Had Patrick guessed his intent?
We both will do what we have to do.Dani’s words echoed though his mind as he rose to his feet to meet the woman he was to wed.
“Give our host a proper curtsy, Aeschine,” Angus ordered.
The little girl crawled out of her chair and curtsied clumsily. “I’m tired, Da. Can I no have my bed now?”
“Janet!” Patrick called, and the chief maid materialized from the shadows as if by magic of her own. “Will you see to settling the ladies in their quarters?”
Malcolm watched wordlessly as the old maid bustled the MacKilyn daughter and her attendant out of the great hall.
The child was Aeschine?
Malcolm sat back down, his mind reeling. This changed everything. She was hardly more than a babe, perhaps five or six years at most. The old laird must be crazed to think to marry off a bairn such as she.
“I dinna believe I can agree to meet the terms of yer boon, Angus. I will no be a party to wed a babe such as yer wee lass.”
There. He’d said it. It was out in the open and he’d deal with the consequences.
“Wed my Aeschine? You?” The old man laughed. And continued to laugh, hard enough that Malcolm was forced to pound on his back when he choked.
“No, no, lad,” Angus said at last, through a raspy gasp for air. “You’ve heard the talk, I see, but you canna believe all you hear. There’s them what likes to embroider the stories, aye? Especially when they dinna have all the facts at their disposal.”
“But you did ask for a boon in return for the lending of yer men. And in the past you have insisted that yer allies marry yer unwed daughters, have you no?” Malcolm had heard those stories from many places.
“A boon I did request. It is that you house my traveling party for a few days while we rest before continuing on our journey to my elder daughter’s home in Perth. She’s agreed to take Aeschine to live with her since the death of Aeschine’s mother. And I’d have you welcome us again on our return trip home.” Again the old man laughed. “And as for trading my daughters’ hands for the strength of my alliance, I had no need to require it of any, though many offered such through the years. It’s a story that grew out of my having naught but female children, I suppose. And perhaps the one young buck I bullied into asking before he was ready. But only because my oldest girl wanted him.”
Malcolm felt like a fool. He could only be thankful that the child had left the room before he’d opened his mouth to speak.
“My apologies, Laird MacKilyn. It seems I have misjudged you. Please consider Castle MacGahan open to you at any time you’d like to stay for as long as you’d like to stay.”
“Aye, well, I ken it to be a great deal to ask. I travel with a large number of my household and I’m well aware it’s a drain on yer coffers to feed us when we’ve all suffered the bad crops of the last season.”
Malcolm sat silently as the serving girl set a small tray in front of him filled with cheese and meat before filling his tankard with ale.
Ale he really felt he needed.
Once more the old man laughed, more to himself than anything. “I’d no have you take this the wrong way, lad, but it’s all well and good to be yer ally. Yer a strong and able warrior and I’ve a respect for that. An honorable man too, as I hear it. But I’ve long heard the whispers of yer clan’s claim to otherworldly ancestors and though I personally have no belief in such fancy, I’ve no desire to taint my bloodline with such whispers. Even if my lass were old enough to take a liking to you.”
Malcolm joined in the laughter this time. “No offense taken, I assure you.”
He dug his hand into the bag at his waist, searching for his knife to cut a slice from the meat. Instead his fingers closed around a small, hard object. One he’d all but forgotten he had.
Dani’s ring.
He’d placed it in his bag after he’d taken it from Torquil’s hand and in the days that followed, he’d forgotten all about it.
But he had it now. And he had a powerful need to see her and share with her all that had happened in this room tonight.
Forty-five
MALCOLM KNEW THEbedchamber was empty the moment he opened the door. Not a single candle burned, though, for a fact, there had not been time since he’d last stood in this chamber for them to have burned down. Someone had purposefully blown them out.
“Dani?”
He could feel she was gone. He called her name anyway. A useless gesture, but one he felt compelled to perform.
As useless as checking in her chamber. It too was empty.
