“I’m alone. As I said, I was worried when ye did no’ show and have been looking for ye.”
“Ye came to find him in the hut?” Maggie asked.
Sutherland shot her an approving look. “Nae. I came to the hut to get out of the rain.”
“Interesting that this hut is such a popular place to be,” she said, acting innocent but not fooling Colin for a moment.
Colin shook his head, silently telling his friend that Maggie was unaware of the reason for the hut being there.
Maggie strolled around the small space before leaning against a wall. “What’s even more interesting,” she said, “is that MacLean and I shared a cave that had similar amenities.” Both men remained tight-lipped while Maggie looked from one to the other. “Fine,” she said. “Do no’ tell me, but at least do no’ pretend that this is no’ unusual.”
“Maggie,” Colin warned.
She held up her hand to indicate that she was finished.
“Where are ye headed from here?” Sutherland asked.
“Dornach. The soldiers are after us. Me. They’re after me. It’s no’ safe to return to the MacLean holding.”
“Of course.”
“And Eleanor?” Colin asked. “Is she still there?”
“We’re wed.” Sutherland’s smile, obviously proud, was also a bit foolish.
Colin rolled his eyes and looked away while Maggie watched the interaction closely. He looked at the rumpled blankets on the floor in front of the fireplace and yearned for the return of their privacy so he could hold her and feel her naked bum against his groin. The arrival of Sutherland signaled change. From now on Colin would have to decide how serious the English were about hunting him, and then he would have to make a decision—return home and try to make a go of organizing his clan, or continue running.
Running would mean leaving everything behind—possibly Scotland—and he wasn’t quite ready to think about that yet.
Chapter 28
Much to Colin’s frustration, Sutherland sat on the floor and leaned against the wall. “I remember this place very well,” he said with a slight smile. “Eleanor and I spent a stormy night trapped here.”
A glance at Maggie told Colin that she’d reverted to the lad from the English prison. She watched Sutherland with those dark, wary eyes, remaining perfectly still, as if she didn’t want to attract attention.
Sutherland didn’t seem to realize that he’d interrupted anything important—or he did and ignored it. “So tell me about the English prison,” he said to Colin.
“Nothing much to tell. It was hell. I escaped.”
“My friend, I never properly thanked ye for what ye did for me and Eleanor.”
Colin glanced at Maggie, who had turned her attention to him.
“Ye saved Eleanor that day,” Sutherland said.
“I doubt I saved Eleanor,” Colin said dismissively.
“If no’ for yer actions—”
“No need to say anything else.” Colin raised his brows and tilted his head slightly toward Maggie.
“So Campbell was able to break ye out without incident?” Sutherland said, apparently taking the hint.
Colin sighed, not wanting to discuss this, either, though it was better than the other subject. “Aye. But why Campbell?”
“Because he offered.”
Colin grunted. Maggie continued to watch silently. Colin knew what she was doing, trying to disappear so that no one remembered she was there, but Colin remembered. He remembered the feel of her beneath him. He remembered sliding inside of her. He remembered the way she cried out right before her completion and the way her body took him in.
Sutherland, however, seemed to have forgotten her. “Campbell said ye escaped with a lad. What happened to him?”
“Ye seem to have a powerful friendship with Campbell lately.”
Sutherland shrugged. “He’s no’ so bad.”
“He’s a traitor.”
“Maybe. But sometimes I wonder.”
“Do no’ fall into that trap,” Colin warned. “That’s exactly what he wants ye to think.”
“There are different sides to Campbell, and no one knows all of them.”
Colin barked out a laugh. “Ye believe he’s privately fighting for Scotland? Ye’re mad.”
Sutherland shrugged again and turned his attention to Maggie. Obviously, he had not forgotten she was there. “And how did ye meet this jessie?” Sutherland asked her.
Maggie’s dark gaze slid to Colin, then back to Sutherland. Colin could almost see her weighing her words, maybe trying to decide if she wanted to speak at all.
