Page 24 of Falling for His Cousin’s Betrothed

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Robert couldn’t sleep that night. All he wanted was Laila. In a moment of sheer spontaneity, he threw the covers off his body and sprung from his bed. He’d travel to the castle and speak to her from the window. What harm could come of that?

Without further ado, he dressed, dashed down the hall, then stepped outside into the moonlight. Bonnie Bell was grazing in her pasture. “Come along.” He approached her with a bridle and saddle, which caught her off-guard. “I know it seems an odd time to travel, but I must make a trip to the castle.” He mounted her and rode off toward the east, over the riverbank and down along the sagebrush until he was almost a stone’s throw from Laila’s window. Once there, he dismounted, tied Bonnie to a line of fencing, and walked to the gates where a lone lantern lighted the way to the door.

“Hello!” he called to her window after circumventing the front courtyard with a quick hop, a forceful jump, and a heavy lurch across the moat. “Can you hear me?” He stood below, hands on his hips. Laila, who’d only moments earlier retired for bed, threw open the shutters and gazed down on him.

“What on Earth?” she laughed, and immediately dreamt up ways to shimmy down the sidewall of the castle but soon extinguished the thoughts for fear of ripping her bedsheets into two with such a feat. “How can I get down there?” she asked. “Lyall will see me if I try to take the steps and go down the hall. She’s on guard with the dog, and I have no desire to get into a scuffle with her so late at night.” She chuckled at the mere image of a row with Lady Lyall.

“I want you to stay where you are. We can speak from here.” Robert shifted his weight on one foot and leaned forward so his voice would carry. “I know you must soon wed my cousin, but I want you to know how much I care for you. I wanted to see you, and whether it’s right or wrong, I had to confess my feelings.”

Laila’s heart swelled with desire. He was truly a gentleman. Nothing she’d shared with Morven regarding his character was of any consequence now. She believed now, more than ever, that he was nothing like his cousin, and it mattered not how much blood they shared.

“I had a walk with your cousin today, and I fled.”

“You fled?” Robert chuckled. “I’m sure that didn’t go over well.”

“It did not. But I don’t care. He’s a mean man, your cousin, and he played a good farce the night we slept at the castle.”

“I’m sorry to hear it, Lady.” Robert looked up and marveled at her beauty. With the moonlight dancing softly on her face, she resembled an angel, one haunted by dreams and desires. “I don’t have much advice to give you, either. I should think that eventually, the two of you will simply have to work it out.”

“Ha!” she scoffed. “I should think not because even the thought of holding his lumpy hand is now repulsive to me. Do you know he likened me to a piece of property that needed to be put in its place?” she asked.

Robert shook his head. “He sounds as if he might have been drunk.” Robert cupped his hands around his mouth so his voice was not obscured by the stream.

“I know he was not even the slightest bit inebriated because he shoved his face close to mine, and while his breath was horrid, it didn’t smell of alcohol.” Laila leaned out the window as she spoke, the moonlight casting a fine shadow on her silhouette. “I hope I never see him again.” Robert knew he was on borrowed time at the castle. He heard the dog let out a howl, and it shook his senses.

“I’m going to leave for now, Lady. You are the most beautiful flower in the garden, and I want nothing but the best for you. I’m sorry you have to manage the likes of my boorish cousin. I’m not sure what has gotten into him, but I will say that he was never the most romantic or couth fellow. Shed some mercy on him, perchance?”

He looked up, and Laila sighed. Why did it have to be so difficult? She wished Robert could spend the night, but she knew better than to tempt fate by inviting him in. She couldn’t even imagine the wrath that might ensue if Lyall and Elliot were to discover such an act, so she quickly erased it from the realm of possibilities.

“Goodnight, dear Robert. I hope the two of us have time to see each other again soon. Please don’t forget about me.” Laila waved and pulled back the shutters. It was going to be a long, lonely evening. She wiped away a tear from her cheek and smiled softly as Robert blew her a kiss. He paused for a moment, transfixed, but soon turned around and made his way out of the moat. Once by the riverbank, he watched her window for a few seconds longer then adjusted his bootstraps, mounted Bonnie Bell, and rode off into the moonlight.

* * *

Robert could barely sleep when he arrived home from the Nelson estate. Thoughts of Laila filled his weary mind, and it was all he could do to keep from steering Bonnie Bell right into a circle, galloping back through the moat and saving his love. What good would come of it, though? He knew his cousin had a temper that, when provoked, could unleash the likes of an untamed wildfire. He didn’t want to poke at the beast within, so he elected to remain back at his own castle grounds and suffer the fallout of restless sleep and an aching heart. When he awoke the next morning, he didn’t feel any relief. All he wanted was to bring Laila home with him, but he knew it was not going to happen.

