Highland Master

by Amanda Scott

  As soon as he had spoken with Rothesay, the two friends took bows and quivers and rowed to the west shore. From there, they hiked to the river Spey and along its bank to a field where Ivor said they could get some good practice.

  Returning to Rothiemurchus late that afternoon after exploring much of the countryside, they discovered that during their absence, Donald and Alex had both arrived. To Fin’s astonishment, it appeared that the burly, bearded, forty-year-old Donald and his companions had traveled on garrons through the west Highlands with a mendicant friar, all six of them dressed in robes similar to the holy man’s.

  “A good disguise, especially at this season,” Ivor observed. “One hopes that Donald will not try to sneak in an army under the same guise.”

  Laughing, Fin pointed out that an army of monks might stir some curiosity. His leisure time had ended, though, because Rothesay had left word that he wanted to see him straightway. Fin found him alone in the inner chamber.

  “You are to be another pair of eyes and ears for me,” Rothesay said. “Donald did support my taking the Governorship when I did, and Alex has nae love for Albany. Still, I’ve learned that I can trust any man only whilst his future depends on my success. Donald did come here, but he is ever surly, and I need his ships to curb Albany in the west. As to Alex…” He shrugged.

  “He did raise an army of his own from throughout the North to support yours in the Borders,” Fin reminded him. “Forbye, sir, both men are your close cousins.”

  “Aye, sure, so they’re bound to support me,” Rothesay said confidently.

  However, when the household gathered soon afterward for supper in the great hall, Fin noted few signs of good cheer between the cousins. Rothesay was amiable enough, but burly, dark-haired Donald of the Isles seemed dour, even irritable.

  Alex looked enough like his fair, blue-eyed cousin to be Davy’s brother but was quieter by nature. He remained reticent and watchful, albeit courteous.

  Doubtless to cheer them all, the Mackintosh suggested that Catriona or Morag might sing for them after supper. But Donald declared when he had finished eating that he had endured a long, tiresome day and would seek his bed.

  Rothesay was wide awake. But since he chose to entertain himself by flirting with Catriona, Fin would have preferred him to follow Donald’s example.

  He was grateful when the lady Ealga engaged him in desultory conversation but noted that James disappeared with Morag and Ivor moved to talk with Alex.

  Looking toward the latter two a few minutes later, he saw that Ivor was grimly eyeing Rothesay and Catriona. Alex, also watching the pair, looked amused.

  Fin was not. In the short time that he had been a guest at the castle, he had come to think of Catriona as more than just a good friend, and he did not want Rothesay to offend her. When her father joined them and spoke to her, Fin was relieved and felt more so when the lass made her adieux shortly afterward.

  The next morning after breakfast, the three powerful lords met with the Mackintosh in his inner chamber. Alex and Donald insisted that their companions accompany them, and Rothesay kept his two and Fin with him. Shaw, Ivor, and James also attended, so the chamber was crowded.

  After an hour of discussing past events—such discussion at times growing testy—Rothesay said, “Our uncle Albany, as you all ken fine, resents having lost the Governorship and its attendant powers. He wants them back.”

  “And your provisional term as Governor o’ the Realm expires in January, lad,” Donald said. “We all ken that fine. But what has that to do wi’ me?”

  Fin knew that Donald considered himself as equal, if not superior, to the King of Scots. The Lord of the Isles descended from a much older dynasty, owned many more castles and hundreds more boats, not to mention the great administrative complex at Finlaggan on the Isle of Islay, which boasted a palatial residence larger than any noble or royal equivalent on the Scottish mainland.

  Rothesay eyed him measuringly. “You and Alex know as well as I do how Albany ruled when he was Governor before, by amassing power wherever and however he could. He holds the treasury, uses it as his own, and is greedy withal, which affects everyone in Scotland. I want to curb him wherever I can.”

  “As ye should, Davy,” Alex said, nodding. “But ye ken fine how long I ha’ been away wi’ ye. I canna leave the North to look after itself again so soon, lest our uncle Albany swoop in with an army. Or someone else does,” he added dulcetly.

