Page 29 of Bound to a Scot
“Aye. I understand.”
Burchard swallowed down his mead then tossed the empty cup on the table as he got to his feet. His gaze, dark and angry, remained fixed on her as he walked out of the hall. The door slammed behind him with a hard bang like a cannon, making Emmeline jump in her seat.
“Why did ye ae that, Emmy?” Cecilia asked. “Ye ken what will happen?—”
“I willnae let him put another hand on ye, lass. I give ye me word.”
“What did ye hope tae achieve with that little show?” Maddox asked.
“I want ye tae see what kind of man me husband is,” she replied. “And I also want tae ken why he’s meetin’ with all these strange me in secret—and why he’s lyin’ about it.”
Maddox sat back in his seat, his face troubled. He seemed to be thinking about what had just happened, which was what Emmeline had hoped would happen. She hoped his thinking would lead him to reconsider everything. Cecilia turned to her and as if she understood what Emmeline was trying to do, offered her a weak smile, fear still shining brightly in her eyes.
“It’ll be all right, lass,” Emmeline said.
“I hope so,” Cecilia replied.
She offered the girl an encouraging smile, doing her best to mask her own fears that things would in fact, be all right, or that she could truly give her the protection she said she would. But something was going on. Something dark and shady. She had no idea what it was, but Emmeline believed they had a right to find out.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Maddox’s heart was troubled as he stalked the corridors of the castle. Macfie had ridden out earlier on some unannounced errand, leaving him alone in the castle. He’d sent Adair along behind him secretly to see what the laird was up to. He was worried both about what Macfie might be getting up to and that Emmeline was being reckless. She was provoking him for reasons he didn’t understand. The backlash both she and Cecilia would face would be severe. He’d seen it in Burchard’s eyes.
Why had she done that? Why had she provoked him, especially after what she’d told him last night? It made no sense. Was she trying to warn Maddox about something, to expose something dark her husband was up to? These meetings with strange men? Perhaps trying to make Maddox reconsider the proposed alliance? If that was the case, Emmeline was even more reckless than he’d imagined.
Over his time at Castle Macfie, Maddox had come to believe the laird was a dangerous man and that by antagonizing him,she was putting herself in mortal danger. Cecilia had said her father was not a murderer, but Maddox recognized a darkness in the man. As the days went by and he got to know him better, Maddox knew a monster lurked beneath the man’s surface. He seemed to be a man who had a thousand spinning plates and an agenda unknown to anybody but himself.
Maddox didn’t trust him as far as he could throw him. The only reason he hadn’t packed up and gone back to his own lands was the uncertain fate of his people if he didn’t make the deal. They had continued to negotiate, and he thought the end was in sight. Because he hadn’t managed to persuade the man against the marriage pact, Maddox had managed to negotiate a higher bride price from Macfie. It would provide more than enough money to get his people back on their feet.
He hated that he had to weigh everything against the needs of his people, but that was the burden of leadership. That’s what it meant to be the laird of a clan. As the leader of a people, your every thought was consumed by what was best for them. It was a simple fact he had let himself forget for a time, and that was why he found himself in the position he was in, having to accept an alliance he did not want. But it was not lost on Maddox that not every laird thought that way, Macfie being one of those. The man only seemed to think what was in his own best interest.
Laughter echoed along the corridor, pulling Maddox out of his dark ruminations. At the crossing up ahead, he saw Emmeline walking with Lorn and felt a lance of jealousy pierce his heart. Gritting his teeth, he followed behind, doing his best to stay out of their sight. As they wound through the corridors, he knew they were heading out to the sparring yard. When they steppedinto the sparring yard, which was merely an enclosed courtyard near the rear of the keep, Maddox stopped and leaned against the pillar, watching them.
He knew it was not his business. If Emmeline wanted to carry on with her husband’s war leader, it should not concern him. She was not his business. He reminded himself for the thousandth time that his only business at Castle Macfie was the business of his people. He care what Emmeline did or who she did it with. He tried to tell himself again that it didn’t matter.
Except that it did matter to him. He did care.
“Bleedin’ donkey,” he muttered to himself.
Out in the yard, he watched Lorn helping to put Emmeline through her forms with a wooden practice blade. She was lithe and athletic and carried herself better than he would have expected. Maddox found himself impressed. It was obvious Lorn had taught her well. As if she sensed him watching her, Emmeline turned and spotted him leaning against the pillar. Her cheeks immediately flushed. Lorn turned and saw him, and the large man frowned.
“Laird MacLachlan,” Lorn said in his deep baritone voice. “What brings ye out here?”
There was no sense in trying to be discreet any longer, so he pushed away from the pillar he’d been leaning against and stepped through the rounded archway into the yard.
“Curiosity, I suppose,” he replied. “I saw the two of ye carryin’ a pile of weapons and wanted tae see what ye were up tae.”
Lorn’s face was pinched and Emmeline was tense and seemed to be on the verge of bolting from the yard altogether. But she clenched her jaw and turned to him, her expression one of resolve.
“Me husband forbids me tae train with weapons,” she said with steel in her voice. “I force Lorn tae teach me anyway.”
“She doesnae force me tae dae anythin’,” he grumbled.
“If ye’re worried about me sayin’ somethin’ tae Burchard, ease yer minds. I’ll say naethin’.”
“Thank ye,” Emmeline said, her words filled with relief.
Maddox flashed her a cocky grin and chuckled. “I dae wonder though, are ye trainin’ tae take Lorn’s place as war leader? War is a man’s game, lass.”
