Yet to his surprise, Katherine had not moved since seating herself at the head of the table, her hands clasped on the table, and her full attention on whoever was speaking, a serene smile on her face.
“Thank ye,” she finally said, once the man wheezed out a final reply. “We will consider it.”
The council came to life once the elders filed out, and the leader of the council, Katherine’s second-in-command, eyed Cameron with disgust. “Why are ye here, Scot?”
Cameron gave him a lazy smile. “’Tis because the lass is in danger, and I am here tae protect her.”
One of the council members snorted. “I thought we already decided that the lass is not in danger.”
“Ye have,” Cameron replied evenly. “But I havenae so until I do, I wilnae be leaving her alone with anyone.”’
Katherine glared at him, but he ignored it as he glared at the council.
“This is outrageous!” the leader stated, banging his fist on the table and causing Katherine to jump. “This man could be spying for Laird Mcaiwn!”
“Spying?” Katherine spoke up, her own expression hardening. “Mah cousin has been involved with this clan since the former laird was removed from power. He has worked hard tae repair the damage done and helped us get back on our feet. How dare ye say that.”
The council leader had the grace to look mollified, and Cameron felt a spurt of pride with her words. Arran had done a great deal for this clan, far more than most would. He could have easily taken them over, forced them to pledge their allegiance to him, and disband the McDougal clan, but he hadn’t. He had put Katherine in charge and allowed them to continue on.
It was more than Cameron would have done.
“Mah apologies, Lady,” he finally grumbled, refusing to meet her eyes. “I just dinnae see why our own warriors cannae protect ye just as well is all.”
“As much as I would appreciate that,” Katherine started, finally meeting Cameron’s gaze, “mah cousin has insisted until Beltane.”
There was grumbling in the room, but Cameron ignored it, giving her a small nod in agreement and appreciation. She could have readily agreed with her own clan and thrown him out of the room, but either she was now going to heed Arran’s warning, or she was placating him, knowing that he wouldn’t leave until Beltane.
Whichever it was, Cameron wasn’t going anywhere.
“Can we get tae our discussion?” Katherine asked politely, commanding the attention of the room.
“Aye, mah lady,” one of the council members replied.
Cameron relaxed against the wall once more. They could all try to get rid of him, but until Beltane came around, he would be a permanent fixture in this council room.
The council launched into their business for the day, and Cameron watched Katherine as she listened, noting with a wry smile, her constant fidgeting. He couldn’t lie; she had grown into a lovely lass. Today she was wearing a deep green dress, with the ever-present tartan pinned over one shoulder and her hair back in a tight updo. Her gaze was sharp, and his eyes kept being pulled to the way she bit her lower lip, the faintest sign of her tongue darting out to wet her lips. There was a whole host of reasons that he shouldn’t be in this room, and watching her every move was one of them.
The discussion went on for another hour before Katherine asked for a break for luncheon, and the council filed out, leaving the two of them in the room. “Ye really dinnae have tae be here,” she finally said, standing.
“Aye, I do,” he replied, dropping his arms. “Come, ye need tae eat and catch a bit of fresh air.”
She didn’t respond but swept out of the room, Cameron on her heels. There was a meal already waiting for her on the table, but Cameron piled her plate high with the food available, handing her the plate before doing the same. “Wot are ye doing?” she asked as he grabbed two tankards full of ale, balancing them with his plate.
“We are going outside,” he stated, handing her one of the tankards. Cameron didn’t wait to see if Katherine followed, knowing that her curiosity would get the best of her, and she would have no choice but to do so. He wanted out of that room for a bit, tired of sucking in the stale air. While he was Arran’s second-in-command, the part of his position he detested was spending time in Arran’s council room, listening to the same drivel. He was meant to be outside with the warriors or in battle.
Cameron stepped out into the courtyard and strode toward a small patch of grass near the keep, surrounded by the wall that was meant to protect the home of the laird. In this vantage point, he could see the gate that was thrown open and identify any threats that could lay waiting for Katherine.
She hesitated as she joined him, looking around for something to sit on. “Wot?” he asked casually, folding himself on the grass. “Are ye too good tae sit in the grass now?”
Her eyes flashed fire, and she somehow got herself to his level, placing her plate in her lap. “This is highly unorthodox.”
Cameron picked up a hunk of bread and tore it with his teeth, chewing it thoughtfully. “If mah mind remembers correctly, ye used tae do this with yer cousin.”
Katherine looked startled. “Ye remember that?”
Cameron shrugged, stuffing the rest of the bread in his mouth. He didn’t want to admit to her that he remembered the lot of their conversation on her first journey, and for some reason, the stories had stuck with him over the years. For a man who did not know his family, he relished in her stories. Arran’s former second-in-command had been the closest thing to a father; he plucked Cameron out of the ditch in the village and gave him a home. When he had been killed by McDougal, Cameron had felt loss like he had never known.
But he didn’t hold it against the lass before him or his lady that he served. Everyone had suffered under McDougal’s violence, and he was glad the bastard was dead in the ground.
