Margaret paused before their table as Bruce stood up, his blue eyes bright. He smiled at her. “Lady Margaret, I presume?”
Margaret curtsied deeply. “Welcome to my home.”
His smile widened, as he now gave her a thorough appraisal, from head to toe. It was blatant—he made no attempt to hide it. “The rumors do not do you justice. You are even more beautiful than your mother.”
Margaret was flustered by his open scrutiny of her figure, and also, by what she felt was a far deeper evaluation. She did not dare look at Alexander directly, but from the corner of her eye, she saw that he was angry. “You met my mother?” she asked Bruce.
“Upon a single occasion. But I am pleased you have decided to attend us. I was curious to meet the courageous lady of Castle Fyne.” He indicated that she should sit with him.
Margaret approached, having little choice but to glance at Alexander. He gave her a chilling look, making it clear that she would pay dearly for her defiance.
“Are your duties truly over, Lady Margaret?” Alexander said coldly.
“I have done my best to see to it that our guests are well fed tonight.” She smiled at him, and quickly turned her attention back to Bruce. “I hope you were not too displeased with the dinner I have served.”
“I could not eat another thing, so I am well pleased.” He glanced mildly at Alexander and then back at her. “And I am always in a good humor when a beautiful woman is present.”
Margaret did not blush as she sat down on the bench facing both men. “Then I am pleased, to serve you so well, my lord.”
He sat and laughed. “Are you, Lady Comyn?”
He had stressed her last name. “I have no wish to displease you,” she said, and she was being truthful, for the moment. “But I am curious. How could you have met my mother? The MacDougalls and the Bruces have been rivals for a great many years.”
“We met during a truce—at a wedding. I was younger then—about your age,” Bruce said. “I was instantly smitten, but your mother was not. I believe I asked her to ride with me in the forests. She struck me across the face.”
Margaret believed his every word, and she was relieved that he was so amused, as she imagined her mother striking Bruce as a young man for his impertinence. “My mother was in love with my father, as odd as that may be.”
“Your mother was a woman of great loyalty. As you take after her, I imagine you are, too.”
She hesitated, unsure of how to respond, or if she was being tested. Her glance moved between the two men. “I am as loyal as my mother,” she finally said. “I hope to emulate her in every way.”
Bruce smiled and turned to Alexander, who sat very stiffly beside him, although he drummed his fingers against the table. “You must be charmed by your hostage, Alexander. And you have not said a word about her, other than to mention her courage during the siege.”
Alexander smiled without mirth. “I find Lady Margaret to be a great many things—but around me, charming she is not.”
“Well, you have taken her castle—her dowry. And she is a MacDougall as well as a Comyn—you are one of her greatest rivals.”
“I do not consider Lady Margaret a rival—not usually,” Alexander said. He gave her another cool look.
“Yet somehow, I am sure she considers you her rival—just as she considers me her rival. Am I correct?”
Margaret was uncomfortable. “I am a prisoner here. I have no time for rivalry, just survival.”
Bruce laughed. “Well done!” he exclaimed. He turned to Alexander. “She is very charming, and it could not escape you. She is unusually beautiful, too—yet you have not extolled her beauty, not a single time.”
“I felt certain her beauty would not escape you, Robert,” Alexander said, taking up his wine. “There was thus no need.”
Margaret now sensed a tension between the two men. She was alarmed.
“It would certainly escape me if she were hidden in the kitchens,” Bruce said easily enough.
Her alarm increased. Had Alexander meant to keep her from Bruce, not so they might have privacy to discuss their war plans, but for other reasons? Bruce had not tried to hide his appreciation of her—and everyone knew he was a rogue when it came to the ladies.
“Lady Margaret does not know the meaning of hide, do ye, Lady Margaret?” Alexander murmured.
“I was hardly hiding in the kitchens.” She wanted to alleviate the tension. “I had hoped to be able to come down to dine with you, my lord,” she said to Bruce, “but preparing such a meal, in such haste, took a great deal of time.”
“It has been a long ride from Galloway, so I am pleased for every comfort, as are my men. Has Alexander allowed you to send word to Buchan?”