Finally, she said, “I’m the lad who escaped with him.”
Silence fell between them, and Colin leaned a shoulder against the wall to watch the fallout. Sutherland seemed to struggle with finding his words.
“The lad?” he finally asked.
Maggie half smiled, and it hit Colin again. It seemed to be happening like that. One would think it was strange that a man could forget he was married, but Colin would forget for a wee bit, and then it would strike him like the flat of a broadsword against his stomach.
He was married.
Hell and damnation.
“I sense a story here.” Sutherland stretched his legs out in front of him and crossed his arms, settling in for a good yarn.
“Maybe another time,” Colin said.
“Are ye needed somewhere at the moment?” Sutherland raised his brows.
“There’s nothing to tell,” Maggie said. “I posed as a lad to fight at Culloden. I was taken prisoner and MacLean helped me escape.”
“And somehow ye ended up wed,” Sutherland said.
“Aye,” Maggie said.
A long moment of silence passed. “And?” Sutherland prompted.
“And we’re wed,” Colin said as he pushed away from the wall, putting an end to the conversation.
Sutherland looked between the two of them. “How long ago was that?”
“Two days. Maybe three by now,” Colin said.
Understanding dawned when Sutherland eyed the rumpled blankets on the floor. His cheeks turned an interesting shade of red. “Ah,” he said. “Maybe I should…” He waved toward the door and presumably the outdoors.
“Nae,” Maggie said, speaking up from the shadows. “Ye canno’ sleep out there in this rain.”
Colin agreed, but he was a bit disappointed. He and Maggie—his wife—had one night together. This was their honeymoon and wedding night all rolled into one, and they’d not even been given an entire night. He had no idea what the future held, where they would be one day from now, one week from now, and definitely one month from now.
Tonight was all they had to celebrate and consummate their marriage.
“We should get some sleep,” Colin said. “It’s been a long day and Maggie is hurt.”
—
To her surprise, Maggie slept fairly well. Colin’s poking and prodding at her muscles had done wonders, and while she was still stiff and sore, it wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been the day before.
The men stirred as daylight began to make an appearance.
“Ye’ll come to Castle Dornach,” Sutherland said as he helped put the place to rights. He was comfortable in this hut, Maggie observed. “Eleanor would be disappointed if she learned I’d spent the night with ye and I did no’ bring ye back.” He glanced at Maggie. “And she’ll be very upset if she discovers ye’re wed and ye did no’ bring Maggie to meet her.”
“By all means, then, we must please Eleanor,” Colin said with a bite to his words.
Before the sun was up, they were moving out. Maggie couldn’t help but take one last look at the hut that appeared so different on the outside than it did on the inside.
Making love to Colin had been…interesting. Fascinating. Nothing like she’d ever imagined. Not that she’d thought much about making love. At least not too much.
She’d never thought it would be like that. So…exciting and powerful.
The things he had done to her both shocked and excited her. Afterward, her mind had been as jumbled as her body felt. And she had to admit that Sutherland’s appearance, while unexpected, was a relief, in a way. It gave her a chance to distance herself from what had happened on that bed of blankets and to allow her mind to settle so she could think about it without the aftereffects that seemed to consume her body.
But with the passage of time, she still wasn’t able to think clearly about their lovemaking. Every time she did, her body became uncomfortably hot and her mind conjured images of Colin rising above her with the firelight behind him and the feeling of him inside of her. She’d heard there was pain and possibly blood the first time, but there had been very little pain and no blood at all.
Was that strange? What did it mean that there’d been no blood? Should she worry?
The ride to Castle Dornach gave her far more time to think than she needed. So she was grateful when, late in the afternoon just as the sun was almost finished with its descent, the castle came into view.
It was a formidable structure, with a lot of activity that she could see even from atop the hill. It looked so much like the home she’d just left that her throat tightened and there was an unwelcome pressure behind her eyes. A wave of homesickness swept through her so powerfully that she had to bite back a sob. She missed Evan so much that it was a physical ache.
