Chapter Fourteen
The next three days were just as exceptional, and everyone in Dunstaffnage scurried about trying to ready the castle, the keep and the outbuildings for the onslaught of the coming winter.
Lara could also feel the growing tension within the soldiers, for they knew, as she did, that any battles would need to be fought before winter closed in.
She simply was waiting for Sebastien to tell her that he was leaving soon to know that the plans were under way.
She’d missed the beginning of the man’s conversation, for it had taken her several minutes to make her way to the room without being seen by anyone.
Once in place in the steward’s chamber, she’d heard the discussion about the king’s orders.
There were three more battles to be fought in this area and they would happen within the next three weeks.
The Black Douglas would lead one strike, her husband another, then they would combine their forces for the last one.
Later on, from her vantage point on the battlements, she watched as the new storage rooms over the kitchens were being completed.
Dunstaffnage’s continued place in the Bruce’s plan for Scotland was assured by the work that Sebastien had ordered and overseen.
On a grander scale, he wanted to build a new wall and extend the protection of the castle to include the barracks and the new stables.
Due to the rock foundation, this addition would take several months, possibly years, and the work of hundreds of men to complete.
So for now, while the Bruce’s focus must remain on fighting, only the necessary renovations were carried out.
After her daily walk around the high perimeter, Lara made her way to the kitchens, where the main tasks of the cook and his workers were butchering, salting and preserving the beef, mutton and pork they would need for the winter.
Just as she reached the path to the doorway and stairs, someone bumped her from behind.
Nearly falling, she was only stopped from doing so by the same person grabbing her shoulders and pulling her roughly to her feet.
Lara spun around to see who it was and gasped.
Eachann MacDougall.
“Here now, my lady,” he said as he released her. Then he continued in a muted voice that only she could hear. “Hush now, Lara. I have but a moment here. I amno’ happy that you are avoiding me.” He had a cloak on and, with the hood pulled down low, his face was hidden.
Lara looked around to see if their exchange was noticed by anyone. No one seemed to be watching them. “I have nothing to tell you, Eachann,” she whispered. “So I will not be meeting you anymore.”
“Think ye no’? High and mighty, are ye now? Well, I have word from your father for you.” He closed the distance between them and took her arm. “Be there as I’ve told ye to be, and bring something personal of his.”
Lara shook, hearing her cousin’s angry and threatening tone of voice. He was unpredictable and dangerous. “What do you mean? Whose?”
“Dinna be playing the fool for me, Lara. Yer husband is who. Bring some personal tidbit or trinket of his.” He released her with a push.
“Lara!”
She turned and saw Malcolm running to her. He must not see Eachann. Facing her cousin, she whispered, “You must go now. Sebastien will hear of this.”
“Oh, I see how it is now. Sebastien, eh? If ye dinna bring me what I ask, I will be back. I can slip in and out of here with no one the wiser.”
“Go now, Eachann. Please,” she implored him. She did not want Malcolm to be in danger.
“I will be going. Do not disappoint me, lass. The next one I visit will be the boy,” he threatened as he nodded in her brother’s direction. “Be there.”
“Lara!” Malcolm called out again, and Lara turned her body to try to block Eachann from the boy’s view. She looked back over her shoulder and saw her cousin melting into the crowd in the yard.
“Malcolm! What is it?” She reached out and brushed his hair from his face.
Malcolm leaned over and looked behind her. “That looked like Cousin—”
“I did not see anyone, Malcolm. Here now, tell me what you are so excited about.”
Malcolm shook his head but did not ask again.
In a few minutes he was so involved with his story about going fishing with Sebastien’s men that he forgot about who might or might not have been there.
Lara walked with her brother to the gate and released him to Sebastien’s men after being reassured of their supervision.
Then, she went to her chambers to try to figure out what to do about Eachann.
Once there, she glanced at Sebastien’s trunk. He never wore jewelry or any kind of decorative belt or badge. For what possible reason could her cousin need something of Sebastien’s? She might not understand his need for it, but she understood the clear threat if she did not provide it.
Malcolm.
