Chapter 15
Callum saw Lord Kolson turn then vanish beyond the threshold almost stomping over the slight figure whose wide eyes peeked around the same doorway’s corner. The lady’s maid who had helped Nella earlier appeared carrying a fresh linen sheet.
The maid’s elder voice crackled. “Lady Fawnella.” The weathering about the maid’s eyes smoothed after they grew bulbous.
“Pardon, I was not aware so many Scotsmen were present. I have brought a fresh linen for you and a wee chamberlain is but a moment in step behind me with hot water for your basin, but I may…”
“We were just taking our leave,” Callum assured then glanced at Nella. “Freshen then perhaps later we may speak?”
A determined glint caught in her eyes and matched the tone’s reply. “Aye.”
“Come, Brayden.” Callum raised his arm toward the doorway as the young chamberlain entered huffing while balancing the filled pitchers.
Once clear of the passageway, Callum stated to his fellow knight, “Will you see to the stable marshal and any preparations for our leave upon the morrow’s first light?
” Brayden was under his command but the trials they had survived lent an air to him asking at times in tasks rather than simply ordering.
“Aye,” Brayden answered in ease.
“Then take the eve to rest, I shall stay at watch.”
The knight nodded.
Callum directed his attention at the chamberlain who just shuttered Nella’s door after relinquishing the pitchers into the bedchamber. “Lad, would you see about fetching three large mantle cloaks, dark, with hoods from the master of wardrobe before our leave upon the morrow?”
The lad’s head bobbed eagerly in answer for his request before the youth stepped away. Hiss had seen Nella and him; this would not happen in Dundee. Spinning on his heel toward the chair, he paused when Brayden remained placed like a summit’s boulder.
His friend’s expression bore an unusual glimmer to it as if he had seen a dragon and now held a will to see it brought to heel.
“Callum.” His eyes darted toward Nella’s closed doorway.
“The choice regarding Lord Kolson’s demand.
Do not doubt the essence in which it was made.
It was the grandest one given the circumstance.
Years I have been at your side and never have I seen such a will born of iron in your actions as I do now.
Lord Kolson was mistaken. Lady Fawnella strengthens you, not weakens, as he accused. ”
Callum inclined his brow with respect. “Thank you, Brayden.” The knight’s hulking self moved with a silent step; he was gone in a blink.
Setting himself into the chair outside Nella’s chamber, Callum took a deep breath.
Did it ease his rage at what Lord Kolson accused about Nella earlier?
No, it did not. Even with Brayden’s assurances, were his emotions clouding the choices best suited for the situation?
The way Nella had looked up at him with admiration after he cast Lord Kolson out.
If he could bask in the warmth of that look forever, then he would have.
Aye, his judgment was clouded but what a sweet fluffy cloud it was.
He inwardly frowned. He was captain of the royal guard, who answered to the king.
He needed to be above reproach in all his choices.
Yet, even as logic pounded his mind like a hammer, why did it feel right, the choice just made?
The gut. How many times over the years at his post had his instincts belonging to his gut proven fruitful when logic appeared the right choice?
More than he could count. It felt right to have her with him.
Instinct in senses aside from her clan’s line, his Nella…
no, Nella had a keener mind than most Scotsmen he had ever met.
In this moment with the treaty being threatened and the memory possibly being tarnished of Scots who had died for it he needed that keen intellect of hers. Aye, it was the right choice.
He rubbed his fingers over his eyes. Now if he could only pause the mental portrait of what was taking place in her bedchamber things would be so much simpler. He rubbed his eyes harder.
***
Was the tie tight? Nella’s fingers gripped the knot harder on the robe she had worn the previous eve when she had thrown Callum from her chambers. Ugh, the knot was still loose! She tied it again. No need for nothing to fall out.
“My lady, pardon once more for the lack of fresh chemise. The laundress assures by the morrow one shall be in your grasp. There was a slight delay given the eve’s events,” the sweet lady’s maid declared behind as Nella fought with the woolen ties, the linen sheet wrapped under the robe instead of a chemise.