She blinked rapidly because she did not want these two men to see her tears. It took less than an hour for them to reach the gates of Castle Dornach, and before she knew it, they were riding under the portcullis. The guards nodded to Sutherland and Colin, their gazes brushing over her before moving on.
Inside the bailey, a man stepped forward, tall and dark and formidable-looking. He broke into a smile and slapped Colin on the back. “Good to see ye, mate.”
Colin nodded. “Good to be back,” he said.
There was a flurry of movement from the front doors, and a woman came running to throw herself into Colin’s arms. Maggie took a surprised step back and watched Colin sweep the woman up. Maggie felt an intense, unwelcome feeling in the pit of her stomach, an ugly twisting that caused her to look at the woman in an unfriendly way.
Sutherland, with a wide smile, tapped Colin on the back. “May I hug my wife?” he asked.
Sutherland’s wife.
Maggie looked away, feeling ashamed at her strong feeling of instant dislike based on just a hug.
The woman pulled away from Colin with a laugh and hugged her husband just as tightly, but she gave Sutherland a hard, quick kiss that had him raising his eyebrows. “I was only gone one night,” he said.
“I missed you for that one night.”
Maggie’s eyes widened. Sutherland’s wife was a damned Englishwoman. Maggie looked at Colin and then at Sutherland, shocked that they would so readily accept an Englishwoman into their midst.
And Sutherland had married her.
The English lady looked at Maggie with dancing blue eyes, and Maggie took a step back. She wanted nothing to do with anything English, Sutherland’s wife or not. But she also couldn’t help noticing that the lady was beyond beautiful.
Maggie had thought that Innis was the most beautiful woman she’d ever seen, but Innis didn’t hold a candle to this one. She was perfectly formed, with a tiny waist and a dainty neck. Her blond hair was combed back into a neat bun at the base of her neck, and her gown fell in crisp folds to the ground with nary a speck of dirt on it.
The woman raised a sculpted blond brow at Maggie. “And who is this?” she asked the men.
Maggie clenched her back teeth, not wanting this woman’s attention at all. She plucked at her filthy breeches and imagined she reeked. Unconsciously, she tugged on her short hair, as if pulling on it would make it grow long and beautiful and lustrous.
Not that she would ever want long and beautiful and lustrous hair. How would she fight with long hair? Good Lord, but she was thinking nonsense thoughts. She needed a good night’s sleep.
To Maggie’s horror, Colin stepped to the side to allow Sutherland’s woman a clear path to her. Like Innis, she seemed to glide. How did they do that?
“Eleanor, I’d like ye to meet my wife, Margaret MacLean.”
Eleanor raised an eyebrow to Colin. “Your wife?” She turned to Maggie with a wide smile. “I will have this story.”
She grasped Maggie’s hands in hers, and it took everything inside of Maggie not to pull away. This Eleanor was certainly friendly and forward. It must be the way the English did things. She was English, and Maggie couldn’t forget that. “But I won’t demand your story tonight, madam. You look exhausted, and if I had to guess, you haven’t had a decent meal in days. Let’s get you inside and fed.”
Maggie did pull her hands away then. “I’ll see to the horses first.”
“Nonsense,” Sutherland injected, then called a lad over to take the horses and rub them down and give them oats. Maggie watched the beasts placidly walk away and wished she could follow.
“Come,” Colin said at her elbow. “Eleanor does no’ bite.”
The Sutherlands were walking ahead of them, their heads bent toward each other.
“She’s English,” Maggie hissed.
“Aye. By birth. But in her heart she’s Scottish.”
Maggie didn’t believe that. Once a traitorous English, always a traitorous English.
Maggie wasn’t surprised that the great hall was beautiful and clean and well organized. Apparently, Eleanor was not only stunning, she was an accomplished hostess as well.
