Free Lyon's Gift by Tanya Anne Crosby

animal turned away,
looking for all the world disgusted with her reply. If Lyon didn’t
know better, he might have imagined the two were actually
communicating.
    He frowned as he looked from one to the
other.
    What the devil was he thinking? They
couldn’t possibly be conversing. It was inconceivable.
    Unless she truly was mad?
    Something about the way she peered up at him
then, the shrewd sparkle in those beautiful deep-green eyes, gave
him pause. She watched him expectantly, and seemed to be searching
his expression. And it struck him of a sudden... she wasn’t talking
to the bloody animal at all. She was contriving. Cunning wench. She
was using Baldwin’s insult to her gain.
    Well, it wasn’t going to work, because he
was suddenly resolved to his plan. He wanted peace and was willing
to sacrifice for it—particularly so when the sacrifice would make
such a lovely bedfellow.
    “ Very well!” Lyon
exclaimed. “The more the merrier. We shall simply bring your Minnie
along, too!”
    It was her turn to blink in stupefaction,
and Lyon could but grin at her startled expression.
    “ We will?”
    “ Aye!” he said
exuberantly. “Please accept my sincerest apologies for having
insulted your lovely grandmother. She does indeed know best,” he
declared.
    She narrowed her eyes, and gave him a look
of apprehension that made him smile. “She does?”
    He winked at her. “Of course she does. I can
tell she’s a very wise woman, besides.”
    “ You can?”
    “ Aye! And only consider
the good we shall accomplish, you and I, if we follow your sweet
grandmother’s counsel.”
    “ We shall?” Meghan
blinked. Somehow, this plan had gone terribly awry.
    “ If you can but forgive my
churlishness,” he continued, “and agree to be my bride... you and I
shall put an end to this feud once and for all. Only think of it.
No more fighting—peace to all!”
    Meghan lifted a brow. She doubted that; men
were born to fight. She frowned. Rot and curse him, he didn’t have
to present it quite so nobly.
    And yet, he spoke true enough. The feuding
would indeed be over, her brothers would be safe—and she would be
doing Alison a favor besides.
    Still, she wasn’t quite willing to give up
her yarn. “Fia can come too?” she asked with lifted brows.
    He nodded. “I give you my word,” he answered
much too soberly. “I shall do my utmost to make your grandmother
welcome in my home.”
    Meghan’s brows collided. “You will?”
    He didn’t have to be so blessed
accommodating! It wasn’t so easy to dislike him this way.
    Nor was it easy to think when he smiled at
her so engagingly.
    His blue eyes flickered with amusement.
    At her expense?
    She thought so, but was unwilling to sound
the retreat as yet. Stubborn she might be, but there was much to be
said for sheer determination.
    “ And what of my brothers?”
Meghan persisted.
    “ We shall invite them to
the wedding, of course,” he answered blithely.
    Meghan winced at the very notion. She could
scarcely imagine her brothers being so conciliatory. “They would
dine upon your eyes and feast upon your tongue!” she apprised with
absolute certainty. “Even were I to agree to such a thing, my
brothers would never concede.”
    “ We shall see,” he said,
and then instructed Baldwin to retrieve his mount. Baldwin did as
he was told without another word. “And don’t forget Minnie,”
Montgomerie called after him.
    Baldwin gave him a harried glance, but
turned and went after the lamb. If Meghan hadn’t been so
distressed, she might have had to laugh at Baldwin, clad in his
shiny silver mail, chasing after a bald little lamb.
    “ You cannot simply take me!” she protested,
when it seemed he was serious. “Not without giving me the chance to
speak to my brothers! They will never agree to this!”
    “ Then we shall find a way
to convince them,” he told her, and spurred his mount, drawing her
firmly against him.
    “ Never!” Meghan vowed, and
shoved away from him.