. ‘Sir?’
‘Brodie is my name,’ he whispered harshly. ‘And do not do that.’ She did not force her way to her feet but remained seated there at his side. With her hand trapped within his.
‘Do not do what, sir?’ she demanded in a whisper that matched his. All the while, the smile remained in place. If anyone glanced at them, nothing would look amiss.
‘Smile like that.’
‘I do not understand. I am simply smiling,’ she said through her teeth.
‘Smiling like a simpleton, aye.’ He yet held her hand in a firm grasp, one at odds with the anger she felt in him. She let her face relax and nodded her understanding. ‘Better.
‘I can only say this. Aye, you did see...what you saw. I am in charge of the guards. My uncle wanted them to keep watch discreetly. We use the signals rather than...’ His grip eased but she did not pull away.
Not even when she felt his thumb begin to stroke her palm and wrist.
Not when heat crept through her veins and across her skin.
Not even when her words jumbled and she could not remember the question she wanted to ask him next.
‘I doubt that anyone else, other than possibly your father, noticed them. Yet you did.’ His eyes darkened then, changing from the deep brown they usually were to something closer to black. ‘I would ask that you not share what you have seen.’
If she exposed his methods to the rest of her clan, it would render them useless. He was asking for her co-operation. It gave her some bargaining power and she almost laughed at that.
‘I will not,’ she said. Some tension lessened and he released her hand. ‘If...’
‘If?’ The narrowing of his eyes and flaring of his nostrils warned her to proceed with caution, much as the same reactions in her horse did. It must be a male custom.
‘If you tell me what this—’ she made the gesture in the space between them again ‘—means?’ He did not look down and he did not respond for a few seconds and she wondered if he would call her bluff. Or just refuse her outright?
‘All is well.’
‘Ah, so there is no danger tonight? No threats from the Camerons?’
‘I would not say no danger,’ he said, softly, his breath touching her ear, and she shivered once more.
‘And if there was a problem?’ The devil sat on her shoulder now, urging her on.
He let out an aggrieved breath and shrugged. He formed the sign with his hand to show her. ‘Trouble is coming.’ A different signal then. ‘Trouble. Take cover.’
‘I will not share that knowledge with anyone,’ she said. Arabella stood then, as Brodie did at her side. ‘I should go now. My aunt has noticed our conversation and I do not wish to be questioned on it.’ She walked around the table and approached Caelan.
It took little cajoling or encouragement on her part to make Caelan smile and invite her to dance. As they walked, side by side, to the place cleared in the middle of the hall, she could not help herself. She glanced around the large chamber to see if those same men still stood guard. Then she looked to their leader to see if he signalled any of them. Brodie stared back at her, never looking to any of his men.
Worried that he was angry, she was glad to see the slight smile curve his lips then. She smiled back at him, over Caelan’s arm, and felt as though something had eased between them.
* * *
The rest of the evening passed quickly and when her aunt mentioned that she seemed at ease with both of the cousins, the truth struck her. There was much more to Brodie Mackintosh than she had first thought. And the thought of marrying him no longer threatened like a dreaded outcome.
Nay, she thought as she reviewed the events of the last several days, it would not be as difficult to find herself married to him as she’d first thought. So, for the first time since her arrival there, she looked forward to their next encounter.
* * *
Brodie sat in stunned silence for a few minutes after Arabella left the seat next to him. He thought he was beginning to get a glimpse beneath the facade she wore, that damned smile and the cursed frozen expression of graciousness. He’d told himself countless times that he was only seeking out any possible dangers to his clan, but the way his body responded to her furtive whispers told him she was the danger.
No matter how many times he told himself not to engage her in the silly bantering that Caelan did, and not to let himself get too close to her, and especially not to want her for himself, he failed. And from the insistent press of hardened flesh against his trews, he’d failed terribly.
Watching as she’d dropped her hand between them and then shaped her fingers into the sign he’d used to his men had caused two things to happen. The first was shock over his complete underestimation of the lass’s intelligence and her skill in observation. Then a desire struck him as lightning in a storm, forcing aside his hard-fought indifference and leaving behind a clear, strong need to know her better. To know her at all, since he was now certain he knew little of the true Arabella Cameron.
Now the danger he felt growing was within himself. She put his sense of balance in jeopardy and the promise he’d sworn to support the next chieftain selected by the elders. Right now, as this unexpected need for her rose in his blood, Brodie was thankful that she would be gone in just two days and the elders would make their decision in a calm and reasoned manner.
And if they chose Caelan and she came to the Mackintoshes as his bride, Brodie would find a way to accept it. Now he realised, as he tried—and failed—not to stare as she danced with his cousin, it would be difficult to do.
He strode from the hall and sought out a place far from her presence, knowing his men were still on watch. The next two days promised to be two of the longest in his life.
The flames rose higher towards the night sky as the men circling it sat and drank. Against his judgement and as his uncle had ordered, Brodie posted no guards around the gathering or on the path to this clearing. Caelan and two of his friends sat across from him and Rob. Arabella’s twin brother and two other Camerons made up the third side. In spite