Chapter 12
Later that afternoon, Tommy caught Ceana’s hand just as Mairi pressed a cup of ale into the other.
“Come, the fiddler is ready.”
“Careful, Lady MacKane. Ye are about to wear yer drink,” Mairi warned, rescuing the tilting cup.
Ceana missed a step. Her fingers tightened around Tommy’s as she glanced over one shoulder, searching for the woman Mairi had addressed. No one stood behind her.
Heat from the fireplace pressed against her face, mingling with the warmth of bodies gathered between the tables that had been pushed against the walls.
Lady MacKane.
A pair of servants passed the ale around the nearest table while boots struck the cleared boards in time with the pipes. Tommy tugged on her hand again, before an elderly widow she learned was named Esther reached her and offered a formal nod.
“Welcome among us, me Lady. The lasses will ask for an audience when ye next visit the lower village. They usually discuss shortages and health issues with the lady of the clan. Questions about apprenticeships and disputed allotments may come as well.”
David watched from beside Heather. Beyond him, Oscar accepted a clansman’s congratulations, then looked at Ceana. Lennan hovered nearby, watchful as ever.
“I shall meet them during the visit,” Ceana said to Esther. “I can promise them me attention and honest effort, but some answers may take time.”
The widow’s mouth softened as Oscar gave a slight nod of approval. Two maids near the ale table exchanged relieved looks.
“I shall learn which women intend to come,” Mairi said, following Ceana and Tommy. “We can set aside some time before the market gets crowded.”
David’s gaze shifted to Oscar, measuring him.
“The first dance belongs to family,” Tommy declared.
An older clansman extended his hand toward Ceana. “Custom gives an elder the first turn with our new lady, lad.”
“I asked first.”
The man laughed. “Then our first judgment is yers, Lady MacKane.”
A wave of faces turned toward her, several still smiling.
“We shall dance a reel with every generation willin’ to survive Tommy’s feet,” Ceana decided.
“Me feet are perfectly safe,” Tommy said.
The elder accepted her ruling with a bow.
As the musicians began playing, Ceana glanced toward Paisley. The girl had folded her hands over her dress and edged back toward Heather. Her gaze flicked from Tommy’s hand to the elder’s.
Ceana turned away from the clansman and extended a hand toward her. “We cannae begin while one member of the family is missin’.”
Paisley hesitated. Then her eyes dropped to the embroidered ribbon, which Ceana had tied around her waist after the ceremony. Her shoulders relaxed, and she placed her hand in Ceana’s.
“Beside me,” Ceana said, drawing her into the set.
Tommy launched into the reel a beat ahead of the music and turned in the wrong direction. Paisley tried to pull him back into place until Ceana caught her hand.
“Laugh with him,” she murmured. “He will never learn if ye keep savin’ him.”
Paisley giggled as Tommy collided lightly with the elder, who spun him around and sent him back. When Paisley missed her next step, Ceana moved with her and turned the mistake into a second circle. No one else seemed to notice.
“Faither!” Tommy shouted across the set. “Ye must join us. Faithers count as family.”
Oscar stood several paces away. He shifted on his feet, and his gaze moved from Tommy to Paisley before settling on Ceana. He handed his untouched cup to Lennan and approached.
Tommy seized his wrist and hauled him into a spot meant for another dancer.
“Ye mean to defeat me through dancin’,” Oscar said. “I admire the strategy.”
Ceana laughed. He looked at her, his severe expression giving way to a faint smile.
The dance carried them apart. Tommy rushed the next turn and sent Ceana toward the neighboring couples.
Oscar caught her around the waist before her shoulder struck another dancer.
His palm spread firmly across her back and remained there even after she regained her balance.
The pressure recalled their wedding kiss so sharply that her lips tingled and her stomach tightened.
Eventually, he had to release her. However, his eyes stayed on hers as Paisley took her hand for the next turn. Tommy led part of it with extravagant care, and Paisley laughed again when he nearly fumbled it.
For several moments, the four of them held the same pattern, with Oscar opposite Ceana and both children between them. When the final note faded, Paisley remained at Ceana’s side, and Ceana squeezed her hand before letting her go.
The musicians were tuning their instruments when movement at the entrance drew her eye.
A messenger wearing Gilmore colors handed Lennan a sealed packet.
He refused the cup a servant offered and departed without stepping further into the hall.
Ceana watched as David’s face tightened, though Heather laid a hand on his arm before he could move.
Lennan brought the packet to Oscar, who examined the seal without breaking it.
“Keep it until mornin’.”
Lennan carried the packet away, and Oscar’s attention returned to Ceana. She was speaking with another clanswoman when he approached. He waited for the clanswoman to finish, then offered Ceana his hand.
“Ye have dedicated enough of the evenin’ to everyone else.”
She placed her fingers in his. “Lady MacKane has duties.”
“She also has a husband.”
“Must married people dance alone?” Tommy asked, loud enough for the nearest tables to hear.
Oscar’s hand closed around Ceana’s. “They must for this dance.”
“Husbands apparently grow impatient once the vows are spoken,” Ceana muttered.
Oscar regarded her for a moment before leading her to the cleared space.
The fiddler began a slow tune. Oscar raised her hand and set his other palm on her waist, holding her with firmer pressure than the dance required. He led each turn with a small movement of his fingers. His thumb brushed once across the fabric, and every step brought his body close to hers.
The heels continued striking the boards around them, cups touched tables near the wall, and laughter rose when another couple joined the dance. At the edge of a turn, Ceana spotted Oscar’s nearly full cup on the table beside Lennan.
