“Why do ye judge this woman so? She wasnae casting any devil’s spells! She was a help, and so was the poultice Glyniss made. The child is better, though there still be fever. Mary needs ye one and all to be an aid, not a hindrance. The child is ill, and Glyniss will do all she can to help, but this lady is not wicked. Ask the healer.”
Cat watched Tobias at the head of the crowd of women. He leaned heavily on a wooden crutch made from a tree, supporting a leg bent and crippled, and he sported a scruffy gray beard. Thin, his eyes a bright blue, he watched Roderic suspiciously, then suddenly met her gaze. Cat took a deep breath and raised her chin defiantly.
Glyniss stepped up and put her hands on her hips when she addressed the crowd.
“If ye all aren’t a pretty flock of game hens! Ye hate the Englishmon, but ye cannae drive him away. The lass served ye weel enough, as Angus Mackay stole her to keep the alliance with the King! She saved your lives with a lie!”
Cat had feared the moment of truth. Glyniss turned, an expression of compassion shining in her eyes. “Forgive me, I mean ye no harm, but never could I abide lies and deceivin’. Never knew a secret to be kept! I dinnae fear your husband means these people harm, so the truth shall be spoken.”
Roderic looked at his wife with a gaze filled with new questions and suspicion. Cat dropped her eyes briefly, took a deep breath, and silently pleaded his indulgence.
Glyniss went on speaking to the crowd. “Now ye be done with her, so ye judge her a witch?”
“The Gordon Laird and his son are dead after taking the child away when she wanted to keep the babe!”
“Aye, and so are ten others from that holding, of the same fever! They knew not this lady, and she had no grudge to bear them! Say ye she caused them to be stricken, too?”
“She claimed to be from a different time!” Tobias shouted the accusation.
“Mary told me she was knocked senseless when Angus pulled her out of the water! Slapped her about, too! Mackay threatened to kill her if she did not pretend to be the real Brianna,” Glyniss said.
“The real Brianna!” Roderic spoke the words in anger.
“Aye. The lass ye were to marry fled, and Mackay had to think fast, like the wily serpent he is. Angus stole this lass to give them a way out. She is not evil, and she is not a witch. Reached out a hand of help to those here, she did, ungrateful backbiters they be.” Glaring at the crowd again, her eyes flashed her contempt.
“We dinnae ken who ye married, Sir Roderic. Verily we know this truth.” She turned to Cat and folded her arms to her chest. “She is not a Mackay.”
Chapter Nineteen
Confess your faults to one another, and pray for one another, that ye may be healed.
~James 5:16
Who are you? What clan holds your allegiance?” Roderic demanded. There was a bitter edge of determination in his voice.
They had entered the keep and spoken with the nurse to see that all was well with Hope. The babe was sleeping soundly with her in another chamber, so they entered the privacy of their own, where Roderic felt safe to vent his anger.
His wife was not listening to him. Wearily, she poured water in a basin and washed herself from the waist up. He knew she was exhausted, but he would know the truth.
“Must we speak of this now? I am tired, and I need to be clean. Can you not spare me the time to do this?”
Whirling from her while she washed, he paced, battling his rage at both the Mackay and the beautiful woman he had married. He waited until she finished changing clothes and came to sit on the bed. Folding her hands in her lap demurely, she turned to face him, as if refusing more wine at the table.
“Answer me, wife.” The angry retort hardened his features.
“Would it matter so much if I were not a Mackay by blood?”
“Brianna …” He took a deep breath while his eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“That is not your name. What do I call you now?”
She shrugged, a wry smile teasing her lips. “I’m called Catherine.”
He came to stand before her, and she was keenly aware of his scrutiny. “So it is true, then. Angus Mackay forced you to marry me? He threatened you?”
Nodding, she looked away to gaze at the fire. “Yes. Calum Mackay said he would kill me if I didn’t agree.”
“They beat you! I remember the mark on your back! Why did you not appeal to me? I would have protected you.”