“There is nae need for apologies…” Nella began, then turned to halt. Um, why was table set with two clean goblets and a bottle of wine?
A grin appeared as warm as the candle on the side table.
“Lady Alaina sends her regards; she cares for the tall dark-haired one.” Oh.
My. Word. They had chosen a lover for her.
Perhaps this was the hidden purpose of no chemise and the reason for extra attention brushing her hair.
She left the waves loose about her shoulders even as Nella had protested it should be plaited for rest.
Nella’s fingers dropped quick as her gaze at the knot on the robe.
“As do I,” she murmured softly. Even after all the hateful things Callum had said all those years ago, she did; she wished him back in her life for all times forward.
When had the moment crashed? As he threw Lord Kolson out on his arse and championed her instead of choosing the warrior’s camp.
“My lady?” Nella’s gaze rose. “Lads of the most honorable sort whether they are grown or wee may need a push from a lady or lass to claim what they seek, understood?” Nella’s cheeks blazed like a wee lass.
“Ah, good, understood. Take care and savor that one. The years I have walked these Highlands not many are found such as he.” Aye, Callum was the rarest of finds.
Nella briskly blew out all the candles in the chamber at the questioning look given she explained. “It makes for a more romantic setting with only the hearth.” And darker so Callum could not see her lack of curves if things took a turn intimately.
The tiny Scotswoman gave a giant smile and nod at her before opening the door. “My lady shall receive you, good eve.”
“Good eve,” Nella heard Callum reply before a scrape as he took to his feet. He halted on the threshold once he spotted her.
Had her hair gone awry? Her palms shook slightly while she smoothed the strand briskly. She should be cold; a harsh breeze blew through the arrow slit but something in the way Callum stared at her made her warm as the sun.
“We have not held a moment alone since the solar. In honor of what you said to the laird regarding his care of Lady Alaina” – she held his gaze which seemed to have awakened by the sound of her voice before he shuttered the door – “Callum, you have my sincerest gratitude.” If she was going to take this Scotsman to her bed, she needed to state all her emotions.
“’Twas a selfless act upon your part, which…
” Her voice trailed off when her courage bounded away same as a rabbit from a fox.
He needs to know. She took a deep breath; the hearth’s smokiness and a spice that was only Callum.
“You inquired last eve regarding the purpose I had not shown up at our bridge.”
“Aye, it has been years,” he said somberly.
“There are those who have thought me a true Templar, which I am not, given my abstinence from a lady’s touch at court.
I simply could not allow myself to feel that pain once more and expect to breathe after.
Aye, I believe it only fair to garner an answer regarding your whereabouts before you raced off to be married.
” How could he sound so sincere after the root at what he had done?
She wrung her hands before her. “I find it more than intriguing how one with such a grand manner like yourself could give cause to such an ill act all those years ago.” Her fingers dropped to her sides while anguish rode her words. Time to lay it out on the table. “I heard you the day we parted.”
Callum’s face blanched. Yeah, he knew.
“Nella, you had taken your leave for almost an hour.” His words were weighed by shock.
“Aye, then you remember it well, do you not? After we separated on market day, you are not mistaken, I sought my clan’s keep after I took my leave.
Halfway there the guilt I felt at not telling you everything I am overshadowed the fear at my sire’s warning about revealing my instinct in sense to another.
I retraced my steps preparing to tell you all I behold before we were to take our leave that eve.
I heard your cruel intentions spoken toward the warrior from your sire’s clan near the tron gate.
He inquired about us after seeing you speaking with me earlier that same day.
Your reply are words I shall never forget.
‘’Tis a shadow of a lass who believes I love her; naw, it is simply a bet I have with one of the lads from Inverness…
’” The words halted when her throat closed.
