Authors: Patricia; Grasso
“The others dinna know that Gordy never told ye aboot the boys bein’ his,” Gabby reasoned with her. “In fact, I’m positive they assumed he told ye. I heard ye tell Kendra that the laird spoke aboot the boys to ye. What ye must do is pretend that ye knew all along.”
“I dinna know,” Rob replied uncertainly.
“Think of the fun ye’ll have sittin’ at the high table and givin’ Gordy the cold shoulder,” the girl coaxed. “Why, he’ll be squirmin’ in his chair like a man who’s sufferin’ from the crabs but doesna dare scratch his itch.”
Rob smiled, though she had absolutely no idea to what the girl was referring. “Gabby, I’m likin’ ye more and more,” she said.
“Och, I never doubted ye would.”
Rob dressed in one of her late mother-in-law’s gowns created in dove gray velvet. The dress had long-flowing sleeves that ended in a point at her wrists, a tight-fitting bodice, and a moderately low-cut, squared neckline. Around her neck she set her beggar bead necklace, its star ruby resting provocatively just above the valley between her breasts. Rob would have worn a pair of the lacy, fingerless gloves her husband had given her, but none quite matched the gown and would only have aroused curiosity about what she was hiding beneath it.
With Gabby trailing in her wake, Rob walked into the great hall. She kept her head held high and a serene expression on her face as she made her way through the crowd toward the high table. Most of the clansmen she passed bade her a good evening; Rob returned their greeting by nodding at them like a young queen acknowledging her subjects. Judging from her outward demeanor, no one would ever have imagined that she was a quivering mass of nerves on the inside.
Reaching the high table where Duke Magnus and Gordon stood with the two boys, Rob smiled and asked, “Who would care to sit beside me?”
“I do,” all of them answered simultaneously.
Ignoring her husband, Rob cast her father-in-law a look of supreme regret and said, “I believe I’ll sit between the two verra bravest Campbells. Gavin, ye sit here between yer grandfather and me. Smooches will sit on my lap; and, Duncan, ye sit over here between me and . . . him.”
Rob heard Duke Magnus chuckle and then cough to cover it. Glancing over her shoulder, she cast him a look that said the entertainment was about to begin.
The duke’s servants set supper on the table in front of them. There were sheep’s haggis, Mashlan scones with butter, cheese, cider, and wine.
“Ye look especially lovely tonight,” Gordon complimented her unexpectedly.
Rob inclined her head, acknowledging the compliment, and said, “Yes, I know.” Then she turned away and scanned the hall’s occupants.
“She isna here,” the duke whispered over Gavin’s head, drawing her attention.
“I dinna understand, Yer Grace,” Rob said, giving him a puzzled look.
“Most couples, such as Fergus and Kendra, dinna sup in the hall,” Duke Magnus told her. “Married couples usually enjoy the privacy of suppin’ alone in their own quarters after a hard day’s work.”
Rob nodded. “’Tis the same at Dunridge Castle.”
“So, how was yer first full day at Inverary?” the duke asked.
“Enlightenin’.”
“Any problems?”
“Only minor, certainly unworthy of yer attention,” Rob replied, her voice loud enough for her husband to hear. She lifted her mug of cider to her lips and took a sip.
“I heard ye married our da,” Gavin said, apparently unhappy with her inattention. “Should we call ye Ma?”
Rob choked on her cider. When she was able to speak again, she replied, “Well, yer own mother might feel puirly if ye gave me her title. What do ye call Fergus?”
“We call him Fergus,” Duncan answered.
“Then call me Rob.”
The boys nodded, their smiles telling her how relieved they felt to have that matter settled. “Well, Lady Rob,” Duncan said. “Do ye suppose ye’ll be givin’ us brothers and sisters?”
Rob stared at him in surprise. And that was before she heard the little voice on her left speak up.
“Da, can we have a baby sister?” Gavin asked his father.
“’Tis fine with me, son,” Gordon answered, a wicked smile lighting his expression. “Of course, ye’ll have to clear it with my wife.”
Rob sent her husband an unamused look.
