Stolen Vows (18 page)

“Well, that remains to be seen,” she hissed.

“Eithne, stop it,” Bridghe snapped.  “Ye ken Graem is working towards peace between the clans and that Roan will uphold that peace when he becomes Laird.”

“
If
he becomes Laird,” Eithne said, scowling at Isla, who scowled right back at her.

“Well now ye see, that’s something I thought ye might like to help our dear brother with, Eithne” Bridghe said, smiling widely, and helping herself to a cake off the platter in front of them, as if she was wholly unaware of the silent battle taking place between the other two women.

“Help how?” Eithne asked suspiciously.

“People are only so… resentful at the moment because they dinna ken Isla,” she said simply.  Isla frowned at the way Bridghe had phrased the point, but listened attentively nonetheless. 

“Yer point being?” Eithne snarled.

“That we need to help everyone ken Isla, of course,” Bridghe said simply, flashing a smile in her sister-in-law’s direction.  Isla wanted the floor to open and swallow her.  “For Roan’s sake,” she qualified.

A muscle seemed to be twitching unpleasantly in Eithne’s jaw.  She was silent for a full minute.  However, her lips finally twisted into a thin, pinched smile.  “Well, if it’s for Roan,” she simpered, “I’ll see what I can do.”  The look she shot Isla was positively lethal.

Isla looked from Bridghe’s satisfied face to Eithne’s sinister one. 
She was a Cameron lamb being led to the MacRae slaughter.

..ooOOoo..

Roan looked around the empty chamber and frowned.  He hadn’t told Isla to stay in their rooms, but frankly he had expected her to.  She didn’t really know anyone, and he hated to even think it, but she probably wouldn’t be well received if she went wandering around the castle alone.  So where on earth
was
she?

Roan dropped a posy of wild winter flowers onto a table, feeling decidedly foolish for having gone to the trouble of picking them now.  He thought about finding a vase, but in a fit of pique left the little bouquet where it was to die.  He called for Liane, hoping that the maid might be able to enlighten him as to the whereabouts of his wife, but not really expecting her to be able to tell him much.

He was surprised therefore when Liane
was
able to tell him where Isla had gone.  Roan wasn’t sure if he was entirely comforted by the explanation however.  He was certain that Bridghe would only ever act with Isla’s best interests at heart, but he didn’t know if taking her to see their eldest sister was the wisest of moves.

Eithne was a little too much like their mother for Roans liking, quick to judge and hard of heart, and he was also slightly annoyed that
he
wasn’t getting the first opportunity to show off his new wife.  Roan wandered back out into the hall and made his way towards Graem’s rooms.

He had been working with the Laird for much of the day.  Graem wanted to redraw the MacRae’s western borders with the Camerons, offering the other clan a portion of the land that had been taken away from them a hundred years beforehand.  The land in question wasn’t especially fertile.  In fact, it consisted mainly of bogs, which was the only reason why Graem would possibly be allowed to get away with it by his own clan.

His intentions hadn’t been made public knowledge yet.  Roan could only imagine the objections that would erupt when they were finally disclosed.  His visit to Castle Cameron had originally been intended to test how the MacRaes would respond to such a gesture. However, he hadn’t had that opportunity, and consequently Graem was considering asking an emissary from the Camerons to visit them at Erchlochy Castle.

Roan had been going to tell Isla the news.  He was sure that one of her cousins or brothers would be asked to come, and he’d thought she might be cheered by the prospect of seeing a familiar face. 

Only she wasn’t around to be cheered up
, Roan grumped.

He walked into Graem’s library, took the key that he had been given by the old man, and opened up a locked desk drawer.  Roan took from the drawer a roll of old parchment - the roll of old parchment that he had spent much of the day agonizing over.  He sat down and began to agonize again.  The problem they faced was giving something away that they wouldn’t miss, while presenting the Camerons with a stretch of land that appeared to be of value.  Despite popular MacRae opinion to the contrary, the Camerons
weren’t
idiots.

Graems library happened to be at the front of the castle, so when a pair of horses stopped at the main doors, Roan heard.  He couldn’t seem to stop himself from getting to his feet and wandering over to the window to look outside. 

The sight that met his eyes was expected, but his breath still left his body as Roan looked down on his wife.  She was so beautiful.  Curvy and lush in all the right places, with bright sparkling eyes that he was too far away to be able to see clearly, and rich locks of red hair that Roan would happily lay tangled in forever.

His body was already keening towards her.  Longing to rush down to meet her, or to at least hurry back to their rooms so that he would be there waiting to draw her into his arms when she arrived.  However, whatever his body and heart might long for, Roan’s mind was intent on keeping him exactly where he was - to prove to himself that he was a man still in control of emotions and desires.

All of half an hour passed before that control buckled. 

Roan decided to take the maps with him back to his own study, so he could look over them there.  He argued that he would be more comfortable in his own rooms, and that this was the only - or at least the main - reason for returning to them.  He rolled up the maps and tucked them under his arm, locked up the library and then made his way back his chambers.

Isla was waiting for him this time.  She was sitting in front of the fire with a book in her hands, although she didn’t appear to be reading it.  The flowers that he had left to wilt had been arranged in a little clay vase and looked only a little worse for wear.  Had that been due to Isla or Liane?  Roan didn’t know, nor did he ask.

