Gabriel had placed his forefinger on Magdalene’s soft lips, sensing she wanted to blurt out something the moment the courtier had left them alone in the tower room—yet were they alone? Just as he’d expected, a maidservant appeared in the doorway, but he shut the door on the young woman and drew Magdalene further into the room.
“I must leave you. I’ve no idea for how long—”
“Oh, Gabriel, I fear for you. Dinna you hear me say as much when we were passing by the village?”
“Aye, I heard you.” He held her close, marveling at the raw concern in her beautiful eyes.
Marveling still at the night they had spent together and that she was finally, fully, his wife.
Marveling that everything had changed though so little had been said between them. There had been no time…Gabriel growing tense at the thought of Seoras awaiting him in the great hall.
If Magdalene feared for him, then she sensed more than he could have imagined about his shifting allegiance, though he hadn’t uttered a word to her. Such things were best left unsaid, and the less she knew right now, the better. With great reluctance, he eased his hold upon her though she moved closer against him, her lovely face upturned, her emerald gaze locked with his and her voice the barest whisper.
“Whatever happens, husband, your path is my path. My loyalty is tae you, not Seoras.NeverSeoras. I wish you didna have tae leave so we could talk—so I could tell you—”
“What lay at the heart of your ruse? I remember Debora and know what cruel fate befell her. It makes perfect sense that you would fear the same might happen tae you”—Gabriel tightened his arms around her, his own voice sank to a husky whisper—“and that you would do aught tae protect yourself. When I saw you naked in that fountain, och, woman, you had me convinced you were mad as a loon until Clovis—”
“Clovis?”
“Aye, he gleaned the truth from treating you—though I had my own suspicions. Your eyes gave you away a time or two…” Gabriel lowered his head to press his mouth to her lips, the warmth of her sweet body making him wish fiercely that Seoras wasn’t waiting for him. That thought alone made their kiss all too brief, Magdalene sighing in soft protest when he once again eased her away from him.
“I’ll return as soon as I can. Dinna forget your promise, Maggie. At least I’ll know you’ve a means tae defend yourself if I’m not by your side. You’ve a wicked kick, wife.”
He’d meant the smallest attempt at humor, but the tears welling in her eyes were almost too much for him to bear.
Aye, she knew well enough that there was no levity in anything concerning her brother—the corpses hanging from trees and lying bloodied upon the ground were all the reminder needed as to the fate of any that opposed him.
Gabriel cast a look around the room with its modest furnishings and canopied bed barely big enough for two, the heavy shutters cracked at the one window to emit the midday light. At least there was a small fireplace to warm them at night. Bitterness rose like bile in his throat that Seoras would lodge them where Magdalene’s mother had so grievously suffered. The bastard had a stone instead of a heart.
His private resolve only deepening, Gabriel wanted nothing more than to crush Magdalene in his arms and never let her go. To breathe in the fragrance of her skin, her silky hair, and kiss the softness of her lips. Damn Seoras! Steeling himself, he wheeled around and went to pull open the door, the red-faced maidservant jumping back as if she’d had her ear pressed to the wood.
“Tend her well or you will answer tae me,” he ordered gruffly, glad at least that he and Magdalene had spoken in whispers. Was the wench merely curious—or had she been sent there to spy upon them?
Sensing the latter, Gabriel knew that there was little at that moment he could do. Seoras awaited him.
Hopefully Magdalene would wonder the same thing and take care—please God, take care! Gabriel didn’t glance behind him as he strode down the hall, though his heart wanted nothing more than to return to her side.
* * *
“Lady MacLachlan,my mistress sent me tae fetch you.”
Magdalene stared stupidly at the dark-haired maidservant, for in truth, such a summons was the last thing she would have expected from the young woman.
To tend to her as Gabriel had said, aye, but this? He had barely disappeared down the hall, her heart aching to run after him—dear God, what might Seoras have in store for him?
And why had the maidservant spoken to her as if she sensed that Magdalene had her full wits about her? She must have been crouching at the door, listening to her and Gabriel, yet they had spoken quietly enough, hadn’t they?
“Y-your mistress?” Magdalene queried, doing her best to tamp down her apprehension as curiosity overcame her.
The maidservant at once bobbed her head and stepped closer, though she glanced over her shoulder as if to see that no one else was in the hallway. Her brown eyes held pleading in them when she met Magdalene’s gaze.
“Cora MacDougall, Earl Seoras’s wife. She must speak with you—an urgent matter. Please, Lady, will you come with me?”
Magdalene knew she still stared stupidly, even more astonished by this revelation and not knowing what to do.
Her first impulse was to start whirling in place and cackling nonsense so the maidservant would turn and run, but the earnestness in the young woman’s eyes stopped her. Instead, Magdalene took a hesitant step forward, and then another, the maidservant grabbing her hand and pulling her out into the hall.
“Not that way, Lady, this way.”
