Together, Catriona was sure they could manage to escape this place for a brief jaunt—even if only to the courtyard or her garden—but she was wiser than to risk such at a dangerous time as this.
Another sigh escaped, and she slouched, then walked to her friend only to drop into the seat next to Tamsin.
They had rearranged her old chamber entirely to situate a pair of chairs and small table closer to the window for good reading light instead of nearer the brazier for warmth. Although at night Catriona returned to the bedchamber she shared with Hugh now, she spent the day hours here awaiting his return.
When she dropped down, Catriona couldn’t help but notice how Tamsin closed the book rather quickly and how one page seemed out of place above the rest.
She gasped with surprise and intrigue as she reached and snatched the book away. "What's this?" she cried with delight and teasing.
"Give that back," Tamsin cried, lurching.
But Catriona held the book and its mysterious contents at arm's length and removed the letter stuck inside the pages. "Why, Tamsin McLaren, who is this from? A secret lover?"
"Oh! I've entertained no lover, nor even the thought of one. Now give the letter back, 'tis private."
Catriona did so with a wry smile, but not before spotting Tobin's name scribbled at the bottom. "He writes to you in secret? Why?" She folded her hands in her lap and glanced about them. "You are residing in the privacy of my home, so I think the pair of you could at least be true here. No one would stop you."
"We can'na," Tamsin said quietly. She folded the letter gingerly and replaced the parchment in the book. "'Tis an old letter anyway, from years ago."
"Tamsin, speak true," Catriona said. "Are you in love with him?"
Tamsin scoffed and looked to the beamed ceiling. "I suppose I have been since I was young. Since before I left for the abbey. Secretly, I think 'tis why I first thought to seek him oot."
"And you are sad now because your union can never be? Because of your family?"
"And, I am sad because he is no the same mon I remember." Tamsin paused to roll her eyes, a teary mist glazing them. "Nay, he is a grown mon now, no the lad I remember. He is hardened and callus sometimes. He cares for me still, but 'tis as though he has grown up and I still no have. I thought, given the time that has passed and that he has found position with the king, perhaps he might change his mind." She slowly glanced up to see Catriona's reaction.
She frowned. "Change his mind? I thought your father sent you away after he caught Tobin kissing you."
Tamsin swallowed and looked to her lap to pick at her gown. "'Twas Tobin who told my father what happened between us and insisted I be sent away. He left my family's home shortly after and did'na return."
"But you wrote to one another?"
"Aye, after a time we did. He even readily agreed to aid me when I arrived in Perth, but to my disappointment, he is no the same mon any longer. What we had is surely gone."
"Are you certain?" Catriona asked. "Men no behave the same as boys. Why, Hugh was quite callous with me at first, but has come to love me tenderly over the small amount of time we have been together."
Tamsin looked up in surprise. "Really? And you love him in return?"
"Aye, I do." She frowned in thought. "Strangely, because I surely never thought I could."
Tamsin smiled. "Then 'tis happy I am for you."
Catriona reached out and squeezed her friend's hand. "You shall find your own happiness soon, whether with Tobin or someone else. Jamie could use a wife." She gave her a wink and rose. "I am sure Hugh also kens of a few good men who would make good husbands." Catriona returned to her perch at the window to stare out.
"He shall return home soon. Do'na fret," Tamsin said.
Catriona turned over her shoulder with a smile. "I ken he shall. 'Tis just so hard to wait."
Chapter Twenty-Nine
"Will this rain never cease?" Catriona wailed, dropping her head against the stone wall and reaching out to close the shutters again, perhaps for the tenth time that morning.
In the familiar setting of Catriona's chamber, she and Tamsin passed yet another day. However, for two days straight rain had pelted the keep so much that she could hardly so much as peek outside.
Catriona let out a growl of sorts as she went to the brazier and tossed in another stick, then bent to warm her cold fingers. Tamsin scooted the chamber pot with her foot, adjusting it to catch a drip coming from the rafters.
