The Enchantress (27 page)

William smiled. “A fine night to be taking your Ellie out and about, Jock.”

“Aye, m’laird. Just the night for a wee walk. In fact, she was thanking me for it...and just this moment, too.”

They all laughed and parted ways.

Edward picked up their conversation where they’d left off. “Peter assures me that ‘tis not for his own sake that he is asking, but for the gaiety of the other men, including his laird.”

William cast a curious glance at his grinning man. “Since when has Peter the time to be concerned about anything but pacifying that hot-tempered wife of his?”

“Aye, Peter’s Wife is a force to be reckoned with, but I’m thinking ‘tis really Molly who’s been asking. From what I hear, the wench has been complaining to everyone that comes within shouting distance of the place that you never come by anymore. Something about wondering if you’ve taken a wife to your bed without telling her first.”

William snorted out aloud. “The next time you see the brazen Mistress Molly, tell her she is worrying for naught. I’ll be paying her a visit soon enough.”

Edward reined in his horse and nodded toward the small tavern a short distance away. “You might stop and tell her that yourself, Will. I’m thinking that nearly everyone has retired for the night back at the castle.”

William slowed his own horse and considered doing just that. A romp in the hay with that brassy, blue-eyed wench offered pleasures not to be scoffed at. But the interest he had usually been able to work up in the past tonight seemed so distant somehow.

He shook his head at Edward. “Nay. I think tonight is not the night for it.”

“Should we tell them, though--the women in the tavern--that they are invited?”

“Aye. They live on Ross land. They’re welcome the same as anyone.”

*****

As Laura had promised Sir Wyntoun, she went back down to the Great Hall right after Miriam had fallen sleep. As one who was always interested in learning new things and hearing about new places, Laura was keen to hear more about the Western Isles.

There was a specific place that he had mentioned earlier that had particularly caught her interest. Barra, the island off the west coast where Sir Wyntoun said his mother had been born.

Barra. Where her sister Adrianne had been sent to take refuge.

Laura was suddenly very anxious to learn more about this island of Barra and the people who inhabited it.

The Great Hall was fairly quiet when Laura entered, and the dogs that were scattered about raised their heads for only a moment. There were a few men talking and laughing in low voices at a table by the door leading to the kitchens, and some sleepers were tucked into dark corners, but the place had obviously settled down for the night. As she glanced about, she realized that the provost had apparently retired, and there was no sign of the laird’s return from the village, either.

Sir Wyntoun, however, was sitting alone by the fire, and he quickly rose to his feet at her approach.

“I was beginning to lose hope that you would return, Mistress Laura.”

She took the seat by the hearth that he offered. Immediately, Willie, the provost’s dog, emerged from under one of the trestle tables and lumbered over, sitting down expectantly next to her chair. Laura smiled and laid a gentle hand on the dog’s head.

“I am sorry. But I wanted to wait and make certain Miriam was already asleep.”

“You’ve taken a great liking to the child.”

Laura met the Highlander’s intense green eyes. “‘Tis impossible not to. She is the most agreeable and loving child I’ve ever encountered.”

A smile broke over the man’s handsome face. “And what is it that makes me believe that you would say that for all children that you might encounter?”

“You would be incorrect in assuming that, Sir Wyntoun. ‘Tis not true.” Laura straightened her skirt on her lap as Willie lay down by her feet. “Though I have not known a large number of young ones in my life, I can name at least one who was a disagreeable imp from birth.”

One dark brow rose. “Can you, now?”

“Aye!” Laura blurted. “My younger sister, Adrianne. She was born to be disagreeable. In fact, my mother said Adrianne was the son my father never had.”

A hearty laugh rumbled up from within the knight, and she studied the man’s face in the firelight. Dark, with finely etched features, his face was unmarked by scars. His green eyes were piercing when he directed his gaze at her. He was quite handsome, she decided, wondering why the man could stir up no further interest on her part.