“I did use tae plan picnics for me and Ainslee,” she finally said, her lips curving into a soft smile. “When she lived in the wood, she had no one save me tae keep her company. I used to sneak food out of Liam’s kitchens and take it tae her. We would sit near the stream and dream of wot our lives would have been if he had never taken power.”
Cameron had heard this story before, but it was the lilt of her voice that drew him in, the softness on her face as she talked about things that made her happy that captured his attention.
And others were noticing as well. More than once, a guard walked past or a villager, giving the lady a small wave as they did so. Cameron could see that the villagers were warming up to Katherine, which would be her best ally going forward in the future.
Soon she would take her place amongst the lairds of Scotland in a few months, sit at their table, and discuss the future of their country. Then the real work would begin. But for now, Katherine needed to focus on getting her own clan to trust her.
“Do ye really believe that mah life is in danger?”
Cameron cleared his throat, picking up his ale and downing half of it before he answered. “Aye, I do.”
Her expression darkened. “’ Tis ridiculous, ye know. I’ve never felt anything but safety here.”
“That is because ye aren’t willing tae see anything else,” he grumbled, setting his plate aside.
She made a noise. “This is mah home, not yers, Cameron. I have lived here all mah life. Mah cousin was the evil one, not mah people.”
Cameron glared at her. “Yer people dinnae know ye yet. Don’t go and let yer guard down because ye think ye can trust them.”
Katherine clamored to her feet, standing over him, her hands on her hips. “Dinnae tell me about mah people!”
Cameron rose to his full height, peering down at her this time. “I’m telling ye, yer life isnae worth these people!”
Katherine shook her head. “Ye’re no different than Arran. He would lay down his life for his people, yet I’m not allowed tae do the same?” She then stepped back. “I dinnae need ye as mah shadow, Cameron.”
“Yet here I am!” he cal
led after her as she stalked back toward the keep, her luncheon now forgotten.
Cameron let out a frustrated sound, wanting to tear out his hair for how stubborn she was. It would take one arrow, one stab of a sword to end her life, and when that happened, he would be unable to bring her back. She didn’t understand.
Sighing, Cameron cleaned up the plates and cups, taking them back to the keep, now in a foul mood. She might not need him, but she was going to have him as her shadow until he believed the threat did not exist.
Or until Beltane arrived, which could not be soon enough.
Later, after dinner, Cameron walked the length of the wall, ensuring that the warriors and guards on protection duty were alert and armed. When he and Arran had started making the trek to this keep, he had found the warriors lazy and unable to wield a proper sword. Many of them had died in the battle with Arran and his warriors, and the ones that were left had much to be desired in terms of their fighting ability.
Cameron had worked with the ones willing to do so and gotten rid of the others, knowing that it would be imperative for Katherine to have warriors she could depend on. Now the men pressed their fists to their chest as Cameron walked past, a subtle nod as a sign of respect.
They would protect this keep and their lady with their lives, but Cameron was worried that the threat might not be as visible as an enemy would.
He climbed down from the wall using a ladder and walked into the keep, slamming into a body the moment he walked in. There was a shriek as he grabbed at them blindly, his body tipping over and landing on the stone floor hard, the person clasped to his chest.
The smell of lilacs filled his senses, and Cameron swore, acutely aware of the soft body pressed up against his hard planes.
“Let me go!”
He looked into Katherine’s angry face and released her arms, groaning as she elbowed him in the stomach in an effort to get back to her feet. “Och lass, I didnae cause yer fall tae begin with.”
“Yes, ye did!” she cried as Cameron picked himself up off the floor. “Ye big oaf!”
Cameron wasted no time pushing her against the nearby wall, caging her in with his body. “I didnae,” he said softly, seeing the wildness in her eyes. “Ye are just looking for a way tae touch me, lass.”
Katherine sputtered. “I-I dinnae want ye tae touch me!”
She might not, but Cameron wanted to touch her. He wanted to touch the softness of her wild hair, feel her gasp under his touch and beg for more.
Cameron stumbled away from her, his chest heaving as the thoughts slammed into him. No, he didn’t want that with her.
He couldn’t.
“Cameron?” she asked hesitantly, pushing away from the wall. “Are ye alright?”
He held up his hand, halting her approach. “Go tae bed, Katherine,” he growled. “Now.”
Her eyes widened, and she hurried off, leaving him to thrust his hands through his hair angrily.
This cannae not be happening.
Cameron groaned and stalked off in the opposite direction, his thoughts jumbled. This was the spoiled child that he had worked his best to put at a length for three years, not the soft lass that had been right there, ripe for the taking.
He wanted nothing to do with Katherine, yet as he forced his mind to process the words, he knew he was lying to himself.
He wanted everything to do with Katherine.
8
Katherine urged her horse faster as they raced across the moors, her hair streaming behind her and likely full of tangles by now. She had risen early this morning and stole out to the stables while everyone in the keep was still abed, saddling her horse and maneuvering past the sleeping stable lad. Once she was clear of the keep and the boundary surrounding the village, Katherine allowed her horse to run free, wanting to feel the wind on her face and forget the dreams she had experienced.
They were filled with Cameron.
