Captured by a Laird (31 page)

“We’re not going home,” Will piped up. “I mean, we’re not going to Hume Castle. We have a new home.”

David sighed. This was not how he wished to break the news to her.

“New home?” Isabella asked, turning to him.

“Aye, we laid siege to Blackadder Castle,” he said. “It’s ours now.”

“And David has a wife too,” Will said.

“You? Married?” Isabella said, looking as if she’d seen a pig fly.

David’s head was aching.

“Her name is Alison—Lady Alison,” Will said. “She’s pretty and kind, and we all like her verra much.”

“Then I’m sure that I shall like her as well.”

David spurred his horse and rode ahead.

The journey to Dunbar had taken half a day, and he’d had hoped to return by nightfall. Despite Isabella’s assurance that she was well, she tired easily. He was glad he’d had the foresight to order a tent brought along for her.

Will ate supper with her in the tent, then came out to join David and the men around the fire.

“Mother wishes to speak with ye,” Will said.

“Now?” David asked.

When Will nodded, David took a drink from his flask and got up. There was no door to knock on, but he felt uneasy simply entering her tent.

“Lady Isabella,” he called from outside. “Ye should be resting. Shall we speak in the morning?”

“Come in.” Her voice was so faint he barely heard it.

He stepped inside and looked at the woman who had caused the downfall of his father and nearly his clan as well. Yet he could not blame her for his father’s weakness. Isabella had never meant to cause harm.

“My son has grown fond of your bride and her daughters in a short time,” she said with a warm smile. “Will spoke of little else.”

“Hmmph,” David grunted, and hoped that would be the end of it.

“What about you?” Isabella asked.

“What about me?”

“How do you feel about your new bride?”

Why was she asking? She’d never concerned herself much with him before.

“We’ve spoken little, you and I, for having lived under the same roof for so many years,” she said, seeming to read his thoughts. “After losing your father and being kept away from all of you, I don’t want this distance between us anymore.”

All David wanted to do was leave the tent.

“I could never have replaced your mother in your heart,” she said, “but I should have tried harder to mother you. You were still young enough to need it.”

“I was
ten
.” For God’s sake.

“As I said.” She sighed. “I do regret it.”

“You’ve nothing to regret with regard to me.” It was not her fault that he was difficult to feel affection toward, even as a child.

“I was young and so in love. And then the babes came,” she said, sounding wistful. She paused, then asked, “So tell me, how did you acquire this wife?”

“She came with the castle,” he said, which caused his stepmother to laugh.

“Then I assume this is Alison
Douglas
we’re talking about,” she said. “That was a bold move.”

“Aye, it was.”

“You sound as though you regret it,” she said, pinching her brows together. When he didn’t respond, she said, “Naturally, the circumstances make for a difficult start to a marriage, but Will thinks so well of her. You should give the lass a chance.”

“I don’t regret making Alison my wife,” he said in a tight voice.

“What is it, then?” She startled him by leaning forward and touching his hand. “Come, tell me.”

“What I regret,” he said after a long silence, “is forcing her to wed me.”

He didn’t know why he confessed this to Isabella, with whom he’d never had an intimate conversation in his life.

It had been necessary for him to marry Blackadder’s widow and gain control of the daughters, and he would make the same decision if he had it to do over again. Yet, in his heart of hearts, he wished Alison had become his wife under different circumstances. Ridiculous as it was, he wished he could have given her the choice, and that she had wed him because she wanted him.

“You care for her,” Isabella said.

“Aye,” he admitted, shifting his gaze to the roof of the tent.

“Why does that make you unhappy?” she asked. “Does she not care for you?”

He wanted to believe that, for a brief time, Alison had cared. She knew him for what he was now, and any affection she might have felt before had been replaced by revulsion.

“My nature offends her,” he said.

“You’re a fine man, one any woman would be proud to call husband.”

“My wife does not agree.” He got to his feet. There was nothing to be gained by discussing it further.

“Give her time,” Isabella said, looking up at him.

“Time won’t change this,” he said. “I’m the wrong man for her.”

