Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
The door in the corner adjacent to Margo’s creaked open, pulling her frayed attention away from the book she’d been attempting to read. All five of the kittens rose to their feet, staring at the door separating the two rooms. They seemed to come to the same realization she had.
Cameron is home.
As her heart began to pound so hard she could hear it over her breathing, Miss Crusoe jumped off her lap and scampered over to the door. Friday followed, and after the two kittens disappeared under the tiny crack at the bottom, the other three jumped off the chair they were perched on.
“Do not bother him,” she hissed, putting her book aside and rushing forward.
The kittens only ran faster, their claws scraping against the smooth floor. They slipped through, though not easily. Margo managed to stop one of the tabby kittens, scooping her up by the scruff of her neck.
“Why would you do that?” she asked the tiny creature.
On the other side of the door, she heard Cameron scoff. Then, his low, whisky-smooth voice rumbled, “Ye willnae allow me to have a single minute alone, aye?”
Her stomach turned as she recalled the contents of the letter. While she had tried to rationalize her feelings, that perhaps he had reasons for suggesting the heir clause, it still didn’t feel good. She had been traded as if she were cattle.
But even if all he wants is my body, he hasn’t taken it. Even when I was going to let him.
Blossom mewed, wiggling in Margo’s grasp.
Giving in to her desperate need to be with her siblings, Margo set her on the floor.
The kitten scrambled away, sliding under the door in an absurd display of impatience.
Several seconds after the kitten disappeared, Cameron’s chuckle drifted through the wooden barrier.
“I was wonderin’ where ye were,” he said, his riding leathers squeaking as he presumably crouched. “I kent that there was one of ye missin’.”
Margo let out an incredulous sound, careful to keep her volume low so he didn’t know she was listening.
It seemed that each day he grew more and more unbelievable.
How could she reconcile the man who had presumably insisted that they produce an heir with the man who paid enough attention to the kittens to notice when one was missing from his welcoming party?
She froze in place. The entire time he had been gone, she could only think about how she wished he were here.
Even after the initial shock she had felt in his study waned, she had longed for him to be here so she could confront him.
Now that he was only a door away, she thought she would rather he still be away.
There’s no use in making myself mad trying to make sense of him. Mother always said that people are full of contradictions.
Rather than ruminating on the thoughts or eavesdropping on Cameron’s conversations with the kittens, she set to readying herself for supper. Dwelling on his soft underbelly did not change the fact that she had seen him bare his teeth. Or, at least, she had read the evidence of it.
She took her time, trying to clear her mind with the meditative motions of braiding her hair.
After slipping into a different gown, if only to make the time stretch a little longer, Margo finally left her room heading for the Great Hall.
As she was closing the door, Cameron marched into the corridor.
An instinctive part of her mind urged her to hide, to duck back into her room.
The magnetic draw of Cameron’s presence, however, pushed her to face him.
When their eyes met, it felt as if something had shifted inside him.
The dominating energy that usually flashed in his pupils was still there, but quieter. More guarded.
“We were not expecting you until tomorrow evening,” she said carefully.
Though she wanted to demand he answer for leaving without so much as a word to her about it, and for what she had read in the missive from her father- why he had given her the contract and acted as if he had not played a heavier hand in her fate- his demeanor struck her as strange.
Something had happened. She was much more interested in figuring out what had changed.
“Aye, we finished ahead of schedule,” Cameron said, his own words chosen with just as much consideration.
He’s speaking to me the same way he did after we arrived here.
“It would have been nice,” she said, perhaps intentionally trying to provoke a response, “if you had informed me that you were going to be away.”
“I dinnae realize that me presence was that vital to yer daily activities,” Cameron said, his brow furrowing slightly. “And I dinnae decide to leave until late the night before I departed. I dinnae wish to wake ye.”
“I believe that’s an acceptable reason to wake me,” Margo muttered, holding his gaze for another moment. She could not think of anything else to say, any other way to carry on the conversation. “Will you be joining us in the Great Hall?”
“In a bit,” he said, giving her a final nod before stepping around her and continuing on his way. “I have somethin’ to take care of with me Council first.”
Margo froze at his words, standing there longer than she cared to admit, watching him disappear around the corner at the end of the corridor.
