Chapter 13
Eileen stood with her hands curled tightly around the window frame as her eyes scanned the courtyard below her chambers.
She wasn’t even looking for anything in particular, just movement.
Just a distraction. But no matter how many times she told herself to think of her brother, to focus on the reason she was truly there, her thoughts kept betraying her.
They drifted back to him.
Archer.
His lips.
The press of his body, the heat of his breath, the feel of his groan against her mouth.
Saints preserve me.
She let out a groan, turning away and dropping her flaming face in her hands.
What in all the bloody Highlands was that kiss?
It had meant nothing. It should have meant nothing. A lapse in judgment. A moment of weakness.
But her heart didn’t seem to agree, nor did the tingles running up and down her spine.
She chastised herself for her part in it. If Archer had forced himself on her like some boorish drunkard, she could have explained it away as rakish behavior, but she’d practically goaded him into the act.
And worse than that was not just the memory of it all, but the silence that followed. She hadn’t seen him since.
No teasing glance. No creeping up on her in the passageways. No clipped commands. No apology. Nothing.
She could still see the look in his eyes as he approached her, the way it smoldered, ready to devour her. It was partly her coaxing him, but he wanted it far more than she did.
He has to be the one to blame.
And since then, nothing.
It was maddening.
And so was the fact that she had no idea what progress, if any, had been made in the search for Reid. Archer had said he would look. Promised it, even. But promises were just air. And she’d see how quickly powerful men could toss them aside for the “good of the clan.”
With a frustrated sigh, she pulled on her cloak and stepped into the corridor. She needed fresh air. And distance.
What harm is there in innocently wanderin’ outside by meself? Will it make him angry enough to chase after me again?
Or maybe the walk would clear her head enough for her to claw her way through the knots in her gut.
She stepped lightly and looked around the corners before rounding them.
A part of her wanted Archer to corner her again, but she didn’t want to instigate it.
She wanted him to want to corner her like he’d wanted to kiss her, but his silence in the past days was deafening and telling.
She wouldn’t orchestrate a run-in if he didn’t want that.
So, she crept downstairs, avoiding everyone so she could sneak out without being seen.
The gardens were colder now than when she first saw the hedges and blooms. They still retained some color, but everything was somehow faded. The hedgerows were clipped, the stone paths swept clean, and the rose vines curled around the carved balustrades in a stubborn display of life.
She walked slowly, letting the silence sink in.
As she mindlessly traced the edge of a thorny stalk, her mind half lost in a memory of the night she had first seen Archer, she remembered the effect he had on the women in the tavern.
They had gazed at him, giggling at the merest look from him.
And what had happened after I left? Their hands all over him? Lips interlocked? Bodies intertwined?
“Och, what do I care?”
“Lady Eileen!”
Eileen almost jumped out of her skin as the voice cut through her scandalous thoughts. She raised a hand to her chest to stop her heart from tunneling its way out of her ribs.
Ivy came skipping up the stone steps from the lower terrace, her cheeks pink from the breeze, a scarf fluttering behind her like a war banner.
“Good day,” Eileen greeted as warmly as she could while trying to slow her heartbeat.
She felt a pang of disappointment that it was the Laird’s sister and not the Laird himself.
“Ye were walkin’ like ye mean to outrun the devil himself,” Ivy teased, falling into step beside her. “What’s gotten into ye? Ye arenae lost again, are ye?”
Eileen forced a soft laugh. “Nay, just restless, I suppose. The keep feels smaller by the day.”
Ivy twirled once on her heels, spinning like a child before stopping and grinning. “That, or it is somethin’ to do with me braither?”
Eileen nearly tripped. “What?”
“Come now, ye must have noticed. He’s actin’ strange. Stranger than usual. Ye two are betrothed, and yet he’s skulkin’ about as if ye cursed him.”
Eileen bristled. “He’s a laird. Preoccupied as they come.”
“That never stopped him before…” Ivy trailed off. “I mean, he’s always enjoyed the company of women.”
Eileen stopped in her tracks.
Ivy spun quickly to face her, her face as red as the roses in full bloom on a summer day.
“Nay, I didnae mean it like that,” she stammered.
“I take nay interest in me braither’s business.
I’m sure if he’s a man of the world, then it’s only ‘cause he’s nae married.
Once ye’re wed, he willnae do anythin’ like that, I’m sure.
