When a Laird Loves a Lady (Highlander Vows: Entangled Hearts Book 1) (16 page)

Alex rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“She’s more trouble than ever. And her obstinacy has increased with each year
she ages. When I told her I considered being cold a necessity in any husband
I’d allow her to marry, she threw a pot at me. I’ve never known a woman to have
the temper of a man. She needs lessons in being obedient. Maybe yer new wife
could give her some? In fact”—Alex gave him a pleading look—“maybe Bridgette
could travel with ye to Dunvegan for a short visit.”

Iain held up his hand to halt his
friend. “I’d nae look to the Sassenach for help on making Bridgette obedient.”

“Nay?”

Iain shook his head. “She’s rather
like a man herself.”

“Why are ye grinning?”

“Am I?” He struggled to straighten
his mouth. But God’s truth, he liked Marion’s spirit. Though, she
would
have to learn to obey him. He would never want to extinguish the fire that
burned in her.

“Ye are,” Alex said, his voice
displaying his bewilderment.

Iain shrugged. “Can a man nae grin
when talking of his new wife?”

Alex shook his head and chuckled.
“Go on. I’ll nae give your secret away.”

Iain frowned. “What secret?”

“Ye’re happy, my friend. Whether ye
want to be or nae, ye are. And I want to meet the woman who has done that. But
first, yer counsel on my problems if ye can keep yer thoughts on me.”

“Of course I can,” Iain said,
contemplating what he had learned of Alex’s difficulties so far. “Why do ye
want to send Bridgette away?”

“Because the Campbell laird wants
retribution for the wrong to his son. If she goes with ye—”

“Ye think things may cool.”

Alex rubbed the back of his neck.
“Aye. What say ye?”

“I’ll take her.” Maybe she and
Marion would become friends, and Bridgette could be Marion’s ally when they all
returned to his home. Knowing Catriona’s sisters, Marion would need a friend,
and Bridgette, with her liveliness, could be the perfect supporter.

“Thank ye,” Alex said, obviously
relieved. “Can ye stay tomorrow or must ye depart?”

He wanted to get home, but then he
thought of Marion and the long journey still remaining before they reached
Dunvegan Castle. If they lingered one more day, some of Marion’s aches from
traveling would ease and she could rest up for the second half of the journey.
“We can stay for another day.”

Alex nodded. “Good. We’ll hunt
tomorrow to salute our being together again.”

Iain smiled. Alex prided himself in
being the best hunter, but the last time they’d hunted together, Iain had
killed more animals. Iain chuckled. “Does it take yer sleep at night that I
shot more deer than ye last time?”

Alex grinned. “Aye, it does, and
tomorrow I’ll take my rightful place back as the best hunter. Yer men are
welcome to come. I can leave Archibald to guard Marion, if ye’re worried. He’ll
be annoyed, but it does good to remind him he’s nae laird.”

Iain frowned. “Does he try to act
like the laird?”

“Nae overtly but he does subtle
things, such as alter orders I’ve given.”

“Why do ye allow that?”

“I dunnae. Which is why he’s so
often in trouble. Do ye want me to tell him to stay with Marion tomorrow?”

“Nay. She’s like a daughter to
Angus. I’ll leave him to guard her.”

Alex nodded and added, “I think
I’ll leave Archibald anyway. He was insolent earlier.”

“That might be best,” Iain agreed,
thinking of Marion. “Trouble does seem to find my wife.”

Alex chuckled. “Bridgette has a
knack for finding trouble, too, so the two of them together likely need
minding.”

“I’m nae worried about today,” Iain
replied. “I told Marion to stay in her bedchamber until I came for her, so I’m
certain she will.”

“Well, since ye’re nae worried,
come to the training fields with me. Some of my men need a good lesson in
humility, and ye’re just the man to give it to them.”

What Iain really wanted to do was
go see if Marion was bathing and possibly join her, but when Alex smiled
devilishly and said, “Unless ye kinnae bear to be without yer new bride for a
few hours.”

