Aye, he and Cameron had always been protective of each other, the two of them surviving many a bloody skirmish by watching each other’s backs.Yet for the woman he loved and his boy—och, if anyone came close to causing them harm, as Lorna had done hours ago with Colin, his response would be swift and fierce.
He had shoved in that door just in time, Lorna’s hand raised to strike Colin a second blow, his cheek reddened already by a slap to the face.That she would take out her jealousy and anger upon an innocent child filled Conall with disgust, and made him all the more relieved to see Colin laughing and playing.
Conall believed his son had cried so inconsolably more out of confusion than anything else, the mother he loved turning upon him.Blast and damn, how many times had it happened before Lorna had brought Colin to Argyll?
“Conall?”Her fair brow furrowed with concern, Lisette looked up at him as if she had sensed his turmoil.
He hadn’t told her yet of the wretched scene that had greeted him after he’d left her standing wide-eyed in the hall, not wanting her to go near Lorna again.If he hadn’t needed to quickly fetch the guards, he would never have abandoned her to whatever other resentments Lorna might have spewed at her.
“I hope you dinna think me cruel for taking Colin from his mother,” he murmured so Sorcha and Colin wouldn’t hear him.“I had my reasons—”
“Oui, I saw the red mark on his cheek.”Lisette squeezed his arm and looked back to where fresh giggling erupted.She smiled, but sadly, shaking her head.“Who could harm such a sweet boy?Look at him, Conall.So happy now…yet what’s to happen to Lorna?”
The tremor in Lisette’s voice touched Conall that she would harbor sympathy for a woman who had shown nothing but contempt for her, which made him bend down to kiss the softness of her cheek.
“You amaze me, wife…your kindness.I want her tae be gone by morning, but what would you have me do?”
Conall knew as soon as Lisette turned her brown eyes upon him that Lorna leaving tomorrow wasn’t what she had in mind.
“Give her those few more days to spend with him—but never alone, Conall.Your son has two nursemaids now to watch over him, Aislinn has seen to that, and I doubt Sorcha will ever be far from his side.You’ve guards posted outside the door, too, and more guards to watch Lorna, so he’ll be more than safe.She must love him deeply to have wept so when you brought him near-drowned to the fortress.”
“Aye, I saw you watching from the window and wondered what you must be thinking.”Conall sighed heavily, unsure of Lisette’s request even as he wanted to please her and have her know that her view mattered to him.She had been so quiet these past few hours, which made him certain that something was troubling her.“I dinna know what Lorna said tae you, but I pray you dinna take it tae heart.I couldna leave my sworn post as warrior tae Earl Seoras even if I’d begged him.Here all this time I believed she betrayed me, making me act a careless fool for years when all the while, she blamed me for betraying her—och, who can make sense of such things?”
Lisette looked at him as if astonished by his outpouring, but she had no chance to say a word when Colin came running toward them.
To Conall’s surprise, the boy went straight to Lisette, his arms outstretched, and she caught him up and gave him the warmest hug.
Her smile radiant, her eyes luminous with unshed tears as if his son had given her the greatest gift she could have imagined.
Sorcha came running to join them, too, much to Colin’s delight, which made Conall’s heart even more full as he imagined the joy of him and Lisette having children together…aye, lots of bairns to fill a castle and make laughter ring from the halls.
For a man who had imagined no more an existence for himself than battles and blood and meaningless liaisons, he felt as if a miracle had touched him.
The same miracle that Lisette had spoken of to King Robert while Conall had cursed the day that a bride had been foisted upon him.He could not believe it had been so short a time ago when now, he could not imagine life without her.
He yearned for only one thing more…to hear Lisette say that she loved him.He could have sworn she spoke to him when he had surrendered to exhaustion the night before, yet her words had made little sense to him.Mayhap he had simply dreamed her pressing a kiss to his chest and whispering to him—
“Laird Campbell!”
Conall wheeled around to find Cameron’s steward, Fergus, leaning upon the doorjamb, the man’s pocked face flushed from hurrying.
With a glance at Lisette, who at once hustled the startled children deeper into the room, Conall followed the winded steward into the hall where the two newly posted guards looked alarmed.
“What is it, man?”
“Y-your brother sent me tae fetch you!I dinna fully know what is amiss, but he’s called for his captains and warriors tae assemble in the great hall.An urgent message arrived from Earl MacLachlan—”
“Then it can only be grim news,” Conall cut him off, looking at Lisette.She stared at him wide-eyed, while Sorcha had already diverted Colin with a wooden horse that she pretended to gallop through the air.
“Go, husband,” Lisette murmured, straightening her shoulders as if summoning her courage.“I’ll stay here with the children—but mayhap send Aislinn to tell me what has happened if you cannot return…”
Her voice had faltered, Conall longing to embrace her but heeding instead, his duty to his brother.“Protect them with your lives,” he ordered the guards, and then he was running down the hall, Fergus wheezing behind him.
Yet Conall lost the steward altogether as he sprinted down the tower steps and toward the great hall, which resounded with commotion and the aggravated shouting of Cameron’s men.
A wild tumult he recognized at once as warriors stoking themselves for battle, the hair rising on the back of Conall’s neck.
His blood ran faster and hotter even though he still did not know the reason for Cameron’s summons, his hand fisted upon the hilt of his sword.His brother stood tall and commanding in front of the massive fireplace at the center of the hall, while a path opened for Conall through the gathered throng.
