She’d been at Drumlui for two days and he’d summoned her to the hall to speak to her. This could not be good. The servants would tell her nothing. At least she’d eaten well and had soaked in the longest, hottest bath in her life. And she discovered a gold-and-jewelled circlet waiting for her as she was dressed—a gift to celebrate her safe return.
Garbed in a shift, gown and stockings that were her own and with her new circlet in her hair now arranged in an artful braid instead of the plain, serviceable ones she’d become accustomed to these last weeks, Arabella Cameron, the only daughter and heir to The Cameron, entered the hall and prepared for the fight of her life.
But first, she placedthatsmile, the one that drove Brodie to madness and the one that pacified Caelan, on her face. It would be more shield than any targe carried into battle.
‘My lady,’ Caelan said as she stood before him. ‘I am gladdened that you have left your chamber to be here with us for the noon meal. Too much time has passed since you graced us with your presence and I thank the Almighty for your safe return.’
He sat in the chieftain’s chair as he had before, but now she noticed so much about him. How his smile was more a smirk. How he stared at her breasts. How others kept their distance from him. How his words were as much a falsehood as hers were.
She dipped low into a curtsy, allowing a good amount of time to go by as she waited there. Then she rose and smiled at him and he clapped in approval. He rushed down the steps from the dais to help her up to the table.
‘My lord,’ she whispered as he waited for her to sit. ‘I am honoured by such treatment.’ Once seated, she reached out and touched his hand for good measure. ‘And your gift was so thoughtful. What a lovely surprise to find waiting for me!’
The servants began bringing forth trays of food and filling the trencher she would share with him. She made some appropriate comment as each new good was placed there. Arabella glanced down the table and realised that she knew no one. One of the older men, a clan elder, nodded to her and he looked familiar but she had paid little attention during her time here. Was that the Grigor she’d heard mentioned? When they’d eaten, she took a breath and asked her first question.
‘My lord...’ she began.
‘Pray you, you must still call me Caelan.’ She smiled at him, looking from under her lashes.
‘Very well, Caelan. I thought my father and my aunt would have been here by now. Have you any word on when they will arrive?’
It was about a three-day journey to Achnacarry from Drumlui and about the same in the other direction to Tor Castle, their southern holding. But a strong horse and a good rider could make it in less. If they had a reason to.
‘I sent a man out as soon as we received word that you were safe. I would think a week more at most.’
‘And then we will marry?’ she asked, adding a breathless, little sigh to the end of the question.
‘Impatient, are you?’ he asked, leaning in and kissing her cheek. She kept her smile in place and allowed it. ‘I confess, I am anxious, as well, but the elders here have convinced me that your father should be present at such a momentous occasion. After all, he paid with the life of his only son for this truce and treaty.’
Not for all the gold in the kingdom could she keep her distress from showing. She glanced away and blinked, trying to gain control once more.
‘That was thoughtless of me, Arabella. You have suffered, too, for this treaty.’ She lifted her cup to her mouth and drank deeply from it before turning back to him.
‘Aye, Caelan. Many have suffered. Too many. And so our marriage will put an end to that for generations to come,’ she said.
He lifted his cup and took a mouthful, sparing a passing glance for her. The coldness in his gaze made her recoil for a second before she forced herself to accept the cup when he held it to her mouth. She needed to change the topic or she would unmask herself.
‘I hope my aunt brings the rest of my clothing and jewellery with her. I have been too long in the garb of peasants and villeins in that encampment.’
‘Tell me of that, if it does not upset you too much. I would not have you retiring to your chamber because you are overwrought again but I am curious about my cousin.’ He nodded at her. ‘Did he deny his crime to you?’
‘Nay,’ she said, honestly. ‘He accepts his guilt in Malcolm’s death. Even revelled in it.’
‘The damned traitor!’ Caelan exclaimed, and then he looked at her. ‘Forgive my outburst, Arabella. I cannot imagine the indignities you suffered at his hands while his prisoner.’ His eyes flashed then, something dark and dangerous, before he spoke again. ‘Did he keep you bound? Gagged?’
‘Aye, for the first weeks. Then he forced me to labour with the meanest of them, carrying out whatever tasks he ordered.’ She shuddered then and held out her hands. ‘I am embarrassed even to show them to you,’ she said, mournfully.
The skin on her hands was not the same smooth, unworked skin as it had been. The weeks of working there, side by side with the other women, had left her skin calloused and her nails broken. Their condition bore out her tale. A lady’s hands were not meant to show evidence of physical labour.
‘He will pay, doubt it not, Arabella,’ he said. He lifted her hand to his lips for a kiss, but barely grazed it.
‘I know you will see to him,’ she said, nodding in approval. He basked in the praise and confidence of her words. She wanted to vomit on his boots.
If she was going to be ready when Brodie came, and she had no one doubt he would come for her, she needed to be able to move around the keep and yard and even the village. So, she asked for a boon.
‘I cannot tell you how good it feels to be here with you, my lo...Caelan.’ She nodded at the light coming through the high windows in the walls of the great hall. ‘For many days and nights, he imprisoned me in a cave. I could not tell when it was day or night. It is good to see the sun again.’ She glanced at the others at table and then smiled at Caelan.
‘Now that I am free, I would like to walk to regain my strength. With your permission, of course.’
