'Would you mind taking Mary up to her room now?'
Jamie asked, guessing Edith was close to losing her composure.
Jamie waited until Edith was carrying Mary up the stairs before she asked Alec the question most worrying her. 'What will you do with Annie?'
He wouldn't answer her.
Alec was being impossible. He wouldn't let Jamie out of their bed for almost a week. He expected her to nap the days away and then sleep soundly through the nights. She thought it rather odd she was able to accommodate him.
Her convalescence was made easier by her sister's daily visits. Mary helped her sew the tapestry of Edgar's likeness, finally taking over the task in full when she realized Jamie didn't have the patience or the skill for the job.
During Mary's first visit, she whispered the news that Daniel had still not bedded her. Jamie was more upset over this announcement than Mary was, but once she'd explained how truly wonderful this intimacy was-in carefully chosen, general terms, of course-Mary's interest was piqued.
'He keeps a mistress,' Mary confessed. 'But he sleeps in my bed each night.'
'It's time to clean your house, Mary,' Jamie advised. 'Throw the woman out.'
'He'd get angry with me, Jamie,' her sister whispered. 'I've grown to like his smiles too much to prick his temper. He's being very kind to me, too, now that I've quit crying. The man can't stand tears. I am beginning to care for him.'
Jamie was thrilled with that admission. 'Then ask him to bed you,' she suggested.
'I have my pride,' Mary countered. 'I have thought of a plan, though.'
'What is it?'
'I thought to tell him he could keep his mistress and have me, too.'
'You cannot mean to share the man,' Jamie argued.
Mary lifted her shoulders in a helpless gesture. 'I want Daniel to like me, Jamie,' she admitted.
She started crying then, just as Alec strolled into the great hall. Jamie held her smile for Mary's benefit, but she did have to struggle. As soon as Alec saw Mary's condition, he turned around and walked back outside. 'Men do hate tears,' she said in agreement with her sister's earlier statement.
'Tell Daniel he must keep his mistress,' Jamie advised. 'Now don't look at me like that, Mary. Then you're to tell him you think he must need the practice and when he's gotten it just right, he can come to you.'
Alec returned to the hall when he heard Jamie and her sister laughing.
Mary didn't come to see her sister for two long days. Jamie was in a fretful state, worrying about her sister, but when Mary finally did pay her call three days' later, she could tell by her happy smile that all was well.
Mary wanted to give Jamie the details. Jamie didn't want to hear them. Mary was insistent, and right in the middle of her whispers about how wonderful Daniel was, Alec, Gavin, Marcus, and Daniel came into the hall. They wanted to be included in the conversation. The topic immediately changed.
Alec kept Jamie up most of the night, making love to her. He wouldn't let her be as aggressive as she wanted to be, fearing her strength wasn't fully restored.
In the end, he admitted to her the sorry fact that although he was stronger, she certainly had more stamina.
He left the following morning on duties King Edgar required, and wasn't due back home for a full week. Jamie used his time away to make another little change in his household.
She had the bed and its platform moved out of the great hall. The screen now enclosed a buttery. It was yet another English tradition, but once the soldiers realized it would make the ale easier to get to, they went along with her orders without voicing too many complaints.
Alec came home three days later. The soldiers took their place in line again, ready to defend her.
Alec sat at the head of the table. His jaw was clenched shut while she explained the necessity of a buttery to him.
He did have trouble accepting change. Jamie was pleased with him, though, for he hadn't raised his voice at all. She knew the effort cost him dearly. His face became flushed and the muscle was flexing in his cheek again. She was full of sympathy for him, too. For that reason, she didn't even bat an eyelash when he asked her in a low, controlled voice to leave him in peace for a few minutes.
Alec knew she wasn't upset with his request when she didn't pause to take a coin from the box atop the mantel. He'd caught on early to her subtle way of letting him know whenever he'd made her angry. She'd never say a word, just give him a good glare and then grab one of her shillings. She didn't know Father Murdock replaced the coins in the box each night.
She was still having trouble settling in. Some nights, Father Murdock had as many as nine shillings in his hand.
Jamie's sister was just dismounting when Jamie came outside with Mary Kathleen on her hip.
'I've the most horrible news,' Mary rushed out. 'Andrew's on his way here.'
'Andrew?'
'The man you were pledged to,' Mary reminded her. 'Honestly, Jamie, how could you have forgotten him already?'
'I haven't forgotten,' Jamie answered. She handed Mary Kathleen to Mary when her sister reached for the child. While Mary hugged the little girl, Jamie tried to stay calm. 'Mary, why would Andrew be coming here? And how did you find out?'
'I heard Daniel talking to one of his men. All the Highland clans know he's coming, Jamie. He and his army had to pass through their lands.'
'Oh, my God, he's coming here with an army?'
'He is.'
'But why, Mary?'
'The loan,' Mary whispered after she'd put her niece down. 'Remember the coins Papa borrowed from Andrew?'
'How could I forget? Papa all but sold me to Andrew,' she wailed. 'Oh, Mary, I can't be humiliated in front of my clan. I can't let Andrew shame me this way.
Good God, Mary, Alec is bound to kill Andrew.'
Mary nodded. 'Those were Daniel's very words.'
'Then he knows the reason Andrew is coming here?' Jamie asked, clearly appalled.
'Yes. Andrew has had to explain his reason for being in the Highlands. He wouldn't have gotten very far without being killed already if he hadn't explained. Sister, haven't you noticed the Scots don't like the English very much?'
'Well, spit, Mary, who doesn't know?'
'Jamie, you shouldn't be talking so unladylike.'
'I can't help it,' Jamie cried. 'I'm always the last one to know anything around here. Do you think Alec knows Andrew is coming?'
Mary lifted her shoulders in a helpless gesture. 'Daniel says all Scots know when someone comes near their holding. I would guess-'
'I can't let this happen. I won't be responsible for starting a war with England, too.'
'England? Alec will probably only kill Andrew and his followers.'
'You think King Henry won't notice one of his barons is missing, Mary? He's bound to think it odd when he calls up his army and no one comes…'
She didn't bother to finish her explanation, but snatched the reins out of her sister's hands and quickly mounted Mary's horse.
'What are you planning, Jamie?'
'I'm going to find Andrew and reason with him. I'll promise to send the coins to him.'
'Jamie, it's going to be dark soon. 'Tis the reason Daniel wouldn't let me come to visit you.'
Jamie smiled. 'Yet you came anyway, didn't you, Mary?'
'I had to warn you, sister. I thought you might want to hide for a while.'
'It was a most unselfish, courageous thing you did, warning me, but you know very well I'd never hide.'
