“Nay,” he said.
It wasn’t like him to dissuade her. She touched him, trying to change his mind, but he pulled her hand away.
“I said nay, Mari. I will not allow you to use our joining to hide from what is worrying you. You can talk to me. You can tell me about your dream, if you like. But you will not push me away any longer. Do you understand? Whatever has upset you, it is for us to face together.”
She burst into tears at his words. She wanted so much to confide in him. To tell him about the letter, and how she sometimes woke feeling a rope around her neck, unable to breathe.
But this wasn’t something they could face together. This was her fate, and she’d not allow him to be dragged into it.
“Will you not hold me?”
“Of course.” He pulled off her damp shift and tucked her in against his warm body. “You are safe in my arms, Mari. I’ll not let anything hurt you. Even the demons that haunt you in your dreams. Tell me. Together we’ll conquer them.”
She would not tell him about the letter, but there was part of her dream she could share. “I dreamed of those boys, tying me up and throwing me in the cart to earn the reward. I can’t help but think it could happen again. A hundred pounds is a lot of money to a crofter or a farmer in these parts. A person might turn in their own mother for that sum.”
“Nay. Not a MacKinlay. We’re loyal, and you are the laird’s sister-in-law. No one would even dare consider it. ’Tis why it was mere lads who snatched ye up. No man would have done such.”
But Mari knew it wasn’t just the MacKinlays she had to worry about.
Soon enough the English would be here, and life as they knew it would be over.
…
Cam left Mari to sleep longer. She’d worn herself out crying and dreaming all night. She needed rest. He took a seat next to Kenna in the solar and scooped the babe into his arms.
“My, it won’t be long until you’re heavier than me,” he said to the child, who looked up at him with Kenna’s green eyes. The older boys looked the spitting image of their da, but this one had some of Kenna in the mix.
“I believe it,” Kenna said with a smile. “He’s an armful, I can tell you that.”
“He has a bit to grow until he fills my arms.” Cam smiled down at the bairn, who reached out and grabbed his lip. “Let me go, or I’ll have no choice but to bite those fingers off.” He made a chomping sound which caused the other boys to giggle and hold out their own fingers to be eaten by the giant. It was a game they often played.
“Is Mari well?” Kenna asked when the boys settled again.
“Aye. She’s sleeping.” He paused and thought of a tactic he hadn’t yet tried. “Actually, Kenna, she’s not well. She’s worried into a frazzle and willna talk to me about it. I want to help, but she keeps me at a distance. I ken she’s your sister, and she may have asked you to keep a secret. But I’m her husband. Should I not know what demons she battles?”
Kenna huffed out a breath and closed her eyes. “I’ll not feel guilty for speaking to you about it. I’ve given her more than enough time to tell ye herself, and she’s not done so. Very well. I’ll do it.”
Even after her defiant statement, Kenna looked around the hall as if making sure her older sister wouldn’t catch her in the act of betrayal.
“She received a letter from her maid in London. It said that Ridley is questioning the servants at her old home. As soon as he forces one of them into signing a statement that they know she went to Scotland, he will have his order to come here and take her back.”
“Is that why she paces the battlements? She’s watching for his return?”
“Aye. Though she hasn’t said what she plans to do if a river of red crests our hills. I’m worried, Cam. I think she plans to do something courageous—and therefore incredibly stupid.”
“Thank you for telling me the truth. I’ll see that she’s taken care of.”
With that, he went back to their room. He didn’t wait for her to wake. Instead, he opened her chest and rooted through her things. When he found no letter there, he went to the other chest.
“What are you doing?” she asked, sitting up in bed.
“Where’s the letter Lucy sent you? I want to read it.”
“Kenna.” Her sister’s name crossed her lips like a curse.
“Aye. Kenna told me after I asked for her help. Asking for your help dinna work, so I went to someone more reasonable. And how do you like that? The wild one is the more reasonable of the two of you.”
Mari stood and went to the blanket that had been on top of the chest. Folding over a corner, she retrieved the note and held it out.
His eyes scanned the paper twice before his mind made sense of the words written there.
“What do ye plan to do when he gets here?” Cam asked in a low voice.
“I’m not sure. But I can’t have you risk your life or the lives of your men for me.”
“That is not for you to decide.”
Brushing aside that nonsense, he left their room and headed down to the bailey. Knowing Mari was in danger pushed him into action. He pressed the men harder and longer. When they protested, he challenged them.
“At this very moment, the English could be on their way. We have to be ready. We have to be better. They outnumber us and outarm us, so each of you must fight as three men, not one. Liam, Paul, Rufus, come forward.” He waved at them to hurry.