And Alison was the only woman for him.

He made up his mind on the ride back. He would give her what she had wanted all along.

***

Alison felt at loose ends and took a walk around the castle grounds. David was furious with her, and she did not know how they would mend things between them.

She thought back to the day of the picnic and how happy she was then. Nothing had been right between them since, and she had made them worse by her reaction to D’Orsey’s death. But heavens, what woman wouldn’t be upset by that gruesome head?

Once David was no longer standing over her like an enraged bull, she had been able to give more thought to what he’d said about it. She had not fully appreciated before the magnitude of David’s smoldering rage over his father’s death.

Though she could never condone what he’d done to D’Orsey—she shuddered again at the thought—she could admit there was justice to it, given D’Orsey’s role in his father’s beheading. And to her surprise, it apparently had persuaded the new garrison commander at Dunbar to release Will and Robbie’s mother. David had been right about that.

Alison turned the corner of the keep and found Robbie leaning against the wall, watching her daughters play with their wooden toys. Knowing Robbie, he must be bored senseless.

She felt him tense as she leaned against the wall next to him. “You’ve developed a sudden interest in carved animals, I see.”

He folded his arms and continued watching the girls with a serious expression.

“Your friends are on the other side of the keep practicing,” she said.

“When David’s gone, I’m responsible for these lasses’ safety.” He gave her a sour sideways glance. “And yours.”

“Why are ye upset with me?” she asked.

“I’m not,” Robbie said, keeping his gaze on her daughters.

Alison blew out a breath in exasperation. “Something’s happened. I want ye to tell me what it is.”

“Ye want to know?” Robbie said, turning fierce green eyes on her that were so much like David’s. “Truly?”

“I do.”

“Nay, ye don’t,” he said. “Ye want to believe what ye want to believe.”

Her mind had been on her troubles with David, but she realized now that Robbie had been stone-faced around her since David paraded the head around the courtyard and Will cried. But why would he be angry with her for that?

“Come,” she said, “tell me what this is about.”

“Ye acted disgusted by what David did to that French bastard, but ye don’t know why he did it,” he spat out. “And ye don’t care why.”

David had already told her why.
Blood for blood, a lesson had to be given.
Apparently Robbie felt the need to explain that to her too, so she’d let him.

“I do care,” she said, “so why don’t ye tell me.”

“D’Orsey was going to murder our Will,” Robbie said. “I tried to save him, but D’Orsey knocked me sideways and sent me flying, as if I was one of those wooden toys.”

Robbie paused to wipe at an angry tear that slid down his cheek.

“He had his sword raised over Will.” He swallowed. “I saw David coming on his horse, but he was too far away. He could never make it. I thought my little brother was dead.”

Alison touched his arm, but he jerked it away.

“D’Orsey’s blade was no more than a breath away from slicing Will in two,” Robbie said. “But David came riding up at a full gallop and struck with such force that it lifted D’Orsey backward off his feet.”

Her hand went to her throat. Tears sprang to her eyes at the thought of how close they’d come to losing Will.

“Why did David not tell me?” she asked.

“Loyalty is everything to him,” Robbie said. “He expected ye to trust him, to believe in him, without requiring an explanation.”

She had failed David, and he could not forgive her.

***

Alison watched with a lump in her throat as Robbie picked his mother up off the ground in an embrace and spun her around.

“My, you’ve grown so tall,” Isabella said through her tears.

All through the introductions, Alison’s gaze strayed to the door. David must have stopped to talk to the guards at the gate or to give instructions regarding the horses to the stable lads.

“Will spoke so much of you, that I feel as though I already know you,” Isabella said to her.

“Mmmhmm.” Alison smiled and leaned to look past her. She feared she was being rude, but she was distracted, waiting for David. It was pouring rain. What was keeping him?

She was anxious to apologize to him and set things right. He’d saved Will’s life and rescued Isabella, and she had upbraided him.

“Pardon me,” she said, touching Isabella’s arm, “but I must find David.”

She opened the outer door and squinted against the driving rain. She spotted David walking his horse through the muddy courtyard. Why was he leading it
away
from the stable?

