Part 8 (1/2)
Bracken averted his gaze. ”I see.” His tone was empty and yet speculative.
Catarina cast a frown at Lochlan before she looked to Bracken. ”What do you mean by that?”
”Nothing.”
”Lochlan, what does he mean by that?”
As if he had a clue. But he was curious enough himself to pursue it. ”By your tone, I can tell there's more to that statement. Don't worry about offending me. I have four brothers who tutored me well on patience.”
Bracken glanced back at Bryce as if he understood completely before he spoke again. ”I met your father a couple of times when I was a young squire at Henry's court.”
With those few words, total clarity was his. ”Ah.”
Bracken nodded. ”Exactly.”
Cat stared back at forth as the two of them appeared to be speaking in code to one another and she wanted to be let in on this great secret. ”What does that mean?”
”Nothing,” they said in unison.
Cat rolled her eyes at them. ”Men,” she said to Julia. ”They are ever a blight on our gender.”
Julia giggled as she licked her fingers.
Letting out a frustrated sigh, she returned her attention to the men. ”So what is this he met your father that brings mutual understanding to the two of you?”
Lochlan gave her a gimlet glare. ”You're not going to allow me peace from this are you?”
”Not until I have an answer.”
”Fine. My father had a bit of a reputation at the English court.”
”Reputation for what?”
”Cruelty.”
”Oh,” she whispered, feeling guilty now that she'd pursued the issue. ”I'm sorry, Lochlan, I shouldn't have pressed.”
”It's fine, la.s.s. It isn't as if it's a secret.” He indicated Bracken with a tilt of his head. ”Many people are well aware of what my father was.”
Even so, she shouldn't have pried. Such things were personal and no doubt he had scars from the experience. If his father was cruel to strangers, then he was most likely the same way to his family and that made her ache for him as she wondered what other secrets Lochlan kept locked inside himself.
They all fell quiet as they traveled in the darkness. Cat listened to the rustle of the wind through the trees. There was a bit of a chill to the air, but the close proximity of Lochlan's body chased it away. The scent of him and feel of his muscles around her went a long way in keeping her warm, too.
Lochlan stiffened, in more ways than one, as Catarina laid her hand on his arm before she tucked her head under his chin and relaxed against him again. Even though it was a purely platonic touch, there was something so intimate about it that his blood fired.
But the worst was that it awakened a longing inside him that he'd never felt before. He'd never really been at ease around women. They were too conniving and fragile for his liking. He didn't like tears or melodrama, and they seemed to bring an abundance of both. Case in point, his quest had been frustrating but peaceful until Catarina crossed his path. Not once had he pulled his sword out or had anyone shoot an arrow at his head.
The minute she came into his life--chaos.
Yet the sensation of her in his arms...it was heaven. And he found himself wondering what it would be like to have a wife. To have someone who could tease him and who wouldn't make him uncomfortable by wondering what game she played or how she was conniving to win his hand.
His sisters-in-law were perfect matches for his brothers. They treated them with respect and loved them in a way he'd never thought possible. Each one had literally saved his brothers' lives.
Surely he deserved as much? But as soon as that thought went through him, he silently scoffed as he remembered his father's bitter words. Deserving has nothing to do with anything, boy. Get that out your head. The world owes you nothing and I owe you even less.
His father was right. If deserving had anything to do with anything, his brother Sin would have been laird. Sin was the eldest, not Lochlan. But his father had never claimed Sin and where was the justice in that?
Nay, life wasn't about justice and earning a future. It was about negotiating and taking charge.
Even so, it took all his willpower not to rub his cheek against her hair and savor the softness of it on his skin. Images of her naked in his arms tormented him. It would be so easy to place his lips on her throat...
Stop. Any more and he might very well turn mad from the heat in his body. She was a cousin of his sister-in-law who had saved Ewan's life. As such, he would protect and honor her. There would be nothing more than that.
Bracken rode up beside him. ”Is she asleep again?”
Lochlan glanced down to see she was completely relaxed against him. ”I think so.”
”Interesting. I've never known her to trust anyone except Bavel that way.”
Yet she didn't seem to hesitate collapsing against him. It was odd and almost insulting that he bored her to such a state that she constantly fell asleep around him. He didn't normally elicit such a response from anyone. Most people were extremely reserved in his presence.
”How long have you known her?” he asked Bracken.
He smiled as if the memory warmed him. ”We met as children, here in France. Paris actually. I'd come here with my father and was at court, and she was visiting her father that summer.”
Amus.e.m.e.nt radiated from his eyes. ”She was livid at being forced to stay in the palace and made to wear finery. Every few minutes, she'd kick off her shoes and tear the wimple and veil from her hair. She said she was suffocating from the weight of her gown. I thought her poor nurse would have apoplexy from dealing with her.”
Lochlan could just imagine her tantrum. ”Her father tolerated it?”
The humor fled from his face. ”Not a bit. They would whip her and she would laugh, even while there were tears in her eyes from the pain. `You can't make me wear it,' she'd say bravely. `You can beat me until I turn blue, but you'll never make me wear it.'”
”Why didn't they give in to her and just let her be?”
”Prince Philip? Now king?” Bracken asked incredulously. ”Do you honestly think he'd ever cede any point, especially to a willful child?”
It was true. Philip was known for his iron will and inflexibility. The only opinion that ever mattered was his own. ”So what happened?”
”Her uncle stole her away in the middle of the night and took her back to her mother. After that, they left their home and traveled about so that her father could never again command her back to his lands and her station.”
That had been a daring move on their part. It was a wonder Philip hadn't dragged them back to Paris in chains. ”I wonder how he found her this time?”
”There's no telling. But I doubt she went to him voluntarily.”
Lochlan smiled at the understatement. ”You seem to know each other rather well for people who only met once as children.”
Bracken gave him a pointed look. ”Is that jealousy I hear in your voice?”
”Hardly. I barely know her myself.”
Still suspicion hung heavy on Bracken's brow. ”Since my father knew and liked her mother greatly, he extended an invitation to them to come stay with us during our annual spring festival.