“’Tis good news, laird. Thank ye.”
“Thank Mhairi and Ella, Calum, for their care of ye. And yer own persistence.”
Calum nodded. “I’ll talk to Mhairi today.” And Ella? He did owe Mhairi his thanks. Ella, too, though that would be harder to deliver. Despite how well they got on rescuing the lost lads, after their kiss and the argument that followed it, she might not care to hear what he had to say on the subject of her care of his eye.
Iain slapped him on the back and left the practice field. Calum stood for a moment, watching him go, absorbing what had just happened. While he’d been bedridden, how he’d dreamed of this day, and feared it would never come. Now, he felt determined. Vindicated. Relieved and happy. He left the field before anyone else noticed him loitering and started rumors about what Iain might have said to him. He’d get cleaned up and talk to Mhairi, then get something to eat. If she gave her permission, he planned to ask Iain about joining the next scouting mission to make sure all the raiders had been arrested or driven from Brodie and its allies’ territory. He no longer needed to fear getting into a fight, or letting down the men he fought with.
“I’ve enough men in the field,” Iain told him after the evening meal as they shared a cup of wine in his solar to celebrate Mhairi’s approval. “Until we ken more from them, and from our allies, I am reluctant to risk any more scouts—especially ye. I will give it a few more days for everyone to report back. We’ll ken more then. And Calum,” he added and paused.
“Aye?”
“Ye did well today with a blade. This is naught to do with ye. I dinna want to risk anyone right now.”
Disappointed, but unable to argue with Iain’s logic, Calum bid his laird a good eve.
“Another thing,” Iain said, stopping Calum as he rose to leave.
“Aye?”
Iain looked as though he was considering whether to continue with whatever came to his mind, or to dismiss him.
He leaned forward and met Calum’s questioning gaze with a look that made Calum uneasy.
“I’ve been meaning to talk to ye about something else. Ella has done well in her year with us. And she was indispensable in caring for the lads when ye found them. She’s grown in confidence and in skills she didna possess when she first arrived here. And those make her even more attractive to other men, ye ken? I have heard rumblings from some of the men here—no’ directly, mind ye—that lead me to think ’twould be best for her to be married soon. Or at least, betrothed, before something happens that none of us, least of all Ella, will like.
Calum couldn’t believe what he was hearing. She was at risk from within their own clan? Being betrothed, or even wed, would not guarantee her safety if someone within their walls chose to accost her. “What would ye have me do?”
“I ken the two of ye are friends, but Ella has the kind of beauty to attract attention wherever she goes. And she doesna have a husband to protect her.”
“She has a clan. This one.”
“Brodie men are still men. They see her, and they see that in a year with her, ye have no’ claimed her, despite yer obvious interest in her. By now, ye’ve convinced them ye’ll never be more than friends with her. And when she leaves the keep, as she has and will again, on an errand, or to help someone, or for a gathering of clans, there will be more men to covet her.”
Calum clenched his teeth. He didn’t like hearing this from anyone, least of all Iain, whom he knew to be observant, fair, and at his wife’s behest, occasionally meddling. “I’ve been giving her time.”
“’Tis noble of ye.”
Noble? Calum didn’t think of himself that way. But there was no sarcasm in Iain’s tone. He meant it. Calum nodded, accepting the compliment.
“But time is exactly what ye may be running out of,” Iain continued. “Think on that, and on what ye want from her. For her, as well as for yerself, Calum. If she is accosted, I’ll have to act. If I receive a betrothal offer for her, ye ken I will have to consider it, and give Ella the choice of whether to accept it or no’.”
Calum stared at the wall behind Iain’s head, unable to find words. He didn’t know what Iain’s warning made him feel. Fear? Surely not. Dismay, possibly. Urgency? If Iain’s goal was to make him uneasy, it worked. But why try to force him to make a decision now, after all he’d been through? This conversation did have the feel of Annie’s work. Perhaps she’d heard about their kiss from Muireall or even directly from Ella, as well as the argument and hard feelings that came after it. Though they’d done well together saving the lads, they hadn’t spent much time together since then. Did that also have something to do with this? Was Iain’s characterization true, that they’d never be more than friends? The idea made Calum’s belly ache.
“Very well,” Iain said, relenting when Calum didn’t respond. “Go and think on what I’ve said.”
Calum nodded again, stood, and left, closing the solar door behind him. He took a few paces toward the great hall, then changed his mind. He needed to think, but on his own. He couldn’t deal with Iain’s meddling right now.
He went to the herbal to check on Euan. Muireall would be there. Perhaps she could help him decide what to do about what Iain told him. A woman’s perspective. Almost Ella’s. Muireall knew her best.
Muireall sat with her sleeping husband when Calum arrived.
“How is he?” He asked softly, reluctant to disturb his friend.
“Resting well,” Muireall said, rising to join him at the door to the herbal. “The healer will decide in a day or two about moving him back to our chamber. For now, she wants to keep him close in case he develops a fever.”
“And Georgie? How are he and the lads now they’re back?”
“Iain had a stern talk with the lot of them about leaving without permission or any adults to escort them. They could have died…” Her voice choked, and she took a breath. “But they didna. Thanks to ye finding them.”
