Chapter 24
“Still up, lad?”
Colen jerked awake to find his brother standing over him. He saw that Jamie was exhausted but unharmed. Then he slumped back down in his chair by the fireside.
“I wasna tired,” Colen answered sulkily. “With you gone, I’ve been sleeping late mornings, and I stay up later.”
“Do you?” Jamie grinned.
“And where were you off to without telling anyone?” Colen demanded angrily. “That’s twice now in two months you’ve taken off without explanation. Sweet Mary, do you think no one here worries when you go off like that?”
“Were you worried?” Colen remained silent, and Jamie sighed. “Och, well, I see you’re upset, and I’ll be saying I’m sorry. I am sorry, Colen. It shouldna happen again.”
“Will you tell me about it? At least you took some men with you this time. Was there trouble?”
“Nay, lad, I just went to Aberdeen.”
“Again?” Colen was surprised. “What made you think you would have better luck this time?”
“Did you no’ speak to MacDonough while he was here?” Jamie asked.
“Nay, he left soon after you did,” Colen replied. “And I was at Black Gawain’s during his visit. Did you know he has Jessie Martin with him?”
“He’s welcome to her,” Jamie said without surprise.
“Well, that’s a fine attitude,” Colen grumbled.
“And why are you forever expecting me to be overcome by jealousy, lad? When an affair is finished, ’tis finished. I didna exactly pursue Jessie in the first place.”
“It just doesna seem right, her going to Black Gawain after being with you. She isna just a…a serving lass. She’s Daphne’s cousin by marriage.”
“I dinna see what difference her status makes. If I’m no’ bothered about it, lad, then neither should you be—unless you had a liking for her yourself.”
Colen reddened. “Nonsense. She’s too…full around the curves for my taste.”
“You like them slimmer?” Jamie chuckled, enjoying his brother’s discomfort.
But Colen refused to be sidetracked. “Did you find Sheena this time?”
“She wasna in Aberdeen.” And before Colen could ask another question, Jamie went on, “She was still with Jameson.” His voice took on a cold edge.
“But why?”
“The why of it you’d no’ be caring to hear.”
“I dinna ken.”
“Nor do I,” Jamie said sharply. “But she was there.”
“You had no luck in getting her to return with you?” Colen asked, afraid of the answer, whatever it might be.
“She’s here, Colen, and she’ll no’ be leaving again.”
Colen sat up. “She agreed?” he asked, incredulous.
“I didna ask. She had no chance to agree.”
“But you said you wouldna force her. And you said you needed a reason ’afore you’d bring her back.”
“MacDonough gave me a reason.”
Colen rose from his chair. “Will you be telling me, or must I ask her?”
“She doesna know.”
“By the saints, Jamie, must everything you say be so cryptic?”
Jamie grinned. “I’m sorry, lad. I suppose you may as well know, but no one else is to know—especially Sheena. Do I have your word?”
“Aye! Tell me ’afore I perish. What reason could The MacDonough have given you?”
“He didna marry his Fergusson bride, lad. She was banished to Aberdeen—where you found her.”
“Fergusson bride? Sheena? I dinna believe it!”
“’Tis true, Colen. I never told you ’afore, or said anything to her, either, but I knew her when you brought her here.
I had seen her ’afore—in the spring—on Fergusson land.
When you said she was a beggar, I thought it must be so, for I had seen her bathing in a glen in the early morning, which was not something a Fergusson would do, not just after a raid. ”
“Exactly. So she canna be a Fergusson.”
“But Sheena is headstrong. Did she no’ leave here the first chance she got? Did she no’ swim in the burn that day even though I warned her the water would be too cold? She does as she pleases. No doubt she behaved the same way at home, as well.”
“But a Fergusson?”
“Aye, and old Dugald’s favorite daughter, too.
MacDonough described her, which is what convinced me.
Think on it, lad. Does it no’ explain her fear, the fear neither of us could find a reason for?
When I first came upon her in your chamber, she was most agreeable with me.
She even teased me. She wasna afraid of me.
’Twas no’ until she heard my name that she was frightened. ”
“Now that you mention it, she went sort of crazy when she learned who I was, shouting that she had to leave, she couldna stay here. I had to slap her to calm her down.”
“You did what?” Jamie exploded.
Colen squirmed. “Och, Jamie, she slapped me back.”
Jamie started a slow smile, and then he laughed heartily. “Did she?”
“It may be amusing now, but it wasna at the time, I assure you,” Colen grumbled. “Lord, everything is changed if Sheena’s a Fergusson. What are you going to do?”
“I’ve brought her here, and nothing has changed. I’ll still be handfasting with her, whether she agrees or no’.”
“’Twould be a mockery if you forced her to it. She doesna believe in handfasting. Marriage would be another matter, though I dinna see how you can force her to that, either.”
Jamie scowled. It was the truth, and it was not to his liking.
Before, he had been willing to wait for her agreement.
Her willingness mattered. True, all brides became compliant, whether the marriage was to their liking or not.
But he didn’t want to begin on a sour note.
Yet he refused to marry her without trying her first. He would not make that mistake again.
And others had tried her. Jameson had insinuated he found her lacking. Curse it! And curse Jameson!
“I’m too tired to be discussing this now,” Jamie said abruptly.
“At least tell me why you’re no’ explaining that you know she’s a Fergusson.”
“To make her aware that her deception is over would be placing a sword in her hand. She would attack me at every turn for past actions that have nothing to do with her and me, things between our families. Think you I could stand that and no’ retaliate?”
“But what of her fear of you, Jamie? That centers on your finding out who she is, what you will do to her when you do find out. Yet you know, and you mean her no harm. She should know her identity doesna matter. Then she would see her fears are groundless.”
“I’ll be proving that to her at any rate,” Jamie replied confidently. “But I’ll no’ have her using clan hatred as another excuse to refuse me.”
“I’ll wager that is her reason.”
“Aye, but she canna tell me so. Can she?” Jamie grinned, but it wasn’t a convincing grin.