When she finally willed herself into moving, she realized that Cameron had not turned toward the Council’s meeting room and his study. He had taken the same path she did.
Perhaps he’s meeting with Gavin first.
That theory was proven incorrect when Margo entered the Great Hall. Cameron was sitting at the head of the table, already sipping ale from a mug. As she made her way toward the open seat across from him, she tried not to let herself feel hurt or frustrated.
Truthfully, she didn’t know what she felt. She was still reeling from his sudden absence and the information she had found in the letter. And now, he wasn’t even giving her a chance to confront him because his behavior had shifted.
I’d say he was avoiding me, but he’s here. He could have taken his meal in his quarters. Perhaps… does he not want to be alone with me?
“Why do you look as though you are working out a complicated arithmetic problem?” Eleanor asked, her voice low enough that only Margo could hear her over the buzz of dining and conversation.
“Because I am,” Margo replied, glancing at Cameron to ensure he wasn’t listening. “But I cannot tell you about it here.”
Eleanor followed her gaze, and a knowing smile settled over her mouth.
Rather than responding verbally, she nodded and turned back to her plate.
She was a perfect little actress, catching Cameron’s attention and asking, “I was not aware that the strong storms reached so far. Is your cousin’s land along the coast? ”
Margo nearly laughed at how committed her sister was to keeping things normal. She had taken to quizzing him about the lands during their meals. Her curiosity about the storms seemed insatiable.
I’m sure she’s been dying to ask him.
“It’s a bit further inland than we are,” Cameron said, his voice taking on the professional cadence that he used when teaching the village children. “They receive nearly the same amount of wind as we do, though they daenae get quite as many storms.”
He met Margo’s eyes then, holding her gaze for a short moment.
His expression was still unreadable, and the thought that she may not have been getting as close to him as she believed rattled her.
As Eleanor asked another question about the shape of the land, Margo poured all of her attention into her meal.
She barely tasted her food, sneaking glances at Cameron as often as she dared. He was never looking back, his focus shifting between Eleanor, when she was questioning him incessantly, and his plate. By the time they’d finished, Margo had only caught his eye once.
Have I done something to earn this treatment?
As soon as she was done, Eleanor rose from her seat. She looked at Margo expectantly, waiting for her to stand before picking her way through the rows of tables. When they stepped out of the Great Hall, Eleanor hooked her arm with Margo’s.
“Did something happen?” she asked, keeping her voice low as she let Margo lead them through the castle corridors to her chambers. “Is this because he came home early?”
“No, it’s not that,” Margo whispered, struggling to articulate everything in a way that was appropriate for Eleanor. Though they shared nearly every thought they had with one another, her sister wasn’t yet an adult. “I suppose he just confuses me.”
“I already knew that,” Eleanor chuckled softly, letting go of Margo’s arm when they reached her door. “Though he seems fairly straightforward to me.”
“Perhaps it is a symptom of marriage.” Margo let Eleanor enter first, shaking her head fondly when she saw that the kittens had returned. “Or a symptom of our marriage.”
“I remember overhearing the ladies gossip in England,” Eleanor said as she settled on the floor and invited the kittens over.
Miss Crusoe nearly tripped over her paws in her haste to claim her spot on Eleanor’s lap.
“You have heard them gossip, too. I think it is the marriage that makes him so perplexing to you.”
“I suppose you are correct,” Margo said.
Though truthfully, she did not think that most marriages were anything like this one.
“But I do not think every man is as full of contradictions as Cameron. He tells me that one thing must be done, but then seems to decide that we must do another. I do not know what he wants from me! If I did, perhaps his behavior wouldn’t confuse me so. ”
Eleanor went quiet for a moment, stroking the kitten’s soft, gray fur. She seemed to weigh her words carefully before looking up at Margo. “I have come to the conclusion that grown men often behave far more foolishly than kittens.”
When Eleanor and Margo left the Great Hall, Cameron felt as if a weight had lifted from his shoulders. His appetite seemed to return, and he finished his plate relatively quickly. Beside him, Gavin made a curious noise.
“Margo dinnae speak once,” Gavin noted, timing his observation with Cameron’s release of his fork.
