A Kind of Magic (30 page)

Rowan began to wish that his wife had been a bit closer to the lord of the Isles on the tour. Rowan realized that if he hadn’t relegated Maddie to the background, she might have seen the covetous look on Laclan MacDonald’s face that grew greedier and greedier with every new wonder he was shown. Rowan had felt danger growing around Cape Wrath all day. It was bad enough that there were three boatload’s worth of MacDonald’s warriors camped outside the gates of the fortress. The things he and Allen had discussed with the lord of the Isles the night before weighed heavily on Rowan’s mind, fueling worries for his clan’s future. Now he feared that a more personal danger loomed in his overlord’s growing interest in Maddie’s clever handiwork.

It didn’t help Rowan’s darkening mood to hear Allen Harboth eagerly praising Maddie every chance he got. It didn’t help that he caught Maddie giving Allen grateful, appreciative looks every time he spoke. Rowan didn’t know whether Allen was playing some game or genuinely admired his wife and her accomplishment. Rowan did know that he didn’t like the attention the Harboth was paying to the woman who belonged to him.

It had nothing to do with jealousy, he told himself, and everything to do with keeping Maddie out of harm’s way. Just because his blood burned with rage every time Allen or Maddie looked each other’s way wasn’t causing
him
to behave with less sense and more rancor toward his wife as the day wore on.

She seemed to think so though as she glared fiercely into his eyes. “What is the matter with you?” she demanded again in a hissing whisper when he didn’t answer her immediately. “What have I done to deserve this?”

They were surrounded by a gaping crowd. Rowan felt everyone in the room’s gaze on them and the curious silence pressed against his nerves. He was acutely aware that there were Harboths and Lord Laclan and his men as well as Murrays among the watchers. He could not afford to look weak to any of them by engaging in a public argument with his offended wife.

He put his hands on Maddie’s shoulders. “Hush,” he ordered. “We’ll talk tonight.”

Her laughter was loud and angry. “We never talk. I think that’s the problem, don’t you?”

“Don’t be foolish.”

“Foolish!”

She jerked away from him and stumbled. She would have fallen if Allen Harboth hadn’t reached out to steady her. Fury shot through Rowan at the sight of the other man 169

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touching his wife but Maddie shook off Allen’s touch as furiously as she had Rowan’s.

Her stormy gaze never left Rowan’s. “I’ve about had it with you,” she told him.

Then she stalked as regally as a queen out of the hall. It broke Rowan’s heart to let her go but since having her out of both Harboth and Lord Laclan’s sight was for the best, he forced himself to let her leave.

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“I’ve had it. I’m out of here. I don’t know how, I don’t know where but I’m gone.”

She’d been standing in the middle of the rainy courtyard for at least five minutes, hands clenched into tight fists at her sides, her fury and humiliation boiling up into words she couldn’t hold back.

“You’re talking to yourself, lass.”

Maddie whirled to face Rosemary. “I’m not a lass. I’m twenty-eight years old. I’ve got a master’s degree, you know. I’m not some
foolish
little girl whose only functions are to provide sex and technology to a man who doesn’t appreciate either unless I keep my mouth shut when I’m doing both. Actually, there are times when he likes having my mouth open but that’s only when he’s putting parts of his anatomy in it.”

It was the realization of the crudeness of what she’d just said, coupled with the fact that she’d said it very, very loudly in a courtyard full of playing children that brought Maddie’s tirade to an abrupt halt. A whole body flush instantly heated her skin. She ducked her head in shame under Rosemary’s disapproving frown. If her mother had been there, Maddie knew that the formidable woman would have washed her mouth out with soap.

She began to cry.

She wanted her mommy! She wanted to go home. She wanted Rowan to acknowledge that he loved her and then this would be home. She was certain now that was never going to happen. She didn’t have anything to live for here anymore than she’d had in the twenty-first century. She didn’t know what she was going to do and she just couldn’t take it anymore!

Once the tears started, Maddie was overwhelmed with the terror that they weren’t ever going to stop. She wished she’d stayed angry. Anger was so much easier than heartbreak.

