Arianna misunderstood Bernadette's mood. She quickly tried to make her feel better. "Please don't cry. I didn't mean to offend—"
Bernadette placed her small hand on hers, halting her apology. "I accept your help. But you are very, very tall. No? I don’t think your dress fit."
Arianna frowned. “You’re right. I hadn’t thought of that.”
Maeve came to the rescue. “I kin make it fit, ef it be all rights with you, Miss Arianna.”
“You go right ahead and I’ll start with Bernadette’s hair.” Arianna pointed to the chair and Bernadette gratefully sat down, willing to do anything to make Vincent a permanent part of her life.
After all day of prepping, bathing, dress altering and arranging her hair, Bernadette was ready. Arianna went downstairs first to greet the men. She wanted Bernadette to make a grand entrance.
Keldon waited at the bottom of the staircase for her. He hadn’t seen Arianna all day and if the pout was any indication, he missed her. She gave him a quick kiss winning her a smile.
"Where's Bernadette?" Keldon asked, as he wrapped Arianna's arm around his.
"She'll be down shortly.” She smiled impishly.
Keldon leaned near to whisper in her ear. "What are ye up to, lass?"
"Nothing," she answered, innocently. She slipped her arm free from Keldon’s and went to greet Vincent.
"You are looking as charming as ever," Vincent commented as he took her hand. He leaned down to bestow a kiss and stopped midway. His mouth dropped open as his gaze riveted to the top of the stairs. His gaze all but gobbled up Bernadette.
Vincent closed his mouth the moment he realized it was agape. Dear Lord in heaven, his little bear had gathered her wavy light brown hair away from her face, revealing her high cheekbones. The dark blue dress she wore flattered her olive skin and exaggerated her tiny waist. “An angel,” he whispered. He swallowed the lump that had formed in the back of his throat. Common sense skittered into the shadows as her gaze held his. He moved around Arianna and waited at the bottom of the steps.
Finally, she was in reach. He had a tangible urge to touch her and make sure she was real.
Bernadette smiled. "You like?”
There was no denying his little waif was a beautiful, attractive woman. Vincent’s mouth curved into a smile. "I like very much, my little bear.” He offered his arm.
Bernadette glanced hesitantly to Arianna, who nodded for her to accept. Bernadette then looked at Vincent and gave him a dazzling smile as she slipped her hand through the crook of his arm.
Keldon moved beside Arianna. "Yer doin’ no doubt."
"Isn't she beautiful?"
"Aye that she is, but no’ as beautiful as ye.”
“Shush.” Arianna nudged him playfully.
****
Bernadette and Vincent stayed late into the evening. Arianna enjoyed their company, immensely, but she was exhausted. Keldon walked her to their bedroom. When he didn’t follow her in, she turned toward him expectantly. "Aren’t you coming to bed?”
"No my sweet, but ye go. I know ye are tired from all yer matchmakin’.”
"It went well, don’t you think.” She walked over to him and he opened his arms to her.
"Aye, verra weel. Vincent could barely follow the conversation all evening, for he couldnae tear his gaze away from Bernadette.” Keldon kissed the tip of Arianna's nose.
"You must be tired, too.” She looked up at him with her blue eyes, her gaze focusing on his lips.
"Aye, but no’ enough,” he growled. “If I followed ye into our bed chamber just now, I would want my way with ye."
She put her arms around his neck. "I wouldn't mind.” She yawned and they both laughed. "Maybe you are right. I am a little tired."
"I willnae be long. I want to have a smoke."
"I wish you wouldn't smoke that pipe. It's not good for your health."
"Doonae worry so much. A little tobacco dinnae hurt my Grandda and he lived for a verra long time.” He gave her a quick hug as he kissed away her frown. "Now off to bed with ye."
Keldon took a leisurely walk out to the stables. He lit his pipe and drew in the tobacco in small puffs. He thought of how contented he was with his life. He was married to a woman he adored and she was going to have his baby. He couldn't have been happier.
