Part 20 (2/2)
Callum said nothing as one eternal moment stretched into another. Davina was certain Kate had stopped breathing. Indeed, everyone at the table had.
”Faither”-Rob broke the silence and gave her hand a rea.s.suring squeeze-”she is my wife.”
Kate closed her eyes as her husband sprang from his chair and raked his disbelieving gaze over Maggie and her husband first. ”Is this true?” When his sister nodded, he brought his fist down on the table hard enough to rattle their cups. ”He will be hanged fer this!”
”Nae, Callum,” Maggie defended quickly. ”Not if the king does not know where she is or who she is.” She carefully told him about Rob's plan to claim Davina was a novice called Elaine, but as she spoke, and her brother's expression grew blacker, Davina had to admit to herself how ridiculous the scheme sounded.
The laird agreed, and settling his scorching gaze on his son, he spoke through clenched teeth. ”Ye dinna' realize what ye've done, or mayhap ye do and ye're both too blinded by yer hearts to care. Either way, I will tell ye. Yer marriage will mean nothin' to the king. 'Twill be annulled before she is dragged back to England. Ye, my son, will be hanged fer violatin' her. Or mayhap, if her faither is merciful, tossed into a dark dungeon somewhere. I-” His words trailed off as Davina covered her face in her hands and began to weep. ”Fergive me, la.s.s, if my words cut yer heart,” he said, softening his tone slightly, ”but ye need to hear them. Ye both do.” He stared at his son as if he didn't know him. ”Rob, how could ye no' have thought this through? What the h.e.l.l did ye think ye were doin'? Weddin' her willna' keep her with ye. He'll come fer her, and when he does ye must no' tell him that ye took her as yer wife. D'ye understand?” He looked at Davina. ”And ye, d'ye understand that 'twill cost my son his life?”
Davina nodded her head, knowing he was right. They'd both known it all along, but they chose to live as if they were asleep, safe from the world, lost in a dream. She turned to look at the man who had rescued her and taken her to a place where love meant more than her name. The man who had become her dream in the flesh.
But now it was time to wake up.
Beside her, Rob stood slowly to his feet. When he spoke, his voice was as hard and as sharp as steel. His words cut straight through to her heart. ”And if she carries my bairn, faither? What should we tell him then? Ye've had yer say and now I shall have mine. I will do whatever needs to be done when the time comes. But I willna' deny her. And whether or no' ye or anyone else in this clan stands by me, I willna' let him take her from Camlochlin.”
Rob took her hand and began to turn away from his father, but the chief's strong hand stopped him. ”I know ye well enough to know when ye willna' be moved.” Callum's smile looked pained as he turned to look at his wife, and then back to his son. ”We'll figure somethin' oot and when the times comes, yer clan will stand at yer side.”
”Your father loves his family very much,” Davina said softly at Rob's side as they climbed the stairs. ”You are like him in many ways.”
She wasn't going to tell him what she had decided. He would only try to convince her not to fear. A task she had already achieved, because of him. But this was different. This time, it wasn't her life that was in danger. It was his. This time, she had the power to stop it.
”We mustn't sleep together again.”
He laughed, but there was no trace of mirth in the sound. ”The h.e.l.l we won't. Yer my wife and nothin' will change that... or us.”
”But what if-”
”Everything will be well, Davina,” Rob interrupted her. ”Yer faither may never come here. He may never need to. Angus tells me that the queen seems very much in love with him. Mayhap he will have his son.”
”He is inconsolable over me, Rob.” Saying it felt even more foreign to her ears than when she heard Callum speak it. ”I wonder why he would be saddened by my death.”
She didn't realize they'd reached the top of the stairs until Rob took her hand to walk with her down the hall.
”Mayhap he deserves what he feels... fer whatever reason he is feelin' it.”
”He left me to protect me for a duty that might someday be mine to inherit.”
Rob stopped, dragging her to an abrupt halt with him. ”An inheritance ye dinna' want.”
”A duty, just like yours,” she reminded him.
”Nae, Davina,” he argued. ”'Tis nothin' like mine. I've trained my entire life fer mine. What d'ye know aboot leadin' a kingdom?”
”Why are you shouting at me?”
”Why are ye considerin' this fate?” he countered. Then, trying to regain his ever-composed temper, he clasped his hands behind his head and turned away from her. But not before Davina saw the flash of alarm in his eyes. He was afraid of losing her. She understood and she wanted to comfort him the same way he'd done for her so many times.
”Rob,” she whispered, coming up close to him. ”There is no other life for me but you.”
He turned, gathering her in his arms, sweeping her away with a kiss that brought tears to her eyes, and then to their chamber, kicking the door closed and locking the rest of the world outside.
Chapter Thirty-one.
Bloated, agitated clouds darkened what was left of the meager sun and the warmth she provided. The sky rumbled like a thousand horses charging across the heavens with Thor in the lead. Crackling bolts of lightning pierced the twilight, hurled by the angry G.o.d at the arrogant mountains. But they stood, impervious and unyielding against the onslaught. Nothing on earth or in heaven moved in the waiting stillness before the sky tore open and the clouds spewed forth sheets of icy rain in a violent flash for which the body had no time to prepare.
Admiral Peter Gilles hated the Highlands.
He cursed the Stuarts and all their descendants one more time as he hunkered low beneath the spa.r.s.e branches he'd ripped from the trees earlier. But there was no relief to be found from the pelting rain.
He was used to cold weather, but this was the kind of frigid chill that seeped into the marrow of your bones and made you utterly miserable. The kind of cold that made you want to curl up in something warm and go to sleep. Forever.
”Is it close to morning?” Hendrick queried through clicking teeth when the rain finally stopped.
”How the h.e.l.l should I know?” Maarten replied, sounding equally despondent from his makes.h.i.+ft shelter.
Gilles looked up at the heavens. Through the shadowy haze, he could make out the stars for the second time in the last four hours. Dead of night had pa.s.sed quickly and the morning would be coming soon. It was the one thing, the only thing agreeable about this wretched place. Daylight was getting longer, giving him more time to hunt.
But he was going to have to find his prize soon or risk losing his men in a mutiny. He'd have to kill them, of course. Either way, he would be one man against the MacGregors. Not favorable odds.
The days were getting longer and his time was running out.
They were making progress, even though everything was wet here. All the time. It made maneuvering over the mossy hillsides difficult and dangerous. But there was at least one Tavernier in every village he and his men had traveled who knew of the MacGregors, leading them ever northward. Gilles did not find her with the MacGregors of Stronachlacher, but a most helpful fellow in Breadalbane was good enough to tell him of a clan of MacGregors living on one of the isles northwest. Exiled from the rest, they lived in the mists, rarely seen or heard of.
She was with them. Gilles knew it in his guts, but where? Which isle? No one knew, and if they did, they would not say.
He hated Highlanders too.
Something caught his attention and he looked around, realizing what it was. Birds chirping. The dawn had finally come. ”Hendrick,” he ordered, leaving his shelter and slapping his soaked hat across his thigh, ”find us something to eat. Nuts, berries, I don't care.
”Maarten, gather the rest of the men and-” He stopped suddenly and tilted his head south. ”What is that sound?”
”More thunder.”
”No.” He listened for another moment then beckoned Hendrick back to him. ”Horses. Tell the men to take cover.”
A little while later, they watched the narrow road from the other side of a muddy hill.
”Sounds like a small army,” Hendrick murmured, waiting for the riders to appear.
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