“Will ye go to the Council?” Robbie asked.
“I don’t make arguments or threaten with petitions,” David said. “These Blackadders are still in Edinburgh?”
“Aye. Brian rode through the night to bring word,” Robbie said.
He could not attack them there, so they would live a little longer. Still, he could not let this threat go unanswered.
“Tulliallan believes his own lands are far enough away that he’s safe from me,” David said. “I want him to feel my breath on his neck.”
***
The wind was howling, and the maids had let the fire go out again, knowing that the laird would not return tonight in this storm. Alison rubbed her arms for warmth as she looked out into the black night and wondered where her new husband was. She had not seen him since his abrupt dismissal two days ago, in the early hours after their wedding night.
She blushed every time she thought of how he had touched her that night. Despite the intimacy, what he’d done did not constitute the joining that was required to complete a marriage. If she escaped before he returned, could the marriage be undone? Not that she could escape with his men watching the gate, and it would be her word against his. David Hume was a brawny man in his prime. One look at his muscled body and fierce expression, and no one would believe he had been unable to perform the task—or that he had been willing to wait.
Why did he wait?And what had she done to so displease him that he’d left her to spend the rest of the night sleeping on a hard floor? Regardless, she doubted he would wait a second time. The way he touched her was so different from Blackadder, she could not help wondering what it would be like…
A crash above her sent her racing out the door and up the stairs to the Tower Room, where her daughters were. Angry shouts came through the open door. She flew inside, not knowing what she would find.
Robbie had his younger brother pinned against the wall while her daughters, who were half Robbie’s size, were clutching at his arms and legs in an effort to pull him off Will.
“Stop this at once!” Alison said, and the room went quiet.
Robbie released his brother and stepped back. Defiance shone in his eyes, but she suspected the flush in his cheeks was embarrassment.
“Will, are you all right?” she asked, resting her hand on the lad’s shoulder.
He nodded without looking at her.
She lifted his chin and looked into his dark brown eyes. “What happened here?”
“Nothing.”
“I saw it all,” Beatrix said. “Robbie—”
“I don’t want to hear it from you, Beatrix,” Alison said. “Robbie, let us discuss this alone.”
“But what if he lies?” Beatrix asked, looking as if she was bursting to tell the tale.
“I’m sure Robbie is too big a man to do that,” Alison said, shifting her gaze back to him. “Follow me.”
She turned and started down the stairs and was relieved when she heard footsteps behind her. Why was this falling to her? She had not expected her marriage to Wedderburn to bring her responsibilities toward these two lads. No matter how she handled this tiff between his brothers, he was bound to disapprove.
She returned to the bedchamber she’d shared, however briefly, with Wedderburn, and sat in one of the two chairs by the hearth. Robbie halted just inside the door and folded his arms across his chest.
“Please sit with me.” She smiled and motioned toward the other chair.
After a pause, he stalked across the room and dropped into the chair. She sighed inwardly and prayed for wisdom.
“I don’t know ye well, of course, but I’ve noticed that ye seem to have anger eating at your heart.” She regretted being too preoccupied with her own distress to speak to him sooner.
“Will is such a…such a…”
She was certain he had been about to use a foul word but thought better of it.
“I don’t mean only this incident with Will.” She leaned forward and touched his arm. “I know something is troubling ye. Will ye tell me what it is?”
He pressed his lips together and blinked furiously, fighting tears. Her heart went out to him. Fourteen was a difficult age, when a lad was neither man nor child, and Robbie had lost his father not long ago.