Iain shook his head. A strong pull
to Marion already burned within him. Relinquishing the chance to see her now
was the perfect opportunity to prove he was master over how he felt about her.
“Seeing her at supper will be soon enough,” he said, willing himself to feel it
deep into his bones.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Marion asked
Bridgette as the woman strode ahead of her and led them deeper and deeper into
the woods, and farther and farther away from the castle and bedchamber—which
she’d yet to see—where Iain had ordered she await him.

Bridgette suddenly stopped and
whipped around to face Marion. “Do ye prefer I take ye to yer chamber to wait
like an obedient dog for Iain to come fetch ye, or do ye want to come with me
to see the traveling seer? Since ye followed when I gave ye yer choices, I
guessed ye had a bit of courage and liked adventure. Perchance I was wrong.”

Nervous, Marion caught the inside
of her cheek between her teeth. She didn’t think she believed anyone had the
ability to tell the future,
yet
since she’d
never met a seer, she couldn’t say for sure whether she believed or not. She
wasn’t feeling very curious about it at the moment, though, as the shadows grew
long and the sunlight faded. And she desperately wanted to remove her grimy
gown and bathe.

But she’d allowed her anger at
being ordered about to cause her to make a reckless decision. At least her
anger seemed to be cooling, but unfortunately so did the temperature. It still
would have been wiser to stay in her bedchamber until Iain returned and then
talk to him. If Iain discovered she had deliberately disobeyed him, she was
certain he’d be angry. The man seemed to be awfully concerned with her safety,
and she doubted he’d consider it safe for two women to go traipsing alone
through the woods. And he’d be right. They should go back.

She swallowed. “It’s just that—”

“Ye’re afeared?” Bridgette
interrupted.

Marion hated to be called a coward.
“No, but I am considering how angry this will make Iain if he comes to get me
and we’ve not yet returned.”

Bridgette plunked her hands on her
hips. “Do ye care if he’s angry? Do ye like being ordered about, then? Ye did
nae seem to care for it when he did it. Yer eyes narrowed and yer face got all
red.”

“That is insensible,” Marion
snapped, irritated that this woman who barely knew her was making judgments
about her character. “I don’t like being ordered about, but well, my marriage
has not started well,” she blurted, feeling suddenly overwhelmed.

Bridgette’s face, which had been
set in hard lines, suddenly softened, and her eyes widened. She rushed to
Marion and threw an arm around her shoulder. “I could see that! That’s why I’m
trying to help ye! I ken Iain. He and my brother have been friends since before
I was born. I could see that ye like him but that he’s still clinging to Catriona’s
ghost.”

Marion cringed that Bridgette had
discerned so much from their short encounter. “What makes you think I like
him?” She didn’t bother to ask what made Bridgette think Iain was still in love
with his dead wife. That was obvious enough by the things he’d said, but she’d
thought she’d concealed that she wished her husband cared for her.

Bridgette rolled her eyes. “Ye
stare at him with the longing of one who desires to be seen, for one thing.”

Marion’s cheeks burned. “Oh,” was
all she managed to say. She was so embarrassed.

Bridgette patted Marion on the
shoulder again. “For another, I saw the way yer face fell when the clot-heid
told me to get ye yer own chamber. Is he refusing to complete the marriage?”

Marion’s mouth parted with shock.
Is this what having a friend was like? One discussed private matters with the
other? She’d never really had a friend, but she desperately wanted some
counsel, and Bridgette seemed to know a thing or two about men. “Actually,” she
started. She cleared her throat, which made her voice come out as a cracked
whisper. “We completed the marriage last night. And he made it clear then that
he, er, um, desires me.”

Bridgette nodded. “Go on.”

Marion caught her lip between her
teeth. “Maybe it’s more correct to say he
desired
me? I’m so confused!
And I wish I knew why I even care!” She pressed her fingertips to her temples,
which now pounded thanks to her husband the clot-heid, as Bridgette had so
aptly called him.