Children stopped their games and gathered around, asking worriedly what was wrong. Adults stopped their tasks to do the same. A small crowd quickly gathered around her, and Maddie was helpless to do anything but sob.

After a few seconds, Rosemary handed the full basket she carried to a nearby girl and instructed her to take it to the kitchen. After the girl ran off, Rosemary took Maddie’s hand and led her toward the chapel. “Let’s have a little talk in private, lass—

my lady.”

Maddie didn’t want to go to the chapel but she knew she couldn’t stay out in the courtyard and just cry herself to death, tempting though that was. Tears blinded her and the sudden increase in the rain from mist to downpour didn’t help her vision 171

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either. Her skirts dragged in the courtyard mud. She was glad of Rosemary’s sure guidance by the time the church door had closed behind then. It was cold in the chapel and dark, but it was dry and private.

Rosemary settled Maddie onto a stone bench next to the crudely carved statue of the Virgin and child and handed her a dry cloth. “Here. Dry your eyes and blow your nose. Our Lady will not mind your using the cover from her offering table.”

Maddie didn’t care where the makeshift handkerchief came from but she was grateful for it. Grateful for Rosemary’s kindness. The gratitude sent another wave of emotion through her that brought even more tears. It was quite a while before she was under control enough to actually dry her eyes and blow her nose.

Rosemary waited patiently the whole time. Maddie heard her moving around the small church and became aware of a soft glow from behind her squeezed shut eyes when Rosemary set down a lit candle from the altar next to the Virgin’s statue.

Eventually Maddie looked up to find Rosemary standing patiently in front of her.

Maddie had to blink to bring her vision into focus. Then she sniffed and wiped off one last tear with the back of her hand. “Sorry.”

“Why? We all need a good cry now and again.”

Maddie sniffed again. “That was full-blown hysteria.”

“Murray men will do that to you.” Rosemary sat down beside her and took her hand. “It’s a wonder it didn’t come to this sooner. You’re a strong, stubborn woman, Maddie Murray.”

Maddie looked down at the floor. “I want a divorce,” she mumbled.

Rosemary laughed, softly, though with no mockery in it. “Only kings and queens can afford to pay the pope for such a thing. You’re handfasted, my lady, and you owe Rowan Murray a year and a day.”

“But no more,” Maddie vowed.

A hand seemed to tighten painfully around her heart at her words. A desperate voice cried in her mind that she didn’t want to leave Rowan. What choice did she have when Rowan didn’t give a damn about her?

“It’s for you to choose. Remember there’s many months you and Rowan have to live through together before the day comes when you can make that choice.”

Maddie wished Rosemary didn’t sound so pragmatic, so sensible. Normally she would have welcomed anything that sounded even vaguely sensible from a Murray woman. Now she looked at Rosemary and asked, “I don’t suppose you have a spell or potion or something that’ll give me amnesia until the time’s up? Or how about something to put me to sleep for a few months? Yeah,” she went on with pained enthusiasm. “That sounds good.”

Of course if she slept through the rest of her so-called marriage, she would no longer be able to make love to Rowan Murray. Then again her life was a nightmare so she might as well be asleep for it.

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“Magic isn’t what you need,” Rosemary told her.

Maddie snorted. “Never thought I’d hear a Murray say that.”

“Well, you just did. Look at me, my lady.”

Maddie turned her head to gaze into Rosemary’s eyes. The woman looked sympathetic and thoroughly exasperated at the same time.

“What you need,” Rosemary went on, “is some sound advice and perhaps a bit of family history to explain how Rowan Murray turned into the biggest fool the Highlands has ever seen.”

Maddie decided she didn’t have anything better to do than to listen to Rosemary.

Twenty minutes later, she stormed out of the church and headed for the hall. She was ten times angrier when she entered the castle as she had been when she left it.

“All right!” she shouted when she marched in. “Where is he?”

* * * * *

All Rowan wanted was to go after Maddie. He needed to make things right with her, to apologize for acting the fool even though he’d done it for her own good. He needed to talk to her, he needed to touch her. He just
needed
her. Instead, what he had was a private meeting in his bedchamber with Allen Harboth and a belly full of worries over the demands their overlord had made of them. Rowan sat on the edge of the bed while Allen moved restlessly about the chamber.