He nodded in Isla’s direction.  A flood of warmth seized his heart at the wide smile that broke across his wife’s face when she saw him enter the room.  However, Roan didn’t let himself return the grin.  He was still annoyed, although he knew it was petty.

“Roan?” Isla rose to her feet. 

She frowned anxiously and followed him into his little study.  He was going to lay the maps out on the desk, but chose instead to put them away in a secure cabinet.

“Is something wrong?” Isla asked hesitantly.

Was something wrong? 
It
felt
as though there was something wrong, but Roan couldn’t explain what.

“Nae,” he sighed.  “Nae - I’ve just had a long day.”  Isla nodded her head in quick agreement, looking relieved by his response.  “And ye?” he murmured, ushering Isla out of the study and back into the main chamber of their rooms.  “I hear ye’ve been out and about?”

“It was Bridghe’s idea,” Isla confessed.  She looked uneasy and Roan couldn’t decide if that made him feel better or worse.  “She wanted me to meet yer other sisters.”

“And did ye?” he murmured, shutting the door to the study.

“I met Eithne,” Isla nodded.  “Sorcha stayed at the castle to look after her son.”

“He’s sick?” Roan frowned, obviously concerned about his nephew.  Isla gave his arm a reassuring squeeze.

“Nae very, tis just a cold, Bridghe said,” she assured him gently.  Roan looked down into her upturned eyes and felt himself falling.  His gaze fell to her lips, and he felt a heavy aching weight settle in his gut.

“So, ye saw Eithne?” he asked, his voice slowly becoming gentler.  “What did ye think of her?”

“She’s -” Isla began, but she immediately seemed to run into difficulty.

“She’s?” Roan sighed and prompted. 

He sat down by the fire, in the spot where he’d first seen Isla.  His wife followed and was rewarded for her actions by being instantly pulled down onto her husband’s lap.  She looked surprised, but pleased, to be there - if Roan was honest, he was a little surprised to find her there himself.  He was sure he hadn’t thought about tugging her down, he’d just done it.

“She reminds me of yer mother,” Isla said, very carefully.

Roan winced.  “She was that bad?” he growled.  He hadn’t thought that Eithne would take instantly to Isla, but he hadn’t expected her to be quite as unwelcoming as their mother!

“Oh nay!  I dinna mean -” Isla began diplomatically, because it was clear to Roan that she
did
mean what she’d said.

“I’m sorry ye have to put up with my horrible family,” he breathed, laying a hand along her cheek and tilting her face towards him.

“I would nae say -” she started, but wasn’t permitted to finish. 

Roan moved to smother the words under his mouth, unable to resist the temptation of kissing her any longer.  Isla squealed in surprise, parting her lips just wide enough to permit him access, and so without any further invitation Roan’s tongue surged between her teeth.  He feasted on her as if it had been days, and not merely hours, that they had been parted.

I missed you…
the words rolled over and over inside his head, but Roan refused to let them fly. 

“I was going to tell ye,” he began softly, “Graem is inviting an emissary from yer clan to visit Erchlochy Castle soon.”  Roan couldn’t account for the pang he felt when Isla’s face lit up joyfully.  Perhaps it was because he took it as evidence of how she could never be entirely happy with him?

“Really?” she asked, beaming widely.  “Who do ye think will come?”

“One of yer cousins, I should think,” Roan murmured, wondering if maybe he would have done better not to raise the issue. 

Isla nodded eagerly.  “Do ye think Ian or James might accompany them?”

“To see how ill I’m treating ye?” Roan grumbled.

“Nae!  Of course nae!” Isla said quickly, an anxious frown clouded her previously happy face.  “I dinna mean -”

“I ken,” Roan cut her off.  She missed them. That was all.  She had been torn from her family and friends, and everything that was safe and familiar, he should be able to understand and appreciate that.  Roan just wished that he were enough to keep her happy.

“When do ye think they’ll come?” Isla asked.  She seemed hesitant to pursue the subject, but equally unable to let it drop.

Roan shrugged his shoulders.  “In a few weeks perhaps.  Graem will want to finish -” he stopped talking abruptly.  He wasn’t at liberty to disclose the Laird’s plans. Just telling Isla that they planned to invite the Camerons for talks was risky enough.  His wife was looking at him expectantly however.  “I canna say lass, but ye’ll find out soon enough.”

“Oh -” Isla looked hurt, but she didn’t try to press him for an explanation.  Her eyes darted suspiciously in the direction of the study however.  “Of course, I understand,” she muttered.  “I suppose we have to go down to supper?” She asked, changing the subject suddenly.

“Looking like this?” Roan grinned.  His eyes roamed greedily over his wife’s kiss-rumpled figure.  Isla’s cheeks reddened again.

“Liane could -”

“- bring something up for us?” he said, grinning cheekily. “Quite right, just what I was thinking.”

“I
was nae
thinking that!” Isla giggled.

“Well I missed ye today, and dinna feel much like sharing ye over supper,” Roan confessed, keeping his tone light enough for Isla to think that he was merely teasing.

“Roan!” she gasped, as he pulled her back into his arms.

“A man has to work up an appetite,” he purred, eyes glinting wickedly.