Rowan's Lady (30 page)

Arline, Rowan and Lily settled into a tidy routine
over the next week. Lily would come bounding into his room to wake him each
morn by jumping up and down on his bed and giving him kisses. It wasn’t the
jumping up and down that was unusual, it was the hour in which his daughter
woke that was so odd.

With Lady Arline taking the reins of governess,
she was able to gain a level of control over Lily that Rowan had failed to
master after more than four years. Although he was quite grateful that his
daughter’s manners had improved, that she was eating her vegetables without
much complaining, and that over all, her mood had improved considerably, he was
left feeling a touch inadequate as a father. Arline had managed to do in just a
few short days, what he had been trying to do for years.

Admittedly there were times when he felt a tad
jealous of Arline. Often, Lily would run to Arline with her questions and her
fears. As far as Rowan knew, Lily’s bad dreams had stopped. She no longer
climbed into bed with him in the middle of the night seeking comfort and
protection. Though he was glad the dreams no longer haunted her, Rowan missed
holding his daughter and chasing away the ghosts of her nightmares.

As the days passed by he began to feel less needed
and he did not care for it at all. He could not be angry with either Lily or
Arline. Arline was doing exactly what he had asked her to do. She was taking
excellent care of his daughter, teaching her how to be a lady. Lily was even
learning her letters and could read a few words by sight now.

His daughter was happy, safe, and content. How had
Arline been able to accomplish all of that in such a short time? Though
grateful, there were times when it gnawed at his fatherly pride.

One of the other positive things to come out of
having Lady Arline as Lily’s governess was that it did free up good portions of
his days. It allowed him more time to spend on clan business and to visit with
his clansmen who lived further out on Graham lands.

But mayhap the nicest benefit was that he was able
to spend time with both Lily and Lady Arline at the noonin’ meal each day and
the evening meal each night. Aye, spending time with Lady Arline was worth the
bruised father ego.

As promised, Selina had created a beautiful gown
of emerald green that fit Arline perfectly. Arline was still far too skinny for
her own good, but she was eating good meals now and Rowan hoped that she would
be able to put on more weight. The dark circles under her eyes had rapidly
faded and her skin no longer held the pallor of someone long hungry and hidden
from the sun.

The castle had begun to finally settle in the wake
of Beatrice being summarily cast out and Mrs. McGregor being tossed into the
dungeon. Rowan would have thought the woman would have given in by now, told
him what she knew of Beatrice and why she had listened to her to begin with. He
would visit Mrs. McGregor each morn before heading to the training fields. The
result of those meetings were always the same. He’d ask her questions, she’d
glower hatefully at him and spit every time he mentioned Lady Arline’s name.

He had just come in from training this morn,
covered in sweat and dirt when Lily came racing up to him in the hallway. “Da!”
she smiled sweetly as she ran to him. He knelt down and scooped her up and gave
her a big hug. Lady Arline looked radiant as she strolled down the long
hallway. Hints of the late morning sun shone in through the small windows and
bounced off her auburn hair. She was wearing a new dress this morn, made from a
beautiful goldenrod silk.

“And how is me lovely daughter this morn?” he
asked as he gave Lily a kiss on her nose.

“I be good! Lady Arline says that since it quit
rainin’ we can have a picnic outside.”

Arline had joined them, tugging Lily’s wee foot.
“And what
else
did I tell ye?”

Lily’s smile faded. “That I hafta write me letters
five times before we can have the picnic.”

Arline smiled warmly at her and then at Rowan.
“And?” Arline prodded.

Lily twisted her lips and looked up at the ceiling
thinking hard on it for a moment. Her smile returned when she remembered. “I
remember! We have to ask Da if it is all right first.”

“Good girl,” Arline praised her. She turned to
Rowan. “Would ye like to have a picnic with us? We might no’ get another
opportunity for I fear the weather will be turnin’ soon.”

Their invitation brought back a memory of a happy
afternoon spent with Kate. Lily was only a few weeks old and the Black Death
had not yet reached their lands. He hadn’t been on a picnic since. He almost
declined their offer, but seeing his daughter so happy and thinking of having
some time away from the keep with Lady Arline, he surprised himself by
accepting their gracious offer.

