Andrew didn’t wait for Darren to answer, storming across the chamber and throwing open the door. He raced through the passageways until he reached a door to the bailey. He flung it open and jumped down the last four steps before running toward the gardens. It took but a minute to find the ladies-in-waiting strolling through the autumn foliage, with the queen and her matrons leading the group. Andrew found Evina and Catriona walking together in the middle of the group. He stepped in front of the two women, whose eyes opened wide as they desperately looked around.
“Where the devil did she go?” Andrew snarled. Evina shied away, but Catriona crossed her arms.
“Dinna think ye can snap and hiss at me, Andrew.” Catriona leveled her gaze at him, mutiny in her gaze.
“Ye already ken she’s gone, and I just learned of it from ma guard. Where did she go?”
“We dinna ken,” Catriona confessed as her arms dropped.
“Ye sound like ye might actually be worried, yet ye didna say aught to anyone.”
“Because she’s safe with him,” Evina spoke up.
“Safe? Safe!” Andrew fisted his hands to keep from wrapping them around the lady’s neck. He turned his focus back to Catriona. “Did ye ken? Did ye keep this from me?”
“I dinna owe ye aught, MacFarlane.” Catriona crossed her arms once more and raised her chin, her nostrils flaring. “Mayhap I might have one day, but ye’re too busy sticking yer neb in yer cousin’s business.”
“Cat,” Andrew whispered, shooting a warning glare at Evina. “I’m worried for her, nae just angry. I dinna fear her with him. It’s her being on the road and where he’s likely to take her. I’m nae so convinced she’s safe among them. I need to find her.”
Catriona exchanged a glance with Evina before they both nodded. They led Andrew away from the group to a corner hedge. “We dinna ken where they went. Honestly. She hasnae said aught to either of us, but we ken she’s been slipping away with Rab.” Catriona paused but placed her hand on his forearm, an intimacy they’d never shared in public before. “She was gone Sunday morning and the last two mornings.”
Catriona and Evina waited for Andrew to piece together what Catriona meant without saying it aloud. But Andrew shook his head, bewildered by Catriona’s evasive hint. Evina swallowed before explaining.
“We’ve just had All Souls and All Saints. Two holy days following a Sunday. That’s three Masses read in a row.”
“Ye think they’ve been slipping away to have the banns read?” Andrew twisted away, pushing his hair back from his forehead before turning back to the women. “Then they could already be married.”
“We suspect that’s why they left last night,” Catriona stated.
“Last night?” Andrew turned a murderous mien toward Evina. It was so menacing that Catriona stepped between them.
“She doesnae ken any more than I do, Óg. Catherine didna confide in either of us, which bluidy well hurts. Evina thought she’d merely slipped out to meet him again last night. It didna surprise Evina when Catherine wasna in her bed when she woke. But Catherine’s always been back and usually sleeping by the time we finish Terce and break our fast. She didna come back this morning.”
“Leave,” Andrew barked at Evina as he leaned around Catriona. The lady-in-waiting was only too happy to follow the command.
“Dinna speak to her like that. Ye’re angry, but she isnae a servant or a dog.”
“Angry? That’s what ye think I feel? Aye. That’s part of it, but I’m fucking terrified she’ll be dead before I can get to her.”
“What if she doesnae want ye to ‘get to her?’ Mayhap that was the entire point of them sneaking around.”
“I didna trust him before, and I will kill him now. Just yesterday morning he spoke of us making peace once we’re lairds. All the while he was planning to abscond with Catherine and marry her without ma father’s consent.”
“She doesnae need Laird MacFarlane’s consent or anyone else’s. She’s well past being of age.”
“I can think of someone else who doesnae need consent but refuses to consider marriage without it.”
Catriona’s eyes watered as she shook her head. “That isnae fair,” she whispered. “Ye ken what I want, and ye ken the position they put me in. I’m bluidy jealous of Catherine. She did what I’ve been too scared to suggest. And ye havenae exactly presented the idea either. Ye havenae even asked them.”
“We arenae talking aboot us.” Andrew sighed as he looked around. He guided them further through the garden and into the orchard, where they were alone. “Cat, I’d handfast with ye right now if I didna fear how yer father and uncles treat ye. It’s the same fear I have for Catherine. I dinna think ma father would lay a hand on her, but he would break her heart. I dinna trust yer uncles nae to beat ye, even if yer father wouldnae. I couldnae live with maself if I were the reason they turned ye out after abusing ye.”
“They are likely married and on their way to Edinample, like we could be and on our way to Inveruglas.”
“With most of Clan Douglas on our heels. What I want canna ever come before what’s best for ma clan. Having yers wipe us from the earth isnae what’s best.”
“Then we’re where we’ve always been. And I canna help ye with Catherine because I dinna ken aught more. I would tell ye, Óg. I ken ye love her. But I think she did the right thing. If ye, yer father, and Laird MacLaren could stop to see reason, ye’d realize that nae only can there be peace between ye, ye could be happy for them. Like it or nae, they are married—the longer we talk the more certain I am—and they will have bairns one day, God willing. Will ye turn away from yer own blood because ye dinna like their name or the keep in which they live? Ye arenae that kind of mon, Óg. I’m certain of that too.”
Andrew took Catriona’s hand and placed it over his heart. “I’m jealous of them too. I want with ye what they share, and I think we can have it. But I dinna agree with Rab’s choices as the heir to his clan. I dinna condone ma cousin’s decision because she is going to hurt ma father deeply. It’s nae that I’m unsympathetic to them; I just dinna think they did the right thing.”