She shuddered at the thought of Eachann gaining control of her brother. Her sister was not safe, either.
Mayhap if Lara gave some trinket to Eachann he would leave and not come back. She could convince him that this area, indeed Scotland itself, would be completely in the Bruce’s control soon, and then Robert would turn his sights on the English.
Lara walked to the corner and carefully opened Sebastien’s trunk.
Looking through it would not be amiss, since she was the one who usually placed his cleaned garments there.
After a minute of just thinking on it, she convinced herself that there would be no harm in seeing what lay at the bottom.
Sliding her hands under the layers of cloth, she lifted them up to check beneath them.
She did not notice the pouch at first, for it was tucked into a small pocket in the lining of the trunk.
She moved the clothes aside and slid the leather pouch free, untying the laces and tugging it open.
It felt empty, but when she turned it over, two objects fell into her palm—a gold cross and a bejeweled ring.
She examined both items closely. The cross was plain, with no markings, and it was tied onto a leather strip that served in the absence of a matching chain.
The ring had a large blue gem on the front and an inscription on the back that she could not read in the shadows of the chamber.
When she would have moved nearer to the window for a better view of it, she heard someone climbing the steps toward the chamber.
Hurriedly she placed the items back in the pouch and the pouch back in its hiding place. Putting the clothing over it and smoothing it into position, she closed the lid of the trunk and stood just as Sebastien reached the doorway.
“I saw you in the yard,” he said, before crossing the threshold of the room. “You looked upset.”
Dear God! Had he seen Eachann as well? “Upset?”
“I told him he could not go without your permission. I feared you would throw yourself in the firth after him if you had no knowledge of the plan.” His smile warmed her.
Relief flooded through her as she realized he spoke of Malcolm’s fishing trip rather than her cousin. “I am not upset by it. Your man explained the safeguards and the supervision and I think it a fine plan,” she said.
When she took a moment to think on it, Sebastien had surprised her yet again.
Believing her upset by the thought of Malcolm on the water, he’d sought her out to comfort and reassure her.
Even as she had been plotting against him, he was caring for her.
Her sin was glaringly clear and she almost decided then not to go the chapel as Eachann had ordered.
Almost.
Her father had sent word to her. She’d heard nothing about him from anyone since the day he’d been exiled. If he was sending word to her, she should at least go and find out what that message was. She noticed Sebastien was staring at her then.
“I have hesitated to offer it, but I could teach you to swim as well so you would not fear the water.”
She must have shaken her head without realizing it.
“Mayhap when the water grows warmer again?”
“I will have to think on your offer, my lord. It simply does not have any appeal to me.”
He stepped closer and she smelled the scent of him—an enticing mix of leather and male.
Taking her hand in his, he pulled her to him and kissed her.
She relaxed into him and slid her hands to his back as he plundered her mouth.
The kiss went on and became something more as he moved his hand up to the back of her head.
Tugging off the netting over her hair, he loosened her braid and entangled his fingers in her locks.
Sebastien moved his lips down to her neck and loosened the neckline of her tunic as much as he could without untying the laces.
She knew he would use his mouth to drive her wild.
Then just when her body tensed, waiting for it, he stopped and drew back instead, touching a spot on the slope of her breast with the tip of his finger.
“I did that?” he asked, drawing her attention to the purplish bruise on the skin there.
“And who else could have?” she countered.
“I did not know. Why did you not tell me that I was hurting you?”
“It did not hurt, my lord. My mind, I fear, was somewhat distracted by other things you were doing to notice this…” Lara paused, not knowing what to call the mark left behind by the intense action of his mouth and teeth.
“Love bite.” He provided the answer, but frowned as he said it. “Although the sight of your skin marred in such a way makes me regret my actions, I confess that the thought of kissing you like that makes me want you now even more.”
The proof of his words could be felt even through the layers of her chemise, gown and tunic. Although her body began to warm to his words, she could not forget about Eachann and his threat. Before she needed to make any objection, voices carried into the chamber from the stairway.
“Hugh! Hugh, stop!” Margaret’s whispered warning was not subtle or quiet.