“I’ll manage,” Blythe murmured against Emelie’s ear. “Isa survived plenty of years alone here. We didn’t arrive until after she left. If she could do it, so can I. But if you need to leave Dominic or the Campbells, come here. I will get you to Mother and Father, or I’ll get you to Isa and Ric. Don’t stay if it isn’t safe. Don’t stay if you’re unhappy.”
“If unhappiness were a reason to leave any place, you and I would never have spent more than a moon at court. No one is promised happiness in this lifetime. But as long as I’m safe with Dom, Brodie, and Laurel, I think I can find happiness. I didn’t plan to become a mother under these circumstances, but I am happy that I will be.”
The sisters squeezed one another once more before stepping apart. Dominic kept his distance, giving the sisters their private moment. When Emelie looked back at him and smiled, he approached. On the pretense of giving her brother-by-marriage a peck on the cheek, Blythe whispered so only Dominic could hear. “If you make her unhappy, if you cannot protect her, I will cut off your cods and feed them to a goat. Then I will cut off your cock and shove it up a ram’s arse. Hurt her, and I will kill you.”
“Lady Blythe, I take your warning seriously, just as I do my duty as your sister’s husband.” Dominic glanced at Emelie before leaning forward to speak so only Blythe could hear him. “She is a woman any mon would fall in love with and keep beside him until his last breath.”
Dominic straightened and gave Blythe a pointed look, to which she nodded and offered a hesitant smile. He turned to Emelie and offered her his hand before lifting her into the saddle. He mounted his own steed, and then they were off. Emelie looked back and waved to Blythe as they passed under the Stirling Castle gates and began their trek into the Highlands.
“It will be a four- or five-day journey,” Dominic explained as they left the town limits. “If the weather holds, it should only be four days. I’m afraid there are few inns along our route, so we will sleep under the stars.”
“That wouldn’t be a first. It takes several days to travel from Dunbar land to Stirling, and I’ve been on summer progress with the queen,” Emelie pointed out, but she frowned when Dominic looked no more reassured.
“You likely had a tent when you traveled, at least with the queen. Since I didn’t expect to have—didn’t expect to travel with you, I don’t have one.”
Emelie knew he was about to say he hadn’t expected to have a wife. She thought she even noticed a faint blush rising in Dominic’s cheeks, and she caught his gaze shifting to his men. She steered her horse a step closer to Dominic’s and kept her voice low.
“If I can have a moment or two of privacy each night, that’s all I need.”
“I will do whatever I can to make sure you have everything you need. Em, I can already see you’re an experienced rider, but I doubt you often spend the long days in the saddle that we will. There will be hilly terrain that will test your endurance. Don’t be embarrassed to admit when you need a rest. I don’t like that you’re riding, but I don’t have a wagon either. And walking is obviously out of the question.”
“You don’t like me riding?”
“Aye.” Dominic glanced at her middle. “A horse can throw even the most experienced rider.”
Emelie didn’t know what to say to Dominic’s last comment. She hadn’t thought about how riding might endanger her babe. Dominic surprised her once again by his astute observation and consideration. She wondered how he even thought about it, and it made her wonder how often he thought about her condition. As if he read her mind, he smiled.
“Brodie had a fit the first time Laurel tried to go riding once he knew she was carrying. He wanted to make her switch her gelding for a plow horse. I expected Laurel to chew his ear off for giving her orders and stifling her daily rides. It shocked me to my roots that she just nodded and embraced him. Later, when I asked why she relented without argument, she explained she hadn’t even thought aboot the risk. She didn’t want to cause Brodie undue panic after what she’d already survived. And she admitted he was right.”
“Already survived?” Emelie asked.
“I assumed you’d talked to Laurel the last time they were at court.”
Emelie blushed. “I wasn’t a particularly good friend to Laurel just before she married your brother. She overheard several of us discussing the wager Nelson MacDougall orchestrated. I rudely pointed out what most of us thought: Brodie only paid attention to her to win the bet. Blythe defended her, but even that was tepid. We were among Laurel’s few friends by the time she married, and I failed her by talking aboot her behind her back. Or as it turns out, right in front of her face.”
“And you resolved naught during her last visit?” Dominic pressed.
“Not really. She avoided Blythe and me, even though we apologized. I don’t think she was angry. It was worse. I think she was still deeply hurt.” Emelie bit her bottom lip as she met Dominic’s gaze. “Do you think she’ll forgive me and welcome me into her home?”
“It’s now your home as much as it is hers, and aye, I think she’ll forgive you. From what Brodie and Laurel have told me, she’s an entirely different person now that she’s away from court and back in the Highlands. She never wanted to leave Ross land or be a lady-in-waiting. I think she will surprise you when you see her again, and I’m certain it will be for the better. Apologize and be a sincere friend.” Dominic shrugged. Emelie hoped it were so simple, but she suspected female relationships were more complex than most male ones.
Dominic brought them back to what they’d originally been talking about. “When Brodie traveled with Laurel once she was carrying, they went slower than they usually would. If I had birlinns, I would have us sail. If we’re going too fast for you, there is no shame in speaking up.”
Emelie swept her eyes over the men in front of her. She didn’t think they would agree. No matter what they told anyone at Kilchurn, Dominic’s men likely knew that they hadn’t handfasted weeks ago, and they would question how she got with child so quickly. It was the first prickle of fear that her secret would destroy her arrival. She didn’t believe any of the men would lie for her, and she didn’t want them to lie on Dominic’s behalf. She squeaked when she suddenly found herself lifted out of her saddle and placed in front of Dominic on his. He wrapped his powerful arm around her middle and held her in place as he deftly managed his horse and tied her reins to his saddle.
“No one needs to hear our conversation but you. We appear the happy newlyweds,” Dominic spoke quietly. “My men aren’t privy to what I do within the keep. They fight hard and serve my clan loyally, but they are not my advisors nor my confidants. I have been a widower for six months. It’s not beyond reason that I would remarry, even if it is within my year of mourning. They understand why I would want my privacy in this matter, so I don’t want you to worry that they will tell anyone that we only handfasted two days ago. As far as they know, it could have been two days ago or nearly three moons ago.”
“If it was that long ago, wouldn’t they think it odd that we never sat together for meals, that we never went riding together, and that it’s only been within the last fortnight that you’ve publicly paid attention to me?”
“I told them the queen hadn’t released you from service until I knew we’d be leaving for good. All the ladies-in-waiting sit together. Half the matrons at court don’t sit with their husbands. Hell, most of them don’t even talk to their husbands. It wouldn’t seem that implausible. They know I have bedded no tavern wenches or whores, so they won’t believe me unfaithful. But who I bedded while I was in the keep is naught they would know.”
Emelie stiffened as she wondered who he had bedded during his visits to Stirling. Once again, he seemed to read her mind. Or perhaps he felt how rigid she went because his hand stroked her back as that arm tugged her closer.
“I told you, I have no mistress. I haven’t even thought aboot touching a woman since my first wife died. There has been no one else.”
Emelie wasn’t certain whether that reassured her or made her feel worse. It was a stark reminder that Dominic still grieved his wife’s passing. Her heart ached for the sorrow she was certain he still felt, and it made her sympathetic to why he might not have been ready to share his chamber with her after all. It had hurt to think he might not be attracted to her as she was to him, but she couldn’t begrudge him his grief.
“I don’t want you to worry aboot the men gossiping or questioning us,” Dominic said as he broke into her thoughts. He kissed her temple, and she relaxed against him. Even if Emelie had to accept that theirs was going to be a more platonic relationship, she still took comfort in his nearness. She rested her head against his chest and soon grew sleepy. “Sleep, little dove.”
