Authors: Patricia; Grasso
“Someone fetch a blanket for him,” Rob ordered. Feeling a hand on her shoulder, Rob looked up and saw her husband kneeling beside her. She peered at the crowd in time to see several Campbells making the sign of the cross.
“Lady Rob is an angel,” Dewey said, passing Gordon a blanket.
Rob shook her head. “I’m a flesh and blood woman, nothin’ more.”
“’Tis the Lord’s mark stainin’ yer hand, not Old Clootie’s,” Gabby insisted. “Ye were touched by an angel.”
Chapter 14
Touched by an angel?
That absurd notion flabbergasted Rob. Only three weeks earlier these superstitious Highlanders had tried to drown her for being a witch, and now they were hailing her as an angel. Of course, she much preferred their acceptance to their murderous intent; but if their attitudes could change so quickly, what prevented them from turning on her again? How could she feel secure living among them?
“I’m a woman,” Rob said simply, glancing at their awed expressions. “But perhaps the Lord did help me save Gavin.” She wrapped the blanket tightly around the boy and smiled at him, saying, “Dinna move. Yer father will carry ye home.”
Rob stood when her husband scooped his son into his arms. She flicked a grateful smile at Gabby who’d placed a woolen shawl around her shoulders.
“I’m takin’ Gavin to my lodge,” Gordon told Kendra.
“No, he needs me,” she protested.
Gordon opened his mouth to argue, but Duncan piped up, “Sleepin’ in the same lodge as a witch will frighten Gavin.”
Rob flinched visibly. Without thinking, she moved her right hand to cover her birthmark. How could she ever hope to win the Campbell’s acceptance if her husband’s own sons rejected her?
“Lady Rob is no witch,” Gordon told the boy.
Duncan looked confused. “But Mama said she was.”
“Dinna argue aboot it now,” Rob said, touching her husband’s arm as he rounded in anger on Kendra. “’Tis done and past. Gavin will want to recover with his mother by his side.” She noted the angry twitching of a muscle in his cheek and pleaded, “Please, Gordy.”
He glanced at his trembling son in his arms and nodded once. “I’ll meet ye at the lodge after I take Gavin to his mother’s.”
Kendra lifted her youngest son by Fergus out of one of the women’s arms, flicked a sour glance at Rob, and walked away. Following in her wake, Gordon started across the glen in the direction of a cluster of beehive-shaped hovels.
“The bitch never even thanked ye,” Gabby muttered, drawing her lady’s attention. “Dewey and I will walk ye back to yer lodge.”
“I can find my own way,” Rob said. “Besides, I’d prefer being alone for now.”
Clutching the shawl tightly around her shoulders, Rob stepped forward, and the milling crowd of Campbells parted for her. She’d only gone ten yards when a familiar voice called out, stopping her in her tracks.
“Lady Rob!” Duncan raced toward her, quickly closing the distance separating them.
“Yes, Duncan?”
“Thank ye for rescuin’ my brother.”
Rob smiled. “Yer verra welcome.”
“And . . .” The boy dropped his gaze to his bare feet and added, “I’m sorry I made ye cry.”
Rob felt renewed hope swell within her breast. She reached out, lifted his chin, and waited until he raised his gaze to hers.
“What’s done is past and forgotten,” she assured him.
The boy smiled with relief.
“Ye’d better hurry home and help yer mother care for Gavin,” she said.
Duncan nodded. Turning on his heels, he ran across the glen in the direction his parents had taken.
When Rob reached the lodge. Smooches attacked her with love. She dropped the damp shawl onto the floor, scooped the pup into her arms, and hugged him. After setting him down on top of the bed, she removed her wet garments and donned one of her husband’s shirts. His scent of mountain heather clung to it and soothed her badly frayed nerves.
Feeling depleted of energy, Rob lay down on the bed. The enormity of almost losing Gavin hit her with the impact of an avalanche. What if her ruby hadn’t darkened? What if she hadn’t reached the glen in time? What if she’d been unable to make him retch the water he’d swallowed?