"Stop watching oot those shutters and mayhap you'll get your wish."
"My wish is for Hugh to return this verra instant."
Tamsin snorted. "My father's keep is several days from here. Whatever their business was, I would'na expect them back so soon."
Catriona glanced up with a spike of guilt. She had not told her friend why Hugh and his men traveled to McLaren Keep. She hadn’t the heart to bear that kind of news.
When the time came, was what Hugh had said.
He would not even tell her what the circumstances were, so what exactly was she to tell Tamsin anyway? For all she knew, the McLarens outnumbered the McAlisons by three to one.
She dropped her stare to the wet puddle around the chamber pot Tamsin scooted back and forth to catch errant drips.
She could only hope the McAlisons were outnumbered.
That same twisting churning came to her belly, and she dropped her head into her hands. God, she prayed Hugh and all his men were safe and that they would all return. She prayed no McLarens would be captured, though she had to assume that some were injured or even killed, judging by what the rider had relayed.
Tamsin looked up at the rafters to angle the pot for the next drip, and Catriona crossed herself whilst her friend wouldn’t notice.
A creak in the rafters alerted her then, and she followed Tamsin's line of sight.
"Does the roof always leak?" Tamsin asked.
Catriona frowned. "No that I recall."
A knock at the door silenced their speculation, and Tamsin, closest to the door, turned to answer.
Catriona blinked. "Rowena?" Her hands went to her hips, and her eyes narrowed. This was the first she had seen of the other woman since before Claude's death.
Rowena said nothing, but turned her stare coolly to Tamsin. "Your order," she said, lifting the stack of neatly folded dresses in her arms. Greens and blues poked out from the stack, a new chemise on top with lace gathered at the bodice and silk ties dangled around Rowena's fingers.
"Oh," Tamsin said delightedly. "Come, put them over here on the bed."
Rowena entered the chamber hesitantly and went to lay out the dresses so they wouldn’t wrinkle.
"Why are you bringing Tamsin's new gowns?" Catriona asked. "Hugh is no here if you are using this as an excuse to see him."
Rowena snorted and turned her head to look over her shoulder at Catriona. "I ken he is no here, neither are any of the other men." She turned fully and crossed her arms. "I've found honest work, I have."
"Is that so?" Catriona asked doubtfully.
"'Tis."
"Did it take all the men leaving to push you into that honest work?"
"Catriona," Tamsin said reproachfully.
Rowena glowered. "Hugh may think I'm waitin' around for him to come to his senses, but truth is, even though 'twas me who told him I'd wait, the mon should'na fash himself so. Aye, he's a good lookin' one, but after nursin' my broken heart I've put him from my mind." Rowena shrugged.
Tamsin and Catriona looked between themselves and then back at her.
"I do'na ken if I believe you," Catriona said.
Rowena only lifted a shoulder. "I do'na expect you to."
Catriona frowned, started to step forward, but a louder creak than before stopped her, and the trio of women looked heavenward just as a loud splintering of wood rumbled down with a falling beam.
Catriona screamed, and Tamsin gasped and started to back away.
"Look oot!" Rowena called and thrust her body at them both.
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Catriona crashed to the floor, the breath knocked from her lungs. A smash to the flooring jarred her to consciousness, and her ears began to ring. She coughed on the dust floating around the bedchamber and shook her head, trying to clear the throbbing.
Catriona looked around to see the other two women likewise uninjured and stirring the same as she.
Tamsin sat up first, the furthest from the impact of the beam, and she propped herself on her hands placed behind her. "I'd say you should tell Hugh to have someone look at those rafters."
"If that's no stating the obvious," Rowena said, rolling to her side and coughing. "Oh," she said, placing a hand to her back.
Catriona, with a hand to her head, pushed up off the arm under her. "I should have kenned something was amiss with that leak."
Rowena frowned. "What do you mean?"
