It was probably a detail he would have cared to know, especially after he had spent so much time searching the woods for the assailant. But so much had happened; all of the events had just started to pile up one on top of the other until the details had just run together in her mind.
Maybe ‘tis a good thing I am sharing a tent with Florence and Ellen, Kenna thought as Rob’s gaze continued to weigh on her.
Thomas took in Rob’s glance before directing his attention back to Kenna. “Still a wonderful marriage?”
“Answer my question,” Kenna shot back, feeling her hands ball into fists.
Being around Thomas again, arguing with Thomas again, was bringing her back to her childhood—of days spent arguing over who stole the last sweet or had lost a favorite toy. She used to kick him in the shins if he was avoiding her questions, and she felt that same urge rising up in her once more. If only the seriousness of the questions had stayed as low as they had once been.
“What? Which of us strategized the attack on the camp? ‘Tis not a question I can answer, for ‘twas neither John nor I. ‘Twas not Huntly either, ye ken, so don’t go running ‘round accusing him.”
Rob finally pulled his gaze from Kenna, turning to Thomas with a hint of contempt in his voice. “And yet ye ken all about what she is talking about.”
“‘Course I do. I was still at Strathbogie with John when Sutherland sent a letter to the Earl of Huntly about it. ‘Twas so full of congratulations and praises for managing to set an entire army running about in fear with only one wee arrow. Huntly told the entire hall that he could not claim the praises, but he offered a purse of gold to any who could. No one stepped forward. He sent out riders to the villages and other small farms and holdings. Still, no one claimed responsibility.”
“But—”
“Kenna, look at me—does it look like I recently came into a pretty purse of gold?”
Kenna frowned. Thomas did look particularly ragged. His eyes were sunken and dark, and lines of exhaustion, age, and stress had settled along his eyes and forehead. Even his clothes were rumpled and stained, though she knew that he had plenty of good, decent clothes to wear and plenty of maids to keep them clean. He just simply didn’t care. He didn’t want to seem better off than he was.
“Look,” Thomas continued, leaning forward in the chair to level his blue eyes with hers, “I did a lot to wrong ye these past few months. I’ll be the first to admit it. There is much I am ashamed of. Much that has kept me awake until the wee hours of the morn with fret and guilt. Things like working with Sutherland and agreeing to marry ye off just to try and protect our place here. I ken that my guilt does little to solve anything, and ‘tis certainly nothing compared to what ye must have endured. I’ll confess to everything I have done, everything that gives me guilt. But I canna confess to something that I didna do.”
“Then what was the letter from John to Sutherland all about? He said he had finished something fer him.”
“Aye, we delivered his letters for him. Sutherland had written a whole pile of ‘em by the time he left here. Once ye all left, John and I rode as fast as we could to Strathbogie to deliver them and then wrote to Aberdeen to let him ken that we had done as he had asked. He told us not to say anything specific in any letters we wrote, just to be safe. Of course, now that I think about it, that was likely so that he could use the letters to pass the blame onto us fer anything that crept too close to him. Bastard just wanted something with our hand on it so he could save his own ass.”
Kenna felt her stomach twist, and she cast a wary look over at Rob, who was staring out the window now, his brow furrowed. Thomas had made an excellent point, for that did seem exactly like something Sutherland would have done. When she had found the letter from John, Sutherland had just coaxed her into coming to a conclusion on her own, allowing Kenna to match her knowledge of the events and of her brothers together. She had been the one to come up with the accusation, not him. The letter had served the purpose he had intended, and Kenna felt foolish now for not seeing that before.
Kenna reached down and began to finger the blue of her skirt, pinching and twisting the fabric between her two fingers.
“But, if it was not ye, then who was it?”
Thomas shrugged and took another long draw of ale. “Dunno. A ghost?”
Rob reached out, touching Kenna gently on the shoulder before she could say anything more. “Kenna, lass, I’m sorry, but we canna stay any longer. We’ll never catch up if we don’t go now.”
