Claire Delacroix by The Bride Quest Series 3-Book Bundle Page B

his heavy features dark with rage, his fury making him fairly spit when he spoke.
    Fortunately, Luc had borne the brunt of his sire’s ire before and lived to tell the tale. Brianna, Luc noted, hesitated on the periphery of the orchard. Evidently she was intent upon hearing every word but, belatedly, was seized with some discretion.
    Well, she would witness no display of temper from Luc. He would not provide whatever entertainment she sought. Luc was bound and determined to not play to the lady’s rules.
    ’Twas a matter of principle.
    “Luc! You faithless cur!” Gavin bellowed. He let loose a string of profanity, then poked his finger angrily through the air toward his errant son. “From the very day you drew breath, you have been a curse upon me! Why do you remain at Tullymullagh? Did you understand naught of what was transacted yester morn?”
    “I understood that you intended Burke to win Tullymullagh,” Luc retorted calmly.
    Gavin paused momentarily at the truth of that, then scowled and continued onward. “Get yourself gone from this place and seek a gift for the princess! Take a steed, any steed, take mine own, but get on your way. A prize beyond all else hangs in the balance, you witless fool!”
    “ ’Tis a prize I do not wish to win,” Luc countered.
    His sire’s eyes narrowed at this claim. “What manner of fool declaration is that?” he roared after a moment’s pause, then flung his hands skyward. “Your dame’s intellect is showing in that claim! You wear the mark of her unworthy kind upon your very brow, as ever you did!”
    That accusation prompted Luc to respond heatedly. “Mydame’s character—much less the coloring of my hair—has naught to do with this.”
    Gavin snorted and propped his hands on his hips. “Blame
me
for your circumstance, will you? ’Tis always thus with you—never can you see the opportunities hung right before your very eyes.”
    “I see the opportunity well enough,” Luc retorted. “But all the same, this is not one I desire.”
    Gavin fired a baleful glance at his eldest son. “Naught has changed in all these years,” he charged in a low voice. “To Llanvelyn alone do you cling,
afraid
to reach for more.”
    Luc bristled at the accusation, though he fought to hide his rising anger. He was very aware of a certain golden-haired presence. “I have
never
been afraid of reaching for what I truly desire. That ’tis not the warring legacy you would have me pursue says more of your character than of mine.”
    Gavin snorted, though his eyes flashed dangerously. “ ’Tis the taint of your dame’s blood.” He spat on the ground between them. “You hold yourself above the necessary brutalities of life.”
    “There is naught ‘necessary’ in the brutality of your life,” Luc retorted angrily. “And certainly naught necessary in slaughter that serves no more than your own greed.” Gavin inhaled sharply, but Luc took the remaining step between them and stared into his father’s hardened gaze. “How many must die before you deem your coffers full enough?”
    Gavin’s eyes flashed and he responded, as he oft did, with his fist. Luc heard Brianna gasp as his father’s blow landed against his jaw.
    Ye gods, but the man had not weakened with age! Luc refused to give either his father or Brianna the benefit ofseeing how much the blow hurt. He took but one step back, straightened, and looked his sire steadily in the eye.
    “ ’Tis not half what it used to be,” he lied. “Are you eating well enough these days?”
    Rage lit Gavin’s eyes. “Yet you do not strike back,” he declared with scorn. “No better than a woman are you.”
    “Unlike you, I see no good in violence.”
    “Coward!”
    “I chose my path,” Luc said quietly. “And still I cleave to it.”
    Gavin snorted. “And still you have not the sense to be afraid of me. Truly
naught
has changed.”
    Luc rolled his eyes as though the idea were ludicrous. “There is naught to fear from the