He drew up a bench near the fire and sat down as well. Two powerful arms rested on his knees as he leaned forward. “Your sister, Adrianne, how much younger is she than you?”

“Two years,” Laura said confidentially. “Though a person who has seen all of us together might conclude that Adrianne has simply never matured beyond her younger years.”

“Stubborn?”

“Pigheaded.”

“Opinionated?”

“Extremely. And...active!”

Wyntoun stretched his long legs before him. The dog lifted his head and gave him an annoyed look. “Too bad we couldn’t have arranged for William to meet her. It sounds as if she would be the perfect match for my dear old friend. Certainly, if he could find a woman better suited to his own temperament, then he might stop following you around like some amorous young bull.”

He had meant his comment as a compliment to her, Laura was quite sure, but she found a knot forming in her throat at the thought of someone else--anyone else, even her own sister--being considered a better match for William Ross. A perfect match, Wyntoun had called it.

“I can see I spoke in haste.”

She shook her head and forced her gaze up to meet his. He was quite observant.

“There is more in this--this attachment between you and William than just him playing Troilus to my Diomedes.”

“I should hope I am more loyal than any Cresseid.”

“You mean loyal to that surly, ne’er-do-well friend of mine.”

There was no use in denying it. Her feelings for William were simply too strong to accept another man as a suitor, regardless of what the provost was trying to do for her. And she certainly had no right to mislead a man who--despite all of William’s bluster--was a friend.

“Aye, ‘tis true,” she said at last. “But please take this...this admission as one made in confidence. These feelings I have are mine alone.”

“You believe he does not share your affections?”

She paused for a moment and then shook her head. A woman can plan and pray for a future, but the past is a strong enemy to overcome.

Wyntoun pulled his bench forward, leaning closer to her with an air of one person confiding in another.

“Let me tell you something, mistress. ‘Twould surely be in my own best interest to see you lose hope in William. To be honest, nothing would satisfy me more than seeing you decide instead to allow something to bloom between us. However, my honor forces me to tell you the truth.”

Laura met the man’s emerald eyes as they bore into hers.

“Before this journey,” he continued. “I have never seen William lay claim to a woman as he has laid claim to you.”

“I can assure you, your friend’s behavior has been for the benefit of riling you more than--”

“Nay, mistress.” Wyntoun shook his head. “I’ve known him for many years. Speaking candidly, we have shared together a great many...misadventures, both here in the Highlands and elsewhere. William has never been one to seek out--how can I say this delicately--permanence in his female companionship.”

And with William’s good looks and easy charm, Laura thought with a pang of jealousy, he surely never had to.

“In a time when many young men in our position choose a mistress with the same seriousness that their families demonstrate in choosing them a wife, William has casually moved on from one liaison to the next.” Wyntoun looked at her, a frown tugging at the corner of his mouth. “But do not take me wrong, mistress. I do not want to portray William as reckless as much as indifferent. But all of this stems from the time when Mildred, Lord Herries’s daughter--”

The knight stopped and looked around the Hall as if considering the propriety of what he was about to reveal. Laura felt a knot in her throat that she was certain would choke her. She was about to plead for him to continue, but she dared not trust her voice.

“I tell you this because I believe you should know the man.” He turned his gaze back on her. “If you are courageous enough to marry him, then you should know what you are facing in his past.”

“He has not asked me to marry him,” she responded quickly, correcting him.

“I know him, and he will,” Wyntoun assured her. “But even before that--even if he does not admit that he is doing it for himself--he will ask you to keep
me
at arm’s length.”

Selfishly, Laura hoped the knight was correct. William Ross, she knew now more clearly than anything she had ever known in her life, was the only man she would ever desire to be married to. The only man she could ever spend the rest of her life with.

“What of Mildred?” she asked hesitantly, wanting to remove the shadow of the woman from her mind. “Mildred was Thomas’s wife, was she not?”

“Not when William and I first met her. We had just come to Hoddom Castle from the university. To us she was beautiful and spoiled and full of life. The lass turned her eyes on our friend the day we arrived at her father’s castle.”