Rats, I shouldnae have opened me big mouth. ”
Eileen’s throat tightened. “Perhaps I’m nae his type. Many people marry out of necessity. Politics. I’m nae so foolish that I dinnae ken there are things goin’ on around us that make it sensible for our clans to unite.”
She didn’t know why she felt disappointed. She didn’t care about being one of Archer’s conquests. So, why was she moaning to his sister about it?
Ivy blinked, surprised by the bite in her voice. “I didnae mean to offend ye. Me mouth sometimes gets me in trouble.”
“Nay, ye did nay such thing. I’m just tired, I suppose. There’s a lot goin’ on right now.”
Ivy nodded, happy to be off the hook. “Braithers, eh?”
Eileen didn’t respond. She found that she couldn’t. Tears threatened to well up in her eyes.
Ivy looked on in horror. “What is it?” she asked. “I did it again, did I nae? I put me big foot in me even bigger mouth.”
“Nay, it’s nae ye,” Eileen said, taking a deep breath to hold back the floodgates. “I’m worried that somethin’ terrible happened to me braither. Has Archer mentioned him? Reid?”
“Reid?” Ivy echoed. “Nay, Archer didnae mention him to me. What is it? Is he sickly?”
“Nay, nae sick,” Eileen replied. “Is he even doin’ somethin’ about it at all?”
“He is,” Ivy assured her, now knowing what the issue was. “If Archer said he would do somethin’ about it, then that’s what he’ll do, and I’m sure he’ll… talk some… sense…”
“Reid’s missin’,” Eileen confessed. “He was on his way here and suddenly disappeared. Now, O’Gunn might have him.”
“O’Gunn?” Ivy gasped, shocked. She quickly plastered on a smile. “Och, I’m sure yer braither is fine. Laird O’Gunn is always up to somethin’, but he willnae do anythin’ terrible because he risks war.”
“What if he wants war?” Eileen asked.
“Then he’ll be very sorry he started one,” Ivy asserted. She placed a hand on Eileen’s forearm. “Ye must ken me braither a bit by now. But if ye dinnae ken him fully, let me tell ye that if someone messes with one of his family—and ye are family now—he willnae stop until their head is on a pike.”
Eileen sniffed and smiled as a tear rolled down her cheek.
“Och, please dinnae cry,” Ivy begged. “It’s been such a good mornin’, so far. Archer broke his fast with me and Maither for the first time in so long, and Maither even smiled. It’s the happiest I’ve seen her in years. It’s because of how ye make Archer feel.”
I dinnae make him feel in any way. It’s all a lie!
Still, Ivy’s words managed to cheer her up. It was as if a dark cloud had resided over her hearth that morning, but the sun had shone through, slipping through the dark gray and dissipating the cloud.
“Thank ye,” she murmured. “I needed that.”
“Ye’re very welcome,” Ivy said.
She took Eileen’s hand and swung it back and forth as the two walked together.
“He willnae come out and say it,” she added, “but I think he’s excited about the weddin’. Archer does have a lot on his plate right now, so if ye havenae seen him much, ken that he’s thinkin’ about ye and plottin’ how to get yer braither back, nay matter where Reid is.”
“Ye’re a fine one for cheerin’ people up,” Eileen remarked. “The day started out so dark, but ye’ve brought a ray of sunshine.”
“Good,” Ivy quipped, adding a skip to her step. “I thought we’d got off on the wrong foot, and I wouldnae want that. Ye’re practically me sister now.”
Eileen smiled, sharing in Ivy’s joy until the dagger pierced her from the inside. She didn’t show it outwardly. Ivy was so full of joy for her brother and for her family, and Eileen would be responsible for ruining that joy in a few weeks.
One sister disappointed to save me braither. It has to be done.
They strolled in silence for a few more minutes. Eileen bit her lip as they walked. She wanted to keep the conversation going, to share in Ivy’s happiness and welcoming nature, but she felt deflated.
Then, she saw him.
She caught his figure out of the corner of her eye, walking parallel to them, matching their speed. Something told her that he’d been there for a while and she’d only just noticed.
She looked straight ahead as she walked. “There’s a man to our left,” she told Ivy. “Dinnae look.”
Ivy did as she was told, much to her credit. Then, she stopped and turned fully to face the man.
“Calum Morton!” she scolded. “What are ye doin’ out here? Ye werenae followin’ two defenseless lasses, were ye?”
Something about her tone was hopeful in the way Eileen had been when Archer used to follow her.