  Fin glanced at the Lord of the Isles, as did a few others, but Donald’s thick beard concealed his mouth and thus much of his expression. The talking went on, but both cousins remained elusive, willing to talk but unwilling to speak plainly.

  Some of their adherents seemed to Fin to be trying to stir dissension.

  His thoughts drifted to Catriona, and he wondered what she might be doing.

  Catriona was busy. The great lords had brought companions with them, but they had not brought the host of servants one usually expected with visiting royalty.

  Each nobleman had a manservant. But they looked after only their masters and expected castle servants or womenfolk to attend to anything akin to menial labor. Thus it was that she and Morag were in the kitchen, aiding the cook’s minions with preparations for the midday meal.

  The two barely had enough time when they finished to run upstairs and change their gowns, but Ailvie was waiting for Catriona, so the change took little time. After a final look at herself in the glass, she hurried back downstairs, slowing only as she approached the landing between her parents’ room and Fin’s.

  She told herself that she was just protecting her dignity and did not want to risk running full tilt into one parent or another on the landing. If her gaze lingered on the closed door of Fin’s room instead of on the one opposite, no voice, including the self-critical one in her head, spoke up to chide her.

  Entering the hall to see that people were still gathering at the lower tables and on the dais, she paused now and again to speak to those who greeted her. When she stepped onto the dais, her gaze collided with Fin’s, and something in the way he looked at her warmed her through.

  Movement to his right drew her notice to Rothesay, Shaw, and her grandfather as they emerged from the inner chamber with Alex Stewart and Donald of the Isles.

  Rothesay caught her eye then, and if Fin’s expression had been warm, his was searing. Aware that she was blushing and that her grandfather or Shaw would notice if she lingered where she stood, she moved hastily to the women’s end of the table and took the place that a smiling Morag had left for her beside Ealga.

  As soon as Donald’s real mendicant monk had muttered the grace and everyone had sat down, Catriona said to her mother, “Do you ken aught of what happened this morning, Mam?”

  “I do not,” Ealga said. “You know that your father rarely confides his business to me. And you know, too, that when he does, I do not talk about it after.”

  From Catriona’s right, Morag said, “James did tell me that he thinks they will talk long before they find consensus. There are issues, he said, which seem to stir much disagreement and men amidst them who seem to encourage it.”

  “God-a-mercy, James told you all that?” Glancing at her mother to see that Ealga had turned to talk with Lady Annis, Catriona said, “What else did he say?”

  Morag looked self-conscious. “I should not tell you. But I did want you to know that… that he will not be revealing our confidences to you anymore. And I must warn you that I told him what you said about him being an ass. I expect that was as bad as his telling you what I had said and what he had said to me, but—”

  A gurgle of laughter welled in Catriona’s throat, and some of it escaped as she said, “You may repeat whatever I say if it will help bring James to his senses.”

  Morag looked relieved, but she said, “Sithee, I think he was irritated, so he may scold you. And when James scolds one, it is most unpleasant, believe me.”

  Catriona stared at her. “Good sakes, do you mean to say t
hat he is brutal to you? ’Tis hard for me to believe that.”

  “James is not brutal, but I do not like him to be angry with me.”

  Catriona bit her lower lip and then decided to say what she was thinking. “Look here, Morag, have you ever seen Ivor in a temper?”

  “Nay, I am thankful to say that I have not. I have heard others say that he does naught to restrain himself but flies into a fury.”

  “I can be much the same way,” Catriona admitted. “But, by my troth, Morag, compared to either of us in a temper, James is… is most temperate.”

  Morag did not look convinced. But for once, she did not fall silent. Instead, she continued to talk affably with Catriona.

  When everyone had finished eating, Mackintosh asked Morag to take up her lute, and Catriona excused herself, saying that she had promised to look in on the kitchen. But as she stepped off the dais, Rothesay approached her, moving with near feline grace, his long strides covering ground with deceptive haste.