“Ye should thank God that he put me
in yer path,” Bridgette announced, her tone slightly smug but also excited.

Marion lowered her hand from in
front of her face and looked at the other woman. “I should?”

Bridgette nodded. “I can clear the confusion
for ye and help ye get Iain’s attention, and then his love.”

“You can?”

Bridgette nodded again. “Did ye nae
see the way all the men hung on my every word?” she asked, as if it explained
everything.

“I did, but do you care for any of
those men or their attention?”

Bridgette frowned. “Well, nay, but
I could charm the man I do love, if only I were near him long enough.”

“Who do you love?”

“Can ye keep a confidence?”
Bridgette asked, a secretive smile coming to her face.

“Of course.” When Bridgette looked
at her doubtfully, Marion added, “My mother was a Scot. She was the daughter of
the MacDonald laird.”

“Well now,” Bridgette crowed.
“That’s good to ken!” Then she pitched her voice lower. “I have loved Lachlan
MacLeod for as long as I can remember.”

“But you’ve never been around him long
enough to compel him to love you back?”

“That’s exactly right. Neither my
brother nor yer husband will let me be alone with him because they dunnae trust
I could bring him to heel, but I vow I could if given the time.”

By the fiercely determined look in
Bridgette’s eyes, Marion was inclined to believe the woman. “I’m not saying I
want my husband’s love, but if I did, how do you think I could win it?”

“Well, first, ye want it and ye ken
it. Ye’re just afraid to admit it because ye dunnae want to be hurt. That’s
natural.”

“Perchance,” Marion agreed
reluctantly.

Bridgette frowned at her. “The
first thing ye must do is embrace what ye want. No one ever gets what she desires
without pains. My mum taught me that. Ye must say what ye want aloud and be
ready to accept the hurt and happiness that it will bring ye, nae only when ye’re
trying to get it but even after ye’ve attained it. Great love calls for great
risk, but it reaps great reward.” Bridgette nudged her in the side. “Go on.
Declare yer desire.”

Marion’s chest tightened painfully.
She had vowed never to try to make someone love her again as she had tried with
her father, but she knew she wanted Iain to care for her and she agreed that a
great love would demand great sacrifice.

She gulped in a breath. “I want my
husband to love me.” Not that she loved him yet, but she thought she could
eventually. If he acted like less of a clot-heid and more like the man that had
held her in his arms last night.

Bridgette clapped. “Dunnae ye feel
better having said it aloud?”

Marion paused and considered how
she felt. Her stomach was turning and her mouth was very dry. She shook her
head. “I feel ill.”

Bridgette snickered. “That’s the
beginning of the sacrifice for the love that will come.”

“What do you think I should do to
gain Iain’s love, or even to get his desire to return?”

“What makes ye think ye lost his
desire?”

“He told me he would not bed me
tonight,” she confessed, her face scorching. “I must have done something wrong
last night.” Though he had seemed to like their joining a great deal at the
time.

Bridgette tapped her chin as she
walked, and her gaze traveled over Marion. “I’ll nae ask for details.”

“Thank God!” Marion blurted, which
caused Bridgette to laugh.

Once Bridgette composed herself,
she said, “We must first work on yer appearance. Ye look affright.”

Marion grimaced and raised her hand
to her hair, but Bridgette caught her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. “We
all look affright after travel. We’ll clean ye up afore supper when we return
to the castle. That should make him remember why he wanted to bed ye from the
start. I have a gown ye can borrow that is sure to reawaken his desire, though
I dunnae think a man who cares nae for a woman stares at her the way he stared
at ye. His eyes were full of fire.”

“Truly?” Marion asked in awe.

Bridgette nodded, but Marion
thought perhaps her new friend was just being nice.

“What else besides the bath and the
gown? What do you recommend?” Having a friend was wonderful. Not that Angus had
not been a friend, she thought guiltily, because he had, but he was more like a
father than a friend, and she could never talk to him of the things she and
Bridgette were talking about.

