by Tia Isabella
Argyle flushed. He didn’t want to disappoint his lady, but he had no desire to die at the laird’s hands either. “Milady, I dinna think it tae be a sound idea. My lord willna let me live tae see another day do I take ye from the keep.”
“But he wouldn’t have to know.”
“And what if he found out what we were aboot?”
“And he definitely would find out.”
Maya froze. The last statement had not been uttered by Argyle, but by the last man she had hoped to see during this conversation. She turned around slowly, a smile that she hoped would be viewed as charming plastered to her lips. “Hello Thomas. I did not hear you come in.”
Thomas stared at his wife through narrowed eyes. His anger was so palpable that even Maya swallowed roughly when she looked at him. Good, he decided. ‘Tis wise for a wife to fear her husband’s wrath. And, at the moment, fury was the only emotion dwelling in his enraged body. “Go tae our bedchamber. Now.”
Maya nodded. Thomas was behaving downright frightening. He was too calm, too controlled, too utterly terrifying. There was no way she was going to argue with him in this state. She rose to her feet, threw Argyle an apologetic glance, and walked quickly past her husband and out the door.
Chapter 21
Thomas sat down in his chair by the hearth, a tankard of ale in hand. He stared into the crackling fire, watching the flames pulse back and forth. The embers danced a warm display of red, yellow, and orange. ‘Twas beautiful. And entrancing. But they gave no answers. He sighed. What was he to do?
He sent his wife to their chambers quite a while ago. At first, his intention had been to follow soon afterwards, only giving Maya enough time to worry o’er her punishment, and then make his appearance and tear into her with his blistering words. Mayhap he would even have put her over his knee this time.
It became evident to Thomas before Maya reached the stairs that he was of no mind to see her just yet. He feared what he would say, what punishments he would give. He knew that it was of a dire necessity that he calm his self before going to their chamber.
So he paced the halls for over two hours then settled into his chair for another one. Much thinking and three tankards of ale later, he was still of no mind to see his wife.
The MacGregor already knew what would happen if he did. Naught good would come of it. They would have words, he would lose his temper, Maya would lose hers, he would punish her with more restrictions, she would grow more despondent and like him even less—if ‘twas possible—and their marriage would be in an even sorrier state than it already was.
‘Twas strained enough between the two of them. Maya was passing pleasant to him when he’d check in on her or pass her in the hall during the days. Aye, she was civil, but no more a boon would she grant him than that. ‘Twas only during the nights when he’d trick her body into a state of need that his wife would cling to him, calling his name in loving gasps of breath just as she used to. And even that was losing its comforts.
No longer did Maya reach for him in the nights of her own accord, no longer did she steal kisses from him in passing during the days. He wanted that again, needed it more than he’d realized. No more could he fool himself into believing that ‘twas good enough did she accept him when he’d coax her body into wanting him while she slept unawares. Nay, he needed his stubborn, mischievous, passionate wife back, and he needed her while she was awake.
Bloody hell, the woman didn’t even argue at him a’tall anymore! As of late, were he to give her a dictate he sensed she didn’t like, Maya did no more than sigh and relent. Thomas didn’t know what her acquiescence meant precisely, only that it couldn’t be a good sign for their future happiness.
Had he broken her spirit so badly? Had he crushed her will so entirely? He shuddered at the thought. That was never the intention.
His goal all along had been twofold: keep his wife in his own time far away from her future and, just as important, keep her safe from any person who would do her harm. Robert MacAllister in particular.
The MacAllister was still roaming about on the loose. Thomas had sent patrols out five times since the rival laird’s badly conceived of attempt to steal Maya out from beneath him. All five times had been to no avail. If the man was still in the area, he was hiding himself well. And there was no way in heaven, hell, or purgatory that Thomas would relax his guard and allow his wife to roam about until Robert was dead.
Didn’t Maya understand that all he did was done in the name of his love for her? Didn’t she realize that he would rather die here and now than to live a day without his wife?
Nay, she mustn’t. Or mayhap she did and simply no longer cared.
