Kaden didn’t answer, just nodded once curtly.
“And I can spend me time how I want to? Ye willnae stop me?” Emily pressed, wanting to make sure that she was being perfectly clear.
“That is what I am saying,” Kaden confirmed.
“Then I might accept… on one condition.”
“And what is that?” Kaden finally looked over at her. The warmth was gone from his eyes.
“Nay bairns for a year after the wedding,” she rushed out, hoping that if she spoke quickly enough, he would just agree to it without further question. “And the puppy stays!”
Kaden shook his head. “Absolutely nae, nae in me keep. And ye said only one condition. That would betwo.”
Emily pushed just a little bit harder. “Shewillstay. I said nay bairns; I didnae say anything about puppies.”
10
Whatever Kaden had expected her to state as her condition, that wasn’t one of them.
That mongrel in her arms was coming nowhere near him.
His mother had protested when he had forced all the dogs out of the keep when he had returned. It wasn’t their fault, and he knew that. He had tried to explain it, tried to be kind, but if they hadn’t gotten rid of them, he was going to set them loose in the forest, or worse.
They weren’t something that he could look at ever again. He had absolutely no desire to ever be around another dog in his life. He couldn’t have them for hunting, no matter how helpful the others had been. He couldn’t look at one without the vivid memory of feeling sharp teeth digging into his flesh, snarling and frothing at the mouth. The barking that would keep him up all night until he was delusional and then some.
Even the puppy. It was nothing like the other dogs, the hounds that had snapped and torn at him. This one was small, couldn’t even wrap her mouth around his entire pinky, but it was all the same. It didn’t make sense, but even the little pup in Emily’s arms was making his skin crawl.
His hand dropped to his thigh, pressing and rubbing at the scarred, torn tissue.
“I wouldnae ever force ye to do something that ye daenae want to do,” he said, addressing both Emily and the puppy in her arms. “We will have to produce an heir sooner or later, that’s the whole point.”
Emily’s face flushed red at the insinuation, and she looked down at the reins in her hand. She wrapped them tightly around her palm and nodded. “Of course, I understand. I wouldnae… deny ye.”
Though he could tell that the notion made her deeply uncomfortable, he was going to go by her reactions.
“But nae before the year has passed,” she repeated.
He wanted to ask her why a year? What was so important about that span of time that she was insisting upon?
Curiosity got the better of him, and he couldn’t stop himself from asking.
Emily’s blush deepened. “That’s how long I need.”
“For what?”
Was she being vague on purpose? He couldn’t imagine a single reason why she might do that. Did she think that she needed a year to make him fall in love with her? To spend with a lover that he didn’t think she had?
If that was what she was hoping for, she would be disappointed. He might like her, might even grow to be fond of her, but he had his own missions to accomplish. It suited him far better than it would suit her if they were allowed to live separate lives.
He would need to keep traveling a great deal. He would keep conquering, keep going to battle as many times as he needed until he found the man he had vowed to get revenge upon. He didn’t have time for something as frivolous as love.
“If ye are hoping for certain… affections to grow between us…”
Emily’s eyes rolled theatrically. “Give me a break. Nae everything revolves around ye! Women do have other things to think about, whether or nae a man loves them.”
“Then what is it?” Kaden probed.
Emily shifted in her saddle, looking at the trail ahead of them, and shrugged one shoulder. “I have something to finish first. That’s all.”