Bridgette motioned Marion forward.
“Let’s talk as we walk. If we dunnae move quickly we’ll nae have time to visit the
seer and make it back afore anyone finds us missing.”

Marion nodded and strode beside
Bridgette down the dense trail that was growing deeper in shadows. As they
walked, Bridgette cleared their path with a dagger she removed from her boot,
and Marion thought of the dagger she’d lost in the river, the one Angus had
given her. She was sad to have lost the gift, but she needed to acquire a new
dagger. A bow and arrows would be lovely, as well. She’d never owned a set,
though she was an excellent shot. Father had refused to allow her to own
weapons. Both daggers she ever had, Angus had secretly given her.

Her musings were interrupted when
Bridgette spoke. “I think ye must have done something right last night because
I swear it was desire burning in Iain’s eyes today, so what I think must have
happened or is happening is that Iain feels guilty about wanting ye. He’s a
good man, and this may be hard to hear, but he loved Catriona fiercely.”

It wasn’t hard to hear. That he’d
loved Catriona was not the problem. In truth, it was a good thing because it
proved he had the capacity to love fiercely. The problem was, his ability and
desire to love that way again seemed to be gone. Where did that leave her? She
hated to think that she was bound to a man for life who would never love her.
And in spite of her earlier foolish thoughts about leaving him—she
knew
they were foolish—she had nowhere to go. And besides that important fact, she’d
much rather stay and have a good, strong marriage.

She wrung her hands together while
ducking under a swinging branch as she finally answered. “I know he loved her.
And I know he thinks no one can take her place, but I have no wish to do that.
He told me right before we were married that he would never love me, that he had
no desire to love the way he had again.”

“Oh,” Bridgette said. The one word
was low and accompanied by a wince. “That is bad.”

Marion’s shoulders sagged. “I know.
There is not much hope for a future that begins that way.”

Bridgette stopped on the trail,
patted Marion on the shoulder, and then pointed toward a hill. “The seer is
over that hill in a cave.” Bridgette looked back to Marion. “I think what ye
must do is first make Iain mad with desire and then show him that he kinnae
live without ye and how ye make his life better. He will nae be able to help
falling in love with ye, no matter what he may think currently.”

Marion nodded. That seemed like
good advice, except she had spent so many years trying to show her father that
he could not live without her and he had never grown to love her. The idea of
torturing herself in that same way made her stomach knot, but she could not
deny the longing she felt. She’d always dreamed of having love and a family,
and Iain was her husband now. If they never loved each other, her dream would
be dead.

“I’ll try,” she said.

Bridgette grinned. “When I fell in
love with Lachlan it was as if lightning struck me. One day, he rescued me from
a man trying to seize me, and I knew then that I loved him. How did ye and Iain
come to be together?”

Marion quickly told Bridgette of
King Edward’s decree, her attempt to escape marriage to Froste, and Iain
rescuing her.

Bridgette sighed, a wistful smile
tugging at her lips. “Did ye fall in love with him after he rescued ye, then,
as I fell in love with Lachlan?”

“I don’t love him,” Marion
asserted, her chest tightening. “I don’t plan on being that vulnerable and
allowing him into my heart until I know he is willing to offer love in return.”

Bridgette snorted. “If ye ask me,
ye already love the man.”

“I didn’t ask you,” Marion snapped.

Bridgette smirked at her.
“Defensive people are usually trying to deny something.”

“I cannot possibly love him! I have
only known the man for a few days!”

Bridgette moved around Marion and
started climbing the hill toward the cave as she spoke. “I only knew Lachlan
for two days afore I understood he was the one for me.” Bridgette swung around
and looked down at Marion from the top of the hill. “My mum knew my da only
four days afore she loved him. So dunnae try to tell me ye kinnae love him yet.
Love is nae only for those who have known each other for a long while. If it
is, then ye may as well give up hope because Iain knew Catriona all his life.”