Thomas sighed. He prayed that the truth was the former explanation, but feared beyond reason that ‘twas the latter.
Chapter 22
Maya wallowed in self-pity and not a little apprehension as she sat stoically on her bathing stool and waited for Lena to finish washing her hair. Lena was chattering on about Argyle, as had been the girl’s custom since learning that Maya knew of her love for him.
Maya feigned interest, nodding occasionally when it seemed appropriate to do so, but saying nothing. She blamed her sorry state of disinterest on her husband. Typically, she rather enjoyed Lena’s drawn out musings of Argyle, but today she could scarcely concentrate on what her lady’s maid was saying.
“Canna ye believe that, milady?”
Maya blinked rapidly then crooked her neck to look up at Lena. “Huh?”
Lena giggled as she continued to work the rose petal soap through her mistress’s hair. “’Tis nothing, milady. I was just saying how warmed I was tae Argyle yestereve when he bade me tae walk with him in the gardens, frozen over that they were.” Lena sighed. “’Twas romantic, indeed.”
Maya smiled. At least someone at the keep was getting romanced these days. Sara and Dugald did more fighting than loving anymore, though Maya knew it was only because of Sara’s desire to have her father walk her down the aisle and Dugald’s refusal to allow Sara passage back to the future to acquire him. Sara had been mightily pissed for a while, Maya mused. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen her friend so bent out of shape.
And what of she and Thomas? Ha! Now there was a sorry case of romance to consider. They’d hardly spoken in the past two weeks, probably because neither of them wanted to break the fragile truce fashioned since her husband had blown up and, like Dugald, refused to allow Maya to speak of the future.
“Ye ha’ no need fer it, lass,” Thomas had said more than once, “the Castle MacGregor is yer home now and ‘tis thoughts of here that should consume ye.”
To which, uncharacteristically enough, Maya had merely sighed and conceded to his wishes. Whether or not she agreed with him was beside the point.
Maya wished like hell that she still possessed the strength to give Thomas a good quarrel, but she didn’t. Lately the baby was making her too exhausted to move, let alone expend a breath in argument. She knew fatigue was extremely common in the first trimester, so her constant need of sleep didn’t worry her in the slightest. Still, a lack of energy was annoying, to be sure. She couldn’t wait until she left her first trimester behind in a couple of months and resumed her normal level of alertness. Then she’d blister her husband’s ears sorely.
Maya flexed her back muscles, stretching them as she yawned.
“Oh dear, milady. Let’s get ye out of this tub and sit by the fire tae brush yer hair dry. The soonest we do it, the soonest ye may nap. ‘Tis good fer the MacGregor’s bairn.”
Maya’s eyes widened in surprise. Before she could ask Lena how she knew of her pregnancy, a bucket of water was thrown over her head to rinse the soap from her hair. “Don’t worry I’ll be tellin’ anybody,” Lena promised in a soothing tone. “Yer secrets I will keep till ye and my cousin the laird want them known.”
Maya grimaced. Obviously her maid thought Thomas was already apprised of the situation. She almost told Lena the truth, but thought better o
f it. All Lena would do is chastise her for keeping knowledge of his child from him.
Maya didn’t feel like hearing that. And besides, Lena and Thomas rarely saw each other. It wasn’t as if she had to fear her husband finding out about his child from his cousin.
Maya swiped the water from her eyes then stood up to go sit by the hearth. “But how did you know?”
Lena shrugged. “I see yer body naked in the daylight every day, milady. ‘Twas easy enough tae notice the changes.”
“Such as?”
Lena grinned. “Yer bosom is a mite bigger.”
Maya chuckled. “I suppose I should be grateful it’s my bosom instead of my behind.”
“Milady!” Lena chided with a red face that made Maya giggle.
Ten minutes later, Maya purred in delight as Lena worked the comb through her hair. Lena’s soft touch felt like manna from heaven. Between the warmth from the fire and Lena’s soothing combing job, Maya knew she was only moments from napping.
She smiled at the irony of it all. She should be worrying about what new retributions Thomas would cast off on her after hearing her try to talk Argyle into mischief. She should be worried, yes, but her baby made it otherwise. Instead, she was blissfully exhausted.