The door swung open suddenly. Gordon grinned at her and held the fish he’d earlier caught high into the air. “Are ye up for cleanin’ fish?” he asked.
Rob looked from his smiling face to the dead fish. Covering her mouth with one hand, she leaped off the bed and made a mad dash for the door. Outside, she dropped to her knees and heaved dryly while her husband gently held her head. When her spasms passed, she leaned heavily against his legs.
“Should I take that as a no?” Gordon asked, caressing the top of her head.
Rob managed a faint smile. “Yer verra funny, my lord.”
Gordon lifted her into his arms, carried her inside the lodge, and set her gently down on the bed. After pulling the coverlet over her, he discreetly tossed the dead fish out the door.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, Gordon yanked his boots off and then lay down beside her. “Feelin’ better?” he asked, gathering her into the protective circle of his embrace,
“Aye, but too much excitement and the smell of dead fish is a sickenin’ combination,” Rob answered. “How’s Gavin?”
“Badly frightened.” Gordon cast her a thoughtful look and said, “Tell me, angel. How did ye know what to do?”
“Well, I saw that my star ruby had darkened,” she replied. “Then Gavin leaped into my thoughts and —”
“I meant, how could ye know what to do to revive him?” Gordon interrupted. “I didna think ye could swim.”
“I told ye I could swim,” she said, “but I hate the deep water.”
“Tell me how ye knew to revive him.”
“Verra well, but ye must promise not to feel sorry for me.”
He gave her a puzzled smile and nodded.
“Once when I was a young girl, I sneaked out of the postern gate and wandered to the shore of Loch Awe,” Rob began, careful to keep her gaze fixed on his chest lest she see pity in his eyes. “I heard the children playin’ and wanted to join in their fun. As I neared them, they” — her voice cracked with remembered pain — “they called me a monster and ran away.”
Gordon felt his heart lurch. How could the MacArthurs have been so cruel to his beautiful wife, his angel?
Revenge against them for hurting her leaped into his mind. When he became the Duke of Argyll, he’d —
“Dinna pity me,”“ Rob whispered, reaching up to touch his cheek as she gazed into his eyes.
“I wasna pityin’ ye,” Gordon lied.
Rob recognized the pity shadowed in his gaze and knew he was lying, but loved him for not telling her the truth. She cast him a knowing smile and then continued. “One of the crofter’s daughters became hysterical with fear when I chased after her. In her desperate flight away from me, she fell into the loch. Fortunately, my father had come searching for me. He dived into the water and pulled the girl to shore. His pounding on her back and breathin’ into her mouth revived her finally.’”
“Did the children never play with ye?” he asked, one hand stroking her back soothingly.
“I never ventured to the loch again,” Rob said. A rueful smile touched her lips when she added, “I remember demandin’ that my father order the children to play with me.”
“And did he?”
Rob shook her head. “My father said that he couldna force the children to play with me because the clan is stronger than the laird.”
An aching tenderness for the angel in his arms swelled within Gordon’s chest. He brushed his lips across her temple and said, “So ye befriended the cook who taught ye to make perfect bannocks.”
Rob pinkened. “And Old Man’s milk too.”
“Forgive me, my love,” Gordon whispered.
“For what?”
“For failin’ to send ye the doll I promised.”
“I forgave ye for that long ago,” she told him.
Gordon dipped his head, and his mouth covered hers in a lingering kiss meant to heal. She was his exquisitely beautiful wife, and he wanted to erase a lifetime of painful memories. Easing her troubled spirit for the next two hours was easy, and they dropped into a sated sleep.
Early the following morning, Gordon awakened and rose from their bed to stoke the embers in the hearth. He dressed noiselessly and then perched on the edge of the bed to study his wife in sleep.
A smile touched his lips as he traced one long finger down the side of her silken cheek. His wife was brave and bonny and vulnerable.
And he loved her.
God’s balls, when had he fallen in love with her? Gordon wondered. Love was for women and fools. Well, he wasn’t a woman so that made him a fool.
Gordon knew without a doubt that admitting his love for her would be a grave mistake. He’d seen too many men at court ruled by the women whom they loved. When they were old and gray and drooling in their dotage, he would tell her he’d loved her for all the years of their marriage.
