And worse, it would be his father who would wear the horns of a cuckold this time.
When his father had gone off on an assignment that would keep him away for some time, Munro kept a close watch on them both and his suspicions were confirmed by the rumours—Aidan had succeeded in his quest and taken Catriona.
Even now, his anger seared his blood and he wanted revenge on the man he once called friend.
For it was that friend who had caused Gowan’s death.
If Aidan had acted with honour, if he’d been a true friend, he would have walked away from her. But when he chased and then caught Catriona, Aidan had forced his hand and Munro had to summon his father home to deal with it. And that resulted in Gowan’s death.
He could forgive his former friend many things, but not that.
He moved along the battlement, watching below, and took a new position near the corner of the wall. Standing there, letting his anger brew, Munro could hear a couple of the other guards talking about Aidan.
‘He’s a lucky lad,’ one said.
‘A hot piece in his bed and a rich one in marriage. ’Tis not so bad a life,’ the second one said. A husky, lust-laden laugh followed. ‘I wouldna mind that one he has sharing my bed.’
‘Nor I,’ the first one agreed. The red haze of fury filled Munro’s vision.
‘But I hear it was not luck at all that got her there,’ the second one lowered his voice. ‘I heard he was the one who sent her husband away so he could have at her as he wanted.’
‘Shite!’
‘Oh, aye. And have at her he did, swiving her even while old Gowan lay dying in the woods.’
‘I would not mind swiving her,’ the first one admitted, his voice lowered now, too. ‘Not that he’ll give her up.’
‘Not that she’d have either of us after having him. ’Tis the way of things among their kind, lad,’ the second one advised. ‘He’ll need heirs and she canna give them to him. His father wants more than a whore as his son’s wife and he’ll make certain to get it.’
Munro was about to turn and crush them both against the walls when the commander called out to all of them.
* * *
He completed his duties that night in stunned silence—going through all the motions of guarding the walls even as his mind turned over and over the one thing the guards had said.
Aidan had been the one to send his father away.
All this time, Munro believed Aidan had simply taken advantage of his father’s absence to pursue Catriona. Now he knew the truth—Aidan was responsible for it all.
He’d sent Gowan away, pursued and seduced Catriona and then been there to take her in when his father died. Munro had reacted in anger, throwing her out of his house, just to give her a taste of how it would be without a man to protect her. And he’d always planned to be the one to do that—planning to offer her shelter once his anger cooled.
And that would put her in his control and then...
Well, then, he could have her for himself.
Instead, Aidan had been ready, probably expecting Munro’s reaction, and had given her a house and coin and made her his leman in fact before the whole village and clan.
He slept little that night, mulling over his choices in his mind. Munro only knew that it would not be right for Catriona not to know of Aidan’s machinations to rid her of a husband to get her in his bed. Especially since she’d fallen into his plan. And especially since she’d now be placed in the one situation she claimed she was not—any man’s whore.
But the sun’s weak light at dawn found him still awake and no closer to a solution than last night.
As he reported for duty this morning, he planned to simply confront Aidan and then he would make certain Cat knew the truth—Aidan was responsible for her downfall and her husband’s death.
* * *
Aidan joined his parents for the noon meal, as ordered by his father, and knew that there were more orders and directions coming his way. His father had spent last night’s supper extolling the virtues of Lady Margaret Sinclair to him. Tempted as he was to inform his father of the one virtue he liked about her—that she would let him keep Catriona without argument—he kept his tongue and words behind his teeth and let it all pass over him.
He looked for signs on his father’s face that would hint at the purpose of this call, but his father had perfected the blank stare decades before Aidan’s own birth. If his father wished to give nothing away, to friend or foe, he did not. So, the meal went on and his patience wore thin.
