Chapter Fourteen #3
His father stood near the center of the work, sleeves rolled past his elbows, dark hair damp with sweat as he leaned his weight into a bar set against a stubborn stone. Liam MacTavish was nearby, directing two Strathfinnan retainers as they shifted soil away from the trench.
Jacob slowed as he approached, faltering briefly in motion and resolve.
Liam turned at that moment, and frowned at his approach, at his empty hands.
“Were they nae more wedges?”
“I dinna check—dinna get that far,” Jacob answered truthfully, without hesitation.
At Liam’s harsh, perplexed frown, Jacob waved him out of the gully. “I need to speak with ye.”
Liam MacTavish froze, his eyes narrowing as they swept across Jacob's face.
The muscles in his shoulders tensed, though his hand remained steady on the spade's wooden handle. Gabriel, close enough to hear the exchange, glanced between the two men, his attention caught by the weight in Jacob’s voice and the rigid set of his shoulders.
Liam handed his spade off to the nearest man and stepped aside, Gabriel moving with him without hesitation. Jacob turned and strode away from the trench and curious ears.
He stopped at length and turned to face Liam MacTavish and his father, feeling particularly small despite the fact that he was as tall as either. Confusion and caution warred across both men's faces as they met Jacob and waited.
Jacob drew in a breath that felt sharp in his chest, and ground his teeth together once, hard, hating every word he was about to speak but refusing himself the mercy of delay.
“I kissed Elena,” Jacob said, the words plain and unsoftened, locking his gaze on her father’s.
He stopped there, letting the words register. Liam MacTavish did not speak at once, but something hardened in his expression, the faint narrowing of his eyes a far sharper thing than any shouted anger. He sighed but said nothing, lifting his hands onto his hips.
At Liam’s side, Gabriel let out a low breath. “Christ,” he muttered, barely audible.
Jacob clenched his jaw before forcing himself to continue. “I did nae dishonor her—but I failed in restraint, and in doing so I put her at risk all the same.” He swallowed once, the words turning rough in his throat. “And Kinnard saw us.”
That, at least, drew a reaction. Liam’s head came up fully, his gaze sharpening to a blade’s edge as it locked onto Jacob’s face. Jacob held it, refusing the instinct to look away.
“I’ll nae have ye hear it from another mouth,” he went on, steady despite the tension coiling tight in his chest. “I take full responsibility—for the act, and for the consequences of it.”
The truth lay bare between them now, and Jacob stood braced for what would follow, feet planted shoulder-width apart while his hands were clasped behind his back.
“Bluidy hell, Jacob,” Gabriel muttered at his side, while Liam continued to stare, unreadable.
“Did she do this?” Liam asked, his tone harsh.
Jacob was stunned. “Elena? Nae—Jesu, nae,” he said at once, the denial instinctive and absolute. Elena was an innocent, and could not have known the storm she was stirring when she touched him. “It was me.”
Liam studied him, something doubtful flickering in his eyes, though Jacob could not fathom why he would think his daughter capable of such recklessness. Then, just as unexpectedly, Liam asked, “Would ye have told me, had ye not been spied upon?”
Jacob opened his mouth to give an immediate answer—and stopped. Having known her kiss, could he truly have stood aside and watched her wed another man?
“I canna say, sir,” he admitted at last.
Liam nodded and turned slightly toward Gabriel. “Ye ken the matter,” Liam said, which Jacob knew was sometimes his way for asking for input.
Gabriel gave a short nod. “Aye. Best to get ahead of it, ere it grows legs of its own.”
Liam faced Jacob again and exhaled through his nose, the sound sharp but controlled.
“We’ll take it to the hall,” he decided promptly.
“I’ll speak to Lord Hamilton myself. I want to see his face when he hears it—what he excuses, what he demands, and what he fears losing.
” He paused, then added, “After that, we’ll decide what must be done. ”
Jacob inclined his head. “Aye, sir.”
Liam’s expression remained stern, but there was no fury in it now, only resolve. Jacob couldn’t decide if he’d glimpsed any fury at all.
“Ye’ll stand at my side and hold yer tongue, nae matter what is said.”
Jacob accepted the edict without protest. “Aye, sir.”
The three of them turned and set off toward the keep, their boots falling into rhythm across the fields.
Gabriel cast a sideways glance at his son. “Ye’ve had better ideas, lad,” he said, the rebuke mild, almost fond despite the circumstances.
Jacob still had the sense that Liam MacTavish had not yet spent the full measure of his displeasure, but he risked a reply all the same. “’Tis only the timing that was off, by my reckoning, by several years.”
A few paces ahead, Liam turned, fixing Jacob with a feral glare that would have withered a lesser man, but Jacob did not twitch, knowing he had only spoken the truth finally.