A soft knock at her door startled her into sitting up. Who would seek her out now? It could be anyone in the clan with a problem they needed her help to solve. Mary dried her tears on her sleeve and called out, “Come in.”
Cameron stepped into her chamber, and closed the door behind him. “How are ye, Mary?” He stayed by the door, his back against the solid oak as if he depended on its strength to support him. She knew he didn’t. He was well, and nearly as strong as he’d been before being stabbed by a gallowglass mercenary.
“Honestly, I’m no’ certain,” she said as she walked toward him. “If only we kenned how this would go…if Da will recover.”
“Ye didna ken how my injury would go, or my fevers. Yet ye stayed strong, and helped me to regain my strength. Ye can do the same for yer da.”
“Ye were nay my father. I hardly kenned ye at first, and tended ye because of a promise to my youngest sister. Seeing Da like he is now—’tis difficult. Worse, the new Lady Rose has no’ bothered to put in an appearance anywhere. With Da. At supper. Naught.”
“Did anyone ask for her?”
“Of course. I refused to cover for her, and simply said Ididna ken Lady Rose’s whereabouts. But her guardsman also missed the meal.” Mary assumed her young stepmother was with him. Except for one brief appearance when they first moved Da to his chamber, Seona had avoided spending time with her husband. “If she feels any wifely concern for her husband’s health, and after her threat in the buttery, I doubt she ever will, she hides it well.”
“Threat? What threat?”
Mary sighed. She needed to tell someone, and if she could not tell her father, Cameron would understand. She repeated the confrontation she, Seona and the guardsman had that afternoon. “Da is so weak, I fear what such news will do to him.”
“Ye must tell him, lass. Ye canna treat him like awean. He is still laird, and the bairn isna his. He may choose to claim it, but he deserves to make that decision for himself.”
“Ye are right. I wonder what he’ll do to that guardsman.”
“Have him marched out of Rose’s gates?” Cameron offered.
“Throw him in the dungeon?” Mary thought that likely.
“Or hang him from the battlement?”
“Nay!” She would keep her father from doing that. “Ye shouldha seen the lad when he told me his side of it. He does love her, and always has. ’Tis no’ his fault her mother made a devil’s bargain with her future—and sent him along to witness it. ’Tis awful. For all of us.”
Cameron wrapped her in his arms and held her close. “I shouldna be here, but I willna let ye suffer alone, Mary.”
She let herself melt against him, needing his care. “If my sisters were here…”
“They’d be in this chamber with ye, and I wouldna dare set foot inside.” He grinned at her. “I shouldha told ye this already, but Catherine is with child. Annie, too.”
Despite his wonderful news, Mary couldn’t find the strength to return his smile. Besides, her mouth still hurt from Dougal’s rough treatment. “Ye never said why ye arrived with four Bodies. In truth, with all that has happened, I forgot about them.”
“A storm came up, forcing a stop at Brodie. I saw them on the way to ye.” He grinned.
“Catherine likes ye. I’m certain Annie did, too. Especially since Catherine surely told her all about the trip from St. Andrews and how ye kept her safe.”
“Kenneth did most of that.”
“Well, then, ye helped keep them both safe. Ye canna deny it. Catherine told me so. Of course, she also told me how ye flirted with her before ye left St. Andrews. She thought ye’d flirt with any lass.”
He brushed her hair back from her face. “I’m no’ flirting with ye, lass. I’m in earnest. All of me. And all of me wants to make ye feel better.”
He bent his head and took her mouth so gently, the touch of his lips felt exquisite, not painful. Mary’s despair lifted. She loved the taste of him, and the feel of his soft lips caressing hers. Her easy acceptance of his kiss always surprised her. She should not allow it, but she could not deny him. She wanted his kisses, and so much more.
He started gently, considerately, but his passion rose with hers and his kiss became more demanding, though still careful of her bruises. She slid her hands up his broadchest and wrapped them behind his neck, using one to pull his head down even more firmly to her. With her other hand, she stroked his neck and throat, then brushed her fingertips down his face.
Cameron groaned, picked her up and carried her to her bed, kissing her the entire way across her chamber.
When he stopped, she slid down his body until her toes touched the floor, surprising her. She suddenly felt so full of energy, she thought she’d float above it, anchored only by where she held onto Cameron, her arms still wrapped around his neck, and where his hands spanned her waist. One of Cameron’s hands roved over her back and up to tangle in her hair.
“I want ye, lass. I dinna ken how much control I have left.” Then he loosened his hold and stepped back, but didn’t let go. “But I came here to comfort ye, no’ to ravish ye.”
A rush of warmth filled her. “Ye have comforted me.” She stilled her caresses on his massive shoulders.
