His Secret Highland Bride

Chapter Sixteen

“Get out of my sight, and if I catch you in this room again, you’ll be put in the dungeons.” Apparently, Shane was set to put everyone in the dungeon today.

“Perhaps it is time for me to go visit my son,” she said while backing toward the door.

“I wouldn’t wish that on my brother, but do what you will.”

With that, she gave a dramatic huff and swept from the room in a rustle of expensive skirts and displeasure. Shane would see she sold those damn gowns as well. His clan would need every penny. And if his wife, the rightful lady of the house, was content making her own clothes, his stepmother would learn to do the same.

Tory brought him food at midday and sat with him while he ate.

“Deirdre is in quite a fit. You have been well and truly cursed, brother.”

“As has she, I assure you.” He pointed at the ledgers he’d painstakingly reworked only to have them tell a grim tale. “We have hardly any money. Father and Deirdre have already spent the dowry paid by the Wallaces on a ship of all things. I will have to see what can be done to sell the vessel.” He shook his head and rubbed his temples. “A bloody ship.” He still couldn’t believe the foolishness.

“I knew things weren’t as good as Father and Deirdre made it seem, but I had no idea it was this bad.” She looked down at her own frock. While not as elaborate as their stepmother’s, it was clearly new and expensive. “She purchased my clothes, saying I needed color if I were to attract a husband, for my face would not do so.”

“Ye are lovely and could have been married numerous times over. Why did Father not see you settled?”

She shrugged. “I didn’t wish it.”

Again, he wondered if she wasn’t waiting for Ronan to offer for her. He worried for his sister, for Shane had never seen any evidence that Ronan saw her as anything as a sister himself. Tory was in for some pain ahead, and he didn’t see any way to avoid it. “Any man would find you bonny, even in rags.”

She gave him a hearty hug. “I’m so glad you’ve returned. Alec doesn’t bother to flatter me.” Shane laughed, but the smile dropped from Tory’s face. “Please tell me we are not so bad as to need to wear rags.”

He thought of the dress his wife wore when he’d married her, tattered and too short for her tall frame. He’d like nothing more than to see her dressed in finery more fitting of her station. But he couldn’t follow in the path of his father. He needed to do better for his clan. Besides, he rather preferred his wife outside of her clothes, anyway. What good was a fancy gown when a modest one covered the floor just as well? “I will find a way to save our people from the damage done by Father.”

“We will do it,” Tory said, clinging to him tightly. “You’re not alone, brother. Not anymore.”

He nodded. “Thank ye.”

When she left, he settled down at the books once more, hoping to find a way out of their predicament. The money they had wouldn’t get them through winter. And it didn’t look like much was put into sowing grain last spring, so the harvest would be slim.

Tory’s promise was well intended, but Shane knew whose responsibility it was to save his clan. As he worked, the weight upon his shoulders grew heavier until he thought he may no longer be able to stand it. Looking out the window, he saw the sky had turned dark without him noticing.

Alec opened the door and stepped inside. “Deirdre has moved her things. Your room is available to you if you wish to stay.”

He shook his head. “Nay. I will be going home.”

“Sometime soon you’ll need to take your place here. This is your home.”

“Aye. But not this night.” This night, he would return to his small home at the edge of the woods and to his wife. And for a little while, he could set down the weight of duties and just be Shane the soldier she’d married.

…

Shane returned home in much the same way as the night before, exhausted and forlorn. But the smile he offered was genuine, despite the strength it took to put it there.

He drew her close and kissed her. As he was holding her, she picked up the faint scent of roses. The feminine smell drifted from his clothes as if he’d held a woman who wore rosewater. She pulled away and looked him over. He was wearing the same clothes he’d worn when he left that morning, but the fabric did not smell of sweat, as one would expect from a soldier who had been in drills with the war chief all day long.

It had rained that morning, yet he didn’t seem to have been wet. Did the MacPherson warriors not train in foul weather? She’d seen the Wallace warriors in the yard every day without fail, come rain, snow, or sun.

“How were your drills today?” she asked, watching for the hint of a lie leaving his lips.

Instead, his lips remained closed and pressed softly against hers. His arms pulled her close again, and she felt the evidence of his attraction growing against her stomach. A man could not feign this reaction, surely. He wanted her, while he wore another woman’s scent.

“I asked about your day,” she said, pulling away yet again. She was unable to lie with him with these questions circling in her mind.

“I’d rather you save your questions for another time so I might continue kissing you.”

“I want to kiss you the same, but I must know…” How should she form the question? To accuse her husband of such a serious offense might shatter the comfort they shared. She had no right to be jealous of Maria, but if he were with another woman now that they were wed, she wouldn’t be so generous. She’d foolishly thought she’d be enough, for he seemed pleased with their bed sport. “Are you happy?”

“I am when I’m here with you.”

“And when you’re at the castle?”

He shook his head. “I’m not at all happy when I’m at the castle.”

“And do I please you? When we are in bed together?”

“Aye, lass. Why do ye think I’m trying to get you into our bed right now?”

He laughed, and she felt the truth of his words. He was happy with her.

“I know many husbands find other entertainments outside of their marriage bed.”