Leaning closer, Gordon pressed a kiss on her parted lips. When her eyelids fluttered open and she wrapped her arms around his neck, he chuckled huskily against her mouth.
“Good mornin’, angel,” Gordon greeted her. “’Tis early yet, but I’ve important business needin’ my attention. Are ye up for makin’ me a stack of bannocks while I’m gone?”
Rob smiled drowsily and nodded, saying, “Yer wish is my command, my lord.”
“Och, fibbin’ is a terrible sin.” he teased her. “Be certain ye dress decently because I just might return with company.”
“Who?” Rob asked, perking up.
“’Tis a surprise.” At that, Gordon gave her a quick, teasing kiss and left the lodge.
Humming a bawdy tune, Gordon marched down the path to Glen Aray. This summer’s shieling had been eventful. He’d made Rob his wife in fact as well as name and nearly lost her to his clansmen’s superstitions. Then there was the matter of his youngest son who would be lying in an early grave if not for his wife’s swift intervention.
And he’d fallen in love.
That startling fact brought a smile to his lips. Realizing that he was grinning like an idiot, Gordon schooled his features into an expressionless mask. If he chanced to meet anyone along the path, they’d think he’d lost his wits.
A few of the shieling’s events had gotten out of control. As the future Duke of Argyll and Campbell laird, Gordon decided he needed to exert his authority. His wife had been ill lately and needed his protection. Kendra had poisoned Duncan and Gavin against Rob. Setting that straight was his duty.
Unannounced, Gordon barged inside one of the beehive-shaped hovels and grinned at the provocative sight that greeted him. Leaning against the doorway, he said in an overly loud voice, “Age is slowin’ yer reflexes, Dewey. I could kill ye where yer layin’ yer wife.”
Startled by the intrusion, the bucking couple on the pallet snapped their heads around. Gabby shrieked with outraged embarrassment, but Dewey threw back his head and hooted with laughter.
“Get off me, ye bumblin’ oaf,” Gabby ordered. “He can see everythin’ God gave me.”
“Playin’ Adam and Eve, are ye?” Gordon teased. “I’ll wait outside, and ye might as well take yer time aboot it. Ye willna be returnin’ to yer nestin’ until tomorrow.”
When Dewey appeared a few minutes later, Gordon started walking in the direction of a certain hovel. “Escort Kendra and her bairn back to Inverary,” he ordered his man. “Pass the night there, and when ye return in the mornin’, bring Granny Biddy with ye.”
“Granny Biddy?” Dewey echoed. “She willna want to come up into the mountains.”
“Tell Biddy that Rob’s been ill recently,” Gordon said, “but I dinna want to alarm the lass by forcin’ her back to Inverary.”
Dewey nodded in understanding.
When they reached Kendra’s hovel, Gordon entered without announcing himself. He nudged Kendra awake and said, “Pack yer belongin’s. I’m sendin’ ye back to Inverary. The boys are stayin’ here with me.”
“I dinna want that witch near my sons,” Kendra told him.
Gordon clenched and unclenched his hands, fighting the urge to strike her. “I didna ask what ye preferred,” he said in a voice that brooked no argument. “If ye ever again accuse my wife of bein’ a witch, I’ll have Fergus beat ye within an inch of yer life, and then I’ll cast ye out of Argyll.”
Kendra clamped her lips shut and packed her few belongings. With that completed, she walked over to the pallet where Duncan and Gavin slept. Gently shaking them awake, she smiled at their sleepy expressions and gave each a kiss on the cheek.
“Fergus needs me at Inverary,” she told them. “Yer father is here to take ye up to his lodge so ye needna miss any of the shielin’.”
Turning away, Kendra lifted the baby from her pallet. Duncan and Gavin kissed their half-brother. After casting Gordon a sullen look, Kendra walked out the door.
Gordon stared at his sons who returned his stare. “I want to talk to ye aboot Lady Rob,” Gordon said, joining them on their pallet. “But ye must swear never to tell her we had this conversation. Can I trust ye?”