“Would ye care for a game of chess after supper, hinny?” he asked.
“Ye canna get sisters from playin’ chess,” Duncan announced. “Even I know that.”
Rob stifled a horrified giggle at the turn their conversation had taken. She cast her husband a long look and then said, “No, thank ye, my lord.”
Before he could protest, Rob rose from her chair and, cradling the pup in her arms, said, “I’m still a bit weary from travelin’. I’ll take Smooches outside for a few minutes and then retire.” She turned to Gavin and asked, “Will I see ye in the mornin’?”
The little boy grinned and nodded.
“And ye too?” she asked his brother.
Duncan nodded.
“We’ll begin trainin’ Smooches then.”
Without glancing back at the high table, Rob slowly wended her way through the crowd of warriors and retainers, and then disappeared out the door. The four males at the high table, from the oldest to the youngest, watched her leave.
Duke Magnus chuckled as soon as she’d vanished from sight. “Well, she put ye in yer place,” he told his son.
“Ye sound like yer enjoyin’ this,” Gordon replied, rounding on his father.
“Well, Inverary was becomin’ a tad borin’ until she arrived,” the duke admitted. “Now I’m lookin’ forward to bein’ thoroughly entertained during my twilight years. At yer expense, of course.”
“I dinna perceive any real contest of wills here,” Gordon told his father.
“Remember this, son,” Duke Magnus warned him. “‘Pride goeth before a fall.’”
“I canna credit what I’m hearin’,” Gordon countered, rising from his chair. “Old Clootie himself is quotin’ the Holy Scripture.” At that, he followed his wife out of the hall.
The Duke of Argyll threw back his head and shouted with laughter. He glanced at his grandsons who were staring at him in confusion.
“At what are ye laughin’?” Duncan asked.
“Yer father,” the duke answered.
“Why?” asked Gavin.
“Because yer father has the common sense of a donkey,” Duke Magnus answered, still smiling. “And if ye repeat what I said, ye willna be receivin’ ponies when yer birthdays come around again.”
“I never heard nothin’,” Duncan said.
“Me too,” Gavin agreed.
When she left the great hall, Rob hurried down the long corridor and descended the wheel stairs to the ground level. Opening the door that led to the enclosed garden, she stepped outside and set Smooches down. “Go on.” she ordered. “Do yer duty.”
Rob paused before following the pup and looked up at the night sky. The west wind had blown the day’s cloud cover away. Accompanied by thousands of glittering stars, a full moon hung overhead in the perfect setting of the black velvet sky.
Supper had been a success, Rob thought as she strolled down the stone path. So why did satisfaction elude her? Why did she have an empty feeling of loss deep within her heart?
As she walked along, the night’s dark beauty and the serenity within the garden renewed her nagging spirits. She could hardly wait for spring when this private sanctuary would certainly become nature’s paradise.
“Rob?”
She turned around slowly at the sound of her husband’s voice. “Yes, my lord?”
Gordon stood five feet away. Even in the darkness, her husband appeared a magnificent figure of a man, the kind about whom young maidens dream. No wonder he’d become a womanizer. How much inner strength could one man possess? Even Adam in his state of original grace hadn’t been able to refuse that infamous apple.
“I apologize for not tellin’ ye aboot Duncan and Gavin,” Gordon said simply.
“I forgive ye and apologize for strikin’ ye,” Rob said. “’Twas wrong of me.”
Gordon stepped closer as a smile slashed across his handsome features. He reached out with one hand and touched her arm. “We could grant Gavin’s request if we seal our forgiveness with a kiss,” he suggested in a seductively husky voice.
“Request?”
“The lad wants a sister to cosset.”
Rob stepped back two paces and scooped Smooches in her arms. Lifting her upturned nose into the air, she informed him, “All those verra willin’ ladies have stunted yer emotional growth, my lord. Trust isna unlimited, and forgiveness doesna imply forgetfulness. This may be impossible for ye to ken, my lord, but I dinna desire ye.”
At that, Rob marched down the path toward the door and disappeared inside. Angel, ye know nothin’ aboot desire, Gordon thought, as he watched her retrace her steps, but ye’ll learn. Verra soon, my reluctant love.
