“But I understand why the marriage agreement is broken and why ye maun leave—to be sure, I do. My husband has explained to me what my son has done.”
Her son. Deathan. But nay, Mistress MacMurtray did not speak of him.
“For Rohr to have got another lass wi’ his child—”
“He loves her. And it happens.” Darlei understood that now in full.
“Aye, so it does. But I doubt his father will ever forgive him. For our clan to fall out o’ favor wi’ the king”—Mistress MacMurtray’s gaze softened further—“and for us to lose ye, ’tis a blow.”
Yet life here would go on after Darlei left. Rohr would marry his lover and raise his child. Mistress MacMurtray, sweet woman that she was, would likely linger in her illness. Deathan…
What would become of him without her? What would become of her, without him? Sitting there with Mistress MacMurtray, she could feel the wheel of life turn, with herself helpless upon it.
Slow. Inexorable. Immeasurably cruel.
Despite all her best intentions, tears pricked Darlei’s eyes when she said, “I wish to thank you for your great kindness while I was here. You welcomed me at once, and it made such a difference.”
“I only wish ye could stay.”
“As do I.”
Mistress MacMurtray squeezed Darlei’s hand. “May the gods go wi’ ye, lass, on your journey. And may ye find much happiness in yer life.”
A blessing. Yet Darlei felt as if her happiness had flown. She expected no more.
“Ye leave us in the morning, aye?”
“Yes, mistress.”
“Pop back in and see me before ye go.”
“If I can.”
Darlei hurried out so the woman would not see her tears. Orle was waiting.
“Your father wishes to see you, Darlei.”
Her father’s quarters were in disarray, his man packing. Caerdoc gave Darlei a sharp look when she came in. “Daughter, are ye packed and ready to leave?”
“Most of my things have been gathered, yes.”
“Make certain they are. Chief MacMurtray wishes us to feast tonight, an effort to assuage his guilt, I do not doubt. I will not deny him, even though ’tis a terrible inconvenience for us to travel on.” He sighed. “This marriage should have been over and done long since.”
An inconvenience.Was that all her future meant to him?
“We will give him his feast, as I say, but I wish to be ready to leave by first light tomorrow.”
“So early?”
“Our journey is a considerable one. And I want the dust of this place off my feet. It has not been a rewarding experience.”
Not rewarding?Her fingers trailing over the warmth of Deathan’s naked skin, across his taut belly and lower still. His mouth at her breasts, calling up a passion she’d never imagined. The heat of him inside her, the deep and thrilling sense of belonging.
There could be no greater reward in all of life.
And standing there amid the chaos of her father’s chamber, she knew whatever it took, before she left Murtray she must have Deathan again.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