“Did he--did William treat Mildred with--with indifference?”

Wyntoun shook his head and raked his strong fingers through his short black hair. “We were young. William was not yet established in his ways of dealing with women. He fell for her. I cannot say for certain that he was in love. But I know for a fact that he was enraptured by the lass.”

“And Mildred. Did she--did she love him back?”

Wyntoun gave a short laugh. “Years later this is still my undoing. If I did not pity him so for the way the woman treated him, I’m sure I’d not be doing this, encouraging you to take William Ross rather than me.”

“You’re a good friend,” she said gently.

He reached over and took her hand in his own. “William Ross, for all his faults, is a good man. But he has suffered his share, mistress.”

“How?”

“Mildred used him, I believe. Falsely, she made him believe, at first, that they might share a future. A life they could have together. But as fast as William fell, the woman began to lose interest. She had a wandering eye. And she was not secretive about it, but open as the midday sky. She even began to chide him about being a second son. For her, I knew, only a suitor with a title would claim her hand. Surely, Lord Herries himself wanted nothing less for his daughter.”

Laura remembered William’s bitter reference to
her
kind--women of the nobility--when they’d first met. She now understood it to be Mildred’s kind.

“She was relentless in the men she lured. I was one of those she targeted. But I sent her on her way, valuing my friendship with William over whatever charms she could offer. I saw her for what she was, but Thomas Ross did not.”

Laura drew her hand back into her lap. “Did he not know of his own brother’s connection with the woman?”

Wyntoun shook his head. “Thomas was twelve years older. He’d spent most of his life here on Ross land, preparing to become laird. He and William were not close on private matters. But even if they had been, I’d say--knowing William as I do--that he would have cut out his tongue rather than ruin the chance for his clan to form such a valuable alliance. Indeed, I believe he would have forfeited Mildred’s hand simply out of deference to his brother.”

“Can a man be foolish and noble at the same time, I wonder?”

“William will always put those he cares about ahead of himself.” The knight patted the dog’s head at their feet. “When Thomas came to claim Mildred under an arrangement made with Lord Herries, William was stunned, but showed nothing of the betrayal I knew he had to be feeling. He wished them well. But he soon set out to change his own ways with women.”

Betrayal. Laura stared into the hearth, wondering if William had ever recovered from Mildred’s betrayal. If he’d ever stopped loving her.

“I, for one, was glad when Mildred married and moved here to Blackfearn Castle.” The knight’s voice drew Laura out of her reverie. “She was undeserving of someone as goodhearted and genuine as William Ross.”

“And that was it? The end of what they had?”

“I believe William never saw her or Thomas again. The bairn was born the next year. From everything I heard later, Mildred was never contented being a Highland laird’s wife. I recall hearing that she quickly turned into a shrew, constantly demanding to spend time at Hoddom Castle. Thomas, older and apparently infatuated with his wife, allowed his responsibilities at Blackfearn Castle to fall on others in his desire to please his wife.”

“And where was William during this time?”

“He left the service of Lord Herries shortly after, as did I, and he served for a short time as an emissary in England. The king’s mother was in York then, and William traveled almost constantly between Stirling and Edinburgh and York.”

Laura remembered the Tudor coin William always kept in his belt.

“He appeared content in his newfound role until the news arrived of his brother’s and Mildred’s sudden deaths. He came back to the Highlands then, and the clan decided that he was the one to take over as laird.”

Without ever being given a chance to decide his own path in life, Laura thought. How could he not be restless and resistant when it came to taking over what had been thrust upon him?

For the first time since meeting William Ross, Laura understood him. He
was
a good man. A compassionate man. And a generous leader who, over and over again, had disregarded his own needs, deciding to do instead what was best for others.

She stared down at her lap as her fingers smoothed the dark fabric of her skirt.

MacLean had asserted that he believed William would ask her to marry him. Laura wished she could feel even a little confidence in what the knight believed. Too many uncertainties continued to batter her insides.