4
“What is amiss?”Fergus asked.
Leila hesitated, then spoke quietly.“Do you not think that too fine a gift to offer another man’s wife?”
“It is too fine a gift to leave packed away,” he replied.“The shade of this cloth does not favor you and you are unlikely to ever embroider.”
“True enough, but it might be wiser to send less.Sheiswedded to another man.”
“And she was betrothed to me,” Fergus said stubbornly.Every time he saw this cloth he would think of her betrayal and he did not wish to dwell upon it.“I think it only reasonable that I send her a gift with my good wishes for her happiness.”When she did not reply, he continued.“I will be arriving as a married man myself, Leila.Surely that will improve Stewart’s view of my gesture?”
Leila arched a brow but said no more.
Fergus had a thought.“Did you desire either of these things?”
“Of course not.And since you bought the gifts, they are yours to disperse.”
He ignored his sense that she had not told him all of her thoughts.“I will ride to Dunnisbrae tomorrow to give my regards to Isobel,” he continued.“Enguerrand and Yvan will remain here...”
“You mean to visit Isobel yourself?”Leila asked, her astonishment clear.“And on the morrow?”
“I cannot leave the tidings of Kerr’s death to be delivered by another,” Fergus said, irked that yet another person questioned his decision.“And it is not a message that should be delayed.”
Leila shook her head and turned away from him, packing away the remainder of the cloth with quick gestures.Fergus could feel that Agnes was attending their discussion, but Leila said no more.
He missed both her frank counsel and the flash of her eyes.This demure Leila was far less beguiling.
“You disapprove,” he said, inviting her to say more.
“It is not my place to approve or disapprove, clearly.”Leila curtsied to him.“Your will is mine, my lord.Is that not how it should be between man and wife?”She moved past him to stack one trunk against the wall, only the quickness of her gestures revealing her annoyance.
“Nay!I would hear your thoughts.”
“You will notlistento my thoughts, so I will keep them to myself.”
“Leila!Tell me what concerns you.”Fergus pursued her and touched her elbow when she did not turn to face him.“Leila,” he said, his voice dropping low.“Let us always have honesty between us.I would hear the truth of your thinking, even if you expect it will displease me.”
She stilled beneath his touch.“Truth?”
“Truth.”
“Even if you will not welcome it?”
“Even so.”
Leila rounded upon him, glanced at Agnes, then spoke with low heat.“It is one thing that you love her still.It is another that you wed me out of grace and kindness.But do not be such a fool as to provoke a warrior who is her husband by showing your admiration for his wife so clearly.She chose him and it is not your place to offer temptation.”
As Fergus had expected, her concerns were rootless.
“You make much of little,” he countered with a smile.“And assumptions of people you do not know.Isobel was my betrothed!Her nephew accompanied us by her request, and the boy died!I must tell her of his fate myself.”
“You make excuses,” Leila countered with flashing eyes.“You love her still, and if I can see as much, so will her husband.What else would he think, if you rush to her side the day immediately after your return?He will not be fooled by this handfast, not if he has any wits at all!”
“You would jump at shadows,” Fergus said, knowing his tone was dismissive.
“Aye?What do you know of this Stewart MacEwan?”
Fergus realized that Agnes had again lifted her head.He spared her a quelling glance and she returned to her scrubbing.“That he is a warrior, perhaps twenty years older than Isobel.I do not doubt that he defends her well.Sheisbeautiful.”