Kenna felt like a boat at sea without any wind left to carry her. This wasn’t how the day was supposed to go. She was supposed to have answers, not more questions.
Rob stood, reached across the table, and clasped hands with Thomas. “Apologies fer the quick departure. ‘Twas good to see ye again.”
Thomas gave him a captivated look. “Aye, I am sure. I’ll call upon ye when they tell me Strathbogie is secure once more. I’m sure ye’ll wish to test it fer yerself. I’ll be of half a mind to join ye.”
Rob laughed, big and booming, and Kenna almost hated him for it. Didn’t he want answers as much as she did? He reached out and took Kenna’s hand, helping her to her feet, though she was internally screaming that she wanted to stay.
Thomas reached into his belt and pulled out a parcel of letters and passed them over to her.
“From Elizabeth and a couple from John and me. She has written to ye every day that she has been able to do so. We didn’t think it would be wise to send them ‘til the rebellion was settled. I haven’t given her yer letter yet, but I’m sure she’ll be thrilled.”
The chill in Kenna’s heart softened at the sight of her sister’s small, tidy letters. “Give it to her with all of my love.”
Kenna followed Rob to the door but hesitated before crossing the threshold, turning to look back at her brother once more. He looked so small sitting there, swirling his cup with a blank expression on his face. She strode back to the table and bent to give Thomas a quick peck on the cheek. He relaxed a bit under her touch.
“Thomas, I am sorry that I accused ye of it.”
He winced. “I am sorry that I made ye think I was capable of it.”
“‘Til next time, brother.”
“Aye, try to stay out of trouble.”
Why does everyone tell me that? Kenna thought as she left the inn and took the reins of her horse from Rob.
The pair rode in silence out of the city, navigating the hordes of people with care until, finally, they were surrounded only by the silence of the Highlands. The midafternoon sun beat down on them both, contradicting the cold, winterish breezes that were snaking their way through the hills.
“What do we do now?” Kenna dared to ask when the silence grew too unbearable. “About the archer?”
“We put it behind us.”
“Will that work?”
Rob pulled his horse up alongside hers and reached over, entangling his fingers in her curls and pulling her a bit closer to him so he could kiss her softly. “It has to.”
Kenna nodded and kissed him again. It wasn’t the answer that she wanted, but it was the only one she would get. That would just have to be enough.
15
The party rode silently through the hills, the only sound between them the occasional cough and dull thud of their horses’ hooves as they broke through the thin layer of frost clinging to the grass. It was barely bright enough to see the ground in front of them, for the sun hadn’t even risen.
They hadn’t intended to get up in the early hours of the morning and pack up camp, but it had been too cold to sleep any longer. Rob had been laying alone in his tent, wishing that Kenna was in his arms when he had given up and abandoned all hope for sleep—only to find that half of his men were already awake, shivering, and impatient. They roused the rest and packed up quickly, knowing that they could reach the warmth of the castle before they served breakfast if they rode at a decent pace.
Rob rode up beside Kenna, who looked dazed a
nd sleepy as she nestled into the fur lining of her cloak. She gave him a groggy look and asked, “Are we there yet?”
“Ye’ll be able to see it as soon as we get to the top of this hill.”
She nodded slowly, fighting back a yawn as their horses climbed the hill.
Hugh came up beside them, slipping his horse between them. “Father is already telling me about all the chores we’ll be stuck with when we get to Dounie.”
“Great.” Rob sighed, knowing that it was unlikely for him to get either a bath or a nap before he was sent away to settle whatever hadn’t been done while they had been off waging war for Queen Mary.
As they approached the top of the hill, Rob pulled back on his horse’s reins ever so slightly, allowing Hugh to ride ahead so he could maneuver himself back to Kenna’s side just as the rode slopped and flattened at the hill’s peak.
