Part 14 (1/2)
Rob glanced once again at the entrance and smiled. So, it wasn't just men who fell helpless to Davina's natural enchantment. ”I did notice that she ate a good amount of nuts and berries on our way here,” he said, knowing how much his aunt despised the practice of eating flesh. Davina had won her over easily. ”Ye have my thanks fer seein' to her comfort.” When Maggie's gaze softened on him as if she could see his heart right there in his eyes, he looked away, turning his attention to her husband.
”What were the MacLeods doin' here?”
Jamie Grant looked up and smiled at the server placing his trencher on the table. ”Padraig MacLeod is actin' as chieftain while his faither is in England. He stopped through here on his way back from meetin' with Alisdair MacKinnon's son in Torrin to bolster their alliance wi' us all in these uncertain times. I had a missive penned to the MacDonalds in Portree, vowin' the MacGregors' support, should they need it.”
”Good,” Rob said, bringing his cup to his mouth. He felt a wee bit guilty about thinking Jamie had left Camlochlin to pick flowers. He should have known there was another reason for his going to Torrin. Though many Highland clans fought against each other, if the new king thought to bring his English laws down on them, they would stand together.
”The MacKinnons are with us then?”
”Of course. Skye will always stand secure against outside influences. Our hope is that King James will... Rob?” Jamie paused until Rob looked away from the entrance and back at him. ”She must be an extraordinary la.s.s to be able to distract ye from yer pa.s.sions.”
She was his pa.s.sion, and he was past caring who knew it. h.e.l.l, what in blazes was taking her so long? He hadn't seen her since this afternoon and he missed her face so much he was tempted to go get her himself.
”I've grown accustomed to havin' her near,” Rob said, his gaze already being pulled back to the stairs.
”I've been informed that she is a princess, mayhap even a G.o.ddess.” Jamie winked at Finn, sitting across from him, and then dipped his bread into his stew. ”But I doubt yer faither will accept divinity as a good enough reason no' to return to his side.”
”I made my choice, Uncle.”
”And ye couldna' have chosen to take her to England with ye?” Normally, at this point in any conversation with this particular nephew, Jamie would never have pressed on. Rob was someday going to lead this clan and he'd learned well not to be rash in his thinking. He weighed and measured each decision he made before acting upon it, and once he set his course there was no changing his mind. But he'd never set his course in a different path than his father's, and never for a la.s.s-who came attached to an English soldier.
Rob ground his jaw, deciding how best to begin. He had intended on telling his kin the truth about Davina, but exactly how could he do so without sounding like an impetuous whelp ruled by his emotions? ”Her life is in grave danger,” he said, knowing in his own heart that that was the emotion that ruled him first. ”I pledged myself to protecting her, and this is the safest place I know.”
”Why is she in danger?” Jamie asked him evenly.
”Because she is...” They had a right to know, to choose whether or not to stand with him, should anyone come to Camlochlin to remove her. ”She is King James's firstborn daughter and heir to the throne.”
Everyone at the table sat motionless and mute, save for Finn, Will, and Asher. Rob expected shock and dismay and was about to close his eyes to wait out the silence.
”I thought James's daughter Mary was the Princess Royal,” his aunt said, also seemingly unfazed by the news.
”So does everyone else in England.”
”How did she come to be in yer possession?” Jamie asked him calmly, though he'd dropped his bread into his food and left it there.
Rob told them about the attack on St. Christopher's, and who was behind it and why. ”There is likely a rebellion brewin' involvin' the Duke of Monmouth, the Earl of Argyll, and possibly William of Orange. Connor has agreed no' to tell the king anything aboot her-”
”She is his daughter,” Jamie interrupted.
”A daughter he cloistered away in a convent and has never seen,” Rob bit out.
”If ye don't plan on telling her father that ye have her,” Maggie asked, ”what do ye intend to do with her?”
Here was the part of the tale that would prove all the other emotions that had subsequently directed him. ”I intend to keep her.”
”Fer how long?” Jamie stared at him so still that Rob wondered if he was breathing.
”Fer as long as she'll have me.”
His uncle leapt to his feet, startling Maggie, who then glared at him to show her disapproval. ”Ye'll bring the entire realm doun on our heads!”
