Chapter 15
Cairren drew back the string on her bow as her eyes followed the buck they chased.
She took a deep breath, holding it as she set her final sight, and exhaled as she released the arrow.
It sailed through the air before landing through the deer’s heart.
It staggered several steps before falling to the ground.
“Well done, my wee lassie,” Innes cheered as she rode pillion on his horse.
He’d taught her to hunt from a moving horse when she was young, but it had been years since she’d tried it.
She couldn’t believe she bagged the buck on her first try.
Collette rode up alongside them with their guards following.
Innes had spurred his horse into a gallop when Cairren pointed out the animal.
She’d clung to her father’s waist until they drew near, then she nocked an arrow and squeezed her thighs to keep her from falling from the charging steed.
The Kennedys had decided to hunt, hoping that bringing back a catch would be a conciliatory action.
Or at least they could say they tried. They dismounted and went to check Cairren’s kill.
The animal lay with its eye open but unmoving.
Cairren said a prayer of thanks that the animal hadn’t suffered.
She enjoyed the challenge of hunting but always felt guilty afterwards.
She preferred to shoot hay targets, but she’d relented when her father suggested that it might be a small act to smooth things over with her new clan.
She doubted it, but she had a day left with her parents. She didn’t want to ruin it.
“Lady Cairren, you’ve done better than any of us could have,” a guardsman spoke up as six men walked past to retrieve the animal. It was a large buck that easily outweighed her, and its antlers were in perfect condition.
“That head should be a nice edition to their collection in the Great Hall. Perhaps you could present them to the laird and lady, ma petite-fille,” Collette suggested.
Cairren turned away but nodded. She walked back to her father’s horse and stood on the far side, so she didn’t have to see or hear the men preparing to move the animal.
She knew they would dress the animal once they returned to the keep, so they needed only to get the buck’s hooves tied to sturdy branches to carry it back.
Cairren mounted on the back of Innes’s horse once again, and the hunting party turned back toward the castle.
They had to ride past the loch, and someone in the water caught Cairren’s attention.
As if she had a sixth sense, she knew it was Padraig before they were close enough for her to make out his features.
He stood in waist-deep water and watched as they approached.
“Do I stop, lass?” Innes whispered.
“I suppose we have to unless we want to be rude.”
“Would that be so bad?” Innes muttered. Cairren shrugged, but she knew her father couldn’t see. Innes slowed his horse to a walk until they drew near enough to talk to Padraig.
Padraig had just surfaced from gingerly dipping his head beneath the surface when he watched eight horses gallop past the far side of the loch.
He’d known in an instant it was Cairren seated behind her father.
He wondered why she wasn’t riding her own horse until he watched her pull something over her shoulder.
From her movement, he knew she was preparing to shoot an arrow.
It impressed him that she kept her seat without the use of her hands to hold on, but he didn’t expect the party to stop.
He watched as all the Kennedys dismounted, but they were too far for him to tell what they were doing.
He scrubbed his hair and body as he watched them talking.
Then the guardsmen moved away from Cairren and her parents.
He’d finished washing by the time the warriors emerged from the thicket carrying a deer large enough for Padraig to see it from a distance.
They’d remounted and were galloping back to the keep before he could leave the loch without flashing all of them.
He opted to remain in the water, and he was glad he did when his cock stirred.
Cairren’s hair had tumbled loose and tendrils danced in the wind as she held onto her father.
Her cheeks were rosy, and she was smiling at they approached, but he knew the moment she recognized him.
Her smile slipped as she sat straighter.
Innes said something to her, and she shrugged.
She didn’t look as pleased to see him as he felt about seeing her.
“How’s your nose, lad? I heard Cairren straightened it, and Myrna offered to kiss it better.
” Innes’s penetrating eyes bored into Padraig.
Padraig had no idea how Innes had heard about Myrna.
Cairren had already left the Great Hall when Myrna made her salacious offer.
Padraig’s gaze swept over the Kennedys, and two guards in particular looked ready to murder him.
He understood without words that they’d been in the Great Hall and had either heard Myrna or overheard people repeating what she’d said.
He glanced back at Cairren to see how she responded to her father’s words, but she was watching her father.
“I thank your daughter for tending to me. It feels much better already,” Padraig smiled at Cairren, but she studiously ignored him.
“Then I didn’t do a good enough job breaking it,” Innes growled.
He twisted in his saddle and murmured to Cairren, but Padraig couldn’t make out what he said before the laird swung his leg over his horse’s withers and slid to the ground.
“Take the ladies back to the keep. Prepare the animal and be sure Lady Cairren gets her prize.”
Innes walked to the edge of the loch and crossed his arms while he waited for his men to escort his wife and daughter back to the keep. Padraig walked out of the water and thanked Innes when he handed Padraig his plaid. The older man sized up the younger before taking a deep breath.
“You’ve made it clear in every way possible that not only do you love another woman, you will not give her up.
So be it. There is naught I can do aboot it and neither can Cairren.
My lass has accepted that you mean to make her your mistress rather than treat her as your wife.
She’s come to terms with that far faster than I have, and it’s because she’s a better person than I am. ”
Innes bent and picked up a rock. He rubbed his thumb along the flat side before skipping it along the surface of the water. He did it again before turning back to Padraig.
“I decided a year ago that since Cairren was an age to marry and would soon finish her expected service to the queen, I would find her a husband far from the strife and danger of the border. I considered taking her to France, but knowing she’d be so far from us broke her mother’s and my hearts.
I don’t doubt you know you weren’t the first candidate.
And I’m certain you’ve guessed a reason why none of the other prospects turned out.
But what I doubt you know, what even Cairren doesn’t know—though I suppose I should have told her—is that I turned down the acceptances.
Each clan was happy to take her dowry, but as I investigated more, I learned things aboot the men that might marry my daughter.
I didn’t feel she would be safe with any of those other men.
Their clans might have accepted her, but the men themselves made me fear for her.
You were the only mon I learned of who received praise from everyone I asked. ”
Padraig didn’t know what to say. He’d made the assumption that Innes expected. He’d taken one look at Cairren once he got past the initial shock of her beauty and believed that every other clan rejected her because she looked too different.
“No one mentioned you were courting a Ross lass, perhaps it’s not well known.
I don’t ken. But of those I asked, each and every one of them, swore you were honorable and would never hurt my daughter.
They swore I could trust you with her, knowing I wouldn’t be close enough to come to her with haste.
And now I’m set to leave in the morn, and I don’t ken if my daughter will survive her first night here without me.
” Innes looked at Padraig, and he didn’t bother to hide the wetness in his eyes.
“She’s a good lass. She’s bound to you now, and that can’t be easily undone.
But if you doubt for even a moment that you can protect her, tell me now, and I will defy the king and take her home.
If you cannot or will not honor her, then tell me before I leave her in your care.
If aught happens to her, I don’t ken that my family could make it through.
It would kill her mother and devastate her sister.
I would lose all three of the most important people to ever enter my life. I don’t know that I would survive it.”
Innes’s honesty stunned Padraig. The bear of a man who’d spent all morning knocking him on his arse, then broke his nose, was wiping the mist from his eyes. Padraig looked toward the keep for a long moment before looking back at Innes.