“Aye, I ken it. She has been trying that since she got here. I cannae toss her out though. ’Tis my hope that Aimil will trust in all I have said on the matter and recall where I have spent all my nights despite Catarine’s lavish invitations. T’will come to a test of trust. Keep a close eye upon the Mengues.”
“I cannae stop twa lasses from fighting.”
Parlan laughed. “Nay, my thoughts veered without warning. Watch for an attempt to escape.”
“Ye think she will try?”
“On her own, mayhaps not. I should like to think she would be reluctant to leave me. So too will I have her prized Elfking. Howbeit, her brother lingers here and may spur her on. He cannae ken what I have decided. The plan he and I first talked of has taken too long to work, and I cannae blame him if he thinks I play him for a fool.”
“To take her home is to take her to Rory Fergueson. He willnae do that.”
“He will no doubt have many a plan to keep her out of Rory’s grasp. He may even think to bestir me in some way.”
“So why dinnae ye tell him how ye be thinking?”
“I have no time to do it right now. Just keep a verra close eye on the pair. They are canny brats,” he muttered as he strode out of the stables and headed for his chambers within the keep.
Aimil watched Parlan pack and tried to act as if she did not care that he was leaving. It was not an easy pose to hold. The only good she could find in it all was that Catarine was not going with him, but then she wished heartily that Catarine was going somewhere.
He had jested about having no need for wenching but that was no calming vow of fidelity. There was no reason for him to give her such a thing as she was but a captive for ransom who was convenient to serve his needs. Since she doubted that the Dunmore keep was without women, there would assuredly be ones there offering to warm his bed. There were no doubt past lovers there eagerly awaiting his return. She could not confidently envision him refusing a willing woman and that hurt.
“Ye are looking a wee bit dowie. Going to miss me?” Parlan sat down on the bed at her side.
“I am merely fretting over Elfking. He has never gone anywhere without me,” she huffed.
“Weel…” He grinned as he pushed her down onto the bed, gently pinning her beneath him. “I think I best leave ye something to remember me by.”
“Ye cannae mean to do that now?”
“Och, lassie, ye are always saying I cannae and I must show ye that I can.”
Aimil forced a scowl to her face as she struggled back into her clothes. “Ye are a rogue, Parlan MacGuin.”
“Aye, I ken it.” He laughed and neatly avoided her attempt to hit him. “Thought ye ought to have a proper fareweel.”
“That was far from proper. Who goes with ye?” she asked, not truly interested but feeling a need to keep talking.
They kept talking until he was mounted upon Elfking and ready to ride out. Parlan knew it would have soothed her troubled feelings a great deal if he would tell her how tempted he was to take her with him. He resisted the temptation, however, for that could easily cause more trouble than it solved. Until he openly declared otherwise, she was a prisoner for ransom and should stay at Dubhglenn.
Before all, he gently kissed her farewell. He knew she would not understand what the gesture meant to the ones watching. If there was a man at Dubhglenn who thought to take advantage of Parlan’s absence, he would now think again. Parlan would not take such a public and fond farewell of a woman who was no more to him than a prisoner for ransom and a convenient vessel for his lusts.
As he rode away, he told himself not to take it to heart if she did try to escape. She had no reason to believe that she was anything more than a prisoner no matter how well-treated she was. Even Leith, despite the discussions they had had, could not be sure that Parlan could or even would do as he had said he would. Leith could well think it his duty to free Aimil and end any further extortion of his father. It would be easy enough for Leith to make Aimil see it as her duty too. Until she was offered more than a place in his bed, it was her duty for she certainly had no cause to feel that she owed him any fealty or even that he wished it of her.
Suddenly he wished he was back at Dubhglenn and not forced to visit the Dunmores. Parlan saw that he might well have erred in waiting so long to decide what he wished to do about Aimil. For once he might have been too cautious.
Although he tried not to recognize that there was a chance that she and Leith could escape, he knew they were clever enough to succeed in such a venture. He would then have to find a way to get her back. A direct approach would gain him nothing for she was still promised to Rory Fergueson until that man either revealed his true self to Lachlan Mengue or repudiated Aimil. Parlan realized that by being so wary, he could well have let himself in for a great deal of trouble.
He also recognized that he could do nothing about it until he returned from the Dunmores, a visit he was now intending to make as short as possible. It was suddenly imperative to settle things between himself and Aimil. As soon as he returned to Dubhglenn, he would arrange an appropriate setting and let her know that she was no longer simply his prisoner and lover.
An uncustomary sense of nervousness, almost uncertainty, came over him. Even the fact that he was riding to the Dunmores on Elfking did not banish the unease he felt. For the first time in his life, he was planning to offer a woman more than a brief time of pleasure. Parlan wryly admitted that it was not going to be as cut and dried a matter as he had thought. Now that he had made the decision, he easily forsaw complications. Telling himself not to look for trouble did not really stop him from doing it.
Riding into the Dunmore keep on Elfking caused all the excitement he could have wished for. He found himself wishing that Aimil was at his side, she on Elfking and he on Raven. There was no doubt in his mind that such a sight would have impressed the Dunmores as much if not more. He was determined to show them such a sight on his next visit, a visit to introduce the mistress of Dubhglenn.
Being careful not to cause offense, Parlan nonetheless made it clear that he was making only a short stop. He used the situation concerning the Mengues as a reason for the haste he displayed. Since the value of such captives was recognized without explanation, the excuse served him well.
Several women made it clear that they would be more than willing to fill his bed, but he paid them no heed even though a few of them had pleasured him well enough during past visits. He found himself feeling slightly ashamed of his past. It occurred to him that he had been greedy and without restraint. Wincing inwardly, he wondered if there would be any place he could take Aimil where there would not be some woman or women whom he had bedded. He had enjoyed far more than his share and was suddenly not very proud of it.
Lying in his bed, he found that he missed Aimil. For nearly four months they had shared a bed. He now found that he hated sleeping alone. Even when they had slept back to back, not wrapped in each other’s arms, it had been comforting to know that he had only to turn over and to reach out to find warmth, loving, or simply someone to talk to. He decided a bed without Aimil was something he would do his best to avoid in the future. He wondered, even hoped it was so, if Aimil found an empty bed as distressing as he did.