Rob opened her eyes and knew from the chamber’s dim light that the hour was still early. She never awakened with the dawn. What had disturbed her sleep?
Turning toward her husband, Rob discovered his side of the bed empty. A noise from the other side of the chamber drew her attention, and she raised her head off the pillow to see what he was doing.
With his back turned to her, Gordon crouched in front of the hearth and stoked its embers to life. He was magnificently naked except for a loincloth, which he’d begun wearing to bed in deference to her easily offended modesty.
Watching him through heavy-lidded eyes, Rob admired the play of his sinewy, well-honed muscles across his shoulders and upper back as he worked. An unfamiliar, warm tingling heated the pit of her stomach as she stared at the ease of strength in her husband’s muscles. A primitive feeling of being the only man and woman in the world surged through her, and she yearned for . . . what?
Breaking the spell his maleness had cast upon her, Rob snapped her eyes shut when he stood suddenly. She didn’t want him to catch her peeking at him.
When the sound of splashing water reached her ears, Rob opened her eyes a crack. Her husband was standing across the chamber at the table where they kept the basin and rinsing the sleep from his face.
From this vantage point, Rob had an excellent view of the back of his thickly muscled thighs, a warrior’s thighs developed from years of hard riding and, she supposed, more intimate activity. What would it feel like if those muscled thighs of his spread her legs apart and —
Gordon glanced toward the bed as if he could feel her interested gaze upon him.
Rob hastily closed her eyes again and then heard him moving toward the chairs in front of the hearth. Her heart pounded rapidly as if watching her husband at his morning toilet was a terrible sin, but that possibility didn’t stop her.
She opened first one eye and then the other. Apparently, he’d set his clothing across one of the chairs because he unexpectedly dropped his loincloth onto the floor and reached toward the chair. Rob nearly swooned from the incredible sight of his tight, rounded buttocks. The man even had an irresistible arse.
In the next instant Gordon ruined her pleasure by donning his long shirt, which covered his more interesting assets, and Rob nearly moaned with disappointment. Next came his wool stockings and black leather boots. Finally, Gordon wrapped his Campbell plaid around himself, secured it in place with a thick belt, and shrugged into his black leather jerkin.
Rob closed her eyes when he turned to leave the chamber. “Come, Smooches,” she heard him call softly, and then felt the pup scrambling off the bed.
Silence reigned in the chamber for several, long moments. Rob opened her eyes and glanced toward the door through which her husband had disappeared.
“’Tis early yet,” Gordon said, a smile flirting with the corners of his lips as he watched her from the doorway. “Shall I rouse Gabby and send her to ye?”
“No,” Rob squeaked, her face growing hot with embarrassment.
Gordon winked at her and said, “Well, I hope ye enjoyed the entertainment.” Then he vanished with the pup out the door.
Great Bruce’s ghost, he’d known all along that she’d been watching him strut naked about their chamber. How humiliating to be caught peeking at what he had to offer, especially since she’d insisted she didn’t desire him.
Rob yanked the coverlet over her head. How she wished she could sink inside the mattress.
Later that morning Rob stepped into the enclosed garden and paused to inhale deeply of the pure mountain air, crisp yet surprisingly warmer than usual for that season of the year. Everywhere she looked, Rob saw the signs of winter’s passing, and her spirit quickened with the promise of spring. The chaste full moon would begin waning that night, heralding days that waxed warmer as the sun’s power increased.
Rob set Smooches on the ground and strolled down the stone path that led to the bench. She didn’t have to wait long for Duncan and Gavin. Spying her from where they played at the opposite side of the garden, the two boys dashed toward her.
“Are ye ready to train Smooches?” Rob asked, making herself comfortable on the bench.
“Aye,” both boys answered, standing in front other.
Drawing their attention, the garden door opened unexpectedly, and Gordon appeared. He cast the three of them a smile as he advanced on them. Over his right shoulder, he’d slung his golf bag with one of Biddy’s brooms sticking out of the end; in his left hand, he carried a bowl.