“I know that now. I thought I could get away at first …”
“So you were running away from me when you went to Maitland. Are you from another clan?”
She stood up and walked away from him, around the bed. “You don’t understand! Don’t ask me questions I cannot answer. I can’t go home. I have no place to go! Then, after we were together, I …” Cat stopped speaking.
“Yes? After we were together?”
Turning to face him, she looked ravishing in her soft white sheath, the fire casting a warm, dancing light in her red hair. Trembling, her green eyes were shining brightly with emotion.
“I didn’t want to leave you. If I would never again see family or home it mattered not. From the moment I looked into your eyes, I felt … I belonged to you, Roderic.”
Coming to her, he gripped her waist tightly. She felt his anger and passion in every muscle of his body, and held his face in her hands. Closing her eyes, she sighed, and rested her cheek to his. “Please, please, forgive me. I will never betray you.”
Roderic was caught off-guard by his emotions. Profoundly touched by what she had endured for him and the clan, his mouth possessed her, his tongue swept past the softness of her lips to caress her passionately.
He pulled away abruptly. Wrapping her hair around his fist he spoke hoarsely. “May God forgive me … though I know what true duty and honor would demand of me … I cannot take you to your home to appease any noble principle. Better to suffer recompense at any harsh altar than have you ripped from me body and soul. You are my mate, my woman, and I will not lose you to another, be it kin or clan. The thought of another man with right of ownership of you fills me with a blood lust to kill, if need be, to keep you at my side!”
Looking at him with apprehension, she did not answer. Tears spilled from her green eyes as she rested her cheek to his chest.
“Tell me you will never leave me!”
“I can’t, Roderic.” She swiped her tears away with the back of her hand. He shook her into gasping silence.
“So be it. You will be guarded day and night!”
He expected her anger, recriminations, and at last, an explanation. He got none, and was baffled by her response. She slipped her arms around him and caressed his back, embracing him. Bending down, he swung her gently up into his arms and carried her to the bed.
Roderic made love to her tenderly, with an inner rage and possessiveness. Lying awake long after they found their pleasure, he held her tightly and wrapped his body around hers when she slept. He held her all through the night, as if he were in danger of an intruder and in fear of someone snatching her away.
Roderic refused to speak to his men about his wife’s identity. If there was a spirit of discontentment, they hid it well, and he was increasingly uneasy at the thought of explanations to the King. Alec had not returned, and he began to consider bringing his wife to meet King Alexander in an attempt to sort out the truth.
Being duped by Mackay did not sit well, but the woman he married was also a victim of the man’s treachery. Catherine continued to insist she could not return to her home, but implied by her actions she would leave him in time. The more he pressed her, the more she fell silent. Catherine had no family, no clan, or they may have cast her out. Had they abandoned her? What would possess them to forsake their own? At the time of the marriage Catherine was a virgin and very beautiful. What father would not want to make a lucrative marriage with so comely a daughter to pledge?
Catherine was not only lovely, she was intelligent, if one could overlook her constant forgetfulne
ss. She had to be reminded of the simplest things regarding the keep. He watched with interest as Edna patiently taught her skills that every girl child in the Highlands knew by twelve summers. Edna helped her make candles, salt meat properly, oversee the meals, and direct the servants. Catherine was often confused, and asked the older woman’s help discreetly, but Roderic was extremely observant of his wife and her activities.
Working with his soldiers on one of the cottages one day, he noticed Catherine stomping toward the stable. There was stiff anger in her movements, and he followed her, determined to see why she was vexed. She plunged her hand down into the cold water of the barrel near the forge when he approached her. Roderic lifted a brow as if to inquire her purpose.
Catherine huffed under her breath. “It’s nothing. I burned my hand in the kitchens.”
Exchanging a smile with her, he shook his head and he stepped forward. He reached down into the cold water to gently pull her hand up to examine the burn.
“Mayhap you would fare well to give over the task to Edna.”
She jerked her hand back from his touch and put it once again in the water. “Oh, and why do you say so?” Her green eyes lighted.