Sighing, Katherine tightened her legs around the horse’s flanks, feeling the vibration of the horse’s hooves as they hit the dirt. She loved to ride her horse with abandon and had always done it growing up.
It wasn’t something that a lady of the keep should probably do, but at this moment, Katherine did not care. She wasn’t the laird of McDougal on this horse.
She was just Katherine, whose heart was conflicted.
Finally, Katherine slowed the horse, patting its sweaty neck. Her dreams had been quite nice, and she wanted to relive them, but only as dreams.
Nothing more.
Katherine looked up from the book she was reading to find Cameron standing in the doorway, that wicked grin on his face. “Wot? Why are ye here?”
He strode in like he was meant to be part of her chamber, shutting the door behind him. “Because ye want me tae be in here, dinnae ye, Katherine?”
She swallowed, knowing she did want him here. She wanted him pressed up against her like he had done in the great hall. “We cannae.”
He walked to her bed and held out his hand, motioning with it. “Come with me, Katherine.”
Despite the fact she knew she shouldn’t, Katherine took his hand, feeling the warmth of his skin next to hers. He helped her off the bed, and she stood before him, her heart thudding in her chest. What would he do?
More importantly, what would she do?
Cameron leaned down, and Katherine’s eyes fluttered closed, anticipating his lips against hers.
Katherine shook out of the memory, just as she had an hour ago. She had never felt his kiss, but her body had hummed with the anticipation, and it had taken a few moments for her to calm her racing heart.
She still felt the excitement of having him before her, wanting her like that, and it frightened her. How many times had she thought about him over the years? It wasn’t just a young lass’s crush, but something more profound. He had saved her life and killed a man for her.
Katherine would never forget that.
But as much as Katherine wished to know how Cameron felt about her, she knew he would be angry at her for leaving the keep this morning. She had known how to sneak past the guards, something she had done many times over her lifetime and slipped out undetected.
Well, Katherine assumed that she had at least.
But she disagreed about the threat to her life. The fire along the wall had been meant to penetrate the defenses of the keep, not of her, and they had not succeeded in anything but causing a mess that had to be cleaned up. While Katherine knew she had to prove herself to her clan, she was from them. She wasn’t some sort of outsider that had been placed in charge, much like Arran had been for the last three years.
She knew everything about the clan, every person in the village. She had cried with them, celebrated with them, and she would grow old with them.
No one was out to injure her.
Katherine thought back to her days with her cousin, how he had ruled the keep with nothing but blood and violence. The villagers had cowered before him, and the keep had felt like a prison. She had cowered in her chamber, flinching every time someone walked past.
No longer. The keep was hers.
The clan was hers.
Cameron was not hers, nor did he have a place in her future. Katherine drew in a breath, thinking of the handsome Scot.
He couldn’t. He belonged with Arran, with his own clan. Katherine belonged here.
Something whizzed past her arm, and Katherine yelped as she felt the bite, looking down at the torn place on her sleeve. There was a thin line of blood, and before she could register what was happening, an arrow fell to the ground next to her horse.
Fear welled up in her chest as she urged the horse into a frightening gallop, realizing that she was under attack. Another arrow landed before them on the ground, and she kept her body low to the horse, her eyes scanning the moors for somewhere to hide.
Cameron had been right. Someone was trying to kill her.
Finally, she spied a change in the landscape, a bit of woods that she had played in as a
child, and Katherine raced toward them, her heart in her throat as she heard the horses starting to catch up with her. If they caught her, she had no idea what they would do, but it would likely end in her death.
Once Katherine had the woods for cover, she dismounted quickly and set the horse on its way, whirling around to find a tree she could climb. It was the only way she had a chance of hiding from whoever was after her.
Spying a tree with low enough limbs, Katherine started to climb, making it to the foliage that would hide her as the first horse came into view. Katherine pressed her hand to her mouth and bit back a cry as she watched the group of horses meander through the forest, their riders covered with hooded capes, their faces hidden from her view. She gripped the branch under her tightly, forcing herself to take small breaths and not move an inch as they moved past, tears brimming in her eyes. Who were they? Were they part of her clan?
She hoped not. She didn’t want to think that the people she loved would be capable of hunting her down like some wounded animal.
It hurt her greatly.
One of the riders climbed down off their horse, and Katherine held her breath as they circled the tree. Had they seen her boot prints and decided that she must have abandoned her horse? Katherine could only hope that the horse had made it to the other side of the wood and would head for the keep.
That would be the only way she would remain alive.
The bark of the tree started to bite into Katherine’s hands, and she bit her lip, waiting for the moment that they would leave, and she could climb down. Her arm started to ache where the arrow had cut into her skin, but Katherine tried to ignore it, her arms starting to tremble against the exertion. If she fell from this height, she would likely die, but it would be better than having those men below her find her. She didn’t know who they were or what they wanted from her, but it was clear they wished her dead.
Katherine didn’t know how long she waited for them to depart, but when they finally did, their horses growing faint and then disappearing altogether, Katherine allowed herself a small breath. She had done it.
Highlander’s Royal Blood: A Steamy Scottish Medieval Historical Romance Page 5