Never Seduce a Scot (The Montgomerys and Armstrongs #1)(14)

He hated the bleakness in her expression. There was something in it that did funny things to his chest. Was she worried that he would deny her? That he would reject her in front of her family and his?

No matter his distaste for the union and the circumstances forced upon him by his king, the idea of hurting such a sweet-looking lass made him ill. Whatever was wrong with her was not of her making, and she was an innocent pawn in a calculated move by the crown.

“I assume you must be Eveline,” he said in a gentle voice.

Her chin notched upward, and to his surprise, she smiled back at him, her eyes lighting up—her entire face lighting up—so much so that it made him catch his breath and stare back in awe at her beauty.

“I am Graeme Montgomery. I am to be your husband.”

She sobered a bit at that last, so it was evident she had basic understanding of the situation. Her brow wrinkled up, and then she cocked her head to the side as she studied him with those startling blue eyes.

He found himself fidgeting under her regard, which made him scowl. Her eyes widened as she took a hasty step back toward her father.

Hell, he hadn’t meant to frighten her. He glanced over to the Earl of Dunbar, allowing his displeasure to show. The earl, however, looked amused, another thing that Graeme didn’t find pleasing.

Then, to Graeme’s utter shock, Eveline stepped forward and slipped her small hand into his much larger, much rougher one and curled her fingers trustingly around his.

When he turned from the earl to stare back at her, she smiled, flashing straight, white teeth.

Laird Armstrong’s groan could be heard throughout the hall. Robina Armstrong put a hand to her mouth and Eveline’s brothers just looked really, really angry.

Whatever reservations the Armstrongs had about the marriage, it was evident that their daughter had no such misgivings.

CHAPTER 7

Looking back, Eveline wasn’t at all sure what had changed her mind about Graeme Montgomery. It was an impulsive gesture on her part and one that she might well regret. But then there wasn’t anything to be done about her marriage. She’d watched enough mouths to know that. Her fate was inevitable, so why not embrace it?

Graeme fascinated her. It wasn’t so much that she heard his words, but his voice was like a low hum in her ears. Pleasant. A shaft of sunlight into her dark world of silence. There were other sounds that she’d thought she’d imagined, but now she wondered if she truly did hear a limited number of things. And if so, why?

Her brow was furrowed in concentration, and she wasn’t paying the least bit of attention to what her mother was saying to her. It was deeper sounds. She was positive of that. She couldn’t remember hearing a woman’s voice since the accident. Certainly no screaming. High pitches. And music, which she missed the most, was something completely lost to her.

But deeper sounds. At times she swore she could hear slight noises when Brodie was angry and was surely raising his voice. Once when her father had been angry with her for wandering too far from the keep, she’d been almost certain she’d heard or at least felt a vibration in her ear from his yelling.

It was all a very mystifying puzzle that fascinated her. It made her want to go seek out her husband-to-be again, just so she could make him talk to her. Anything was better than the yawning silence that held her captive. Any sound, no matter how insignificant was welcome.

Her mother appeared in front of her, grasped her shoulders, and shook her gently. “Eveline! Are you listening to me?”

Eveline blinked and stared back at her mother. They were standing in her mother’s chamber while Eveline was being fitted for a gown to wear to her wedding.

Robina had the entire keep in an uproar with wedding preparations, and she had no fewer than six women attending Eveline to make sure the dress was sewn quickly enough for the ceremony.

“What were you doing down there?” Robina asked.

There was gentle concern in her mother’s eyes. Worry for Eveline and genuine curiosity as well.

“You must learn to temper your responses,” Robina chided. “Graeme Montgomery isn’t a man to be trifled with. I fear what he’d do if you were to have such a breech in propriety in his keep. I don’t know the manner of man he is. He swears he’s no abuser of women, but one never knows the full character of a man right off, and you must realize this.”

Eveline frowned at that. Graeme hadn’t seemed quite so frightening after she’d had time to study him close. His features were set in stone. Some might even say he looked as though he would snap a man in half if the man so much as looked at Graeme wrong. But Eveline had sensed something else entirely and she couldn’t even be sure what. What she did know was that he’d been exceedingly kind and patient with her.

He hadn’t berated her for her rude intrusion. He hadn’t demanded that she back away. He hadn’t struck her for her forwardness. He’d spoken kind words to her. Hardly the words spoken by a true monster of a man who planned ill for his new wife.

Surely she wasn’t wrong about that much.

But then she wasn’t a judge of character. It was a fact she avoided most people simply because she didn’t want to be faced with derision, fear, or mockery. She didn’t have much experience with people at all outside her parents and her brothers.

She hadn’t been wrong about Ian McHugh, though, and she’d keep reminding herself of that fact. Ian had fooled even her own father, not to mention her brothers.