“Good!” Lady Arline said with a smile. “It will do
ye good to spend some time with yer daughter.”

“Are ye no’ joinin’ us?” Rowan asked, feeling more
than slightly disappointed.

“Ye’ve no’ had much time alone with Lily this past
week, Rowan. I thought ye would want to be alone with her.” Arline hadn’t
considered joining them. She was attempting to give Rowan time alone with his
daughter. “I do no’ want to intrude.”

His lips curved into a wide smile, his dazzling
and perfect white teeth sent a shiver of excitement up and down her spine. She
cursed inwardly for enjoying the tickling sensation that came to her belly every
time he smiled at her.

“’Twould
no’
be an intrusion, me lady.
’Twould make me verra happy,” he told her. He turned to Lily, knowing full well
that Arline would not be able to tell the child no. “What do ye say, Lily?
Would you like Lady Arline to join us fer our picnic?”

“Aye, I would!”

Rowan felt no guilt for using his daughter to get
Arline to change her mind. As he watched the loving smile come to her face when
she looked at Lily, he knew she’d be joining them.

“Verra well then!” he said, growing excited about
the opportunity to spend more time with Arline and his daughter. He tossed Lily
into the air once, his heart filled with an overwhelming sense of joy when she
squealed with delight. Carefully, he set her on her feet and patted her head.

“Ye go write yer letters while I go bathe. I be
certain ye don’t want a sweaty, smelly Highlander on yer picnic!”

I find ye quite handsome all sweaty and I do no’
think ye smelly at all. I think ye smell like a strong, virile, beautiful man.
Arline shooed the thoughts away. Will I ever be able to look at this man and
not feel all tingly and giddy? She forced herself to remember that she was not
a wanton woman. But the more time she spent with this man, the more wanton and
sinful she began to feel.

Pulling on every ounce of willpower she could
muster, she tried to pretend that nothing about him affected her in any way.
Her stomach told her she was a liar.

 “It will no’ take her verra long, Rowan. She’s a
verra smart little girl.”

“Good. Then I shall hurry. Should I meet ye in me
rooms?”

 “Nay!” she nearly shouted her answer. Rowan gave
her a curious look. “I mean, nay. We shall meet ye in the kitchens.”

Nay, nay, nay! Neither of us would be safe
together in yer rooms, ye devil!

Rowan cast another brilliant and sinful smile her
way. She had to force herself to look away for fear her legs would give out and
she would turn into a puddle of jelly at his feet. She supposed that’s what
most inexperienced women did, turn to jelly when they didn’t have a clue how to
express themselves when around a gorgeous, handsome man such as Rowan Graham.

Deep down, she did like the way she felt when she
was around him, although it was all quite confusing. The tingling sensations
were enjoyable, but the shocking thoughts that raced through her mind were
maddening if not embarrassing.

Ye’ve been married more than once and ye still do
no’ know how to act around a man. Yer an eejit.

Their picnic had not turned out the way Rowan had
envisioned it. Instead of a small, intimate affair with just him, Lady Arline
and Lily, half his clan decided it was a perfect day to take the noonin meal
out of doors.

He hadn’t been able to get one moment of privacy
with the woman throughout the meal. They were never alone, constantly
surrounded by people, or more specifically, his men.

Frederick and Daniel were especially attentive.
Thomas stood nearby, watching Lady Arline closely, as if she were going to
steal the silver candlesticks or Rowan’s private supply of whisky. It was
plainly evident that Thomas still held some reservations about Arline.

Rowan knew it wasn’t a romantic kind of attention
that the two younger men were displaying, but one forged from the time they had
spent together all those years ago.

Lady Arline looked rather uncomfortable as
Frederick and Daniel began to regale an audience of some twenty-five men, women
and children with the story of how they had met Lady Arline.

They had just finished eating and were now
enjoying the sunshine and cool autumn breeze that tickled grass and skin alike.
A goodly number of Daniel and Frederick’s audience were lazing about on
blankets while a few had taken felled trees as their seats.

“Och! Laddies,” Frederick said excitedly. “Ye
should have seen how brave Lady Arline was the night we were attacked on our way
to Stirling! As brave as any Highland warrior she was that night. Ye never
heard a peep out of her as the arrows -- on fire mind ye -- went flying through
the air. The bastards hit man and horse alike as they tried to kill us.”

