Rose had not spoken to him all evening except to say her vows and an occasional polite thank you as he handed her wine. He had managed to slip her from the noisy hall, and now she was on her way to the chambers they’d be sharing this night.
The crunch of pea gravel alerted him to someone’s approach, and he straightened. He recognized McBain’s elfish form as he rounded the corner. Three taller men walked behind him. Ruark could not make out who they were. When they passed through the torchlight and into the corridor, Ruark stepped out of the shadows.
“Lord Almighty!” McBain blasphemed, a hand pressed to his chest. “I’ve a mind to die of heart failure. ’Twould serve ye bloody right for all the trouble you’ve put me through this night.”
As the most circumspect of his men, McBain had been the logical choice for arranging the witnesses needed for tonight. Ruark assessed the three men standing uncomfortably behind McBain, two distinguishable by their priestly robes. They belonged to the kirk in the village. The third man was the mayor’s brother-in-law, a solicitor and known English sympathizer. Many of the borderland families championed the king, so finding such an individual had not been difficult.
“Hereford rode out of the abbey this afternoon and is encamped across the river as he said he would be,” McBain said. “Jamie is there.”
“You have seen him then?” Ruark asked the three men.
The shorter robed priest answered for the three. “Aye, my lord. The boy be in ... temperate spirits and is ready for ye to fetch him home.”
“What of the two men who were taken with him?”
“Rufas and Gavin Kerr will be turned over along with the boy in the morn.”
A cold unsettling gust fluttered the torchlight, and Ruark glanced up at the clouds rolling across the moonlight. The night had turned waspish. “You have been apprised of the entire situation then?” he asked, pushing right to the point.
McBain sniffed, insulted that Ruark had to ask. “They have. And trust me, they would rather be anyplace else, which is why I picked them.” He rocked back on his heels and laid his palm across the hilt of a wicked-looking short sword at his waist. “They will confirm that consummation took place and will make an oath of it afterward. The marriage has already been properly recorded.”
The shorter robed man cleared his throat. “We are preparing papers now as per Friar Tucker’s instructions. Mr. Colum will have the necessary documents drawn up by morn, my lord.”
There would be no doubt as to the legality of this marriage, Ruark thought. Tonight was a necessary path to that end.
With McBain’s curt order that the three were never to gossip about anything witnessed tonight on threat of slow torture and death by dismemberment, they shuffled away, properly horrified by McBain’s threat.
Ruark was momentarily amused by McBain’s protectiveness. “Are you going soft on me, McBain?”
“ ’Tis not for ye I’m thinking,” he said with a disapproving sniff, “but for that girl. She has been through enough.”
“Any word yet from Duncan?” he asked.
The word had gone out as Duncan rode west and north to bring more men into Jedburgh. Ruark had been expecting the arrival of more clansmen by that evening. Duncan had not come.
McBain seemed to think over his next words carefully.He scraped his palm over his bewhiskered jaw. “No one has dared say anything ...” he said after a moment. “And no one would be sayin’ anything to me. But there are some who believe Duncan wouldna’ mind if somethin’ were to happen to you and Jamie tomorrow.”
Ruark might believe Duncan held a certain animosity toward him, but not toward Jamie. “Then I will have to make sure nothing does.”
“Will ye really be givin’ him theBlack Dragon? You’ll no’ be returning to sea?”
“Is Tucker off?” Ruark asked, avoiding discussion of his future plans.
“Aye. But he oughtn’t to have left without telling the lass good-bye.”
Tucker would not take an escort, though Ruark would have spared him one. Ruark had agreed it best he leave as well but for different reasons than he told McBain. “If tomorrow does not go well, I cannot guarantee anyone’s safety. Least of all Tucker’s.”
McBain sniffed. “Aye, and who does Tucker think he is to think only of himself at a time like this?”
“He is someone who has loved and cared for Rose for most of her life. He did not make the decision easily, McBain.”
Dear Rose,
By the time you read this letter, I will already be on my way back to Hope Abbey. Lord Roxburghe and I both agreed that it was best to leave tonight.
You and I were not able to speak much today, and I did not want to depart with discord still between us. Before leaving for Jedburgh, I went through your room at Hope Abbey. I knew that, after tomorrow,you would never be returning, and I wanted you to have that which you had always held close to you. I wish I could have given you more. In time, you will decide if the years at the abbey were happy ones.
Now I will tell you in writing what I should have told you in person today, my precious Rose. Since the moment God saw to bless me with you, there has not been a time that you have not brought joy to my life. Never a moment you have not brightened the lives of all those you have touched here at the abbey. I wish I could have always kept you safe. But know that I have always held your best interests in my heart.
