Page 47 of Laird of Wrath

He paused for a long while, staring straight ahead, but just as she thought he would never answer her question, he spoke again.

“I thought ye might like it. And… this is where I used to come with me family when I was a bairn.”

“Did ye?” she asked. “All of ye together?”

“Aye.” He nodded. “Me, Sienna, our mother, and our father. This was before I kent what it meant to be the Laird’s son.”

This was the first time Callum spoke about his family, as well as the first time he expressed his feelings about his father, no matter how subtly. Rhea knew all about it from the servants, gossip, the clan’s history. But she had never asked, and she had never thought Callum would want to share.

She didn’t ask him now either, though she wondered if she should have. Would he tell her more? Would he speak of his father’s reckless spending? Would he tell her how he felt about him as a father and as a laird?

Callum didn’t elaborate, and she let it go. She didn’t want to push him, not when he had given her a glimpse of his feelings, no matter how small.

Is he openin’ up to me? Is he tryin’ to?

She had to commend him for at least trying.

“Only me family kens about this place,” he said. “Well, I assume someone else must have found it since then, but we used to be the only ones to come here. Me mother would have the servants prepare a basket for us and would take us down here with Sienna, and we would spend the whole day in the water.”

“Inthe water?” she asked, her eyebrows rising to her hairline. “Is it nae cold?”

“It is,” he said. “Very much so. But I suppose ye daenae mind when ye’re a bairn.”

“Well, I would certainly mind. I cannae imagine gettin’ in there for a second, let alone an entire day.”

“So, ye willnae swim?”

Rhea turned to look at him, only to find him already staring at her with his head tilted, as if he was surprised to hear that.

“Of course nae!” she cried, throwing her hands up in the air. “It’s cold!”

Callum laughed. It was short, barely more than a snort, but she took it as a victory nonetheless. It was a strange sound, coming from him. Still, she wished she could hear more of it.

“I’m only teasin’ ye,” he assured her. “It is too cold now, but it might nae be in August.”

“I’m nae goin’ in there.”

“Yer loss,” he said, in a tone that implied shewouldgo in there.

“Perhaps ye are used to people doin’ whatever ye want, but I’m nae those people,” she reminded him. “I’m yer wife.”

“One more reason for ye to trust me and get in the water,” he quipped.

She couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “I daenae ken how ye always manage to turn everythin’ in yer favor.”

“I’ve had years of practice.” He shrugged. “Runnin’ a clan will do that to ye.”

There was a weariness in his voice, an exhaustion that seemed to follow him everywhere these days. Rhea couldn’t imagine the burden of being the head of a clan. She had tried to be that for her people when Callum had been absent. She had tried to step in his shoes as much as she could, but the council hadn’t allowed her to do anything significant. She was a woman, and to them, a woman running a clan was a ridiculous notion.

For a while, they both fell silent. It wasn’t the tense silence she was used to, though. Rather, it was comfortable, calm, giving her the feeling of coming home. She didn’t know when heranger had faded, but it had. Every argument they had had, every grudge she had held against him, was now gone and replaced by something akin to warmth.

“Thank ye for bringin’ me here,” she said, breaking the silence. “Ye didnae have to do that, but ye did, and I’m glad for it.”

Callum paused, then said, “We’re family. This place is for family.”

Warmth bloomed in her chest as she stared into his eyes. Before she knew it, he was leaning in, claiming her lips in a kiss.

This one wasn’t passionate or full of need like their last one. No, it was soft, tender in a way that none of their kisses had been before. There was something deeper behind it, things that had been left unsaid between them. His lips brushed against her own ever so gently, his intent stealing her breath more than the action itself.