“Aye, and I hope those bruises are better, too. I must beg your forgiveness, sweet wife. I shouldna have been so rough with you and it was wrong of me, very wrong. Come over here and sit in this chair, will you? That will allow me tae unwrap those bandages and take a look. Do the cuts still sting?”
Gabriel could almost not believe it as Magdalene gave a small nod, his heart going out to her that she’d suffered any injury at all when he should have treated her so gently from the very first.
From now on he would think about Rhona and Keira when it came to how he reacted to anything Magdalene might say or do, for he doted upon his beloved nieces. He held out his hand to her, though he wasn’t surprised when she refused to take it and averted her eyes. Mayhap one day and after much patience…
“I’ll walk over there first and wait for you.”
So he did, gesturing for Donella and Una to stand to one side and well out of Magdalene’s way so she wouldn’t hesitate to oblige him because of them standing too close.
Still she didn’t move an inch, though he saw her heave a quiet sigh and shake her head as if talking to herself.
No matter. Gabriel felt like he had all the time in the world with no training of his men to occupy him for the next week, and he stood there patiently, waiting, just as he’d told her he would do.
A minute passed and then another, until finally she took a few hesitant steps toward him. He decided not to make any move at all and simply began to talk to her in the same soothing way about mayhap something she could relate to…little Rhona.
“I heard my niece cry out last night and I know she called you Mama. I’ll speak tae Rhona and Keira today if you’d like, and explain tae them that you’re not their mother, but you can be a friend tae them, aye? You see, they lost their mother when Rhona was only two years old and Keira four. Forgive me for not telling you more about my family. Their father, Malcolm, my older brother, is gone, too, since last autumn. The girls have only me tae protect them…and you, too, just like you did for Rhona when she came running tae find you.”
To his amazement, Magdalene had come right up to him while he was speaking and settled herself in the chair, looking up at him as if expecting him to go on. He knelt on one knee in front of her and began to unwrap one of her feet, all the while going on about his nieces.
“Rhona’s terribly afraid of storms, just like you saw her. But Keira? Well, she’s not afraid of much and slept right through. Can you imagine that, Maggie?”
He didn’t get an answer, and she still held herself stiffly in the chair as he examined first one foot and then the other, but he told himself again that only patience would give him any hope of a peaceful household.
“Your feet look much better, I’m pleased tae say. Clovis’s poultices always work wonders. He made one for my right shoulder last night—”
“Your shoulder?”
She looked at him so keenly all of a sudden that Gabriel nodded, surprised at himself, really, for revealing that to her. For her to relate to his young nieces might be one thing, but anything to do with him? Aye, well, if her lunacy wavered in and out like the shimmering ripples on a lough, so be it.
“One of my captains, Cameron, pierced me with his sword. An accident, and my own folly. I should have twisted out of the way, but it’s getting better just like your feet. I’ll not be training with my men for a week at least…but I hope that will give us some time tae grow a wee bit more comfortable with each other—Maggie?”
She had jumped up from the chair so abruptly and pushed against that very shoulder to skirt around him that Gabriel couldn’t help but grimace, which made Euna and Donella gasp in shock. At once they looked like they might rush after Magdalene, who had run to take refuge near a window.
“No, leave her be.”
His command louder and more brusque than he would have wanted, given he wanted to calm her, Gabriel had risen to his feet but he didn’t move any closer to her.
Magdalene appeared almost stricken, her gaze falling to his right shoulder, and he could swear tears glistened in her eyes.
Was it possible she felt remorse for causing him pain? He reached up to rub his shoulder and then smiled wryly.
God help him, he smelled ripe, just as Finlay had pointed out to him, which made Gabriel think instead that mayhap her eyes were merely smarting from the stink of sweat and long hours in the saddle. He should have bathed after they returned to the castle—och, but the night’s events had gotten away with him.
“Maggie, would you mind if I leave for a short while? Donella and Euna will clean up the mess, dinna trouble yourself about it. And there’ll be no rope binding you, I promise. When I come back—within an hour, no more, I’ll take you on a tour of the castle. Would you like that?”
A slim hand reaching up to wipe at her eyes, she gave a small nod, Gabriel wishing she had spoken to him so he could again hear the sweetness of her voice. He had heard her speak so little since they had left the convent—och, man,patience!
Just having her acquiesce to his invitation was a small victory, and he felt an unmistakable sense of anticipation at the thought of spending more time with her.
He cast her a reassuring smile, but she had already turned to stare outside through one of the expensive glass windows Malcolm had paid dearly for…which left Gabriel musing that mayhap he’d been touched with a bit of madness himself.
Magdalene madness…the insanity of wishing to see her smile and hear her speak and to glimpse even a hint of lucidity in her incredible green eyes making him curse himself again for a fool as he strode from the room.
Chapter 9
She couldn’t believe it.
No, she couldn’t believe it! Pacing from window to window as Euna and Donella busied themselves with tidying up the room, Magdalene pinched herself again just to reassure herself that she hadn’t been dreaming.