Catriona looked at them both in turn. "I mean I think someone did this on purpose." She turned her stare to the fallen rafter from her spot on the floor. "This keep is old, but it’s no in that bad of shape suddenly." Her face reddened with anger. "I've been keeping to this chamber so much that I've left the spy little choice, haven’t I?"
All the women regarded the beam with a different air altogether.
"Someone tried to kill you? With that?" Rowena asked, her dark eyes large and fearful on the large heavy beam. After a few moments, "Weel, I suppose I'm ruled oot this time."
Catriona stood and brushed herself off, then reached down to offer her hand to Rowena. Rowena hesitated at first, but then took Catriona's hand.
"I suppose a thank you is in order, so—" Catriona paused for good measure, "thank you, Rowena. I'm no sure what happened here, but withoot your assistance…" She glanced around at the rubble in the chamber and swallowed hard at the sight of the heavy beam lying across the floor haphazardly, dividing the room in two now.
A layer of dirt and debris cluttered the tops of the chairs by the window, and fortunately the water held in the chamber pot had doused what embers had been knocked out of the brazier. That a fire hadn’t caught hold was one small boon.
"My new gowns," Tamsin all but cried, looking across to the now broken bed where her new wardrobe was lying under the heavy end of the splintered beam.
Catriona stepped over a crushed table, closer to the square cut support.
"Be careful," Rowena warned. "The floor may be weak now."
Catriona nodded, but bent anyway and fingered a spot on the beam. She made a sound of shock. "Look here, the supports were sawed away at the beam!" she cried.
Gillie scuttled into the bedchamber then and immediately halted with a look of disbelief. His haggard breath ceased for a moment as his eyes searched the disaster before landing on Catriona and going wide in shock.
"Gillie," Catriona said. "You won't believe what has happened just now."
Gillie's mouth worked on soundless words for a moment before he swallowed hard. "He—he's returned," he said.
Catriona gasped. "He? Hugh? You mean Hugh," she cried as she forgot the current situation and clambered back over the pile of broken furniture to rush past Gillie, past Rowena and Tamsin. They all called her back, but she ignored them, the happenings of a few moments prior already flown from her mind as she raced to the large double doors and out of the keep, into the courtyard, straight into Hugh's arms.
He hadn’t quite reached the ground from his horse before Catriona flung herself at him.
"Hellcat," he said, squeezing her against him, stumbling to keep them both from falling in the mud at his feet.
"Hugh," she said, planting kisses to his face, cupping his head in her hands as she pulled him close. "You are back," she said, kissing him fervently. "You're safe," she said, breaking away just a moment to say the obvious.
Hugh kissed her as though he were the happiest man alive, if only to hold her in his arms once more.
"I am glad you are all right. I feared for you day and night whilst you were away," she said when he set her to her feet.
Hugh didn’t allow her to go far and pulled her tight into his chest, breathed her in for a moment, before pulling back to look down on her with confusion. He plucked something from her hair. "What is this?" he asked, pulling out a splinter of wood.
Catriona groaned, not relishing the idea of telling him of yet another attack. She would delay as long as possible, long enough to enjoy his return. "Oh, I do'na ken. I was … looking around the keep."
It was then she noted the solemnity in his eyes that was unusual for Hugh, not unless something was dreadfully wrong.
Her brow furrowed. "Something is wrong?" she asked with concern.
He tossed the bit of wood away. "We need to speak."
Catriona pulled back with a look of mild alarm. "What is the matter? Tell me. You’ve returned safe and sound, so what could be wrong now?" She feathered her hands down his neck and chest and around him then back before meeting his gaze again.
Hugh's eyes flickered to Tamsin. "'Tis the lass's father."
Catriona's face fell, and a delicate hand came up to cover her mouth. "Nay."
Hugh nodded once, his stare sticking on Tamsin across the courtyard where she spoke with Tobin privately.
A sudden wail met Catriona's ears, and she turned for her friend. Both she and Hugh witnessed Tamsin collapsing into Tobin's outstretched arms before they both went down to the ground in a heap.
