Mary spotted the blacksmith’s apprentice in the back of the crowd. “There he is.” She marched over to the lad, Cameron following her. “Where were ye when this fire started?”
The lad shook his head. “I only stepped away for a few minutes. I was on my way back, but the fire…”
“Ye could have burned out the keep and all the people and animals within it,” Mary scolded. The lad glared at her and Mary didn’t like the glint in his eye. Did the prospect of such suffering excite him? Annie had tangled with this lad about his treatment of the stable cats and mongrel dogs before she left Rose to marry Iain. Mary had hoped he’d grown out of such cruelty by now. Perhaps he had. Notoutof it, butbeyondit, to a larger scale.
Cameron spoke up then. “Ye’ll get this cleaned up and repair anything that needs it before the smith returns tomorrow.”
“And when he does return,” Mary added, “ye will apologize to him before the entire clan for the damage. Right now, ye can apologize to the stable master for terrorizing the horses and to everyone who had to fight this fire for the fear and dismay ye have caused tonight.”
The lad looked ready to argue. Mary raised a hand. “Ye will do as we bid ye,” Mary said, silencing any objection the lad meant to make.
He lowered his head and muttered, “I’m sorry.”
“Now go,” she ordered. “Ye have much to do, even if ye have to work all night and all day tomorrow. Perhaps then ye will take more care with yer responsibilities.”
The lad glared at Cameron, but he turned away and started pulling down the burned sections of the blacksmith’s shed.
Mary caught Cameron’s gaze and nodded. The punishment fit the crime.
Cameron took her arm. They went down the line, thanking everyone for their quick action and praising each person individually. As Mary spoke to them, she kept some of her attention on Cameron. For someone who professed no desire to be a laird, he certainly had the skills of a good one. Did he realize how well suited he was to lead the clan with her?
Mary didn’t knowwho told her father about Cameron spending the night with her, but he’d found out and was understandably furious.
“As soon as I can again wield a sword, I’ll kill him,” her father threatened.
“Ye will do no’ such thing,” Mary responded archly. “We are handfasted.”
“Handfasted? Ye went behind my back, like yer sisters?”
“And for the same reason, Da. Ye willna kill my husband, a son of the powerful Sutherland clan. Ye may be ill, but ye are no’tetched. Ye should be glad to have Sutherland allied with Rose.”
“I amtetched,” her father snarled. “After raising ye three daughters, ’twill be a miracle if I have the wherewithal left in me to raise my son.”
“If ye have a son,” Mary muttered under her breath. “Nonetheless,” she continued, loud enough for her father to hear her, “Cameron Sutherland is now part of the family for at least a year and a day. And if I get with child, forever. Besides, ye wouldha been proud of the way Cameron got the clan together to fight the fire in the blacksmith’s shed. The wind blew sparks toward the stable. Thanks to him, all the horses were saved, and most of the blacksmith’s tools, as well. Ye did ken about the fire, aye?”
“I did.” He grimaced. “No’ that I could do anything about it.”
“The apprentice left the forge unattended. Cameron and I set him to cleaning up the mess he’d made before the blacksmith returns. The lad will no’ soon shirk his duties again.”
Her father nodded. “That was well done.”
“Da, a wife’s place is with her husband, and a husband’s with his wife.”
Mary fought the temptation to tell him about the attempt on her life—if that was truly what had happened. It could have been an accident. She hoped it was. The archer had never been found, and the arrows he left behind told them nothing about who made them. She didn’t want to make her father’s condition any worse by giving him something else to worry over. “I am happy with Cameron, but ye ken I willna leave ye yet.”
Her father nodded and seemed resigned. At least he made no more objections. Mary would have to be satisfied with that.
Someone knocked on the door. A messenger entered without waiting for permission. “I bring news from yer daughter Catherine at Brodie,” the man announced.
Mary’s heart beat faster. If it was good news, it could be only one thing, but if bad, well, she could only hold her breath until her father gave the man his attention.
Once Laird Rose nodded, the man cleared his throat. “Yer daughter Mary Catherine bids ye ken she and Kenneth Brodie will wed in a fortnight in the Brodie Kirk,” the man continued. “She requests the honor of her father’s presence and the presence of her eldest sister, Mary Elizabeth, and Cameron Sutherland, a friend of both the bride and groom, among others of Clan Rose, to witness the nuptials. She advises that Mary Anne Brodie will stand in for Laird Rose if he is unable to…”
“Nay!”
Mary jumped at her father’s outburst. “Nay? What do ye mean, nay?”
“Just what I said. Nay.” He turned his scowl on the messenger. “Get ye back to Brodie and tell them we willna attend. I dinna give my permission for this marriage to take place.”
