“I fear it is bad news,” Annabella said.
“Worse than you marrying the Black Douglas? Not possible.”
Annabella’s curiosity was piqued now. She disliked having to wait to learn of her fate while others discussed it openly. No more. “I will accompany you. If the king knows of something that will affect my life, then I have a right to know as well.”
Joan smiled. “Nowthereis a woman who knows what she wants and is willing to take it.”
Annabella walked to the door and opened it, waiting for her cousin to pass through. “After you, Your Majesty,” she said with a grin.
“My lady,” Joan replied.
They walked together toward the king’s private apartments, where Joan knocked once and entered. James appeared surprised to see Annabella, and flicked a disapproving glance at his wife.
“I asked you to come alone,” he said.
“You did, and I disobeyed my king. What sort of punishment do you wish to inflict on me, my lord?”
Annabella was not sure she would ever get used to the playful banter between these two. “It is not her fault, Your Majesty,” Annabella offered. “I insisted on coming.”
He shook his head. “You have not called me Your Majesty since you arrived here, cousin. You want something.”
“And you are perceptive.”
“I have to be,” he said.
“Very well, I will tell you what I want. Or rather, what I do not want.”
“You do not wish to marry the Black Douglas.”
Annabella was taken aback for a moment. Had he spies listening to their conversation? “I do not. I understand the reasons you and my father have arranged this union. But I do not agree that my happiness should be forfeited for the sake of money and lands.”
Annabella lifted her chin a little and met his cool gaze straight on. It would do her no good to back down now.
“Very well, Lady Annabella. I cannot speak for your father, but I will not force you to marry William Douglas.”
That was it? She narrowed her eyes. Too easy. “But?” she asked. There was more to this, she could feel it, and somewhere deep inside she had a very good sense of what he was about to say.
“But you will marry a man of mine and your father’s choosing, nonetheless.” Annabella’s heart pounded hard in her chest. Could he really mean Angus? No, that would be too much to hope for. And besides, their feud had been going on for years. There was no way it could have been settled so quickly. Who then?
“Only if I approve of him,” she said, before she could catch herself.
Joan placed her hand over Annabella’s and squeezed her fingers in a gentle warning. It was one thing to stand up for oneself, but a different matter to utterly defy a king.
As fortune would have it, James appeared to be in high spirits. He directed his attention to his wife. “I had asked you to join me in order to gauge your opinion on whether or not Lady Annabella would object to a marriage between her and Angus MacDonald.”
Annabella gasped at the words and the hand holding hers squeezed harder. “I believe she would be in agreement, my lord,” her cousin replied.
James turned back to Annabella. “Shall I summon your father to gain his approval?”
“Aye,” was all she could muster. How it had happened, she could not fathom, but there could be no mistake—Angus was to be hers.
* * *
Pacing back and forth in the chamber he had been offered, Angus hated the prospect of waiting until the king spoke with Annabella’s father, then her, and then the Black Douglas. The latter might pose a much bigger problem than the king anticipated. That family held much of the power in the lowlands, and if the king wanted to keep them in good favour, it was not good to break a marriage agreement on the day the couple was to meet.
“How do you think he will manage the Douglas?” his father asked. “That lot are not to be trusted or underestimated. If William has set his mind to Lady Annabella, he will not relent.”
Sitting on a chair by the fire, his father appeared weary. This had been a trying day for all of them, and though Angus might get what he wanted most of all, something did not feel quite right.