Callum finished the remark he’d made years ago. “To see who may earn his way beneath the gown of an enemy clan’s daughter first. Oh, Nella, you were never meant to hear this…”
If the anguish twisting her soul for years could turn to flames, the keep would be burning to the ground. She charged at him. Go for his shin! Make him feel agony as well! Infernal long robe! Her foot tangled more with the robe than its intended target.
“Callum MacCade, you selfish pompous arse! I loved you. In its stead I was married off to a cruel chief.”
“Nella.” Callum’s steady voice slowed her struggles.
“Aye, I did speak this, you were never meant to hear it for ’twas a lie.
” She froze then looked him in the eyes, a rich clear blue filled by earnest. He…
he was telling the truth! “I feared he knew what lay in my heart. I would not chance the truth; I would not chance us. So I created a grotesque lie. The story was a ruse; never for a moment did I consider you would hear this.” What had she done?
What had she committed them to? “I waited all eve till mornin’ in the rain for you.
” If her emotions could halt her heart, she would have died there.
“Then I went to pay call to the stable marshal at your clan’s bailey in secret.
I paid him handsomely to see if you were well.
He returned telling me you were, and you had accepted another’s betrothal to a chief.
One he said you cared deeply for and sought to be left alone. ”
A feather if raised against her would have caused her to fall.
“I…” She stumbled over her words by shock.
“I never declared this. My late sire forced the betrothal onto me the day after. There was never any affection for him. The stable marshal… oh, Callum.” She turned away when a sob tore her throat from the sorrowful look etched over his face.
“Forgive me, my sire must have ordered him to lie. I never knew you paid call.” She kicked the chair leg; if only she could kick her backside.
“Fool! Fate cast you a favor tossing me from your path. A burden I am to all.” She wrapped her palms over her shoulders, hugging herself.
“Please leave me, I shall hold true to our accord then you may be rid of me evermore.” All this time, she was a fool in the grandest sort, he had loved her, and she’d thrown it away because she’d ran off before speaking with him.
“Nella,” he said softly as a warm palm grasped her wrist gently, “please look upon me.” Slowly she turned. “The Templar vows, you know of them?”
“Aye.” She sniffled. “The knight takes a vow of celibacy. To be found unfaithful to this may inflict a penalty of death. Callum, you have abstained from the arms of a lady, yet you never deemed to take the vow.”
“The lone reason was you,” he declared. “Taking such a vow would have meant I must cast aside any feeling or sentiment I held for you. This I could not do; my heart has always been yours to command. I simply thought you never cared to claim it for your own.”
She raised her free hand, cupping his jaw softly. He had loved her; he… he still loved her. She closed her wet lashes for a long moment, and the heat from his other palm covered hers after he touched her.
She met his gaze, which turned a bit in blur from her emotion.
“The moments when my cruel husband touched me,” she whispered, “I would not have survived if not for you, Callum MacCade.” He raised a brow at her in question.
“I would shutter my eyes then paint a portrait of you. It was you, always. These last days beside you at each turn I find my heart is still in your grasp.”
“Your first consideration the day at the burgh is I was a traitor to your feelings,” he replied solemnly.
“That speaks to a stronger purpose belonging to trust. I am one of the highest knights in this realm yet the lady I love carried shadows of doubt regarding my intent. This.” He inclined his brow at her.
“I. Shall. Earn. Lady Fawnella MacHearin.” Her brows raised in silent query.
“Each turn before us, I will show you I am worthy of not only your heart but your trust. The first upon this bridge, your lips.”
Her head tilted slightly by curiosity. His breath, it… it was almost a pant. Why?
“Callum, my lips?”
She gasped when he stole her into his embrace.
“Since the first moment we spoke, my mind has been clouded by one regard and one regard alone. Your lush full lips. I have yearned to kiss them till all fades away. Fists formed at my sides to halt my hands from holding you close as I do now. You forbid me to kiss you.” He should now all of her before things turned intimate – everything.