“And why would I do that?” Calum asked as he stepped between the hedgerows.
Ivy straightened and turned her torso to the side slightly as if presenting her silhouette to him.
Eileen found some humor in the situation, despite her current woes.
Calum walked toward them, his steps predatory.
He had the natural intensity of a man-at-arms, but he’d taken that intensity, planted it, watered it, and grown it fivefold.
He was a man who would strike down another if it meant protecting the castle, and he had a furious rage about him, ready to explode at the first sign of danger.
That night in the tavern, he’d also been the drunkest man she’d ever met.
Then, there was Ivy, a naive, giggling woman, more reminiscent of a young girl, putting herself on show for him.
Eileen looked at Calum.
Come on, ye must see what I see! Ye do ken she likes ye, do ye nae?
She didn’t want to dash Ivy’s hopes, but she had to. “He’s followin’ me,” she muttered.
“What?” Ivy asked, turning to her.
“The Laird sent ye, did he nae?” Eileen called.
As the words tumbled out of her mouth, she felt something surge in her chest. Archer hadn’t come to see her in two days, but he was still watching her. He still meant to protect her.
Calum didn’t hesitate. “Aye, the Laird ordered me to keep an eye on ye, and I suppose where ye walk among the flowers is more important than readyin’ the castle for war.”
Am I more important than the threats from Laird O’Gunn?
Eileen arched an eyebrow. “Ye can tell the Laird that I’m nae plannin’ to escape.”
Calum frowned. “Escape?”
Eileen winced inwardly.
Does he ken about the plan?
She forced a small, embarrassed laugh. “Aye, ‘cause some women get cold feet afore their weddings, do they nae? I suppose the Laird wanted to make sure I wasnae one of them, ‘cause he… likes me so much.”
Calum tilted his head, clearly not buying it, but he was too polite to argue. “Aye, that sounds about right.”
“When will ye be wed, Calum?” Ivy asked innocently.
“Let’s worry about yer braither first, and then I can worry about meself,” Calum replied.
“Aye, and if there’s anythin’ I can do to help, ye only need ask.”
“The cook is bakin’ some tarts for the feast. Could ye go and sample them to make sure they’re the best we can offer the laird and lady of the castle?” Calum asked.
“Aye, of course. I’ll do it right away,” Ivy said, before skipping back to the keep.
Eileen smiled at her retreating figure, and when she looked back at Calum, he smiled.
“He told me already, but I would have figured it out on me own if he dinnae. I’m by his side most of the time, and I ken what he’s doin’ and why.”
Eileen thought about denying it and asking him what he meant, but the look in his eyes was too knowing. Besides, he didn’t seem annoyed by the ruse. It was another thing that needed to be done, and he would help see it through.
It was a relief, in a way, that someone else knew. She could share the burden, and perhaps she wouldn’t share half of the blame when the wedding was called off.
“Ye’ve been with the Laird for long, have ye?”
“Since I was a lad,” Calum said. “Me faither served his. We were raised more like braithers than anything else.”
She hummed. “He trusts ye, then.”
“Aye. I’d die for him… and now for ye, Me Lady.”
Eileen looked up at him. “And does he often send ye off on errands that take ye away from the keep?”
Calum hesitated. “If it matters to him, it matters to me.”
“And does it matter to him?”
He glanced sideways. “He asked me to make inquiries. Quiet ones.”
Her heart stuttered. “About what?”
Calum hesitated again. “I dinnae ken how much I should say.”
She leaned in slightly, her voice low. “If it concerns me family, I ought to be told.”
Calum looked pained. “Aye. I’m inquirin’ after yer braither.”
Eileen inhaled sharply and bit her lip as she looked away.
I thought he was ignorin’ me, but he’s nae.
She turned her head back and gave him a small, tight smile. “Thank ye, Calum. Truly. It means the world to me that ye’re helpin’.”
He cleared his throat and nodded firmly. “Aye, Me Lady.”
They continued walking as they turned toward the keep. “And where might yer search take ye next?”
He blinked. “I cannae say for certain.”
She hummed. “Ye cannae or willnae?”
Calum looked like he might be sick, so she relented.
“Ach! Forgive me for pesterin’ ye. Ye are relieved of yer watch. I’m goin’ to go back to me chambers. Thank ye, Calum. Thank ye for helpin’ look for me braither despite the danger.”
“Dinnae fash, Lady Eileen. There’s more than enough danger to go around.”