Thomas was going to be angry when he came to her, she knew and accepted that as fact. Maya sighed. When would things get back to normal between them? When would he trust her enough to know that she wasn’t going to leave him? When would he confide his worries to her? When—bah! What’s the use? The man was too stubborn and arrogant to suit her! Still, he was the only man she could and would ever love. The rift between them was killing her.
“Come, milady,” Lena whispered as she gently pulled Maya to her feet. “Let us take ye tae the bed.”
Maya nodded, too tired to think, too exhausted to counter her maid’s decision. Yes, Lena was right. Sleep was just what she needed. Later Maya would think up a way to mend the breech between she and her husband. Later she would find the energy to make him see things from her point of view. Later. For now there was delicious sleep.
Lena led Maya to the bed, pulled back the covers, and delicately deposited her mistress into them. She left her naked, as was the custom. Lena pulled the covers to her lady’s chin and quietly crept to the chamber door. She took a quick peek back at the bed before leaving and smiled to herself as she noted that the Lady MacGregor was already in slumber.
* * * * *
Thomas took the stairs in long strides, ready to talk to his wife. He was still angry and probably would be for quite some time, but he needed to see her. He met up with Lena in the hall and bade her good day, to which his wife’s maid replied to him with a cautionary shhh.
Thomas raised an eyebrow. Was his sweet-tempered cousin becoming as cheeky as his lady used to be?
Ever observant, Lena noticed the scowl on the laird’s face and grew immediately contrite. “Forgive me, my lord cousin,” she blushed. “’Tis only that my lady did just now fall asleep. She’s taking her nap.”
Nap? It wasn’t like Maya, the boundless ball of energy that she was, to be lazy in the day hours. Was it? Thomas grunted. ‘Twas obvious his lady was wanting to avoid him. “She will ha’ tae sleep later. I will speak tae her now.”
Lena drew herself up fully erect, refusing to budge from her station between the laird and the chamber door. “I hope ye dinna banish me tae the kitchens fer saying so, but I fear I canna let ye upset her. She needs her sleep, she does. There’s no need fer waking her just now when ye can growl at her later.”
Thomas snapped his head to attention. The brazen lassie was becoming as bossy as his lady! And worse yet, he had almost obeyed Lena and walked back down stairs with his tail a’tween his legs. This he could not have! He was the MacGregor!
Thomas opened his mouth to bellow at the girl, but caught his anger in the nick of time. She was only protecting Maya in the one way she could. And besides, Lena was a good little one for the most part. Still, she had to know the MacGregor wouldn’t stand for being gainsaid a’tall. “Lena, I ha’ no intention tae growl at my wife”—that was a lie if ever he’d told one—“and even if I was tae, ye canna interfere. Do ye ken, lassie?”
Lena’s face flushed crimson as she cast her embarrassed gaze to the ground. “I’m sorry cousin,” she whispered in a thoroughly chastised voice. “I dinna mean tae gainsay ye.”
Thomas grunted. “I know it, lass. Now take ye off. I’ll take yer advice and let my wife sleep. I just want tae check on her.” He smiled lazily. “I’ll growl at her later.”
Lena blushed again then nodded. “Thank ye, my lord. I knew ye were everything kind and good. Besides,” she added with a sweetly dimpled smile, “the sleep is best fer yer wife and bairn.”
Thomas’s face turned as white as Lena’s face was red. “My what?” he all but shouted.
Lena mistook his surprise as rage and paled. She drew her hand to her throat in a nervous gesture. “Ye…ye…dinna know?” she whispered, reminding Thomas by her own voice level that he needed to quiet down again.
“Nay, I dinna know!”
“Oh dear!”
Lena looked beseechingly into his eyes and begged him not to tell Lady Maya that ‘twas her who had told her secrets. “I just assumed ye knew fer milady Maya never said otherwise. Oh please dinna tell her ‘twas me who told ye. She willna ever forgive me!”