“Ye seem to have recovered from regrettin’ the kiss.”
His hand guided her past another pair. “I regretted takin’ what ye hadnae offered.”
“And this mornin’? What had changed?”
“This mornin’, ye chose me.”
He turned her beneath their joined hands. When he drew her back, his palm settled lower on her waist and restored the space between them.
“Did the weddin’ kiss exhaust all the affection ye intend to show me?” she asked.
His fingers flexed. Over his shoulder, Ceana saw Heather notice the movement and turn quietly to David.
“If I acted on me wishes, I would take ye away from every person in this hall,” Oscar said tightly.
Ceana looked into his eyes. “So what is stoppin’ ye?”
He stopped for a beat, and she nearly stumbled against him before his hand steadied her. The couples around them continued to dance, forcing him to move again.
“I told ye. I daenae…”
“Ye daenae plan to consummate our marriage?”
His jaw hardened, and his eyes left hers as he guided her through another turn. The breath he drew before answering lifted his chest beneath her hand.
“I told ye I daenae plan to have more children. I ken too well the risks that come with that.” His fingers curled against her waist. “But I didnae say I meant to leave me wife untouched.”
Ceana’s fingers tightened on his shoulder. “That is a careful distinction.”
He drew her closer on the next turn until the warmth of his skin seeped through every layer between them. “Well, I can still make ye mine in every other sense, wife.” His voice roughened.
Heat coiled low in Ceana’s belly, stealing her words. She kept her eyes on him as he guided her through another turn and placed his body between her and most of the hall. He lowered his mouth to her ear, his breath tickling her skin. His voice dropped beneath the fiddle and stamping heels.
“Go to yer room and wait for me.”
Ceana missed the next step. Oscar steadied her and completed the final measures with formal precision, his hand remaining on her waist while she caught her breath. When the music ended, he released her and stepped back with full composure, like a laird before his clan.
Ceana lifted her chin. Then she turned toward the stairs, his command echoing in her mind.
Great. Just great.
Her knees threatened to shorten every step, and her breath caught in her chest. She gathered a fistful of her dress to steady her trembling fingers, held her shoulders straight, and crossed the hall without hurrying.
The guests glanced up as she passed, and two older women near the fireplace exchanged knowing looks. Leaving a wedding celebration early invited an easy conclusion.
Ceana could not tell whether anyone had heard what Oscar had told her. Still, heat lingered in her face and spread down her neck.
Mairi met her beside the stairs. “Do ye need help, me Lady?”
“Nay, thank ye. I can manage.”
Mairi studied her for one moment and then lowered her head. “As ye wish.”
Ceana paused on the first step when she saw her mother and Paisley step out of the hall. “I expect to see ye at breakfast,” she said.
Paisley searched her face, glanced back into the hall, then looked at her again. “Aye. Good night, Ceana.”
“Good night, Paisley.”
Ceana climbed up the stairs. At the turn, she looked back despite herself. Oscar stood beside her father while an elderly clansman spoke to him, his eyes fixed on her. A fresh pulse of heat curled low in her belly.
His gaze followed her until the staircase blocked the hall from view. Inside her chamber, she closed the door and left the latch raised.
A low fire burned steadily in the grate.
Fresh water waited in the tub, and candles lit the turned-down bed.
Ceana untied the ceremonial ribbons from her waist and laid them on a chair.
Paisley’s silver stitching glinted in the candlelight.
She smoothed it flat before her fingers rose to the laces of her gown. One pull would loosen it.
But then she lowered her hand and poured herself some water. The cup touched her lower lip twice before she managed to take a proper sip. After setting it down, she crossed to the fireplace and shifted a log that required no attention.
She sat on the edge of the bed, felt the folded blanket beneath her palm, and rose. The bedding made every uncertainty too easy to picture. At the dressing table, she checked the pins that had been loosened by the dancing and pressed them securely into place.
She and Oscar had agreed to live separate lives. After the kiss outside her chamber, he apologized and refused to say whether he regretted it. The wedding kiss and his command in the hall had proved his desire, but neither indicated how he would speak to her at breakfast.
She touched Paisley’s ribbon again. She had chosen Oscar before witnesses and claimed a place with his children. Her sister and clan’s safety could explain her choice, but waiting alone in her chamber wasn’t something she could blame anyone else for.
The music below continued. One tune ended, and another began before the main doors opened. Voices sounded in the lower corridor as guests departed.
“Take two men and see him safely home,” she heard Oscar instruct.
The music carried on after his order, but he did not come to her.
Later, Tommy’s voice sounded in the corridor outside her chamber. “I only wished to say goodnight.”
“Ye already said it,” Oscar answered quietly. “Back to bed, lad.”
Their footsteps retreated, and the tightness beneath her ribs eased. Oscar had gone to his children before coming to her.
For a time, she only heard the slow music below. Footsteps sounded in the corridor again, and her fingers closed around the back of the chair she stood beside. But they passed her door and continued toward the servants’ stairs.
Perhaps Oscar had regained control. Perhaps he also regretted his command.
She caught the laces of her gown between her fingers. She could undo them and go to bed. Doing so would make the decision for him and conceal the answer she meant to give.
She released the laces and crossed to the door. Her hand hovered over the raised latch. Lowering it would end the wait.
She left it untouched.
Footsteps entered the corridor again, slower and heavier than the last. They stopped outside her chamber. The door opened, revealing Oscar in his wedding attire.
He stepped inside, his eyes glinting with something she couldn’t describe. Then he closed the door behind him and lowered the latch.