He grinned. “Your skin is not all that has been burned since you set your hand to cook, wife.”
“Yes, well, that’s very amusing. But I never said I could cook! You show me something to put in a microwave, and I can cook it!” Spinning away angrily, she strode toward the horses. “I’m going for a ride!”
Kenneth raced past them, and Cameron followed them to ready the horses, as he was once again entrusted with guarding Lady Montwain.
Roderic turned and made his way to the keep. Entering the buttery, he sought out Edna. “What manner of bird or fowl is a crow wave?”
Puzzled, she looked up at him. “Are ye daft? I know not. There be only crow. Why?”
Roderic shook his head, baffled. “Catherine. ’Tis what she claims to cook well.”
Edna snorted. “Nay, crows be not tasty. The lass must be jesting with ye. Or she be confused in her head anew.”
“If that be true at times, Edna, give my wife the respect her position demands. If her actions merit your concern, come to me,” he said.
Edna smiled. “Aye, Sir Roderic. I mean no harm. I favor the lass.”
He sighed, and grimaced in good humor. “As do I.” He made his way back to the cottage and the tasks at hand.
Roderic wrestled with treating his wife as a prisoner, always the uncertainty of her identity haunted him. She was the pawn in the Mackay’s schemes, and was also the center of an intricate puzzle.
Nothing about the woman made sense. Roderic had determined that she was like the boy, then he found out that she was not a Mackay. Roderic decided she was reared more as a son than a daughter. Catherine rode with a grace and ease that he himself coveted, as if she were one with the horse, and Cameron reported that they fared well in their hunting. She often spent time teaching Kenneth to fight. Roderic was amused at the thought until Cameron went on to render an account.
Catherine worked with the boy for long hours teaching him to use her small sword. She reasoned with Cameron that Roderic had forbidden her own use of the sword, but Kenneth could make a skilled use of it. It was small enough he could wield it successfully and have a chance at defending himself.
Roderic allowed her efforts to ease his own conscience. Thought fey and simpleminded, the lad had not been taught as other young men. Roderic meant to remedy the situation himself in time. Catherine took it upon herself, and he was grateful, because it kept her occupied. She was forever bored with womanly pursuits and had no knowledge of sewing! The latter amazed him, for every lady he knew had been taught this skill.
Regretting the loss of his ideals, he had imagined that his wife would sew tapestries and busy herself in her efforts to make his hearth and home comfortable. It was a hope of his marriage not fulfilled. Although Catherine was diligent to care for Hope, Glyniss and Edna gave her assistance, and she was never idle, visiting the people of the clan every day. She cleaned Mary’s cottage, brought food, and worked with Glyniss to aid those who were ill. Catherine asked one of his men, who was an excellent bowman, to build a new crutch for Tobias. The man had a talent with wood, be it making weapons, shields, or chairs. He made the crutch and gave Catherine his promise that he would not tell the old one it was a gift from Lady Montwain.
“She feared Tobias wouldnae take it from her, for he may fear she is evil. Still, it was her kindness, Sir Roderic.” The man spoke earnestly, as if in awe of his mistress.
“Aye,” Roderic said.
It was a help for the old cripple, allowing him to move about more freely. Catherine helped them one and all, in spite of the resentment harbored by many. She was a stranger among them, but soon, as the weeks passed by, the fear that had been evident in those who had accused her abated.
Roderic was given grudging respect as he helped the people rebuild. The devastation and the sickness slowly dissipated, and the people of the clan began to speak favorably of the man that Scotland’s King had sent to them.
Roderic sent another courier to Alexander, spoke not of the fact he had married the wrong woman. He did not wish to impart that news in a message. Edna tearfully confessed that the Mackay daughter went to wed the younger brother of the Kincaid Laird.
King Alexander wanted what was best for the lass, and would not be pleased that she rejected the marriage he decreed for her. Still, Roderic was certain the King would not forbid the marriage did the lass prove to be content and no longer under her father’s tyranny. Roderic would meet with the Laird of her husband’s clan to make amends. He bore no vengeance for the woman he had never met, too obsessed with the lady who took her place.