Thomas shook his head in bewilderment. A bairn? His bairn? In his lady’s belly? He smiled as a sense of peace and elation swept through his body. “I willna tell, lass. Ye ha’ my word. Now hurry along.”
Lena nodded emphatically then fled from the hallway.
Thomas watched his cousin bolt down the steps at lightening speed. He took in a deep breath and walked to his bedchamber door.
A bairn. His bairn.
Thomas grinned. He was going to be a father.
* * * * *
Maya awoke slowly, the grogginess she’d experienced often in the last couple of months still pulling at her. She felt sleepy enough to stay in bed for the rest of the night, but hunger pangs in her belly demanded otherwise. She needed food, and lots of it.
Eyes still closed, Maya smiled to herself as she considered what she’d have for dinner. McDonalds.
Mmm yeah—a Big Mac, medium fry—no large fry, a thick chocolate milkshake to wash down the salty food, and then an icy coke to wash down the thick shake. She licked her lips and practically salivated, the image of the Big Mac enough to force her to consciousness.
She opened her eyes leisurely, allowing them to adjust to the faint streams of light intruding into the bedroom. She sat up slowly, still overwhelmed by exhaustion. Fred was sound asleep under the window as always, but he was sleeping in an oddly thatched deposit that she didn’t recall buying for him at the pet store...
Her eyes narrowed as she struggled to command the fatigue at bay. She took a quick look around to surmise her surroundings. She ran her fingers through her hair and sighed. She was in the fourteenth century. That explained Fred’s bed. John the Elder had commissioned a villager to craft it.
Maya took a deep breath. “I guess this means no McDonald’s for me,” she muttered to herself in her own tongue.
“What did ye say, love?”
Surprised by his presence, Maya whipped her head around, only then ascertaining who the voice belonged to. Thomas. Her husband. That’s right, she had a husband. Weird what the slumbering mind forgets. Of course, she mused as she gathered herself together, she probably hadn’t wanted to remember. No doubt her husband, original party pooper that he was, was here to lecture her severely on some sin or another she’d committed. “Hello Thomas.”
Thomas trailed his gaze from his wife’s face to her swollen chest. Lena was right. The woman was definitely with bairn. His Maya’s breasts had always been plump and lushly rounded, but now they were swelled beyond anything. As big as Thomas’s hands were, he’d never be able to fully cup a breast in just one of them anymore. His flesh grew immediately ha
rd, straining against the confinement of his plaid. “How do ye feel, wife?”
Maya looked down at herself when she noticed the evident arousal poking against her husband’s kilt. Only then did she realize her state of nakedness. She looked back at her husband who sat next to her in a chair he’d pulled close to the bed and smiled. “Sleepy, but good. Hungry, very hungry. Do we eat soon?”
“Aye.”
Maya nodded, but said nothing else. Neither did Thomas for that matter. He continued to stare at her, an oddly bemused expression on his face. She sighed. She was beginning to feel like a convicted felon awaiting sentencing. She wished he’d just get his lecture over and be done with it. “I assume you’re here to tell me what a bad girl I’ve been?”
Thomas’s eyes flickered in amusement, the only indication he thought his wife’s question funny. “Aye.”
Maya steadied herself, preparing to pretend as though she was listening. She mentally practiced what her responses would be, too tired to argue with the man over being caught trying to mischief-make with Argyle. Aye husband. Nay husband. Right away husband. Whatever you desire husband. Maya smiled. Surely one of those answers would be the correct one.
When it began to look as if no lecture was soon in coming, she cocked her head and studied her husband’s stare. “Shall we get on with it then? I’m quite famished.”
Thomas curled his mouth wryly, his eyes still transfixed on his wife. She was expecting an argument, was she? Well today he wouldn’t give her one. Today he was going to surprise her. This time there would be no punishments, even though she surely deserved a year’s worth of them. “I gathered from yer discussion with Argyle that ye ha’ been wantin a walk by yon lake. Why dinna ye tell me this, lass?”
Maya shrugged and frowned up at her husband. “Would it have mattered? You’re determined to keep me a prisoner in my own home anyway.”