Mary went to him and laid a hand on his shoulder. “I’m so sorry, Da. I didna mean to make ye face something so painful…”
“Go on with ye and help the healer,” he interrupted. “Ifthere’s anything to be done, I ken between the two of ye, it will be.”
“We’ll do what we can,” Mary promised. “I love ye, Da. Ye ken I do, aye? So do Annie and Cat. They miss ye.”
“And I miss them. I am sorry I missed yer wedding. Now go.”
Her throat choked with unshed tears, Mary nodded and left the room. She couldn’t bear to look back and see her father appear so defeated. It wasn’t like him. But she’d never imagined him in this position, either. Not just married again, but burdened with an unfaithful wife. Instead, she held his final words in her heart and went to try to help save the child he would claim as his.
Cameron spentthe first hours in the great hall while Mary and the healer attended Seona’s confinement. He hoped James Rose would at least leave his solar to ask about his wife’s condition, but he never did. Cameron wanted to speak to him somewhere other than in the formal environs of the laird’s solar. He hoped to build a better relationship with the man who was now his father-in-law. He’d made progress helping with Rose’s physical ailment before he took Mary away—and wed her. Now, over an ale by the fire seemed a hospitable way to go about mending whatever rift that had caused. But it appeared he would not be given the chance. Finally, he set aside his ale and went to beard the man in his own den.
“What do ye want?” Rose challenged when Cameron entered.
Not the best beginning, Cameron supposed.Nonetheless, he forged ahead. “Now that the bairn is coming, I want to speak to ye about taking Mary to Sutherland permanently.”
Rose shook his head. “Nay. She’s needed here.”
“She’s my wife now. Ye canna keep her…”
“I can keep ye in my dungeon,” Rose threatened, pounding his good fist on the desktop
“Even if she’s in danger here?”
“Danger? Mary’s in nay danger in her own keep.”
“Then no one told ye about the horse that nearly ran her down, or the arrows that barely missed her in the woods?” He chose not to mention the fragments of conversation he’d overheard from the stable.
Rose gaped at him and shook his head. “I’ve heard nothing of this. What do ye mean?”
Cameron crossed his arms, trying to put into words his suspicions. “Both could have been accidents, but appeared to be aimed squarely at Mary. Someone may have stabbed one of the horses in its flank a few weeks ago with a sliver of wood from a stall, sending it bolting straight for Mary as she crossed the bailey. Only by her quick thinking did she avoid being trampled. Days later, someone shot at her when she and some of the lasses went to the woods to gather herbs.”
Rose pushed to his feet, trembling. “Who did these things? And why has no one told me?”
Cameron leaned forward, ready to aid the man if he started to fall. His condition had improved, but not enough for Cameron to believe he could remain steady on his feet, especially after hearing this. Mary would be angry if he was hurt reacting to Cameron’s news. “It all happened before we went to Brodie. ’Twas one reason Iwanted to get her away for a while. As for who, we dinna ken. We never found the archer. And Mary wasna certain she was the target or merely in the wrong place at the wrong time. She didna wish to worry ye.”
“I’ll skelp that lass, I will.” Rose sighed and sank back into his chair. “Have there been any other attacks?”
Cameron lifted his shoulders and shook his head. “None she has admitted to me. None that anyone else has mentioned. Ye can ask her. Perhaps she’ll say more if she’s aware ye ken.”
Rose let out a sardonic chuckle and sank into his chair. “How well do ye think ye ken the lass? Nay, she’ll have little more to say, except to complain that ye and I are inventing a danger she has dismissed. And she may be right. So perhaps only a panicked mount, stray arrows, and naught more. Coincidence.”
“It’s possible, but…”
“So ye tell me this to convince me to allow ye to take her away for her own safety, is that it?”
“Do these things no’ worry ye?”
“Accidents happen. Hunters dinna always take the time to be certain of their target before they shoot. Horses injure themselves all the time. Since there have been nay other incidents, I choose to believe they were accidents, naught more.”
“And if ye are wrong?”
“I am no’ wrong.” He jerked his chin toward the door. “Now go on with ye.”
Cameron left the solar and returned to his ale by the fire. He didn’t usually give up so easily, but he had no proof. Just a bad feeling in his gut, and that was not enough to convince Rose. Hell, it wasn’t enough toconvince himself. Rose was right about one thing—he’d tried to use the incidents as an excuse to get Mary away from Rose again. This time with her father’s cooperation, he’d hoped. It hadn’t worked.
When Mary finally appeared, she looked exhausted, and blood spattered her dress. Cameron stood. “How did it go?”
Mary shook her head. “I have a new half-sister, at least in name…but the healer thinks no’ for long. She came too early. She’s tiny and frail. She also has black hair, much like Seona’s guardsman, and, I’d wager, his nose. My poor da. I must go tell him he’ll no’ get his wish of a lad, no’ even one to claim. Even when they are no’ his, he’s cursed with daughters.” Her mouth quirked up in a brave hint of a smile, then she shrugged.