Catherine gave him no reassurance she would stay, which infuriated him. Edna implied she was a poor lass with no means of making a good marriage. Roderic would gladly give her title of his holding, his lands, his name. He would defy even Alexander, should he rule their union invalid. The devastating thought brought a realization that he was loath to admit. His emotions were not logical about the red-headed vixen he had married.
Catherine was agile and as quick as Kenneth, as strong for her stature as many men in his army. The lady was unlike any he had ever met. She had a gentle wit that could be sharp and biting, accepted her own faults and laughed at them, and held no arrogance at her station as Lady Montwain. Edna’s theory that she hailed from humble folk was not to be discarded. Her gentleness with others, her unassuming manner brought his respect. She spoke to his warriors with courtesy, deferred to their knowledge in a way that won their loyalty, and infused them with pride and courage. Roderic concluded that their promise made to defend her was now won by loyalty, not only to King Alexander and himself, but to Lady Montwain.
Roderic had little patience for his own lack of discipline. A woman must not dictate to a warrior and leader what he must do, and he could not risk his honor. He must give her up if the King willed it. At the very thought, however, he despaired.
Chapter Twenty
I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the Lord sustained me.
~Psalms 3:5
Run, Kenneth! Run! We just lost Cameron, but if I know that burly Scot, he will be crashing through the trees any second,” Cat said.
She pulled her bow from over her shoulder and took careful aim at the bird in her sights. Kenneth came at a dead run to slide silently to a stop, kneeling at her feet. Forever amazed at his stealth, Cat whispered to him as she took aim. “You could slip out a dagger and cut the blazon off a man’s chest and never wake him, laddie.” Letting her arrow fly to its target, the bird fell and she smiled at Kenneth. He smiled back and stroked his cheek upward with his fingertips. They had their own signs of communication, he and Cat, and she frowned apologetically.
“I’m sorry, sweet, did I give you no affection today?”
Leaning over, she embraced him and he held her tightly, nuzzling her cheek. She kissed hi
s forehead. Kenneth needed an exceptional amount of tenderness, and Cat freely gave it, for the emotional loneliness of leaving her own time had left her wanting.
Kenneth and Hope filled her heart when she felt bereft. Roderic was a strong and noble husband, but she constantly resisted the position of subservience which was thrust upon her. Careful to keep a bit of her heart tucked away, only with Kenneth was she free to vent her frustration in the adjustment to this time.
“You know what I miss, Kenneth? My cell phone! I used to view it as an electronic leash that David had on me, and now I would give anything to talk on one. I miss fried chicken bought and paid for, served to me in a cardboard bucket. I was so spoiled by modern conveniences! I miss my father, and my own independence. Here, I have to beg just to touch my sword.”
“And dost thou suffer from the loss of these things?”
Kenneth startled and moved out of her embrace to look up in the trees. The booming voice had come down from above. Cat gazed up at the trees, squinting her eyes when the sun dancing through the leaves briefly blinded her.
“Merlin? Where are you? I know you are there!” she called out.
Kenneth looked about, and then closed his eyes as a gentle breeze caressed his face and brow.
Cat stood and walked about, searching the treetops for a sign of her friend. The sky was bright, the clouds soft and white. The air suddenly turned cooler.
Kenneth scrambled up and ran, and she turned to see him bound into Merlin’s arms.
The older man was dressed in full knight’s garb. No drab robe this, but regal, in deep blue and gold. His white hair glowed as it flowed past his shoulders. Wearing no hat, he held a sword at his side. “You must address me as Sir Raven, Catherine,” he said with a frown.
She smiled. “Very well, if you favor it. Kenneth seems to know you are a friend.” Cat walked over them.
“Aye, lass. This one is a funny little frog, a bit of an amusing sprite content with his own magic. Go … boy. Leave us for a time. I need a moment with your lady.”
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