Catriona took a step forward, but Hugh caught her up. "I thought it best for him to break the news. You can go to her in a moment."
"But she is my friend. I could comfort her, too."
"No this time. The lass needs strong arms to feel safe in right now. She has just inherited her father's holdings. She is now Lady McLaren, and she needs a husband quickly. My men can defend her lands for her until then."
"You think Tobin?"
Hugh shook his head. "With the threats surely to come at her, she needs Tobin for a protector, aye." He stopped to shake his head at her. "But no for a husband. She shall need a mon with experience being a laird. Her father's lands and keep are much grander than mine and far stretching."
Catriona frowned. "Then we shall invite suitors here?"
Hugh nodded, but stepped forward. Catriona noted his turned attention and the softening of his features and turned, too, before taking the remaining steps to throw her arms around Tamsin. She hadn’t noted her approach.
"Lady McLaren," Hugh said. "You do ken what this means for you, do you no?"
Chapter Thirty
As Catriona had asked, though she had not expected Hugh would accommodate her, a priest had come to McCross Keep.
Hugh had made great advances toward his lands and people in the short time since returning with her as his wife. Though he had been called away to McLaren lands for a little over a se’nnight, he had returned and started his work back straightaway.
Repairs to the bedchamber she had been in were underway, debris cleared, and the rafters stabilized for now. Work in her garden was almost complete with the new beds already built and filled with soil. Now all she needed to do was have access enough to plant the garden.
Catriona knelt beside Tamsin and began to pray. She prayed for all manner of things, but mostly for her friend's solace in her time of grief.
Three days had passed since Tamsin learned her father had fallen in battle, that she was his last remaining heir, and that all duty to her clan rested solely on her shoulders.
Both women finished and received their blessing before rising.
Silently they left the kirk shoulder to shoulder, a score of armed warriors falling into step around them as they departed. Twilight surrounded them once the light of new beeswax candles faded, remaining at the stoop of the kirk.
Catriona smiled and breathed in the fresh spring air she had so long waited for. "'Tis a nice evening," she remarked.
Tamsin turned to look at her, and a slight smile lifted the corners of her mouth. "'Tis indeed," she agreed.
They continued their walk, windi
ng back down toward the keep, down the hill, but Catriona paused at her garden and looked to the man charged with escorting them safely.
"Do you think we might stop in and see the progress?" she asked.
He was hesitant at first, looking warily into the garden, assessing any threat. At last, he shrugged. "I do'na see any harm, but be quick. 'Tis getting darker by the moment, milady."
Catriona nodded in agreement. "We shall be." She took Tamsin's arm in hers as they strolled through the arched entrance, the man at their backs issuing instructions to his men.
"Look at all that has been done," Tamsin remarked. "I ken you are happy, and weel you should be. I have to admit, I am jealous."
Catriona stifled a laugh. "I can't say I regret pretending to be you."
Tamsin squeezed her arm. "I'll lend my identity any day."
Catriona looked up just as the hooded man stepped from behind the large tree—the same tree the arrow had once stuck in. She gasped and froze in place as he threw back his hood and pulled her out of view behind the thick trunk, tightly against his chest, and placed his blade at her neck.
Tamsin froze, too, but did not say a word. She glanced to the men at the entrance waiting on them, but none noticed their plight.
"Say a word and you're both dead," the man said.
The sharp edge of a blade pressed against the delicate skin of her throat, and Catriona sucked back a breath before she swallowed hard.
"Do'na make a move, lassie." His arm slipped under her breasts to clamp about her middle, trapping her to him.
Tamsin froze, her eyes growing wider. "Do'na hurt her. I'll come with you."
He snorted. "You'll both be comin' with me." He tightened his hold and removed the blade from Catriona's neck to motion Tamsin toward the edge of the wall. A waiting nag was there, tied to another horse. Both animals were partially obscured from view, hidden well enough that their guards would not see them that far back in the garden, not in this shade of evening that grew steadily darker.
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