‘He’s a lucky lad,’ one said.
‘A hot piece in his bed and a rich one in marriage. ’Tis not so bad a life,’ the second one said. A husky, lust-laden laugh followed. ‘I wouldna mind that one he has sharing my bed.’
‘Nor I,’ the first one agreed. The red haze of fury filled Munro’s vision.
‘But I hear it was not luck at all that got her there,’ the second one lowered his voice. ‘I heard he was the one who sent her husband away so he could have at her as he wanted.’
‘Shite!’
‘Oh, aye. And have at her he did, swiving her even while old Gowan lay dying in the woods.’
‘I would not mind swiving her,’ the first one admitted, his voice lowered now, too. ‘Not that he’ll give her up.’
‘Not that she’d have either of us after having him. ’Tis the way of things among their kind, lad,’ the second one advised. ‘He’ll need heirs and she canna give them to him. His father wants more than a whore as his son’s wife and he’ll make certain to get it.’
Munro was about to turn and crush them both against the walls when the commander called out to all of them.
* * *
He completed his duties that night in stunned silence—going through all the motions of guarding the walls even as his mind turned over and over the one thing the guards had said.
Aidan had been the one to send his father away.
All this time, Munro believed Aidan had simply taken advantage of his father’s absence to pursue Catriona. Now he knew the truth—Aidan was responsible for it all.
He’d sent Gowan away, pursued and seduced Catriona and then been there to take her in when his father died. Munro had reacted in anger, throwing her out of his house, just to give her a taste of how it would be without a man to protect her. And he’d always planned to be the one to do that—planning to offer her shelter once his anger cooled.
And that would put her in his control and then...
Well, then, he could have her for himself.
Instead, Aidan had been ready, probably expecting Munro’s reaction, and had given her a house and coin and made her his leman in fact before the whole village and clan.
He slept little that night, mulling over his choices in his mind. Munro only knew that it would not be right for Catriona not to know of Aidan’s machinations to rid her of a husband to get her in his bed. Especially since she’d fallen into his plan. And especially since she’d now be placed in the one situation she claimed she was not—any man’s whore.
But the sun’s weak light at dawn found him still awake and no closer to a solution than last night.
As he reported for duty this morning, he planned to simply confront Aidan and then he would make certain Cat knew the truth—Aidan was responsible for her downfall and her husband’s death.
* * *
Aidan joined his parents for the noon meal, as ordered by his father, and knew that there were more orders and directions coming his way. His father had spent last night’s supper extolling the virtues of Lady Margaret Sinclair to him. Tempted as he was to inform his father of the one virtue he liked about her—that she would let him keep Catriona without argument—he kept his tongue and words behind his teeth and let it all pass over him.
He looked for signs on his father’s face that would hint at the purpose of this call, but his father had perfected the blank stare decades before Aidan’s own birth. If his father wished to give nothing away, to friend or foe, he did not. So, the meal went on and his patience wore thin.
Aidan finished eating. His mother finished eating. His father savoured every mouthful of food or ale as though it was his last. It was at times such as this one when his father made everyone dance to his tune and Aidan knew the Beast of the Highlands relished it.
‘Connor,’ his mother said, ‘we have waited long enough. There is news, I know it, so just tell us what you plan to tell us. I suspect there are preparations to be made?’
He winked when his mother looked at him. They both knew his father’s methods, but she dared to question him freely. A habit years in the making and one that his father never put a stop to.
‘News of the Sinclairs’ arrival here early has spread and I’ve word from both of the other families that they will be here within days. So, Aidan, you will have the chance to renew your acquaintance with Alys MacKenzie and to meet Elizabeth Maxwell.’
He must have reacted at the MacKenzie name, for his father’s gaze narrowed at him then, realising why he might have raised an objection to one of that clan being considered for wife when she’d been named.
‘So, I expect you to spend time with each of them as you did Lady Margaret.’
‘I know my duty, Father,’ he said. ‘If you will excuse me now, I have things to see to.’ He began to stand when his father grabbed his arm.
‘Sit.’
Aidan took his seat once more, anger spilling into his blood.
‘You have duties to attend to here. Stay out of the village until the Maxwells and MacKenzies leave. I would not have them insulted by your attentions elsewhere.’
‘I have done whatever you’ve required of me these last weeks, Father. And I will do what is my duty when they arrive.’
‘Do not make me take action to ensure that.’
He sucked in a breath, even as his mother hissed.
‘Connor!’ she whispered. ‘That is not necessary.’
‘Is it, Aidan?’
His father could and would do whatever was necessary to ensure his intentions were carried out. He would take whatever actions he needed to take to protect his clan, and if that meant ridding his son of a leman who was in the way of his plans, he would. So, at this point, Aidan did the expected thing and acquiesced as he would have to until he could come up with his own plan.
‘Nay, Father. I understand what you expect of me.’ Seething inside from his inability to challenge his father in this matter, he stood then and pushed back against the unwelcome restraints on him. ‘Until the MacKenzies and Maxwells arrive, you know where to find me.’
