“Aye, we’ve cause for hope,” Finn said. “Margaret told me Bearach sat up in bed and ate for the first time since the poisoning.”
After that brief exchange, they fell into another long silence. Finn’s relationship with his father was not acrimonious, but they had never been at ease with each other.
“Alex wants his parents’ bodies brought to Dunrobin,” Finn said at last.
“Isabel says they must remain here for a couple of days so the folk in this part of Sutherland can pay their respects.” His father cleared his throat and attempted a faint smile. “My brother was their chieftain, and he’d want to remind them of that even in death.”
“He would, indeed,” Finn agreed. And for Alex’s sake, it would be wise to remind all the Sutherlands that they owed their allegiance to the new earl.
For the next two days, every man, woman, and child within walking distance passed through the hall where the bodies were on display. Whether it was out of respect or merely curiosity because of the poisoning, Finn could not say, but he spoke with every one of them. With Alex at Dunrobin and his own father off drunk somewhere, someone had to greet the mourners on behalf of the earl’s family.
Finally, it was time to take the earl and Helen home to Dunrobin.
“I promised Alex I would bring them myself,” Finn told Margaret that night when they were at last alone in their chamber. “But I don’t feel right leaving when my brother is so ill.”
“Why not let other members of your uncle’s guard escort their bodies home?” She put her arms around him. “Bearach is not out of danger. I’m sure Alex will understand.”
Remembering how young and scared Alex looked when he left him, Finn still felt torn, but he could not leave while his brother’s survival was still uncertain. “I’ll ask Una’s grandson Lachlan to go along. He’s a good man I know I can trust.”
That night they again shut away the world for a few hours and made love frantically between bouts of restless sleep. They barely spoke at all, but he showed her how he felt with his body.
How much longer would she stay? He was under no illusion that this could last. Margaret needed an escape from her highborn life for a time, but he’d always known she would go back to it. She was not meant for the humble life he could give her.
And yet he could not envision his life without her. He had never let himself need a woman before. He did not want to need her now.
But it was too late.
He would get by after she’d gone, as he always did. But her leaving would break his heart, and he had a bad feeling the wound would never heal. Even if he could have foreseen the hole she would leave in his life, however, he would not have missed a moment of his time with her.
“I need ye now,” he said as he pulled her against him, when what he meant was,I need ye forever.
CHAPTER 25
Finn awoke to someone knocking on their chamber door and squinted at the window. It was barely dawn, and all he wanted to do was stay in this warm bed with Margaret. He buried his face in her hair and cupped her breast, unwilling to face the troubles of the day quite yet.
“It could be about your brother,” Margaret said sleepily.
He dragged himself out of bed, tossed his shirt over his head, and opened the door a crack. An anxious maid waited there twisting her hands in the skirt of her gown.
“Lachlan just rode in from Dunrobin,” she said. “Says ’tis urgent he speak with ye.”
Finn’s blood turned cold.Alex was in danger.
Margaret pulled on her robe while he finished dressing, and they hurried down to the hall together. The household was unsettled after the dramatic events of the last several days. Despite the early hour, the warriors and servants who slept in the hall were stirring as word spread that a messenger had arrived. The news had even reached Finn’s mother and father, who came down the stairs behind them.
Lachlan stood in front of the great hearth, steam rising from his rain-soaked cloak.
“What’s happened?” Finn asked him.
“George Sinclair, the Earl of Caithness, arrived at Dunrobin with a fleet of ships full of warriors,” Lachlan said. “Ach, there must have been fifty boats!”
O shluagh. George could not have chosen a more opportune time to attack, with Alex’s father not even in his grave and Alex too young and inexperienced to lead. Finn never should have left Alex’s side.
Alex’s parents had died only three days ago. How did the Sinclair chieftain learn of the earl’s death and take advantage of it so quickly? George was prepared to act as soon as he heard the news, which meant the bastard must have had a hand in their murder.
“The Sinclair chieftain demanded entry as Alex’s guardian,” Lachlan said.
“As his what?” Finn demanded.
