Joan stood not a dozen yards away, deep in conversation with a merchant who was holding a stream of colorful ribbons to her head. She appeared to be amused by the old man’s spirited attempt to sell her something, and a reserved smile tugged the edges of her mouth.
Smiling. Joan was smiling.
Some of the fear Bella had been holding inside let go. From all appearances her daughter was well.
But God, how she’d changed! The last time Bella had seen her, Joan had been like a colt: all long limbs and slightly too-large features, charmingly awkward as she stood poised on the cusp of womanhood.
But she’d still been a girl. Now she looked…
Bella’s chest squeezed. She looked like a young woman. Though only four-and-ten, Joan appeared much older. The large features of girlhood now seemed refined and perfectly at place in her gently sculpted, heart-shaped face. With her big blue eyes, pale skin, dark hair, and regal features, her daughter had become a beauty.
The resemblance to her father was marked. In fact, except for her eyes—which were dark blue and wide set like hers—she looked nothing like Bella. She was even built differently. Whereas Bella was of middling height and until recently had always tended toward the curvaceous, Joan was tall and slim, her curves undeniably feminine but more modest in proportions.
Bella’s heart tugged, realizing just how much she’d lost. More than she ever knew. Her daughter had become a woman, and she’d missed every blessed minute of it. Though achingly familiar in so many ways, the woman before her was essentially a stranger.
Sir Alex must have heard her cry and followed the direction of her stare. “Is that her?”
Something in his voice caused her to look away from her daughter a moment. The knight appeared stunned.
“Aye,” Bella whispered in a deep voice. “It’s her.”
“She’s a beauty.”
Bella frowned, hearing the note of masculine appreciation in his tone. “She’s four-and-ten,” she replied, giving him a sharp look before turning back to her daughter. But Bella had been only a year older when she’d married Buchan.
The knight grimaced. “She looks older.”
A man had come over and started to talk to Joan and the two young women standing with her. Bella didn’t recognize him, but from his fine clothing and jewels, she knew he must be someone important. Who was he to her daughter?
Barely had the question formed when Bella’s pulse jolted to a race. Joan was moving away from the merchant and returning to her horse.
She was going to ride away. Bella was going to lose her chance to contact her. To let her know she had never stopped thinking about her. Never stopped missing her. Never wavered an instant in her determination to get back to her.
It had been hard enough getting Lachlan to agree to come here; he would never agree to go after her.
Joan neared her horse. Bella froze like a deer in the hunter’s sight. In a moment, her daughter would be gone.
Every instinct clamored to call out her daughter’s name. To run to her, fold her in her arms, and carry her away from this nightmare.
But she couldn’t. Dear God, she couldn’t. There were too many soldiers. They would never be able to get away.
She looked around frantically. She had to dosomething. She couldn’t just let her go.
A sign. She needed to give Joan a sign that she was with her. That she hadn’t forgotten her.
She found it a few feet away, lying on a merchant’s table. Would she understand?
Sir Alex had a firm hold of one of her wrists, not taking any more chances on her getting loose. But the table was close enough for her to lean over and…
She snagged the pale-pink silk rose that had caught her eye and deftly slipped it off the table. The merchant, so caught up in the procession, didn’t notice.
Sir Alex, however, did. “Damn it,” he swore, reaching for it. “Don’t do anything foolish.”
But it was too late. Her brain had stopped working the moment she’d seen her daughter; she was thinking with her heart.
In one surreptitious motion, she tossed it between the crowd toward Joan. The pale-pink silk rose landed a few feet to her left.
“Ah hell,” Sir Alex swore, seeing what she had done. He started to drag her away.