He waited for his father to forbid him, but his mother’s whispered words in his ear must have had some effect. With the slightest of nods, his father relented. Aidan strode from the table through the hall, all the time trying to rein in his temper and forcing himself to remain calm. His father had formidable resources and Aidan needed a plan if he was to go against him.
But right now, right now he needed to see Catriona. He missed her, missed her sense of humour and her way of seeing things clearly even when he wanted to ignore the reality of what they faced. Mostly, he just needed her assurance that she would not leave him.
* * *
‘So, what do you think?’ Catriona asked Muireall.
Days had passed since she’d spoken to Ciara. She avoided the woman now, afraid that what she’d suspected was true. Days during which Aidan remained at the keep or elsewhere doing his father’s bidding and trying to decide which woman would be his bride. Her stomach quaked at that thought and threatened to erupt again.
As it did when she smelled any meat cooking. Or when she smelled certain herbs and flowers. Or when she woke in the morning.
At other times, she wondered if she was losing her mind, for she had no ill signs. Then an aroma would waft past her and it would begin. The vomiting, the dizziness, sometimes she even began to lose consciousness.
Two weeks of suffering had led her to do the one thing she did not wish to do—discuss this with Muireall. But, who else could she trust? Ciara’s first loyalty was to the laird, so she knew it was but a matter of time before she shared this news.
‘And your courses?’ Muireall asked. ‘Have they come at all these last years?’
‘Aye, but not often and never in any kind of rhythm.’
The healer told her she could never carry and Cat had believed the woman. And she never worried over getting pregnant because she could not. Over the years with Gowan, it became nothing to think on because he’d left
her bed very early in their marriage. So, when Aidan took her to bed, she never considered the possibility.
‘Since Aidan began visiting you?’
‘Not once.’ The words echoed into the silence that gathered around them.
Now, she could think of nothing else.
‘Here,’ Muireall said, handing her a mug and waiting for her to sip the watered ale. It was about the only thing that did not make her sick. ‘Sit.’ It mattered not to her friend that they were not in Muireall’s house, for she took command when she felt the need. Like now.
Catriona did as she was told, but then she burst into tears. Tears she could not stop or explain. Those came often these last weeks. Muireall’s arm draped on her shoulders and her friend gathered her close.
‘Hush now, Cat,’ she whispered. ‘All will be well.’
‘What will Aidan say?’ Cat said.
Never thinking she would ever bear a man’s child, she wondered if Aidan would think she’d lied to trap him into this situation. Would he believe her? Would he want to acknowledge the child?
‘Do you still plan to leave Lairig Dubh? Or will you tell him?’
Cat sighed and sat back. Ciara had asked the same question of her, but that was before she knew the truth. After the shock of it, came the thoughts about a future together that could not be. He would marry elsewhere and, even if his child was seen to, it guaranteed no place for her. And in her heart, she knew she could not stand by and watch him marry another.
‘Leaving would be the simplest thing,’ she admitted. ‘But I think he deserves to know. I ask him for nothing more than that.’
‘He will never let you leave if he knows,’ Muireall said. ‘You know that, do you not?’
‘He asked me to stay as his leman and to move with him to Ord Dubh.’ She’d not shared that with her friend—or with anyone—since he’d told her. ‘He says married or not, he wants me by his side.’
‘And what did you say to that?’
‘I will be no man’s whore and will not share the bed of a man married to another woman.’
‘And has that changed? Have you changed your mind on such matters since learning that you carry his bairn?’
That was the heart of the matter, was it not? Could she continue to love him if he chose another woman? Oh, it was the custom and no one would think anything was awry when the heir of the most powerful man in the Highlands took a leman. Especially if she’d borne his child. But, after living with the shame and humiliation of failing her own husband, she really could not do that to another.
Muireall let out a sigh then and sat down, drinking her ale and pondering the matter. If her wise friend had not advice to give, she had no other place to turn.
‘You love him, do you not?’ Cat nodded. ‘And he has declared his love for you...’
’Twas not so much a question as a statement, for Aidan had made it clear how he felt about her to one and all. He’d declared his love in his actions and his words before his people and in the privacy of the home he gave her.
‘So, share with him this wonderful news and talk about the choices you have. If you wish to live somewhere else, he can still support the child and you. You must work this out between you.’
Catriona knew she must talk with him. Standing, Muireall stopped her from leaving with a hand to her arm.
‘You should think about seeing the midwife soon. If you had problems before...’
She did not have to finish the words, for it was something that already filled Catriona’s dreams with terrible images. She might not carry long enough. There could be problems with the bairn. It might not live past delivery.
‘Gunna is a kind soul and very experienced in matters like this. Fear not to speak to her, ask her advice. She has saved many women and bairns over the years.’
‘I will do that,’ she promised.
First, though, she would share the news with Aidan.
She began to walk back to the house and realised she was already much closer to the midwife’s house, so she turned around and decided to seek the woman’s counsel. She would rather be able to give Aidan more knowledge about her condition and her chances of delivering the bairn safely when they spoke.
‘Mistress MacKenzie!’
