Octavian gave Syd a light squeeze in the hope of keeping her quiet while he took care of the man and calmed the situation, but she had other ideas. “I was speaking to your father, not to you. However, since you overheard, I am not taking it back until youapologize to me for your boorish behavior toward me when we first met.”
“Blessed saints, Syd,” Octavian muttered.
She gasped. “I–”
And then clamped her mouth shut upon finally noticing the laird’s son had withdrawn a knife. “Oh.”
“Does yer wife always lead ye about by the nose, Thorne? A proper beating will cure her of her outspoken ways.”
Octavian growled low in his throat. “My wife leads me about by theheart. Let me be clear, I will never raise a hand to her nor will I ever allow anyone else to do so.”
The laird’s son sneered.
The laird marched over and cuffed his offspring. “Grow up, lad. How do ye think to lead our clan when all ye know how to do is bully and insult? Put yer dirk away or I shall take it away from ye. Is yer behavior not proving Mrs. Thorne’s exact point?”
His son stormed off, no doubt to the closest tavern to drown his sorrows in ale. Octavian doubted the young man would ever reform his ways, for there were such people who could not see beyond their noses. They blamed everyone but themselves for anything that went wrong, and always looked upon others for what they could do forhimrather than whathecould do for them.
He hoped he was wrong, for the father was a man Octavian respected.
Had the son inherited any of the older man’s qualities?
Octavian and the laird exchanged apologies, then agreed to meet by the sheep pens an hour from now to finalize the ownership papers for the flock.
Once Jamie and the laird had left them, Octavian turned to Syd.
She gazed at him with defiance in her eyes. “Do not say it. That man is trouble and his father knows it. Jamie could nothave handled him if he were part of the Armstrong crew sent up to Greenock. The arrogant oaf would have undercut Jamie’s authority at every turn and possibly sabotaged the ships being built out of spite.”
Octavian raked a hand through his hair. “We all know he has some growing up to do, Syd. Even his father cannot deny it. But you should not have said it aloud. As for sabotage, that is a hanging offense. Not even he, as petulant and shortsighted as he is, would ever do anything so foolish. That would be a betrayal of his country.”
“The ships may be built in Scotland, but they are English ships. He would view it as betraying the English and think of himself as a hero. I know you did not want him in Greenock. Was it not better that I take the blame in forbidding him rather than you? Everyone in England already thinks of me as unreasonable. Let the Scots think so, too.”
He wanted to remain angry with her, but it seemed he was incapable of holding anything but love for her. Lord, he was in trouble if this is how their exchanges would always end. “Syd, blast it. You are my wife. I want people to think of you as a princess, not an impertinent, outspoken pest.”
“A princess?” She shook her head and laughed. “There is no one in the world who would think this of me.”
“I do,” he said in all seriousness.
She stared at him in stunned silence.
Was she waiting for him to declare it a jest? She would have to wait forever because he was not taking back his words. Yes, she was irritating. Yes, she was outspoken.
And yes, he loved her.
After a moment, she released a ragged breath. “Octavian, you cannot say such things to me.”
“Why not?” In truth, it hurt his heart to see the damage her parents had done to make her feel so undeserving. This was thevery reason she was struggling to accept the permanence of their marriage. The happier she was, the more anxious she became. “Why will you not accept that you have good qualities?”
“Because it isn’t true. I am no one’s princess. Never have been.”
“As told to you by an inept mother and a worthless father.” He struggled to subdue his anger at everyone who had ever cast her down. “Who are you going to believe? Them or me? Moments ago, you declared to Laird Armstrong that I was the most honest man you knew. Were you lying to him?”
“No!”
“Then why will you not believe me?” He did not mean to growl at her, but this discussion seemed to come up every day. Instead of accepting the truth, she always retreated to this familiar position of denigrating herself.
Dismissing affection was how she protected herself.
He would not allow her to do this with him any longer. “Are you telling me that I have made a poor choice in a wife? Or that the brightest minds in Glasgow, Greenock, and London are wrong to think you are clever?”
