Bronwyn snatched her hand away. “I’m afraid your warnings are too late,” she said, thinking of Stephen’s sun-kissed hair, and left the little house.
They rode all day and stopped that evening in the roofless shelter of a destroyed castle.
Miles was the one who realized it was Christmas Eve. They made a celebration of sorts, but Miles recognized Bronwyn’s sadness and left her to her own thoughts. It occurred to Bronwyn that part of Miles’s fascination lay in the way he seemed to understand what a woman was feeling. He didn’t demand anything of her as Stephen did or try to talk to her as Raine did. Miles quietly understood and left her alone. She had no doubt that if she wished to speak, Miles would make an excellent listener.
She smiled at him and took the oatcake he offered. “I’m afraid I’ve caused you to miss Christmas with your family.”
“You’re my family,” he said pointedly. He looked at the black sky over the ruined walls around them. “I just hope that for once it doesn’t rain.”
Bronwyn laughed. “You’re too used to your dry country.” She smiled in memory. “Stephen never seemed to mind the rain. He—” She broke off and looked away.
“I think Stephen would live underwater to be with you.”
She looked up, startled, and remembered the kitchen maid sprawled across her husband’s lap. She blinked several times to clear her vision. “I think I’ll go to sleep.”
Miles watched in amazement as she curled up in her thin plaid and immediately relaxed. He sighed and wrapped his fur-lined mantle closer about his body. He didn’t think he’d make a good Scot.
It was still morning when they reached the hill overlooking Larenston. Miles sat still in astonishment as he gaped at the fortress on the peninsula. Bronwyn spurred her horse forward, then leaped into a big man’s arms.
“Tam!” she cried, burying her face in the familiar neck.
Tam held her away. “Ye put new gray hair on my head,” he whispered. “How can someone so little get into so much trouble?” he asked, ignoring the fact that she was a bit taller than he. Indeed, she was small next to his great mass.
“Did ye know the MacGregor has asked to meet with ye? He sent a message about some drink and a saucy wench who’d laughed at him. Bronwyn, what have ye done?”
Bronwyn stared at him in astonishment for a moment. The MacGregor asked to meet with her! Perhaps now there would be a way to prove to Stephen she wasn’t so selfish.
She hugged Tam again. “There’s time to tell you all of it. I want to go home now. I’m afraid this trip has made me tired.”
“Tired?” Tam asked, alarmed. He’d never heard her use the word before.
“Don’t look at me like I was daft,” she smiled. “It’s not easy carrying another person all the time.”
Tam understood instantly, and his face nearly split with his grin. “I knew that Englishman could do something right without any training. Where is he, anyway? And who is he?”
Bronwyn answered questions all the way across the narrow strip of land and up the trail to Larenston. Her men joined her and fired hundreds of questions at her. Miles stood back, staring in awe at the sight. Bronwyn’s servants and retainers acted more like an enormous family than the classes of society that they were. The men greeted Miles affectionately, talking constantly of Stephen this and Stephen that.
Bronwyn left the men and went upstairs to her room. Morag greeted her.
“Did ye trade one brother for another?” she accused.
“No greeting?” Bronwyn said tiredly as she headed for the bed. “I bring you a new child and you can give me no fond greeting?”
Morag’s wrinkled face grinned. “That’s my sweet Stephen. I knew he was a man.”
Bronwyn lay down on the bed and didn’t bother to argue with Morag. “Go and meet the other Englishman I brought you. You’ll like him.” She pulled a quilt over her. All she wanted to do was sleep.
•••
The weeks came and went and all Bronwyn did was sleep. Her body was exhausted from the turmoil and the changes that the baby was making. Miles came one morning to tell her he was returning to England. He thanked her for her hospitality and promised to make her apologies to Judith and Gavin. Neither mentioned Stephen.
Bronwyn tried not to think of her husband, but it wasn’t easy. Everyone asked questions about him. Tam demanded to know why the hell she left England so suddenly. Why didn’t she stay and fight for him? His mouth dropped open when Bronwyn suddenly burst into tears and ran from the room. After that fewer people asked questions that she couldn’t answer.
Three weeks after she returned home, one of her men told her a guard of Englishmen was approaching Larenston.
“Gavin!” she cried and ran upstairs to change her clothes. She donned the cloth-of-silver dress Stephen had given her and stood ready to greet her brother-in-law. She was sure it was Gavin approaching. He’d been to Scotland before, and he would be the one to give her news of Stephen. Perhaps Stephen had forgiven her and was coming to her. No, it was too much to ask.
Her smile faded when Roger Chatworth walked into the Great Hall. She was appalled at what she’d done. She’d ordered the visitor to be allowed entrance to Larenston without actually knowing who he was. And her men had obeyed her with no questions. She looked at the faces of her men and saw their concern for her. They would do anything to make her return to herself again.