  When he could speak without raising his voice, he said, “Prithee, lass, say that you are not abandoning us already. I would speak with you again, for I vow, you are the most beautiful creature I have laid eyes on in a twelvemonth.”

  Although she smiled with ready delight at the unexpected compliment, she saw her brother Ivor and Fin not far behind him. Both of them were frowning.

  Recalling what her grandmother had said about Rothesay, she said, “I fear that you flatter me, my lord, but ’tis most kind.”

  “I am never kind, lassie, and I do know beauty when I see it,” he said with what in any man, including a prince of the realm, was an impudent grin. “Prithee, do not be so cruel as to say that you will not walk with me.”

  He was, nevertheless, not only a prince of the realm but also one of vast power and known to use it recklessly.

  Evenly, she said, “I am never cruel, sir.”

  “Then you will be generous, my lady,” he said, grinning confidently.

  Glancing beyond him again, she saw that although Rothesay might call her generous, both Ivor and Fin had other words in mind.

  Chapter 11

  God’s teeth,” Ivor swore, glowering. “Under any other circumstance, I’d soon teach my sister not to smile at such a man.”

  “But this is here and now,” Fin said. “And the man flirting with her is a prince of the realm. So you’d be wise to take that fierce look off your face, my lad, before he sees it. Others are already looking this way.”

  “Sakes, do you condone his behavior? No matter who he is, he has no business to be taking liberties with my sister. God rot the man! He’s married.”

  “And treats his wife badly, though she is sister to one of the most powerful lords in Scotland, so he is unlikely to care about your feelings,” Fin said. “As to my condoning what Rothesay does, it is not my business to condone or condemn it.”

  “Fiend seize you then. I thought you liked Cat.”

  “Don’t be daft,” Fin retorted. “Whether I like her or not has nowt to do with Rothesay. Nor would his knowing that I like her curb his impulses. Sakes, man, I serve him. He does not let powerful husbands interfere with him when he flirts with their wives—aye, and does more than flirt with most of them, come to that.”

  “So those tales are true, are they?” Ivor said grimly.

  “He is the heir to the throne and dangerously personable,” Fin said. “Women adore his handsome face and that devilish Stewart charm. I have never known one he favors to complain about his behavior in bed. On the contrary…”

  Ivor made a sound perilously near a growl.

  Glancing at the Mackintosh, Fin was surprised to see the old man eyeing him speculatively. Touching Ivor’s arm, he said, “Your grandfather is watching us, and he will not thank you if you cause trouble with Rothesay. So control that temper of yours, my lad, and look elsewhere before you land us both in the briars.”

  “Wouldn’t be the first time that happened,” Ivor said, his lips twitching.

  The bare hint of a smile was welcome and let Fin relax.

  When Morag took up her lute, James joined them. “I have news,” he said.

  Ivor raised his eyebrows, and Fin said, “Would you like me to step away?”

  “Nay, you should stay,” James said. “ ’Tis just that I mean to take my lady wife home to visit her family. She misses them sorely and”—he looked at Fin—“she has missed me, as well. Father agrees that my presence or the lack of it cannot influence the outcome of these talks, and my grandfather said I’d do better to indulge my lady wife for a time whilst I can.”

  With a wry smile, Ivor said, “I’ll admit, I’d go with you in a twinkling.”

  “Nay, you will not. Why should you?”

  “Because today’s proceedings bored me nigh to lunacy. You’d think they were playing a game, each afraid that some other might gain a point.”

  “To them, it is something of a game,” Fin said. “But before Rothesay can summon Parliament, he wants to know that he will retain the Governorship. To do that, he desperately needs Donald’s support, Alex’s, and the votes of every other lord in Parliament who supports either of them.”

  Ivor said, “I can see that Alex will play his hand as he always does, thinking only of keeping the Lordship of the North firmly in his own hands.”

  “But Donald wants more than keeping his Lordship, aye?” James said.

  “Donald is a deep one,” Fin pointed out. “However, we all know that he covets at least one vast area of the Highlands, and Rothesay has said that if Donald gets even a toe in the Highlands, he’ll seek next to rule all of Scotland.”