 “Aye, everra word Frederick says is the God’s
honest truth.” Daniel said as he sat on a log chewing the end of a long blade
of grass. His blond hair waved in the afternoon breeze and his big blue eyes
sparkled with excitement. “As brave as any warrior I ever met, she was.” He looked
proudly then at Lady Arline who was sitting on a blanket next to Daniel and
Frederick’s
stage
. Lily sat beside Arline, eating a crisp red apple.

Rowan paid close attention to Arline. Her skin
seemed to grow redder as Daniel and Frederick’s tale grew longer and mayhap a
bit exaggerated.

“Nary a peep nor complaint from her lips. She’d
been keeping up with us as we tore along the valleys and glens to get to
Stirling. She has a verra good seat, Lady Arline does.”

The women giggled and the men guffawed at his
choice of terms. Rowan had his own thoughts as they pertained to Lady Arline’s
seat
,
but good manners forbade him from sharing those opinions with the rest of the
crowd.

Daniel shook his head at them. “Ye ken what I
mean! She’s as good a rider as any one here, I tell ye.”

Frederick agreed wholeheartedly. “Aye, he’s
tellin’ ye the God’s honest truth, lads. And brave she was that night, too,
when the flamin’ arrows were flyin’ through the air.”

Apparently the flaming arrows were their favorite
part of the story, for they had repeated it more than once.

“And then, when we finally made it to Stirling
Castle? Och! I’ve never seen a braver lassie in me life. Only eight and ten she
was at the time,” Frederick said.

Daniel added his own opinion. “Aye! Just eight and
ten and verra brave. She’d carried that box across Scotland, never lettin’ it
out a her sight, guardin’ it with her life.”

“And then when we got to Stirling Castle? That’s
when things got verra scary.” Frederick said.

The crowd fell silent as they listened to
Frederick explain how the box had been stolen and it seemed all was lost. “Fer
a very long time, we thought Angus and Duncan were goin’ to hang, ye ken. The
only thing that could keep them from hangin’ was
what
was inside that
box.” He paused then, shaking his head and looking quite forlorn.

One of the men piped up. “Well, what happened?
What was in the box?”

Frederick and Daniel smiled at Lady Arline. “Well,
ye see,” Frederick said, lowering his voice ever so slightly. “In that box were
papers, papers that showed who had really betrayed King David, the crown and
Scotland.”

“Aye, and when it was stolen right from under her
nose?” David looked at Arline then. “Did she fall into a heap and cry? Did she
rant and rave and curse the world? Nay. She did not.”

They were all looking at Lady Arline, as was
Rowan. She looked exceedingly ill at ease, as though she wanted to crawl away.
But she remained mute, pretending to ignore the stares and whispers.

“Nay, she did not. She went and found the box! And
she was able to save Angus and Duncan from hangin’ and expose the true
traitors.”

Arline could take no more. She rolled her eyes and
shook her head. “Nay, that is
no’
what happened and ye ken it!”

Frederick and Daniel looked surprised. “’Tis no’?
Well,” Frederick said quietly, “’tis how I remember it.”

“And I as well,” Daniel offered, looking a bit
smug.

“I was scared out of me wits the night the arrows
flew!” Arline said. “’Tis why ye didna hear a peep out of me. I was too scared
to say anything fer I was holdin’ on fer me life! And the way ye all took off,
racing across the land? Every time ye jumped a log or a stream, I nearly lost
me supper!”

The crowd laughed, not at her but with her.

“And as fer me findin’ the box, that’s not exactly
true. Robert Stewart pulled all the maids in to his private rooms to question
them.”

A woman from the crowd gasped in awe. “Ye met
Robert Stewart, the steward of Scotland?” she asked, looking amazed and
intrigued.

Arline swallowed hard. She would not be able to
tell them
everything
that had transpired, but there were some things
that she supposed were not private or privileged information.

“Aye, I did. He was a verra nice man, verra well
mannered.”

“Was he as handsome as they say?” Another woman
asked. Her husband glanced at her, disapprovingly. His expression along with
his wife’s question made Arline giggle.