“I don’t know.”
“Mayhap you could see our healer and describe how you felt on our journey. Tired and queasy, then famished. She’ll tell you what we already know, but she’ll be the first to know outside our family. That might be easier for you than saying you’ve known all along. People might be less likely to ask how far along you are.”
“You wish for me to spin even more tales than we’ll already have to. You want me to start my first full day here lying to your healer. If anyone would know I’m not telling the truth, it would be a woman who’s spent her life delivering bairns.”
“I just want you to be at ease,” Dominic insisted. Emelie opened her mouth to say she would feel better if he stopped putting distance between them, but he spoke first. “I’ll let you get your rest, and I will see you when we break our fast.”
Emelie’s shoulders slumped as she watched Dominic leave her chamber. The room she’d thought—hoped—she would share with him. There didn’t seem to be anything else to do than strip off her kirtle and climb into bed. She felt herself drifting off quickly, and she supposed Dominic hadn’t been wrong. She needed sleep more than she needed her husband bedding her. But not by much.
Eight
Dominic didn’t know what to do with himself. He knew with certainty he would not spend the night in his old chamber. He wouldn’t humiliate Emelie by returning to the barracks or sleeping in the Great Hall. He debated whether it would be a safer bet to sleep in Brodie’s solar than to sleep in a guest chamber, even if he didn’t request any bedding. In the end, he settled for attempting to sleep on the window seat in the upstairs solar. It only took a couple minutes to accept that he was far too large to attempt that. He stoked the fire, pulled the extra length of his plaid over his head, and fell asleep beside the hearth.
Images of Emelie filled dream after dream. They began as she looked now, no hint of the child she carried. He could see them walking hand-in-hand along the river. They planned for when their babe arrived, talking about names for a lad or a lass. As the dreams progressed, the events seemed more mundane but comfortable. He pictured them lying in bed beside one another discussing their day. Just before the sun rose, he dreamed of them in the chamber Emelie now occupied. But there were four slumbering children wrapped around them.
“Dom?” A woman’s voice roused him from a lurid dream he was having, and when he cracked his eye open to find Laurel standing over him, he was grateful that his sporran hid the outcome of the vivid dream of making love to Emelie in the bay’s warm summer water.
“Aye. I’m awake,” Dominic rasped.
“What the devil are you doing sleeping in here? What did you say to Emelie?” Laurel demanded.
“I said naught. I—”
“Well, there’s the bluidy problem,” Laurel interrupted. “Get up and go meet your wife. She’s already belowstairs.”
“What?” Dominic scrambled to his feet and looked toward the door. He straightened his sporran when he realized Laurel would have a view of his morning arousal. He recalled shifting several times in his sleep because he’d been unable to get comfortable with a raging cockstand. “I told her to sleep in.”
“On her first day here? She would never!” Laurel exclaimed. “Why are you in here?”
“I wanted to make sure she slept well last night.”
“Slept well? Alone in a strange new place. You are a henwit. Go see to her. She’s now alone in the Great Hall.”
“Why aren’t you with her?” Dominic felt his defensiveness rising.
“Because I was searching for you. When I passed her in the passageway, she said she didn’t know where you went. At least I knew you had the sense not to go to the barracks or the Great Hall last night.” Laurel huffed as she shooed Dominic toward the door. He hurried down the stairs, but Brodie waylaid him before he reached the dais. He peered over Brodie’s shoulder to where Emelie sat alone as people filled the gathering hall.
“I need to see you this morning. I would like to hear your last update on the MacArthurs and MacGregors’ camps near our borders,” Brodie explained.
“They would be more than a moon auld. You should ask the men who patrol there.” Dominic made to step around Brodie, but his older brother shifted.
“I want to hear it from you.”
“And I want to greet my wife, who is sitting alone,” Dominic snapped.
“This again,” Brodie barked. Dominic narrowed his eyes and fisted his hands by his side.
“That was uncalled for,” Laurel hissed from behind Dominic. “Take it back.”
“I will not. I knew naught of this handfast until he shows up with a stranger. Now he’s coddling her just like he did the last bitch he married.”
A gasp made Brodie whirl around as Dominic lunged past him. Emelie took a step back and shook her head. She put her hands up to ward Dominic away. With more composure than Dominic could have mustered, she walked up the stairs to her chamber.
“You’re an arse. She’s naught like Colina,” Dominic snapped.
“You thought the sun shone out of Colina’s arse. How can I be sure you don’t think the same about this one? You will not shirk your duties anymore.”
“This one?Emelie is my wife. Never refer to her like that again, Brodie. She doesn’t deserve it, and I will defend her. And you owe her an apology. You made it sound like you hold her in the same low esteem as Colina. You don’t even know her.”
