Chapter 30
Chapter 30
Anna felt numb.
She stood frozen in place as Macauley stalked away with Duncan right behind him and Lachann escorted Catrìona from the close. ’Twas as though he’d completely forgotten she’d been present during the interchange with Macauley.
She might as well have been invisible.
Had she completely misunderstood his expression when he’d looked up at her from the practice field? Swallowing back the burning deep in her throat, she blinked away the tears that threatened to spill over onto her cheeks.
She heard Graeme calling to her, but she could not face anyone. Not now.
Lachann had sent for Father Herriot, and Anna knew that could only mean one thing.
Devastation.
She slipped away from the close, skirted ’round the courtyard, and went back to the chapel gate. She climbed down the rocky steps to the beach and ran up to the harbor. Then she backtracked up the lane that led to Kyla’s cottage just down from the distillery. She needed a few sane moments with the one person she called family.
All was quiet when she approached, and Anna had a sudden fear that something horrible had happened. That Birk had finally done his worst and...
She knocked frantically at the door, instantly forgetting her own misery.
No one answered.
Herregud!Was Kyla lying injured inside and unable to come to the door?
“Kyla!” Anna called through her tears. “Where are you?”
She tried to see in the windows, but they were shuttered. Feeling close to panic now, she tried the door—
“Anna!”
Anna whirled ’round to see Kyla approaching the cottage from the lane.
“What is amiss, Anna? You look a fright!”
Anna leaned back against the door in relief, nearly too unnerved to speak. “I went into a panic when no one answered your door.”
Kyla walked past her into the house. “I just went to sit with Sorcha Carnegie for a bit.”
“I feared Birk—”
“My husband did naught when he returned home.”
“Where is he now?”
Kyla looked away. “Out. I ... I’m not sure where.”
Anna forced herself to calm down. Her own problems were naught compared to Kyla’s. No one was about to kill her. “He’s t-treated you well since he’s come back?”
Kyla nodded and narrowed her eyes at Anna. “What is it, Anna? What is wrong? Is it Lachann MacMillan?”
Ach, she should not have come. Kyla had her own worries, and ’twas thoughtless of Anna to bring more to her. “Come here, lad,” she said, taking Douglas from Kyla’s arms. She pressed a kiss to the bairn’s head, but instead of feeling calmer, Anna felt just as unsettled as when she’d left the castle. Mayhap more.
“Something’s happened,” Kyla said. “Tell me.”
“Naught. I—” Anna felt her chin begin to tremble, and she fought the tears that were sure to follow. “Ach, ’tis complicated.”
“Aye?”
How could she tell Kyla what was wrong when she could hardly piece it all together herself? That for the first time in her life, she believed it might not be so very terrible to belong to a man. But only to a man like Lachann MacMillan. The very man who had just sent for the priest to marry him to Catrìona.
“Oh, Ky.”
Her tears did fall then, and Kyla came and wrapped Anna in her arms with Douglas between them. “You fell in love with him, didn’t you?”
Anna could only sniffle and nod. She felt as though her heart had been squeezed into a space that was too small.
“But he’s promised to Catrìona,” Kyla said. “And h-he’s about to marry her.”
“Will you not fight for him?”
“How can I, Kyla?” Anna whispered. “He will not give up Kilgorra. He cannot if he is to protect his homeland. And Catrìona is part of his agreement with Laird MacDuffie.” How could she ask him to abandon his goal? Besides, ’twas too late. Father Herriot would soon be on his way to the castle.
“He cares for you.”
He’d wanted her, aye. But so had Cullen Macauley. Was Lachann’s seduction any different? Had caring been any part of it?
Herregud. She hoped so, but she just didn’t know. ... And in any event, what did it matter now?
“You’ve bedded him, min kj?re venn?”
Anna nodded, and as she wept, Kyla remained quiet, just holding her.
“Anna ... can you not trust Lachann?”
“Trust him?”
“Aye. To see what Catrìona is? To know what an exceedingly poor wife she will make him?”
“You do not understand, Ky,” Anna said. “He has no choice. Even though he might know Catrìona’s true nature—”
“Anna, the laird is ill. What happens if he dies and Catrìona is not married?”
The back of Anna’s throat burned. She should have known better than to allow hope into her heart. Love was truly the most destructive force she could imagine, and she wanted no part of it. “Naught will change. Catrìona will choose Lachann for her husband—”
“You don’t believe she’ll choose Macauley?”
Anna shook her head. “No. Lachann will not allow it.”
She stepped away. Ach, what was she doing here? She ought to have gone over to her isle. There she could have licked her wounds, and when she returned ... “Kyla, what if I could find a way for us to leave Kilgorra?”
“What? No. ’Tis my home, and my husb—”
“Beats you bloody every time he has the urge.”
“ ’Tis a wife’s place to remain with her husband, Anna. And Birk is not all bad.”
“No? What portion is good, do you think?” Anna retorted. “His feet? Or his ears? Because his hands and arms have taken great relish in hurting you. His mouth is where he puts the liquor that fuels his temper. And his head is where that beastly temper resides. If you cannot—”
“He is my husband, and I will not leave him,” Kyla said, turning to face Anna.
The door burst open at that moment, and Birk strolled in. He took Douglas from Anna’s arms and went to Kyla. He ran his beefy arm ’round her waist and pulled her to him. “ ’Tis glad I am to hear it, wife.”
Then he turned and cast a threatening glare at Anna, and she realized she did not have the knife Lachann had given her.
Lachann’s mood skidded to black when he thought about Macauley putting his hands on Anna. He was very glad he’d taught her that little maneuver involving her knuckles and her attacker’s nose. It had served her well.
He had tremendously enjoyed seeing the fool’s face bloodied, and by a woman, at that. Certain that Duncan would keep track of Macauley until Lachann decided what to do with him, he took hold of Catrìona’s arm and went into the keep.
He had hoped Duncan would think of some precedent for Lachann to become laird without marrying MacDuffie’s daughter, but there was none. Lachann supposed he’d known it from the first. Now ’twas up to him to convince MacDuffie that he was the laird’s most able replacement—without a wedding.
And as soon as he finished his business with Laird MacDuffie, he intended to find Anna and...
First he needed to settle things with MacDuffie. Lachann believed his argument would prevail, but however things turned out with the laird, Lachann would not marry Catrìona. He wanted Anna at his side, in his bed, in his life. He desired her above all else, including the lairdship of Kilgorra, and if he had to go to war with Macauley for the lairdship of the isle, he knew which side the Kilgorrans would choose. ’Twas perfectly clear they disliked Macauley.
“My father is not well this morn,” Catrìona bleated.
“We’ll see.” He did not release her arm but led her through the great hall and up the stairs to her father’s bedchamber. He hoped the man managed to stay alive long enough to make Lachann his heir with Father Herriot as his witness.