The two men’s gazes locked and held for a charged moment.
“Who is your wife?”Stewart demanded again.
“Leila binte Qadir lufti al-Ramm.”
Stewart laughed again, a harsh bark that prompted Fergus to release him and step back.“A Saracen?You wed a Saracen?”The older man smiled.“And who is the witless one, Fergus?I have a beauty in my bed.”He dropped his voice to a whisper.“Do you think of Isobel’s pale perfection as you ride your filthy infidel?”
Fergus struck Stewart then, his reaction born of fury.The older man stumbled backward even as his nose began to spurt blood.His men drew their swords, but Stewart chuckled as he regained his balance.He wiped the blood, his gaze still fixed upon Fergus.
“Stand down,” he said to his warriors.“A man with blood in his veins should have the right to express his displeasure when a lady spurns him for another man.”
Fergus might have expressed more, but a woman’s voice carried to his ears from within the keep.“Fergus?Fergus, is that you?Can it truly be you returned?”
Isobel.
The bottom dropped out of Fergus stomach even as Isobel appeared in the doorway to the keep and hastened across the bailey.She was more beautiful than he recalled, her fair hair bound into a long braid, her figure tall and slender.She was as graceful as a willow, even with the slight rounding of her belly.She was dressed in a kirtle of faded blue, probably dyed with woad.She had aged a little and there was a wariness in her expression, but she had lost her father since his departure.Fergus could not imagine that marriage to Stewart would fill a woman’s days with merriment.
His throat tightened at the sight of her.
Isobel.
His beloved.
Stewart’s displeasure was clear, but so was his inability to stop his lady wife.“Isobel, I thought you were resting.”
“Stewart, I cannot surrender the opportunity to see Fergus and hear his news!”she exclaimed.
There was something different about her, or something that Fergus saw now that he had missed all those years before.Isobel was still sufficiently lovely to steal his breath away, but he noticed an assessment in her eyes when she surveyed him.She eyed his horse and trap, his garb, then that of Hamish, and he had the sense she had put a value upon it all within a penny.
And there was no disguising the quick gleam of avarice that lit her eyes when she spied the small chest that Stewart now carried.She knew it was a gift, and one for her, and greed lit her features with such clarity that Fergus was shocked.
Then it was gone, so quickly that it might never have been.
A woman who sees to her own advantage first.That was what Duncan had said.Fergus feared his comrade had been right.
Fergus felt a fool as he had not before.Surely he had not been deceived by a lovely face.Surely he had not missed Isobel’s truth.Surely life with Stewart had changed his beloved into this greedy creature.
But Fergus was not sure.
“You are home.And you are hale!Oh, Fergus!”Isobel’s greeting was fulsome, but now that Fergus was listening, it did not seem heartfelt.
Fergus was surprised that he felt so little as she reached to kiss his cheeks in turn and caress his face.She smiled up at him with pleasure but he could not smile back.He could not forget that glimpse of what he believed was her truth.
Instead of the joy he had anticipated at the sight or her, he felt only disappointment—and a sense that she tempted fate by ignoring Stewart’s obvious desire to keep her from seeing him.
A little bit late, Leila’s advice seemed most wise, and Fergus wished he had not shown such haste in leaving his new bride.
Leila would never break her word.
And Duncan had spoken the truth.In rushing to Dunnisbrae, Fergus might have created the impression at Killairic that he did not admire his new wife.
He had erred.
“Fergus is leaving,” Stewart said with resolve.
“Not yet!”Isobel cried.“He is only just arrived.”She would not release Fergus from her embrace, even though Stewart looked on with a scowl.“You must come to the board and take refreshment, and tell us all of your news!Come out of this horrible rain.”She made to take his hand and lead him to the gate, but Stewart stepped into her path.
“He must leave,” that man said firmly.“Before the weather grows worse.You would not have Fergus ride at night in peril, would you?”