Down below and off in the distance, a large castle built of brown stone sat in the middle of a large field. Towers both squared and rounded rose up into the air and were topped by parapets and bright red flags, which were swaying gently in the morning breeze. Rob looked over to Kenna, watching as her eyes widened ever so slightly at the sight.
He leaned over, whispering teasingly in her ear, “Ye couldna of thought ye were the only one who grew up in a fancy castle.”
Her blue eyes rolled over to him. “Amazing that ye turned out so brutish anyway.”
“Rob.” Hugh called back Rob’s attention and occupied them with talk of chores and hunting.
The conversation carried them all the way to the castle until, at last, they passed through the gates.
As they had been coming up the road, a few shouts had echoed out from the castle courtyard, announcing their return. By the time that they reached the castle’s yard, hordes of castle residents had come out to greet them: old men eager to hear of the fight; wives looking to see if their husbands were amongst the living; and servants with arms piled high with warmed bricks for their hands and hot bannocks for their stomachs. The eagerness in the air was palpable and, for the first time in months, Rob felt himself truly relax.
This was home. No matter how much he loved the adventures of the road, there was nothing quite like Dounie. And now he would be able to share that with Kenna. Though, as he looked at the crowd, he wasn’t so sure he was ready to share her with them yet. He needed some time with her to himself, time that they had been sorely missing in the days since leaving Inverness. He had private things he wished to discuss with her, and even more private things he wished to do with her.
Rob dismounted and began to move through the crowd, swiftly slipping in and out of the embraces of his clansmen and relatives until he reached Kenna’s side. She had barely dismounted and was pretending to adjust one of the knots on her saddle so that she wouldn’t have to turn and face the crowd. He could not blame her for her trepidation: the last time that she had been exposed to so many new people, she had found herself the subject of treacherous rumors.
Rob came up beside her, but kept his back to her as he softly asked, “Deal with endless introductions and questions, or try and escape to the bedchambers?”
He heard a soft intake of breath before she softly whispered, “Escape.”
Carefully, hoping that the motion would pass by unnoticed, he reached out and let his fingers brush up against the small of her back as he passed alongside her. He dared half a glance back as he walked away, and noticed with pleasure that Kenna was following him, her face lowered but unmistakably flushed.
Rob made his way toward the nearest doorway into the castle, eager for a bit of shelter from the prying eyes of the crowd. They were mere paces away from getting away with their private exit when a few children went sprinting by, all chasing after one lad who had been given a large jar of sweet strawberry jam. Rob jumped forward before any of them could crash into him, but Kenna, who had been diligently looking at the ground, had no such luck. With a thud, one of the larger boys caught Kenna’s shoulder, and she stumbled. Rob reached out, catching her in his arms before she had a chance to fall.
Glances that Rob had already felt tickling the back of his neck were now full stares. And then he knew those stares were shifting to the woman in his arms. An almost collective gasp rippled out from around them as if everyone was realizing all at once that Kenna was not someone they knew, and yet there she was being held so comfortably in the arms of the man that they had thought to be a hopeless bachelor. Rob tensed, bracing himself for the typhoon of questions that were surely about to crash against them like waves on a cliff, but a single loud voice seemed to suddenly come rising out from the crowd, pulling the stares away from Rob and Kenna for the briefest of moments.
“Well, ‘tis good to see ye all, but I am afraid that we are all exhausted and in need of baths. Murtagh especially,” Florence said. “Come along now, might you start…”
Rob hadn’t waited to hear the rest, for it was just the distraction he needed to make his retreat with Kenna. With her hand in his, he pulled her through the doorway and into the castle. Kenna laughed as Rob rushed her along, taking her up winding staircases and through a maze of halls until, finally, they reached a long, sun-soaked hall with a series of doors along one side.
“Hugh and Ellen’s room,” Rob said, pointing at the first door they passed by.
“Florence’s room,” Rob said as they passed the second.
“And finally.” Rob came to a stop in front of the last door in the hall. “Mine.”
