Page 19 of A Highland Bride Taken
“Pardon me, miss, but I cannae let ye take the boys out of the castle,” she said with a frown.
“I—”
“I am Missus Norah Hughes, the housekeeper, and I see to the boys’ welfare,” she interrupted. “If ye want to take the boys outside their chambers, ye’re to ask either the Laird or meself. But since I didnae permit it, ye cannae.”
“But it will be best for them to play out in the sun,” Mabel tried to explain. “They are young and need?—”
“How many bairns have ye raised?” the housekeeper asked.
“None, but?—”
“Then ye dinnae ken what is best,” she snapped, taking the boys by the hand. “Come, lads, let us get ye back to yer rooms to rest.”
Mabel wished she could go to the stubborn woman and take the boys back from her, but she just watched the boys be led away.
The disappointment that was sure to fill them filled her as well, bringing tears to her eyes. She tried to blink them away, but a lone tear escaped, which she dashed with the back of her hand.
How could she hope to be the lady of this clan when she could barely speak when confronted?
8
Campbell watched the lass scurry away, unease filling him. He hadn’t expected her to be present at the morning meal or ask him about the incident so casually in front of his clansmen, who had been unprepared to see a strange woman sitting beside their Laird.
“What did she want?” Magnus asked from beside him.
Campbell would eventually tell them that he would wed, but until then, he wanted to be sure he wasn’t making a terrible mistake by allying himself with Clan MacLennan. He heard the whispers and caught the questioning glances, but continued his meal as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
Until he came to a decision, he wanted no one to be aware of what he had proposed to Mabel.
“‘Tis nothin’, Magnus,” he replied, waving a dismissive hand.
“I ken ye, Me Laird,” Magnus drawled. “Ye look like ye just ate a lemon.”
“I might have made a mistake.”
Campbell made sure to keep his voice low, as there were prying eyes and ears everywhere. He didn’t need anyone to know what he had done until he had decided fully.
“What do ye mean?”
He had been troubled all night—after a very cold dip in the loch to cool his heated flesh and mind—by the proposal he had made to her. Now that he had mulled it over, just marrying for the boys’ sake wasn’t as sound as he had initially thought, and it worried him that he had made a hasty decision.
He knew the twins were still troubled and had difficulty eating, which would no doubt be worsened by what they had experienced the previous night. Mabel was the only one who had made progress with them, and she seemed well-tempered and well-mannered, as would befit a lady of a clan. But his desire for her shocked him by its intensity and had him worried that it had driven his hasty decision.
“I will tell ye once I have organized me thoughts,” he muttered, rising from his seat. “Ye will handle training this morn.”
He knew his man-at-arms wanted to protest, but as was his way, Magnus finally decided against it.
It isnae too late to call it off.
Campbell knew that, but that didn’t make it an easy decision. Especially not when her scent and presence lingered in the room that had once been fully his.
He had nearly kissed her when she hadn’t even intentionally seduced him, and he was already losing sleep over her. He could only imagine how her continued presence would upend his carefully ordered life.
Would he really sacrifice her future for his own?
She was brave to accept the marriage, but in a few years, when the cold, loveless nights hit her, wouldn’t she regret it?
“Ye’re a good man, Me Laird. Ye just need to show it beyond provision and protection.”
