Chapter Thirteen
MacLeod castle was usually a welcome sight. Many times when Callum returned from patrols he had been glad to see its towers and flags soaring, the crows circling, the white walls that spoke of power and strength to any that might threaten the clan. He had always felt that he was coming back to a safe place when he returned.
Not this time. His home felt neither safe nor welcoming. For one thing he was coming back without Kerry. For another, he knew he was going to have to deal with the aftermath of his ill fated journey north to MacIntyre hall.
Was it possible they had heard of him straying onto the land of another clan for no good reason? Could he even explain it if he were asked? I went onto their land to assist a woman from the future with getting back to her own time.
What about Nessa? Would she be there waiting for him?
He sat on the back of his horse and looked down the slope at the castle. There it was, looking much like it had done the last time he saw it. The castle had not changed but he definitely had. So much had changed since he went north with Kerry.
It had been two days since he left The Red Fox and in that time he had tried not to think of her, to think only of returning home and putting all that behind him.
He was a warrior, that was all. A highland warrior who never doubted himself. What would his men think if they’d seen him looking so glum on the trail south? They would have thought he’d been bewitched and in many ways he had. Not any more. That time was gone.
He allowed himself a last few moments of peace. When he entered the castle there would be little peace for a long time, if ever again.
The flags flying high gave away signals to those who knew how to read them. His parents were home, that was the most important thing to know. It meant there was no avoiding the inevitable. It was going to be marry Nessa or be banished.
He had no intention of being banished. That would be like having an arm wrenched off, a part of him torn from his body that might leave him alive but he would not be living.
There was no choice but to marry her. Kerry did not want him. That had been made abundantly clear with the note she’d left for him. He had been a fool to open himself up to her. He would have been better never meeting her, remaining on patrol forever, protecting the clan with his sword rather than risking its safety over a woman.
He had been wrong to fall for her and it wasn’t something he would do again.
He sat taller on his horse. He would marry Nessa as they deigned but he would not remain by her side. With no love between them she would not mourn him if he died in battle.
Dying in battle was exactly what he had planned. As he began to ride down the slope to the castle, he couldn’t think of a better way of ending the pain of losing Kerry than by a sword running him through as it had done to Orm.
The pain of conflict was nothing to the pain he felt deep inside and as he rode closer to his home he did his best to leave all thoughts about Kerry on the mountain behind him. He was not meant to love. He was meant to be laird. He was meant to protect his people. That was his destiny. Getting involved with a woman who pretended she was the future was foolish but at least nobody here knew about it.
There must have been someone watching out for him because by the time he reached the castle gates his father was standing there, arms folded. “Who was she?” he asked as Callum nodded a greeting.
“Who?”
“You know who, my lad. The woman you ran off with. Who was she?”
“Nessa MacKay.”
“So who’s that over there then?” He pointed into the courtyard. Callum walked past him, knowing what he would see. At the far side of the courtyard an elderly man was standing deep in conversation with a young woman. Both of them were wearing the tartan that Callum knew all too well.
Callum winced. “That’s Nessa and old man MacKay.”
“Nessa and her father, aye laddie, that is them. Perhaps you might tell me again who you went north with.”
“Just a lass I met.”
His father’s eyes narrowed before he burst out laughing. “Good God, dinnae let your mother find out.”
“Find out what?”
Alan threw an arm around his son, lowering his voice. “I ken what it’s like. You want to get to know the lassies for a wee while before you settle. Dinnae forget I was young once. I dinnae judge you for it but now’s the time to become a man, not a laddie. Come on in and meet your bride to be and we’ll say no more about any of this.”
Before they could cross the courtyard Nessa and her father vanished inside the keep, Nessa glancing back over her shoulder and giving Callum a look of undisguised contempt.
“Should we follow them?” Callum asked. “She does not seem that pleased to see me.”
“Only because you are encrusted with filth and she has been waiting these six days for your return. Let her have her time in anger. You get yourself clean and then you will meet her tonight at dinner. We will have a feast to celebrate your return.”