****
After leaving the Buchanan’s, Vincent drove the carriage at a slow pace, wanting to be with Bernadette as long as possible. He glanced at her sitting next to him. She was sitting up straight with her gloved hands folded on her lap. Her serene face held a trace of a smile. She was beautiful and it wasn’t because of her new clothes she wore, or the way she had cleverly arranged her hair. He thought she was lovely before Arianna and Maeve dressed her in finery. He had refused to acknowledge the fact before tonight because he knew he would never be able to let her go. He silently cursed Arianna for meddling with his life, though only half-heartily.
He would think of a way to change his life so he could ask Bernadette to marry him without giving her reason to regret it.
Bernadette felt his intense gaze upon her and she glanced up at him. She trembled, though it wasn’t from being chilled. It was because of the way he stared with such longing in his eyes.
“Are you cold, Little Bear?” Vincent asked. He didn’t wait for her to answer. “Come closer and I will warm you.” He patted the space that separated them. Bernadette only thought about his offer for half a second before she accepted it. She moved close and he slipped his right hand around her shoulders, while keeping his other hand securely on the reins. “Is that better?”
“Oui. Much, much better.” Bernadette closed her eyes and relished in the pleasure of having the man she loved so close to her.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Leighton purposely stayed out late because he knew there would be a full house tonight. He couldn't sit and be cordial for one more evening with Annabelle looking so blissfully full of herself. The lying deceitful woman was breeding on top of it all. As soon as he cornered Keldon alone, he’d knock some sense into him and he’d see Annabelle left Blue Run with her bastard child in tow.
As Leighton neared the stables, he saw Keldon there, leaning against the wall smoking his pipe. Leighton couldn’t believe his good fortune, alone at last and at his mercy to hear him out. He dismounted, leading his horse behind him.
"Have no’ seen much of ye, Leighton.” Keldon nodded his greeting.
"Aye. I havenae cared for the company of late.”
Keldon's eyes narrowed. "Ye best be careful," he warned.
"I will.” He sighed with a heavy heart. “If ye will listen with an open ear."
"Speak what ye must and be done with it."
"She was caught with Sherborn.” Leighton decided not to mince words.
"Who was?"
"Doonae play me as a fool, Keldon Buchanan. Do ye think it is easy for me to tell ye of these things. Yer like a son to me. I would never want to hurt ye, but that woman ye took as yer wife isnae good. Ye use to know that, yet ye somehow have forgotten."
"Leighton, I wish ye would give her a chance. I doonae know how to explain it. She isnae as she was before. She's a different person."
"Ye’re a love sick fool to be believin' that. Doonae be takin' my word on the matter. It be better she hang her own self. Ye ask her what she be doin' with Sherborn on the eve that he stole the long boat and disappeared. They were holdin’ hands like lovers. I never knew why ye trusted Sherborn. Be it here or back in Scotland, he is still Sassenach.”
“Stop.”
“Ye stop. Higgins saw them together. If that doonae look suspicious all by itself, then ye tell me why would a man leave his share of the booty behind and sneak away in the middle of the night no less?” Leighton could see the doubt cross Keldon's face. "What man does that? A guilty man,” he answered his own question. “Do ye ken, now?"
"I ken nothing.” Keldon pushed himself away from the barn wall. He didn’t want to hear anymore, but Leighton wasn�
�t finish.
"I hear she's carryin' a wee bairn.”
Keldon stopped cold.
"Now, I would be askin' myself, just whose babe she be carryin'. Remember she made sure she dinnae carry yer first born. Why would she want to now?"
Keldon didn’t look back. He couldn’t for doing so would mean he believed what Leighton was insinuating. He kept walking toward the house, but his mind raced. Could Leighton be right? Could Arianna be carrying Nicholas Sherborn's child? He didn't want to believe it. He didn’t want to believe she would betray him, not now, when he had opened up his heart to her.
He went inside the house and took the stairs two at a time, frantic to have the answers. He threw open the door to the room they now shared and forced himself to walk over to the bed.