”That is what I've been trying to tell him,” Asher interjected smugly, but then looked away when Rob's eyes sliced through him like hot irons through b.u.t.ter.
”Robert,” Jamie continued as if the captain had not spoken at all. ”Tell me ye dinna' mean to claim the king's daughter. Tell me ye are no' willin' to throw away everything ye've worked at protectin' fer this la.s.s?”
”I dinna' know if I can tell ye that, Uncle,” Rob said, staring at the entrance where Davina stood, her small hands twisting the scarlet and green earasaid draped over her skirts. Her hair was swept away from her temples with two small pearl pins while the rest fell like liquid suns.h.i.+ne down her back. When their eyes met, she smiled slightly, as if the very sight of him rea.s.sured her. Rob rose to his feet as the need to go to her overwhelmed him. Behind him, he heard the others push out their chairs as well.
”Good evenin', yer Royal Highness.”
Rob turned his smile on Jamie, understanding all too well the reverence replacing the anger in his uncle's voice. He knew every man in the hall was overcome by Davina's unearthly beauty. He didn't like it, but he would learn to live with it.
When he looked at her again, her smile had vanished.
Chapter Twenty-two.
Dear G.o.d, he'd told them. He'd told them all. For a sickening moment, despite Alice's gentle nudge behind her, Davina stood motionless in her spot. Her anxious gaze pa.s.sed over the man who had addressed her as no one had before him. What should she do-besides resist the instinct to turn and flee back to her room? She wouldn't do that. The time for hiding was over. This was Rob's family. If he trusted them enough to tell them who she was, then she too would trust that they would not betray her. She realized, as that moment pa.s.sed into another, that it was not fear that paralyzed her when the people at Rob's table stood at her entrance, but harsh, stinging reality.
She was Lady Davina Stuart, Royal Princess, heir to the three kingdoms. No matter how far she ran, how well she hid, or how right she felt in her new Highland garb, she would never escape it. Whether here on Skye, or in an English castle, no smile would ever be sincere.
But Rob's was. Her weary heartbeat faltered when he moved toward her, his smile intimate and rea.s.suring. He didn't care who she was. He'd kissed her, touched her as if she were his to possess. He watched her with eyes that burned to touch more of her, that warmed at the sight of her, and danced at the sound of her laughter. She wanted him to kiss her, touch her, possess her. She wanted to stay with him here in this busy fortress, surrounded by common folks while she grew heavy with his babe and became the mother she had missed having.
When he reached her, he fit her hand into his broad one. ”Come,” he said on a breath as ragged as her own. ”Meet my kin before the sight of ye fells them to their knees next.”
She went with him, walking at his side until they reached the table and the men still on their feet. He introduced her to his uncle and the others who were meeting her for the first time, simply as Davina.
She liked Jamie Grant twenty breaths after she sat down. It wasn't the guileless charm of his smile or the worried look in his eyes that he tried so hard to conceal when he spoke to her that warmed her heart to him so quickly, but the way his smile broadened with love when he looked at his wife.
”How does Connor fare?” he asked Rob while Maggie cast Davina's cabbage soup and crisp oat cakes an approving look.
”He fares well,” Rob said, and washed down his mouthful of bread with a swig of ale. ”But I fear he's no' as brave as ye or Graham had hoped.”
”And why might that be?”
”Mairi,” Rob told him, bringing a heaping spoonful of rabbit stew to his mouth. ”He near wet his breeches when I told him she was still in England.”
Will agreed with a hearty laugh, ignoring Finn's insulted glare.
”That's no' fear, lad,” Jamie corrected, taking less offense. ”'Tis wisdom.”
Rob nodded, conceding the point, and went back to eating. Davina watched him beneath the shadow of her lashes. Compared to Edward and the men who had lived with her at St. Christopher's, Rob ate like a starving bear. She liked his lack of table etiquette and the pa.s.sion of his appet.i.te, and then remembered that he hadn't eaten a hot meal in weeks.
”Captain Asher.” Jamie turned to Edward next, doing his best at keeping the conversation light. ”D'ye know that Connor Grant and young Finlay here are the High Admiral's nephews?”