Before she could turn, a small, hard body ploughed into her, nearly knocking her over. She grabbed him and held him up and realised it was Alasdair.
‘Alasdair,’ she said, with a laugh. ‘You must have a care when running through the village. You could knock someone down.’
‘Lord Aidan...’ he said, pointing towards the main road. Was Aidan on his way here now? She did not think to see him until nightfall when his duties finished with his family at supper.
‘Is he come?’ she asked, peering in the direction in which the boy pointed.
‘Nay, nay,’ he said with a wild shaking of his head. Oh, the boundless energy of childhood, she thought. ‘He is there. Fighting with Munro. Like this.’ Alasdair began throwing punches into the air around him.
Aidan fighting Munro? Why? She gathered up her skirts and ordered the boy, ‘Take me there, Alasdair. Quickly, if you please.’
They scurried along the path to where it crossed the main road and Cat discovered that wee Alasdair was right—Aidan and Munro were involved in a vicious fight there for all to see. Knowing she must stop them, she ran up to where they now rolled in the dirt and called out their names.
Now close enough to see them, she saw the blood streaming from Aidan’s nose and from a cut over Munro’s eye. She began to call out to them again when the ground beneath her tilted and she had to fight to remain standing.
It took only a moment more of witnessing the bloodiness before her for her world to go dark. She heard Aidan screaming out her name and then her world went silent, too.
Chapter Nineteen
Aidan saw Catriona crumpled to the ground and tried to reach her, but Munro grabbed him by the hair and pulled him back to the fight. He used the motion of Munro’s action to swing around and punch his former friend in the jaw. A satisfying crunch told him that he’d broken something.
That satisfaction was short-lived, for Munro was the best fighter with fists and feet among his group of friends and a well-delivered blow to his stomach reminded Aidan why he needed to stay at least a pace away in a brawl. Landing on the ground again, he pushed to his feet and tried to reason with Munro.
‘Munro, I must see to her,’ he argued.
‘You bastard! Why her? Why could you not leave her be?’ Munro yelled at him as Aidan tried to get past him to Catriona. Why had she fainted so?
‘I love her, Munro.’
‘My father loved her! She was his wife!’ Munro tripped him as he took a step towards her and kicked him back to the ground. ‘She was just a game to you. You should have listened when she said nay, you...you did not!’
‘Munro!’ he called out again. ‘I order you to cease this now.’ Aidan backed up his demand with his own fists, gaining his feet and pummelling the man until he fell back a step.
‘You are good at giving orders, are you not, Lord Aidan. You ordered him away so you could seduce her. You ordered him to his death. And she does not ken the truth of it, does she?’
Aidan paused in shock at hearing his sins exposed and that brief moment allowed Munro to knock him down. He waited for the next blows and instead saw Munro grabbed and pulled away by Young Dougal. Climbing slowly to his feet, he looked around and realised that others had probably heard his claim. Dougal kept hold of Munro while Aidan ran to Catriona’s side.
‘This is not something to settle in public, Aidan,’ Dougal warned. When Munro began to argue, Dougal shook him and warned him off. ‘Bring her and finish this between you in private.’
Dougal dragged Munro down the path that led to Catriona’s house. Muireall reached his side and tried to help him, but he brushed her off.
‘I will see to her, Muireall.’
The woman looked as though she wanted to say something mo
re, but she nodded and let him pass. Catriona did not rouse as he followed Dougal down the paths and lanes to the edge of the village. Dougal kept Munro outside when Aidan carried her in and laid her on the bed. Sitting at her side, he stroked her cheek and whispered her name.
‘Catriona, open your eyes and look at me.’
He went out to the common room and found a cloth and brought the jug of water with him into the bedchamber. Pouring some cool water on the cloth, he touched it to her face and neck and watched her rouse. She tried to sit up, but fell back, clutching the air.
‘Here, now,’ he whispered. ‘You are on our bed,’ he soothed. ‘Lie in ease and get your bearings first.’
‘Aidan?’ she asked as her eyes seemed to clear and she met his gaze. ‘You and Munro...fighting...’
‘You fainted, love,’ he said.
His stomach churned now, not from any damage done in the fight, but from knowing that he could not avoid her learning the truth. Munro would not let it lie and, unless he took drastic measures and got Dougal to drag him away now and remove him from Lairig Dubh, Catriona would find out the terrible way in which their love had begun.
‘Where is Munro? Why were you fighting?’ she asked, pushing herself up to sit next to him.
Did he stop it now by telling her the truth? Would it be worse if he did it or if he was exposed? Was there a better way to tell Catriona that he’d manipulated her life and caused Gowan’s death? As he realised the inevitable results now of his stupid shallowness and lust then, he knew he was facing the end of...them.
And, though knowing he did not actually cause the man’s death and though knowing he’d tried to make things right after it, Aidan knew that the true consequences of his acts faced him now. He’d gained what he wanted only to watch it, and her, be torn apart.
Would she survive this betrayal? He looked at her face, her eyes widened in confusion and fear, and he prayed that she would not pay the price for his selfishness. But how many times could a person’s world be shattered for them to fall apart themselves?
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