Arianna didn’t stir from her slumber as he watched her sleep. It was difficult to believe she would delude him yet again. She looked so sweet and angelic, but with Leighton’s accusing words, it dug up the memories he thought he’d buried. There could be a hundred reasons why she met with Sherborn, only he couldn’t think of a single reason why she would need to hold his hand. A cynical inner voice brought another question to mind: Why did she try to hide her pregnancy? Why didn’t she tell him the moment he arrived back from New Orleans? It had been Vincent who slipped, revealing the truth.
Keldon pulled up a chair and sat down next to the bed, willing her to open her eyes, so she could explain away his suspicions. He clasped his hands, trying to remain calm, but like an awakening giant, anger rose in him. In a heartbeat their stormy past began to cloud his judgment, making him forget the way she had felt in his arms, the way she had looked at him when they made love.
She had deceived him before and without a qualm. She knew how to play the game and she always seemed to hit where it hurt. Only this time he had been so sure she was sincere. He had been so sure she loved him.
Arianna rolled over, her eyes fluttering open. "Keldon?” She sounded so tired that he almost told her to go back to sleep, but desperation stopped him. He couldn’t go another moment without knowing the truth.
"Aye," he said so calmly that it surprised him.
"What are you doing? Why don't you come to bed?”
Arianna closed her eyes and would have probably gone back to sleep, but he hovered over her. She opened her eyes. “Keldon?”
He didn’t answer.
"Keldon?" she asked again concern lacing her words.
If only she’d have as much concern with his heart. "I had an interestin' conversation with Leighton.” His voice held an ominous inflection, forcing her take notice.
She sat up. "What's wrong?"
Keldon needed to see her face when he asked the question. He didn’t want shadows hiding the truth. He moved away, only long enough to find the flint box and light the candles. He then looked at her trying to keep his emotions in check. He managed to keep his voice low, but his words whipped like steel. "Whose bairn do ye carry?”
For a moment all time seemed to halt, as the fine line that held their lives together seemed to unravel. As he watched her face pale and her lower lip tremble, he felt as though a cutlass had severed him in two, his essence slipping away. Without her saying a word to him, he knew she’d betrayed him.
"Why would you ask such a thing?” She breathed. Fear touched her eyes and she clutched at her nightdress.
"Tell me, I doonae have a reason to doubt ye and I'll no’ ask ye again.” He prayed she would say the words that would make this nightmare go away. He prayed she would tell him she had been with no other, even if it was a falsehood. However, the words that could have saved their happiness failed to leave her lips.
Arianna knew his heart was breaking and she could do nothing to stop it. She had been untrue to him and she refused to fabricate another lie on top of it. Not anymore because she knew the deceptions would never end. She lowered her head, feeling the shame she had been living with wash over her. The fragile ground they had gained in starting a new relationship slipped away as though she stood in a pit of quicksand. "I can't.” She choked on the words, feeling trapped with no escape.
They were both silent for a long time, neither one wanting to break the quietness, for doing so would mean they would have to deal with the shattering reality.
Keldon leaned against the nightstand. "Is the bairn ye carry, Sherborn's?”
How could she explain herself to him, when she didn’t understand the betrayal herself? The heaviness she felt pressing on her chest made it difficult for her to breath. "I don't know.” A sobbed escaped her, filling the room with a deafening echo.
"Ye doonae know!” Keldon whirled on her his guttural burr thickening as anger took over. His green eyes bore into hers. “Ye mean there were others?"
"No! God no! I mean I don't know if the baby is yours or..." She just let the sentence trail off to silence because she didn’t want to admit the horrible possibility that the child wasn’t his.
"Tell me this," Keldon asked as he took a seat in front of her. "Did ye lie down with me because ye thought ye might be carryin' Sherborn’s bairn?"
Arianna shook her head frantically. "I wouldn't do that to you.”
“Ye wouldnae do that to me! Yet ye are willin’ to admit that ye have been with another! What would stop ye from goin’ a step further!”