“We’re allies now,” Allen said as he paced back and forth across the bedroom.

“Kinsmen. We should stand together in our answer to MacDonald of the Isles.”

Rowan’s gaze had strayed to the door but he turned it back to Harboth. For all that he wanted to run after his woman, he still put duty first. The lord of the Isles was leaving with the tide and an answer had to be given to him before he left. “I’m troubled about what that answer should be,” Rowan admitted to Allen.

Allen stopped pacing and gave Rowan a respectful look. “It’s hard for me to confess my uncertainty on the matter to you as well, Rowan. I’m glad you trust me enough to speak frankly. It’s not that I don’t have the stomach for a good fight,” he went on. “I’m just not sure this is a good fight.”

“Nor am I,” Rowan replied, making himself continue this new-formed trust. The words came grudgingly, but Rowan said, “We stand or fall together. We’re kinsmen, Allen.”
But stay away from my wife
, he added to himself.

As he thought the words, the door opened and Maddie stepped inside. He sprang to his feet while her gaze settled on Harboth. “I was told you couldn’t be disturbed. I’m disturbing you. Would you mind leaving us alone, Allen?” she asked.

Allen looked from Maddie to him and quirked an eyebrow questioningly. Rowan was torn with guilt and indecision, but this meeting was important. Rowan stepped forward and did the one thing he didn’t want to do. “Whatever you came for will have to wait, Maddie. We haven’t much time.”

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Maddie’s features went very still, very cold. She said, “I wasn’t talking to you. I was talking to Allen.” She turned a chillingly furious glare on him. “I’ll talk to you when we’re alone.”

Allen put out a hand but was wise enough to glance at Rowan before he touched Maddie and let his hand fall. “Please, my lady. This truly is important.”

“I’m not going anywhere until I’ve had it out with Rowan.” She looked from one man to the other as she stood, white-knuckled before them. “But for your information, I already know what the lord of the Isles is planning. He’s about to invade the south, burn Glasgow and declare himself overlord of the Highlands. King, actually.”

Both Rowan and Allen moved swiftly to her side. “How do you know that?” Allen demanded. “Is she a seer?” he asked Rowan.

“No. Lord Laclan spoke to us in private. He claims only a few of his men know his plans and that they are sworn to secrecy. How do you know, Maddie?”

She was fuming and furious and full of far more important problems than politics but she made herself say, “Because of where I came from. Because I know Scottish history. I should have realized who he was and what was going on sooner but I’m not really sure what year this is. That it’s sometime early in the thirteenth century is all I’ve been able to work out.”

Maddie didn’t want to take the time to give a history lesson. She wanted to have a knockdown, drag-out fight with her husband but she supposed the safety of the clan had to come first for both of them. That meant she’d better take the time to explain to the gaping men, even though the explanations forced her to hold onto a calm she didn’t want.

“MacDonald’s gathering troops right now. He’s going to burn Glasgow. He wants you to gather your warriors, leave your homes unprotected and come with him to win a glorious new future for the Highlands. He just wants power for himself,” she added. “It won’t work. It’s a waste of men and resources to follow this mad dream the MacDonalds had of making the Highlands a separate country. The Campbells are just going to make life hell for the Highlanders when they come after the MacDonalds.

Eventually it’ll lead to English troops stationed all over the Highlands and most of the native population exiled to Nova Scotia and America and Australia—living everywhere but in Scotland. Eventually the English and their pet lairds are going to replace all of you with sheep, this land is going to have pastures rather than a population. All because of a power struggle between two families. It could be stopped right now if the other clans just tell MacDonald that they don’t want to play.”

There. She’d explained everything. Now Allen could go away and she and Rowan could get down to important matters.

Instead of being grateful, Rowan took an angry step back and said, “Must you know everything about everything, woman?”

Maddie’s head came up sharply. “What?”

“Am I head of this clan or not?”

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She faced Rowan toe-to-toe. They looked deep into each other’s eyes for a long, tense moment. Maddie told him, “You are head the clan, Rowan. I’m just telling you what’s going to happen.”