“Perhaps there lies an answer, even if through a miraculous entity that has yet to be discovered. I know that she can find a way out of that marriage, even though I tell her otherwise,” he said to himself as he dressed the next morning.

It was a damp and cloudy day in Glencoe, and he wanted to go into town to buy some tea and bread. He stood before his wardrobe and opened the large cherrywood doors. It smelled of cedar and spice. “I just don’t want to ignite that fiery monster that lives inside Alastair’s soul.” He shook his head, remembering how Alastair, even as a child, used to stomp off and yell whenever he lost a game of cards. Not much had changed over the years, and even though he trusted him to keep a secret, he didn’t trust him at all to keep his control.

“I must go and tell him that he isn’t treating her right!” Robert threw his arms in the air, distraught. He was vehemently opposed to any sort of violence against women, even though, especially in particular clans, it was accepted as the norm. Robert had been raised by a nurturing mother and a strict father who had both taught him that respect for women was of the utmost importance, and Robert had taken their teachings to heart.

After putting on a beige overshirt and a blue wool sweater, he slid on his kilt and tied on a plaid scarf. It is going to be a rainy journey, he thought, as he looked at the bend and sway of the trees outside his window; they didn’t bother him in the slightest. He had to save Laila, regardless of the weather.

Bonnie Bell was saddled up, mounted, and trotted across the castle grounds immediately after Robert laced his leather boots. He looked over his shoulder as they departed through the valley, the open horizon waiting innocently before them as they rode off in the direction of Dory Way. Without a warning, rain descended from the muted, ash-colored sky. Robert coaxed Bonnie into a gallop, and they rode into the storm, neither of them expressing dissatisfaction over the issue. When they finally reached the castle grounds, Robert slowed Bonnie to a walk and cautiously eyed the grounds.

Just as he was about to call to her from the space he had filled the night before, he heard a thundering of hooves. It didn’t take long for him to recognize that the chestnut horses approaching him belonged to none other than Alastair’s courtyard men. This meant that Alastair wasn’t far behind them. Robert held his breath, wondering what might transpire. His anticipations were quickly flung aside when out of the blue, Alastair arrived, mounted like some sort of righteous and perfected king.

“What brings you here, Cousin?” Alastair’s brow, furrowed and tight, signaled to Robert a less than desirable welcome.

“I’ve come to have a word with you.” Robert dismounted Bonnie and lifted the reins over her head.

“I’m having dinner with Laila and Lady Lyall.” Alastair didn’t seem the slightest concerned that his cousin had traveled all the way across the valley to speak with him. “You’ll have to wait for another day.”

“I’m going to speak with you now, Alastair, about the foul treatment you’ve displayed to Laila.”

Alastair’s eyes widened. “Who spoke to you about any of my interactions with the lass?” he asked.

“That information is neither here nor there, Cousin.” Robert smiled wryly and folded his arms across his chest.

“I’m going to have you removed from the property if you don’t turn around now, Robert. Take your horse and find your way back from whence you came.”

“That’s not going to happen, Alastair. I’m going to see to it that you stop treating her badly.” Robert stared down his cousin and was just about to climb atop Bonnie to ride her closer to the gates when a swift, unannounced fist caught him square in the jaw. He flinched in pain but remained standing.

“It was you!” Alastair thrust his neck into Robert’s face. “You’re the one who told her not to marry me!” He raised his arm and was just about to throw another punch when Robert grabbed his hand, pulled it back into a ninety-degree angle, and moved it into his chest. Alastair winced.

“You’re not going to treat her disrespectfully, Alastair. And I’ll see to it that you don’t.”

“No, Robert! No!” Alastair’s face was beet red, and his hair, tousled in the wind, gave him a monster-like appearance that chilled Robert’s soul. “You have always taken everything for your own—the power, the glory, and now the woman. No!” He ran his hands through his hair and spun on his heels, wide-eyed, to face the castle. “I’m going to take her for my own, and that’s it!” His face, scarlet and gnarled, gave Robert reason to cower yet he remained, as best he could, upright and unphased.

“She is not some sort of prize, nor a piece of chattel to bind and scare.”

“I see where this is going, Cousin. You took her to bed, and now you want to try and take her to your castle.” Alastair looked angrily at Robert and then paused. The rain, which they’d both ignored up to this point, had gotten louder and larger. Robert wiped the water from his face and moved closer to Bonnie, who was pawing at the earth.

“I want you to treat her right.” Robert was about to speak more about how Alastair had always been a hot-tempered, callous fool, but before he could get the words out, Laila’s uncle appeared around the east side of the moat. His presence was a well-timed distraction that interrupted the possibility of more fisticuffs. The three, after brief introductions, decided to go inside Nelson Castle.