“Perhaps she’s tired,” Cameron said, though he had noticed it as well. “I daenae ken what she’s been up to in me absence.”
He was not going to complain. After the time he spent with Marian and Lachlan, he was not sure how to interact with Margo. The realization that he had been a monster even when he had done everything to be a gentleman had shifted his world on its axis.
“Mrs. Campbell has been keepin’ her busy doin’ all those organizational tasks she’s been talkin’ about for years,” Gavin said casually. He took a long drink from his goblet. “Margo was quite confused as to why ye’d leave without tellin’ her.”
“I ken, I should have spoken to her before I left,” Cameron grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. “But I have already explained me reasonin’ to her.”
“I assume that she wasnae satisfied with what ye said,” Gavin guessed, his finger drumming against the tabletop.
“Of course, she wasnae,” Cameron confirmed, his patience spread thin. “But it is too late for me to do anythin’ about it now.”
“Ye have a point,” Gavin agreed. For a brief moment, he said nothing else, letting the silence speak for itself. Then, apparently deciding he didn’t want to push Cameron’s irritation, he pivoted the discussion on another subject. “How are Lachlan and Marian?”
“They’re doin’ well,” Cameron said, glad to have a new subject of conversation. “Lachlan and his men already had the foundation finished by the time I arrived.”
“I’m glad to hear it.”
As silence threatened to encroach on them again, Cameron said, “They’ve planned a ceilidh to celebrate me weddin’.”
“Ye allowed them to plan a ceilidh?” Gavin asked, doing nothing to hide his amusement. “That doesnae sound like ye.”
“It isnae for me,” Cameron snapped. Immediately tempering his defensiveness, he added, “This marriage has been nothin’ but duty and obligation for Margo. Marian and Lachlan believe that it is the least I could do for her, and I am inclined to agree.”
“Does she ken that we’ll be throwin’ a ceilidh for ye?” Gavin asked, grinning like a fool. “Or are ye avoidin’ speakin’ to her so ye daenae have to tell her?”
“I’m nae avoidin’ speakin’ to her,” Cameron growled, turning his fiery gaze directly at his best friend. “It seems she doesnae wish to speak, so I willnae force her.”
“Ye daenae have to force her to respond to inform her of an event that she will be attendin’,” Gavin countered, infuriatingly calm in the face of Cameron’s frustrated posturing.
“I just assumed that ye would have learned from nae tellin’ her about yer upcomin’ absence.
I imagine that she’ll be even more upset if ye spring a ceilidh on her days before it happens. ”
Cameron refrained from responding, knowing that Gavin had a point.
It didn’t matter how cautious he was attempting to be around the woman.
He needed to treat her as an equal rather than an asset to be managed, especially in matters that concerned them both.
He could only imagine the hell his cousin and Marian would raise if he put a stain on the celebration before it had even begun.
Pushing himself away from the table in an attempt to reclaim some of the control he felt slipping through his fingers, he said, “Margo will be informed of the ceilidh. I resent yer implication that I would keep the celebration hidden from her until days before it took place.”
“I wasnae implyin’ that ye wouldnae tell her,” Gavin said, raising an eyebrow.
His antagonistic attitude seemed to retreat, sensing Cameron’s seriousness, though it was a bit delayed.
“Ye werenae here to see how yer sudden disappearance affected her. She thought she was hidin’ it well, but she dinnae take bein’ left in the dark well. ”
For a moment, Cameron’s entire body stiffened. Then, forcing his posture to relax, he said, “That was an oversight that I daenae intend to repeat.”
Without giving Gavin a chance to say anything else, Cameron turned on his heel and marched out of the Hall.
Throughout the course of their conversation, most of the clan had filtered out of the room, either to carry on with the last of their duties or to retire to their quarters. That came as a relief.
At least I dinnae have an audience witnessin’ me behave as though I were a foolish boy.
Banishing that thought and that image from his mind, he walked the familiar path to his chambers. That was not his final destination, though. Gavin was correct. He could not leave Margo in the dark, even about something as frivolous as a ceilidh.
Even as he told himself that it was a visit meant only to tell her about the celebration, his mind kept trailing back to her lips. He knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he would have to keep a tight grip on his control.