Ailis nodded and watched Angus leave before she looked at Alexander again. “I am sorry I overslept again.”
“Mayhaps ye are working too much, growing too weary.” He waved her to join him at the head table as others drifted into the great hall to have a light noon meal.
“Mayhaps.”
She said nothing as she joined him at the table and their meal was set before them. The hall was half full of people. No one was bothering them. No one was even close enough to hear whatever she chose to say to Alexander. Yet Ailis did not feel as if she could be private with him. As she started to eat, she realized that there would be little if any chance of being private with him until they went to bed, and Kate was right when she said that would be a poor time to tell Alexander her news.
“Ye are looking a wee bit peaked.” Alexander studied her closely as he poured them each some wine. “Do ye think ye have caught some chill?”
“Nay, not a chill.” A chill could be cured, she mused, then hastily and silently apologized to her child for any possible insult.
Alexander lightly felt her face for any sign of fever, and Ailis stared at him in surprise. There in his eyes was some of that softness, that concern, she had so wanted to see. It rankled that she could only pull it out of him by looking sickly. She could not, and would not, play the invalid for the rest of her life.
“Ye dinna feel warm. There is no sign of a fever,” he murmured and frowned at her. “And yet ye dinna look well.”
“Thank ye. Ye are looking particularly bonny yourself this morning.” She realized how sharp she sounded and took a deep breath to calm herself. Now was not the time to quarrel. “I will look better as soon as I have eaten.”
“If ‘tis a lack of meals that troubles ye, then ye shouldna sleep so late.”
Ailis decided she had better broach the subject quickly before he made any more irritating remarks, or there would be a further delay that she could not really afford. She certainly did not want him to guess that she was pregnant before she was able to tell him herself. The only thing that would be worse than that was if someone else guessed her condition and told him. She took a deep breath, leaned very close to him, and idly wondered how he could look so attractive eating a chunk of bread.
“I look peaked and I sleep late because I am with child.” She sat back and waited for his reaction.
The first expression she glimpsed upon his face gave her some hope. It was fleeting, but she knew it was elation. Then she began to grow very nervous, for the subsequent expressions rippling over his face held some very dark emotions.
“Whose child is it?” he demanded in a cold, hard voice.
There was nothing he could have said that would have insulted her more, Ailis decided. She wondered if he knew that, if that was why he had said such a cruel thing. Then she stood up and, putting all of her fury and frustration behind her swing, punched Alexander square on the jaw, knocking him sideways in his seat and causing all conversation in the great hall to cease. As he cursed and struggled to right himself, she strode out of the great hall, barely nodding a greeting to Barra and the children as they passed her on their way in. She quickly found her cloak, went outside, and began to walk the inner bailey, hoping the chill bite of the air would cool her temper.
Alexander glared at everyone in the great hall as he pressed a linen napkin to his bleeding lip. They quickly stopped gaping at him, but he knew he had not completely quelled their curiosity. He was still muttering curses against Ailis and had almost stemmed the bleeding when he glanced across the table to find Barra, the twins, and Sibeal all staring at him with a mixture of disgust and amazement.
“And what are ye staring at?” he snapped at them.
“A fool, I think,” replied Barra, who then quietly directed the children to go to Jaime and Kate in the far corner of the hall before moving to sit next to his brother. “What have ye done now? These last few weeks have been, if not perfect, at least peaceful. Your hatefulness had eased some.”
“ ‘Twas what she demanded as her price for returning to my bed. No more callous, insulting remarks during the day.”
“Ah, and ye just broke that agreement,” Barra unsheathed his eating dagger and cut himself a large chunk of bread.
“She told me she was with child.” He was somewhat relieved to see Barra tense and pale slightly, for it showed that he was not the only one to be taken completely by surprise.
“She tells ye she is to bear your child, then punches ye. A strange sort of behavior which prompts me to repeat my question—what have ye done now?”
“Mayhaps that was just her way of thanking me,” Alexander drawled.
“Very witty. Nay, ye said something, and the only thing I can think of that would prompt such fury is an insult that makes me shudder. I pray it isna what ye said to her.”
“I asked her—whose child is it?” He tried not to cringe beneath Barra’s look of furious contempt.
“God’s long beard, Alex! Ye used to have such a sweet tongue with the lasses. Are there no remnants of that skill left within ye? Are there no remnants of even simple courtesy? What has that lass done to ye that ye feel so pressed to cut her so deeply? She has her pride, and ye have sorely bruised it. Aye, time and time again.”
“ ‘Twas a reasonable question.”
“Nay, it wasna, and ye ken that.”
“She was out of my bed for weeks—free and within the reach of other men.”
Barra spat a foul curse. “She was out of your bed, but she was never free, and well ye ken it. There isna a single man within the walls of Rathmor who would touch her. Nay, not since ye first lay with her and held her in your bed until morning. The child she carries is yours, brother, and we both ken it. The question ye must answer now is—what will ye do about this? Will ye tend to your duty, to your responsibility, or will ye continue to play the callous rogue?”
