As a warrior, he had slept many times in stinking mud mixed with blood from battle.What did a few hours upon the cold ground matter?Or the daggers that would soon fly at him from Isabeau’s eyes when he drew her against him and tightened his arm around her?At least he would know that she was safe.If she tried to flee again, he would awaken in a flash—
“Oh!”
It wasn’t daggers that greeted him as he pulled her into his embrace, but wide-eyed surprise, Isabeau gaping at him.
To his surprise, she didn’t struggle, though she did stiffen against him.
Not in protest, he sensed from the rapid rise and fall of her breasts beneath the weight of his arm, but mayhap from panic.Had she not been held by a man before?Had MacCulloch not once hugged her or kissed her since she had arrived in Dumfries?
A jolt of something akin to jealously coursed through Conall, and he thrust away the unsavory thought.He had felt such an emotion only once before, when his honey-haired Lorna had told him that she had chosen to marry a blacksmith over him.Conall had wanted to ride into the village that very hour to kill the man—
“Please…I-I can’t breathe!”
Conall loosened his hold, which had tightened like a band of iron around Isabeau just to think of his former love’s betrayal.
“Forgive me,” he murmured, not knowing what else he could say as she stared up at him with the softest brown eyes he had ever seen.Not angry at all…but frightened.
Dear God, he didn’t want to scare the lass or distress her any more than their marriage would in the morning.Would she weep tears for Euan MacCulloch?Scowling, Conall thrust away that thought, too, and eased his hold even further.
“Try tae rest,” he whispered into her ear, the warmth of her skin so near that he longed suddenly to nuzzle her neck.
Strange, how this close to her, she bore not a whiff of lilac when her bedchamber had been filled with the scent.He had noticed that earlier when giving her a drink of water, yet why wouldn’t she smell now of fresh air and wood smoke from the fire?Somehow he refrained from drawing any closer, reminding himself of why he had edged over to her side.
“Mayhap we’ll both get some sleep now since I’ll know if you try tae run away.”
“I won’t run away, Laird Campbell, I promise.Thank you for saving my life.”
So startled again that he could but stare at her, Conall told himself fiercely in the next moment that her soft words weren’t heartfelt.
How could they be?No matter she had relaxed within his embrace, her breathing growing slow and measured, Isabeau must surely hate him, and was only biding her time…
Chapter6
“God’s blessing on you both, Laird and Lady Campbell.”
Lisette looked up at Conall, but he was staring at Father Titus with the strangest look upon his face as if he couldn’t quite believe the brief marriage ceremony was done.
The entire morning thus far had been a blur of rising well before dawn, Conall speaking little to her as he had walked her into the trees again—staying closer this time—and then pressing a stale oakcake into her hand right before lifting her onto his horse.Amid a thundering of hooves, they had ridden an hour to a village with a small church in its midst, Conall’s men waiting for them outside as only he, Lisette, and the priest had dismounted.
The sun had just peeked above the horizon, so the church was dark inside but for a single candle lit upon the white-clothed altar.At once the resident priest, an old man with stooped shoulders, had shuffled into the sanctuary from a side room, clearly awakened by the commotion.Father Titus had quickly introduced himself and told him that he needed to perform a wedding, and the old priest had stepped aside to allow him to officiate.
It seemed Lisette had no more than blinked and Conall had taken her hand and led her to the altar, his fingers gripping hers tightly as if he’d thought she might try to bolt—while Lisette had never felt such hopeful anticipation.With the candle sputtering and the musty air tinged with incense, she and Conall had uttered their vows…and now it was done.
Lisette had become Lady Campbell, her fingers trembling with relief as tears filled her eyes.
She was free of her half-sister forever!
“If you’re crying for Euan MacCulloch, lass, I dinna want tae hear of it—ever.He’s dead tae you now, do you hear me?”
Lisette bobbed her head at Conall’s terse words, an expression on his face that she couldn’t read though she sensed he wasn’t pleased from his darkened eyes.
Not black at all, but the deepest blue in the candlelight.Still gripping her hand, he turned abruptly from the altar and led her down the narrow aisle to the church door.
“I knew this wedding would bring you unhappiness, but now you’re my bride—though God knows, I swore never tae wed.”
He spoke the last words with so much bitterness that Lisette wondered why he would have ever made such a vow, but Father Titus calling out to them made Conall whirl around.
“What, man?”
