Part 20 (1/2)
”Oh, yes, my lady, thank you. Everyone here has been wonderful.”
Kate patted her hand and offered Rob a pleased smile. ”We're delighted to have you here, are we not, darling?”
”Aye,” her husband said with just a little less enthusiasm. ”Rob told us aboot the men who came fer ye at Courlochcraig.”
”But it can wait until after you've eaten,” Kate insisted, offering her a chair.
Perhaps this would not be so terrible, Davina thought, walking around the table to Rob. The laird didn't seem half as fearsome as Will and the others had led her to believe. Kate MacGregor was certainly one of the warmest people she'd ever met and as likable as Tristan. Perhaps they would take the news of their son's marriage easier than she thought. She waved at Finn and Jamie when she pa.s.sed them and bent to kiss Maggie's cheek when she reached her next. She caught the surprised look the chief tossed his wife when Maggie reached up from her chair and touched Davina's cheek lovingly. But her hopes dashed to the floor as she took her usual seat beside Rob. She wasn't sure if it was Rob's sweetly intimate smile or her own breathless gush in response to it that made Callum MacGregor's handsome smile fade. For a terrifying instant, Davina feared that everything she loved was about to be taken from her again, and this time, she would not survive it.
Chapter Thirty.
My lady-”
”Davina, please, my laird.”
”Davina,” Rob's father corrected with a slight nod. ”I was just done tellin' Robert that ye have one less enemy to fret aboot.”
”Oh?” She raised her brows, thankful for something to take her mind off the inevitable. They were foolish to believe that either of their fathers would allow love between them, let alone marriage. But it was too late. It was done, and by G.o.d, she wasn't going to let anyone take from her again.
”Once the king discovered the names behind the tragedy at St. Christopher's,” Rob's father went on, all stoic and serious, much like his eldest son, ”it didna' take him long to discover what Argyll has been up to. Confident that the Campbells will stand with him in an uprisin', the earl has returned to Scotland to build his army. When I left the king, he was already makin' plans to stop him. Argyll will never make it to England alive.”
Davina didn't know how she should feel. It was wrong to take joy in someone's death, but she was happy that the king would soon have one less enemy. And so would she, thanks to Rob. If he had gone to the coronation with his father, she would be dead and her father would never have found out about Argyll until it was too late.
”Monmouth and Gilles will no' be difficult to find with an army on their heels,” Rob told her, leaning in closer.
She looked up at him and relished the hope he always stirred in her. ”The king owes you much,” she said, staring into his eyes, aching to stroke his jaw, to run her fingers along his lips.
”The king”-Callum's voice was cold enough to cool the soup Agnes had just set in front of Davina-”so I am told by my son Colin, is inconsolable over the presumed death of his daughter.”
Davina went still, unaware and uninterested in her food or anything else, save for what Rob's father had just told her. Why would he say such a thing? Her father... inconsolable... over her? It couldn't be true. He had to be lying, perhaps hoping to touch some part of her heart that ached for a man she did not know so that she would want to go to him.
”The king has nae right to grieve over the daughter he abandoned at her birth,” Rob said, the anger in his voice pulling his father's hard gaze to him.
”Ye presume to know the rights of a king now... or a faither?”
”A faither?” Rob laughed hollowly. ”He doesna' even know her. Mayhap he grieves because he sat pa.s.sively by while his second daughter was wed to a Protestant who schemes fer his t.i.tle.”
Davina angled her face toward Rob, but refrained at the last moment from defending the king's reasons for allowing Mary to wed William of Orange.
”Robert.” The clip of annoyance in his father's voice was emphasized by the clap of thunder that suddenly shook the walls, and Tristan, who until that moment had looked utterly bored with the topic, sat forward with a curious smirk slanting his mouth. ”I dinna' know what ye had in mind fer-”
”Callum.” Kate touched his husband's arm. ”You are upsetting our guest. Look, she has yet to take a sip from her cup.”
”Aye,” Maggie chimed in. ”Let us speak of more pleasant things at the table. Tell me, Kate, did Mairi's staying in England have anything to do with Connor?”
”We hope so,” Kate told her. ”It is why we let her stay on with Claire when she asked.”
”Ye did no' tell the king that his daughter lived, did ye, faither?”
Kate gave Rob an exasperated sigh and went back to eating.
”D'ye think I want an army ridin' over those hills?” his father replied dryly.
”I had nae choice but to bring her here.”
”Of course you didn't, Robert,” his mother agreed. ”Your father knows that.”
Callum turned to grant her the full force of his scowl, which she ignored-much to Davina's admiration.
”I'm no' questionin' yer valiant efforts to keep her safe,” the laird said, returning his attention to his son. ”But now we must decide what to do with her.”
”I have already decided,” Rob said boldly, piquing Tristan's interest yet again. ”And my decision will no' please ye.”
Callum's jaw jumped with the effort it took to refrain from speaking words Davina suspected he might regret later. He drew in a deep breath before he spoke again, conceding only slightly to what was clear before his eyes. ”Ye care fer her. But despite what ye believe, Robert, there are laws even we must abide.”
”And if we canna' abide them?” Rob asked, matching the intensity of the gaze staring back at him. ”What then, faither? Did ye obey the law when 'twas a crime to speak yer own name? Or when ye took a Campbell fer yer wife?”
”Nae, son, but-”
”No, he didn't.” Kate set down her spoon and picked up her serviette to dab the corners of her mouth. ”And we are not asking you to do something you cannot abide. We understand the Princess is in great danger and that the safest place for her right now is in Camlochlin. Isn't that correct, husband.”
Judging by the flash of fire in his eyes when he set them on his wife, Callum MacGregor was losing his battle for control fast. Fortunately, before he could reply, Rob did.
”She will always be in danger anywhere but here.”
Callum opened his mouth to say something, but once again, his wife beat him to it.
”But the king will never let her-”
”Katie.” With one word the chief stilled the entire table, including his wife. ”If ye continue to interrupt me every time I open my mouth, I will take our son to the solar and speak to him alone.”
”Forgive me,” Kate amended, albeit a bit stiffly, and severed her injured gaze from his.
It was clear to Davina in that moment how much the Devil MacGregor loved his wife. For his eyes lingered on her too long, as if willing her to look at him. When she didn't, he muttered an oath under his breath even as he reached for her hand and covered it with his own.
The tender gesture was enough to earn him the forgiveness he sought when Kate rotated her wrist and entwined her fingers through his.
Here was what Davina wanted. She wanted to be sitting here twenty years from now with a husband who loved her more than his pride, a man who scowled at the rest of the world but melted at her slightest touch. She wanted Rob and she was tired of others dictating her life.
With a clear head and a determined heart, Davina slipped her hand to Rob's and closed her fingers around his, just as his mother had done to his father. She did not pull away when Callum's eyes lifted from their forbidden touch to meet her gaze.
”My laird, I want to stay here. I love your son and never wish to be parted from him. I will not abide any law-from king or father-that tries to take me from him.”