Food was brought out, and Maggie and Colin were told to sit. Maggie was mortified that she was so filthy. At home, she never thought twice about sitting down to eat while wearing breeches, but here she looked around self-consciously. Either Eleanor didn’t mind or was choosing to ignore Maggie’s attire. She sat right down next to Maggie and made sure she ate every bite.
“Colin,” Eleanor said once they were finished. “I want to thank you for what you did for us that day.”
Colin’s gaze flickered to Maggie, then away. “It was nothing.”
Eleanor reached across the table and laid her hand over Colin’s, her look earnest. “It most definitely was not nothing. You risked your life—”
“I did no’ do anything Brice would no’ have done.” Again his gaze flickered to Maggie, then away. There was something he didn’t want her to know, and he didn’t want Eleanor or Brice to talk about it. There was so much about her husband that she didn’t know, and she was only now beginning to realize it. It made her uncomfortable that she’d given her life to this man and he had so many secrets.
Eleanor patted his hand and pulled away. “Well, I thank you anyway.” She turned to Maggie with another bright smile. “I know it’s terribly forward of me to ask, but what happened to your face, dear? It looks painful. I can have Cook mix up a salve.”
Maggie touched the bruise along her jaw. While her bumps and bruises were not as sore as they’d been the night before, she was beginning to stiffen up. “I battled a river,” she said.
“I’d hate to see what the river looks like,” Eleanor said.
“It was a nasty beast that swallowed me up and spat me back out. I must no’ have tasted good.”
Eleanor laughed, a light sound that made Maggie want to smile, though she dared not. Eleanor was English, after all.
Eleanor stood and motioned for a serving girl to come forward. “Please prepare a bath for Madam MacLean. I’m sure she’s sore and needs to wash the day’s journey from her.” She turned to Maggie. “Do you have bags that need to be brought up?”
“Just the bags that were tied to the horses. I’m afraid we had to leave Sinclair land rather quickly,” Colin said.
Maggie wondered if Colin would admit to Eleanor and Brice that they were being pursued by the English.
“Very well,” Eleanor said, as if it weren’t at all odd that they had arrived with not much more than the clothes on their back. “I will show you to your room.”<
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Maggie shot Colin a worried glance, not at all liking that they were to be separated. They hadn’t been parted from each other since they were wed.
Chapter 29
“Ye look less than happy,” Sutherland said to Colin once Maggie and Eleanor were out of the room. A lad brought them a mug of ale, and Colin took a long draft.
“Does marriage no’ appeal to ye?” Sutherland tried to hide the amusement in his tone, but Colin heard it and wasn’t pleased at all.
“Marriage appeals well enough.”
“Give it time. It’s only been…how many days?”
“Three days,” Colin muttered before taking another gulp.
Sutherland raised a brow. “Three? No wonder ye look like a lost pup and keep glancing up the steps.” He laughed, but Colin didn’t join in.
He wasn’t mooning over his bride. He was more worried what Maggie would do; it was clear she didn’t trust Eleanor after discovering that she was English. But it wasn’t even that. Maggie knew that Colin trusted Sutherland and therefore trusted Eleanor, and she would do her best to hold her tongue and hopefully her sword arm. He couldn’t quite put a name to what he was feeling.
Unworthy.
That wasn’t unusual. He’d felt unworthy his entire life and, felt more so recently, since he’d become clan leader. Maggie was just another thing he was ill prepared for and unworthy of.
Maybe that was where these tumultuous feelings came from. He still wasn’t sure what he was going to do with her, this wife of his. He knew what he was expected to do, and that was to provide her a home and protection and babes to take care of.
He drank more ale and watched the lad refill his mug. After a bit Eleanor came down the steps without Maggie.
“She’s delightful,” Eleanor said as she sat next to her husband and leaned over to peck his cheek. Colin watched in fascination. He’d been around for most of Eleanor and Brice’s courting—although “courting” was not the correct word for all of the danger and turmoil that had surrounded the beginning of their relationship.
“Where did you find such a wonderful woman?” Eleanor asked.
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