  “You know Davy better than we do, Fin,” Ivor said. “Do you trust him?”

  Quietly, knowing that Davy had already annoyed Ivor and hoping Ivor would not take further offense, Fin said, “He has given me no cause to be disloyal to him.”

  “But you don’t think he is always wise, do you,” Ivor said, making it a statement rather than a question and watching him closely.

  Fin did not reply.

  Ivor nodded, satisfied.

  To anyone else, Fin might have equivocated to protect the man he served. But he would not lie to Hawk.

  As if to break the brief tension that had enveloped them, Ivor looked at James and said, “Do you and Morag leave straightway?”

  “Granddad said that that would be rude, since everyone just got here. So I expect we’ll wait a day or two. But my lass is eager to see her family, and I confess that I am just as eager to have her to myself. Granddad said that we should spend a night at Castle Moigh on our way.”

  They continued to chat until Ivor, who had been looking periodically around the chamber, suddenly swore under his breath.

  Catriona was well aware of Ivor’s black looks. At one time she had feared that Fin might be unable to restrain him, especially since Fin himself had looked rather peeved. Then James had joined them, and all three men immersed themselves in conversation. Only Ivor kept glancing her way.

  She had ignored him, certain that he would cause no disturbance as long as the Mackintosh and her father were present. They, too, were talking, but neither one had heeded her for some time.

  The other ladies chatted together, too. Morag seemed still cheerful, a fact that spurred Catriona to look at James again.

  “Tell me, lass, do you often ignore your admirers, or is my tale boring you?”

  Sure that she must be flushing to the roots of her hair, she looked hastily at Rothesay, smiled, and said, “I heard you plainly, sir. But you should be ashamed of yourself for telling me such a bawdy tale. I am, after all, a maiden whose ears have seldom been sullied so.”

  His eyebrows flew upward. “Seldom?”

  Chuckling, she said, “I do have brothers, sir, and very sharp ears.”

  He laughed then, and she felt relief so strong that she wondered at it. Did she fear his displeasure so much that she welcomed his smiles?

  He put a hand on her shoulder and bent near enough to whispe
r in her ear, “Your ears may be sharp, lass, but they are likewise beautiful—shell-like, soft, and pink. I would tickle them with my tongue and then kiss them thoroughly.”

  She’d stiffened immediately at his touch, but he pretended not to notice. Would he dare do as he’d said? She feared that he would if she did not stop him.

  Glancing at Fin, she saw that he and Ivor were both looking her way, the latter with as black a look as she had ever seen on him.

  Fin put a restraining hand on Ivor’s arm, but Catriona could see that she would be wise to act before they did.

  Accordingly, she said evenly, “Unless you want my father to send me to my chamber as he did yestereve, sir, you will take your hand from my shoulder. I do also suggest that you refrain from whispering such things into my ear… or any other things, come to that. My brother is already watching us, and his temper—”

  Giving her shoulder a squeeze, he said, “I have heard of Sir Ivor’s temper. It will not trouble me.”

  “Mayhap it will not, but he would be wroth with me. And my grandfather would flay me, my lord, if I should cause strife between you and anyone else in my family. If you look, you will see my good-sister coming even now to collect me.”

  Withdrawing his hand from her shoulder, he turned with his entrancing smile to Morag, but Morag was oblivious to it or trying to pretend that she was.

  In any event, Catriona also noted that Shaw had joined Fin and Ivor.

  Greeting Morag, she said to Rothesay, “I am sure you do remember my good-sister, Lady James Mackintosh, sir.”

  “Forgive me for intruding, my lord,” Morag said as she curtsied, keeping her eyes downcast until she arose and looked at Catriona. “Your father did say that I should tell you it is time for us to retire from the hall, Catriona. Your mother and grandmother have gone to the solar. We are to join them there.”

  Relieved, Catriona curtsied and politely bade Rothesay goodnight.

  As she arose, he leaned toward her with a merry smile and said, “I’ll excuse you for now, lass. But I will look forward to seeing you again tomorrow.”