With one swift motion, he pushed the door in and scooped Kenna into his arms. He carried her across the threshold and kicked the door shut behind them. His mouth descended onto hers, and the damn woman’s lips parted, and she pressed eagerly into him. Rob carried her to the bed and playfully dropped her.
She laughed and then bit her lip as he started to pull off his cloak and shirt, her eyes roving the muscles of his chest as he slowly revealed them to her. How had he lasted so long without this woman?
He got onto the bed, crouching over her as she stared up at him with eyes that were so full of longing that he felt every drop of his blood begin to rush beneath his kilt.
“Welcome to Dounie, Lady Kenna.”
“Right,” she said, a bit impatiently, as she reached up and pulled him down to her, their mouths once again opening to each other so that their tongues could swirl and spar.
Rob’s fingers, though still stiff from the cold morning ride, managed to find and loosen the laces of her bodice, pulling the thin strings aside until her chest was bare.
Rob pulled from their kiss and moved his mouth lower, sinking into the valley between her breasts before traveling from peak to peak, dropping soft kisses and nibbles that made Kenna moan and squirm beneath him.
His patience nearly worn thin, he was about to pull up her skirts when a few loud pounds on the door made them both jump.
“Laird Rob? Yer father has requested yer presence in his solar, and I was told to prepare a bath fer yer… Fer yer wife?” a maid called through the door, her voice a mixture of nervousness and confusion.
“Ignore her,” Rob whispered, and Kenna just nodded, her fingers entangling in his hair and pulling him back down to her lips.
The pounding carried on for a bit longer, then paused, and was then renewed with new fervor.
“Rob, yer wife has things to do, and I need ye and yer brother in my solar! Winter is not going to wait fer ye, even if ye can be quick.”
Rob groaned at the sound of his father’s voice. The words had been laced with humor, but Rob could also not mistake the warning in his tone.
“Ignore him?” Kenna asked hesitantly, the look on her face revealing that she already knew the answer.
“I’ll be back soon,” Rob said, giving her one last kiss and doing his best to ignore the breasts that he had just so meticulously freed from their bindings. “And ye ken that I will be expecting to pick up where this was left off.”
The Laird Lovat, barely able to conceal his laughter when
Rob emerged red-faced and covering his lower half with his plaid, was quick to send him out of the castle and into the cold.
And so began one of the longest weeks that Rob had ever known.
First, he and Hugh had ridden north to repair a fence that, according to the castle’s steward, would not survive the first snowfall. When that was done, they had ridden east to inspect the mill, ensuring that all was ready for a deep winter freeze. Then they had ridden west, passing so closely to Dounie that the scents from its ovens made each of them pull up their horses and debate the consequences of not returning home for the evening. In the end, they had continued to ride east, arriving at a small manor house that was struggling to raise a barn before the ground froze—the last barn having been burned to ash mere days before by a pair of foolish lovers who hadn’t set their lantern far enough away from their flailing limbs. Rob and Hugh drove the posts into the partially frozen earth, working into the night until they were allowed to ride home, their first list of chores completed.
In all, they were gone from the castle for eight days, arriving back in the middle of the afternoon. The castle’s yard was humming with people working and children playing, but neither brother paid anyone any mind, though Rob heard a few shouts congratulating him on his recent marriage. Each brother instead leaped from their horse and strode swiftly to the castle, matching each other stride for stride as they made their way to their individual chambers
“Shouldn’t ye, the next laird, run off to tell father that we are back home?” Hugh said breathlessly over his shoulder.
Rob scoffed; like hell he was going to tell Father they were home and be robbed of a few hours of rest and, well, “less restful activities”.
Hugh, naturally, arrived first. When he swung his door open, Rob heard Ellen gasp before her chair ground on the stone floor as she stood to go and greet him. A pulse of anticipation raced through him, wondering if Kenna would finally confess to missing him or if she would keep playing coy with him. Either option made his blood stir.
Highlander's Haunted Past (Highlander's Seductive Lasses Book 1) Page 20