His smile faded as his brows pulled together and he stepped back to look in her eyes. “Do ye think I would do such a thing?”

She shrugged. It was best to say what she needed to say. Stepping around the subject was not getting the answers she needed. “You’re a warrior being summoned to the castle by the war chief, yet you return to me smelling of roses rather than the sweat of physical effort as I would expect. You seem to word things in a particular way. I do wonder why.” She looked away, unable to see the disappointment in his eyes that she had such little faith in him. She wished she could take the words back, as much as she hoped he would answer and reassure her with the truth.

He plucked his shirt from his chest and bent his head to smell it. The puzzled look on his face turned knowing as he nodded. “Aye. A woman did hug me today. A relative who was happy to see me returned.”

She could’ve melted to the floor at this quite reasonable response.

“As for the effort, I am spending most of my day inside, toiling over numbers.”

This surprised her. “You’re seeing to the laird’s ledgers?”

“Aye.”

“I had no idea you were so skilled.”

“I have other skills I have not yet shared with you.” His lids drooped into a lustful gaze. “Mayhap, I can show those to you instead of speaking of my boring day spent in dust and ink.” At this, he pressed his lips to her neck, trailing kisses up to her ear.

“You have no reason to fear I’d ever spend a minute in another woman’s bed—not while I have you. You’re everything to me, Lindsay.”

That time, her legs did give way, and he pulled her up into his arms and carried her to their bed.

…

Shane had barely woken when someone pounded on his door. He’d been lying next to his wife, watching as the light of dawn reached out from the window to touch her midnight hair. He knew he needed to tell her the truth and soon. He’d been careful not to lie to her.

But contorting the facts so they were still true was becoming more difficult with each passing day. Grumbling at whomever had bothered his perfect moment, he slid from the bed and pulled on his shirt before going to answer the door.

The door pushed in as Alec barged past him, muttering something Shane’s mind was too groggy to comprehend. He looked toward the bed to be sure his wife was covered. The furs were pulled up past her breasts, but her shoulders were bare and her hair was perfectly messy in the way he loved. Alec froze for a moment before bowing.

“Pardon my intrusion, mistress. I need to speak with my—”

Shane pulled his brother outside before he finished his announcement.

“You have a woman in your bed,” Alec said as if Shane had not noticed.

“I know, and I was enjoying being in bed next to her until you came pounding on my door. What do you want? I plan to be up at the castle in a few hours.” He’d wanted to spend more time with Lindsay that day, having left her alone so much the past two days.

There was nothing another day of looking at the dusty books would do. It wasn’t likely to get any better for him poring over them.

“She’s gone,” Alec said while running his hand through brown hair the same color as Shane’s, just a little shorter.

“Who’s gone?”

“Deirdre.”

“Aye. She’s going to see Ronan. I told her to go. I’m sure he’ll be cursing me for it.”

Alec shook his head. “Nay. One doesn’t take all their belongings for a visit.”

“Ye said she moved her things from the laird’s chamber.”

“Aye, but she didn’t move them anywhere else.”

“Well, if she has gone, all the better. I’m happy to see her back for the last time.” Shane had enough things to worry over. Having his stepmother sniffling around, begging to buy things they didn’t have the money for, was something he’d be happy to avoid. It would’ve been nice to have her jewels so he might sell them.

But Alec was still shaking his head and rolled his eyes as if Shane was missing something important. “She didn’t just take her belongings. She took her boxes of jewels, as well as the coin Father kept hidden in his rooms. It seems she took as much as she could carry.”

“Bloody hell,” Shane said, rushing back into the house to don his plaid and kiss his wife a hasty goodbye. “I’m sorry, but I must go. There’s something wrong at the castle, and I must offer my assistance. Someone will be here soon to guard ye.”

She smiled, nothing but trust in her dark eyes. “I will see you when you return.”

“Aye.” With a longer kiss, he was gone.

Alec hadn’t come inside but had been standing at the door as Shane gave his wife his goodbyes. His brother’s face was a shade of pink he’d not seen in a long time.

“She is lovely,” he said as they hurried for the castle.

“Aye.” Lindsay was more than lovely, and he was proud to call her his. There was barely any of her body he had not touched with his lips.

“You’ll send a trusted warrior back to her to stand guard,” he ordered, and Alec gave a single nod.

Shane was irritated to have been robbed of the jewels and trinkets he might have sold to make a bit of coin for his people, but he couldn’t help but be thankful Deirdre was out of his life, no matter the cost—until they arrived in the study and Shane noticed the ledgers had been disturbed from the place he’d left them the night before.

“Alec?”

“Yes?”

“What of the coffers?”

Two strong boxes under the large desk held the laird’s coin to be used for the clan. Or rather what was left of it.

“I didn’t think to check them. She wouldn’t have had a key, and they are too heavy for her to have moved them.”

Shane spun around the side of the desk and closed his eyes as if not seeing it would make it less true. The boxes were both hanging open; neither had a coin inside. It was clear Deirdre had enlisted help in robbing them, for she’d not have been able to carry such a heavy load herself.

“We need to find her before she buys another bloody ship,” Shane said while slamming his fist on the top of the desk.