“David!” she called, but he didn’t hear her.

She picked up her skirts and ran after him. Though the distance was short, her skirts were heavy with mud and rain soaked her back by the time she reached him.

“David,” she said, catching his arm. “Where are you going?”

“I’m leaving for Hume Castle,” he said, his face expressionless.

Disappointment weighed down on her chest.

“So soon?” She wiped at the water streaming down her face with her sleeve. “When will ye be back?”

He shrugged, and she noticed a raindrop caught on his lashes. He had such beautiful eyes. But he looked tired, and she longed to brush her palm against his unshaven cheek.

“When?” she asked again.

“I expect I’ll be back from time to time,” he said. “But I’ll be living at Hume Castle now. I’ve left Brian in charge here.”

“
Living
at Hume Castle?” She blinked against the rain pouring into her eyes as she tried to absorb this news. “Can’t we leave tomorrow? I need a bit of time to pack my things. And shouldn’t we wait for this storm to pass?”

“You’ll be staying here. Brian’s a good man and will keep ye safe.” He started to reach for a dripping strand of hair that was stuck to her cheek, but dropped his hand. “Go inside before ye catch your death.”

“I don’t want to go inside,” she said. “Tell me what ye mean. Say it outright.”

“We’ll remain married,” he said, turning his gaze away from her. “But I think it best we live apart.”

“Why?” she asked, stunned. Was he that disappointed in her?

“Ye wanted your freedom,” he said, still not looking at her. “I’m giving it to ye.”

“But…but…” she sputtered, “what if I don’t wish to live apart?”

“I can’t be the man ye want,” he said.

Before she could find any words that might change his mind, he mounted his horse.

“I wish ye happy,” he said, and dipped his head.

She could have been content with her freedom if she had never met him, never become his wife. But not now. Why did David steal her heart only to leave her?

“Why did you ever come here?” she said, clenching her hands. “Could ye not have let me be?”

Alison stood, soaked to the skin, and stared after him long after he rode out the gate.

CHAPTER 43

“I’m your mother, Beatrix,” Alison said, folding her arms as she stood over her daughter. “You’ll have to speak to me sometime.”

She was not sure which was worse, Beatrix furious and glaring at her, or Margaret looking pitiful as she sat on the floor rubbing her wooden pig against her cheek.

“Why did ye make David leave?” Beatrix said, stamping her foot.

At least Beatrix had finally spoken to her, but Alison felt too weary to deal with her daughter’s anger. She could barely crawl through the days since David left.

“If ye think I have the power to make the Laird of Wedderburn do my bidding,” Alison said, “you’re mistaken.”

“Ye haven’t even tried to bring him home,” Beatrix said, her voice thickening with the tears she was holding back. “You’ve done nothing! Nothing!”

He doesn’t want me.

Beatrix held out her hand to Margaret and led her sister out of the room. Alison watched them leave, then dropped onto a stool facing the narrow window. She stared out at the dark clouds that were gathering on the horizon, like a reflection of her dismal future.

The next morning, the hall was nearly empty by the time she dragged herself downstairs. She sank into a chair beside Isabella near the hearth and picked up the needlework she’d left there.

“Ye missed breakfast again,” Isabella said.

She had lain in bed missing the warmth of David’s body next to hers and risen too late.

“Ye should go down to the kitchens and get something to eat,” Isabella said. “While you’re there, ye can give your new cook instructions.”

“I’m not hungry.”

Alison should become acquainted with the new members of her household Brian had brought from Hume Castle to replace the servants David had sent away. Not long ago, she would have relished training new servants, but she let Isabella do it for her because she simply did not care.

“Blood for blood is a sacred duty here in the Borders,” Isabella said. “David could not hold his head up as a man, and certainly not as a laird, until retribution was exacted.”

“I understand that now.” Alison stifled a sigh. Isabella had said that so often in the last days as to be a trifle tedious.

They stitched in blessed silence for a time.

“Ye do know he has a mistress at Hume Castle?” Isabella asked.