“I didn't know I had been with Nicholas, until he told me. I don't remember having the affair. It happened before I received the bump on my head.” She tried desperately to defend herself, but the words sounded hollow even to her.
He stood so abruptly his chair flew behind him. "It's gettin' to be a wee bit too convenient that ye keep usin' the bump on yer head as an excuse.” He began to pace.
“I'm not making this up. As soon as I knew of Nicholas, I made him stay away from me. I have been faithful to you ever since. I swear to you. I swear to God."
Keldon stopped pacing and swung around to face her. "Doonae be takin’ the Lord’s name in vain in this matter of adultery.” He stood at the edge of the bed looking down at her with a harrowing expression as he witnessed her tears streaming down her cheeks. He wanted to believe the affair was over and that it had meant nothing. He wanted to trust that she had been faithful since they declared their love to each other, but he was too hurt. He wanted to lash out. He wanted to hurt her as much as she had hurt him.
He questioned everything now—Sherborn’s interest in joining up with his crew and then his sudden disappearance. “Sherborn took ye from me, yet he dinnae leave with ye. He wormed his way into my house and worked with me. What else was he after?” He was upon her then. He grabbed hold of her shoulders with a squeezing grip, the black rage blinding him. "Tell me."
"Keldon, you’re hurting me."
"Tell me! Was he after my life as weel? Dinnae he know that takin’ ye away from me would have been enough to make my life worthless? Tell me, I say!" he repeated, squeezing even tighter.
"Keldon, please.” She sobbed.
He finally realized what he was doing and released her.
She moved away to the far side of the bed.
He dragged in a breath his nostrils flaring. She’d betrayed him. He looked down at his trembling hands then to her huddling in fear. His gaze clashed with hers startled and upset. He was mortified at his actions. He lost control and he could have killed her. “What am I doin’?” He ran his hand through his hair as he closed his eyes and tried to ignore the ache that had settled behind his heart. He had never raised a hand in violence toward a woman and he wasn’t going to let his anger toward her cause him to do something he would regret for the rest of his life.
He couldn’t stay, not when the old pain shimmered deep inside him resurfacing to choke him. He wanted desperately to trust she spoke the truth, that what they had was real. He wanted to believe Nicholas meant nothing to her, but he’d forgiven her so many times before he had lost count. How could she expect him to exonerate her for betraying him? How could she expect him to raise another man's child
?
With one smooth motion, he turned and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Arianna dozed in and out of sleep where haunting dreams plagued her. She dreamt of people she didn’t know and yet they seemed close to her. She dreamt about a fortuneteller with a desperate warning, "Trust the Scotsman. He may feel mistrust for you because of the other woman's black heart.”
"Miss Arianna, Miss Arianna.” Maeve shook her.
Arianna tossed and turned, screaming out.
Maeve shook her, again.
She sat up in bed with a ragged intake of breath. "Where am I?"
"Dear, dear chile. You's home.” Maeve patted her hand.
"Home?” Her voice broke and she put her head back down on the pillow and closed her eyes. "Please leave me alone.”
"Miss Arianna, you slept past the mornin’. I's worried about you."
"I'm fine.” She told her.
"No's you ain't. I's not blind. I know dat dere be somethin' terrible wrong with you and Mista Keldon. Him mopin’ and you hidin’ up here. Why don'ts you tell me?"
"There's nothing to tell.” She hugged her pillow to her chest, rocking back and forth. Her resolve wore thin and she broke down. “I've lost him and it's my fault. I betrayed him.”
"How did you betray him? You ain't hurt no one."
"Oh Maeve. I don't know whose baby I’m carrying?” Tears spilled down her face and she wiped them away.
Maeve sat down on the bed next to her and gently patted her back. "You poor, poor chile. You never gone and betrayed him. I told you. Miss Annabelle did. Dat dere chile you carry be Mista Keldon's."
Karen Michelle Nutt Page 21
