“Aye, most times. However, until a man is threatened with losing his life or those he loves, there is no knowing how he will act.” Stretching his arms over his head, he moaned. “I did not realize how unaccustomed I was to wearing this lately. Three days and nights in mail is enough to suit anyone.” He dropped it in the corner and walked her across the bedchamber.
“I do not want to soil the bed with this sweat and grime. There is a bath waiting for me in the kitchens and I shall return as soon as I am clean and have eaten something. Will you wait here for me? Warm my bed until I can warm you?”
Truth be told, now that he mentioned it, she realized she was exhausted, and the thought of crawling into the bed and waiting for him was quite appealing at this moment.
“Aye, I will wait for you here,” she answered.
He helped her into bed and smoothed her hair away from her face. It felt so good and so comforting that she could sense the sleep that had eluded her these last days finally within her reach.
“Sebastien?” She called his name and he leaned down and kissed her mouth sweetly.
“Aye, love. I am still here.”
“I know that I have been horrendous to everyone while you were gone. I do admit it to you, but I cannot apologize for worrying over you.”
“It warms my heart to know that you love me, my lady.”
“Aye, my lord, I do love you.”
She remembered nothing after that, until a night and a day and another night hence.
“My lord, I beg of you! If you must leave, either take me with you or take the lady. I could not stand another three days as the last ones have been.”
Sebastien laughed. “You are whining like a babe, Hugh. I thought you a better man than that.”
“In God’s name, Sebastien, she chased the Black Douglas, the scourge of Scotland, from your hall! That should say something about the events here since you left.” Hugh rubbed his face and drank half of the ale in his tankard.
“Better yet, send her into your enemy’s keep and I promise she will drive them out, screaming like madmen, within a few days,” James added sarcastically. “She could be the Bruce’s secret weapon.”
“I thought that was you, James.”
“I would gladly yield the honor to the lady. This could be the turning point in the war.”
The men up and down the length of the table, some who had traveled with him or with the Douglas and some who had remained on duty here, laughed at the thought. Sebastien knew it was all in jest, but he needed to make it clear that no one could malign his wife.
“When she cares, she does it from deep within her heart. I am honored that she has chosen to feel this way about me.”
“Just so,” Hugh called out as he held his tankard high. “To the lady! Huzzah!”
“To my lady!” Sebastien added, and he drank deeply in her honor. Once the men went back to drinking and eating, he turned his attention to his friends. “James, tell me of your raid.”
“’Twas the same as yours. They did not know we were coming and I had my men over the walls before they woke.”
“Mayhap MacDougall resistance is broken? Eachann has not been seen or heard from in some time. The MacDougall is in the waters to the west and makes no secret of his appointment by Edward. My spies and yours have reported no large movement of troops in the area,” Sebastien explained. James and Hugh nodded. “Or possibly taking Dunstaffnage has accomplished what Robert sought to do—a base with enough presence and enough men to awe those left behind when John went to England?”
“And the winter comes soon. Anything left unsettled then waits until spring,” Hugh added.
“True,” James said. “So, let us plan this final attack so that we can all settle in for a long Highland winter.”
“Dear God in Heaven!” Hugh exclaimed under his breath. “Please say that I will go with you. Do not, I beg you in the name of all things holy, do not leave me with her again. Not this soon.”
Sebastien smacked him on the back and laughed. “I would trust no other with her—she is that dear to me.”
He permitted Hugh to grumble for a few more minutes, and then turned the talk to their plans. James had already sent half of his men on ahead to begin the approach to Invercreran. Now finished with Glen Gour and Awe, they would join forces and take for the Bruce the last holdout keep of any importance in the area.
They would prepare their attack and leave within a few days. No need to let word spread too widely that Robert’s men were on the move. Of course, that meant telling Lara, and even worse, it meant leaving her again.
“I always knew that when some woman stole your heart, you would fall hard,” James said quietly.
