"Or perhaps I'll just tell you. I am not stupid, nor am I deaf. You do not need to shout your requests like an old man who no longer hears properly."
"You dare to insult me?" Talorc roared.
"Of course she does not insult you," Cait interrupted with speed.
Emily started walking toward the clan leader. "Nay, I do not insult you."
Talorc nodded his head at her statement, apparently mollified. However her next words had him red with anger.
"When I wish to insult you, I can think of things much more offensive to call you than an old man . It is more of an insult to old men to compare their deaf shouts to your rude bellows," she replied, nodding for emphasis.
This had Talorc bellowing again about the barbarous tongues of English women. She laughed out loud to be called a barbarian by someone so uncouth as the man yelling at her. She noticed Cait smiling, too. Looking at her, Emily was sure her newfound friend understood her amusement.
Talorc felt like exploding. He grabbed the woman when she reached him, but
stopped himself from shaking her. His strength was too deadly to allow it free reign against an innocent, even a rebellious Englishwoman. She was pretty with her purple eyes and womanly curves, but he felt no physical reaction to touching her.
He pulled her close until their thighs brushed and nothing. No lust stirred in his loins, no desire to mate with the female. Just as he had feared when the order had come from his king. Talorc was a werewolf and even mated to a femwolf, the possibility for offspring was low, but with a human it was almost nonexistent.
Only in a true mating could a wolf and human joining result in children. He did not know how to tell if a woman was his true mate. According to the elders of his pack, there was no way not until after the physical mating took place. But once that event took place, there could be no going back. His pack's laws stipulated that a physical mating dictated a lifetime bond.
However, he was certain of one thing. He would at least physically desire the woman if they were destined to be true mates. He did not want this woman. Though he admired her spirit, he did not even like her. How could he? She was English.
His own father had learned the folly of wedding the treacherous English. They could not be trusted ever. And he would not have his mate chosen by a human king all too enamored of their southern foe.
He pushed Emily away, his repudiation reflected back at him in the lavender eyes spitting fury.
His clanswomen were not so undisciplined, but he had no desire to tame this English wildcat. "Listen well, woman, I'll not marry my enemy even to please my king."
"Splendid," she replied. "I believe I would rather be married to a goat than you!"
Cait took advantage of her brother's spluttering to whisk Emily up the stairs to her room. She hurried her inside and shut the door.
She looked at Emily with a mixture of disbelief and amazement. "Are you daft?"
"No, is he?"
Cait smiled. Her smile turned into a laugh and soon they were both laughing so hard that Cait collapsed on the bed and Emily leaned against the wall for support.
"I can't believe I'm laughing when my brother is surely going to kill us both," gasped Cait.
"I suppose I have gotten you in trouble with my hasty tongue, haven't I? Although, how Talorc could hold you responsible for me after such short acquaintance I don't know."
Cait shook her head. "He won't be truly angry with me, but I think he meant what he said about not marrying you."
"That's a blessing as far as I can see," Emily said with some asperity.
Cait pushed away from the wall, tucked in her stray pleats and shook her head. "If he doesn't marry you, what will happen?"
Emily's sense of victory faded. "I do not know." He sure as certain wasn't going to send for her sister Abigail to come live with them in his current state of mind.
"Did you really tell my brother you would rather be married to a goat?" Cait asked, as she smoothed her now tidy pleats over her swollen abdomen.
Emily felt herself blush at the remembrance and chagrin filled her. She'd left England determined to make herself indispensable in her husband-to-be's household so that he would let her bring Abigail to the Highlands. Now, he was likely to send her home in disgrace.
And she had no doubt Abigail would be sent in her place, even if he didn't request a new bride. Emily's stomach contracted at the thought.
She sighed in vexation with herself. The man's rudeness was no excuse for her losing her head like that. "Aye, I did. I don't know what came over me. Sybil is always telling me I need to be more ladylike. I suppose your brother thinks I'm not and there's no hope of changing his mind."
Cait laughed again and shook her head. "That is an understatement. My brother is not used to men challenging him. A challenge from a woman is bound to keep him in a foul mood a good long while." Cait sobered a little at the thought.
"Do you think he meant what he said about not marrying me, even against the orders of his overlord?"