Highland Solution (16 page)

“She became angry, ye were too hard-headed to give in, and decided to go to bed hungry instead. Why couldn’t ye have just appeased her and changed your clothes? What were ye wearing, anyway?”

“I was wearing this,” she said, pointing to the Highland clothes she wore.

“Is that when ye ‘stomped off’ to bed?”

“Nay,” she said miserably. “When she came downstairs and I hadn’t changed, she asked me why I defied her. I said I did not intend to defy her, but I did not have more appropriate clothes.”

“But ye do have other clothes. Ye have the Lowland gowns ye brought with ye.”

“Niall, that’s not the point. A gown is not more appropriate than what I am wearing. Anyway, that’s essentially what I told your mother, and she told me to leave, so I did.”

He shook his head and said, “Nay, Katherine, the point is, like it or not, and believe me I don’t like it, when Eithne is in residence, she is Lady MacIan. Ye defied her in front of clansmen, which I will not tolerate. Are you going to try to convince me your behavior was not willful this time?”

“Nay, Niall, but—”

“No arguments. Put on a gown, come downstairs, and apologize, so we can restore some semblance of peace.”

“Niall, I haven’t told you everything,” she tried to explain.

“I’ve heard enough. Ye were childish and disrespectful. Ye will make amends.”

“But what about my kertch?”

“Leave it off.”

“How can you ask me to do that? Shall I take off my wedding band, too? You’re a Highlander, you know what it means.”

“But ye aren’t a Highlander!” Niall yelled at her.

That stung worse than Uncle Ambrose’s whip ever did.

“Nay. I was just forced to marry one who always seems to believe the worst of me, give him my wealth, live in the Highlands with him, and help care for his clan. You’re right. I’m not a Highlander, how silly of me to think that,” she snapped at him.

“Not. Another. Word.” Niall looked furious. “I’ve had enough misery from that woman to last several lifetimes and I will not have ye adding to it. Ye will placate her until she leaves. Change your clothes. Now!” Niall roared as he left the room.

Katherine felt crushed. She put her sewing away, removed her kertch, and changed her clothes. With rigid determination, she forced back her tears before descending to the great hall. She could tell by the looks of pity she received from the Duncurra staff they had heard Niall shouting at her, telling her she wasn’t a Highlander. They looked as shocked as she felt.

Niall stood with his back to the room, staring into the hearth. She approached the table where Eithne sat gloating. Adopting her mask of indifference, with her head bowed, Katherine said, “My lady, I apologize for defying you in front of your clansmen last night. Please forgive me.”

“Well, I was appalled and insulted by your behavior. See that it doesn’t happen again.”

“Yes, my lady. Please excuse me now, there is work I must do.”

Eithne waved her away arrogantly. Katherine glanced to where Niall stood with his back still turned to her and, with her heart breaking, she escaped to the kitchen. There she found Bridie sobbing in Edna’s arms.

Fifteen

Niall introduced Tomas as their foster son that evening. Exactly as Niall expected, Eithne looked as if she had just smelled an exceedingly bad odor. Katherine had been right to shield Tomas until he returned. Malcolm’s cool reaction surprised him a little, and Niall got the impression he disapproved as well. However, Tomas had been the child of a peasant, and Malcolm and Eithne had spent enough time at court to be overly class conscious. He knew it would be best to limit Tomas’ contact with both of them.

Niall remembered vividly how Eithne expressed her displeasure with him when he was little. Initially subtle, she would give him a hard pinch or a thump on the head. As he grew older, she slapped him or took a leather strap to his hands or legs. Niall believed if she felt perfectly comfortable treating her stepson and even her own son in that manner, she would have no compunction about doing so to his foster son. One of his guardsmen would be assigned to stay with Tomas at all times.

~ * ~

Katherine chastised herself repeatedly. She knew how to protect herself from the likes of Eithne and was a master at controlling her anger and hiding her emotions. She had become complacent. Whatever gave her the idea she could have principles, much less stand on them? She became Katherine Ruthven, remaining quiet and calm, keeping her eyes downcast, and doing everything Eithne asked of her.

Having had no sleep the night before because of the raid, Niall looked exhausted by nightfall. After the evening meal, Katherine excused herself to put Tomas to bed. Niall, too, offered his apologies and followed Katherine and Tomas out of the hall. When they reached the second floor, Niall made to open the door to Tomas’ room and Katherine stayed him. “Your mother is staying in that room. I’ve moved Tomas’ things out for now.”

“Why did ye do that? She could have stayed in the other one.”

Katherine said pointedly, “Niall, Lady MacIan required this room for herself and the other one for Laird MacLennan. I put Tomas’ things in our room for now.”

“Fine,” he said irritably, going to their chamber. He looked angry and Katherine suspected he wanted to be alone with her, but it couldn’t be helped. She made a pallet for Tomas on the floor and slipped into bed wearing her shift.

“Are ye sleeping in that?” he asked angrily.

Katherine sighed, “What would ye have me do, with Tomas sleeping in the room?”

Niall growled, “Ye will find somewhere else for Tomas tomorrow.

~ * ~

When Fingal returned the next day, and Keith filled him in on the events of the past few days, he became furious. “He did what?” Fingal roared. “He let that bitch get to him!”

He was not going to let this slide. Fingal put a lid on his temper and sought out his brother, who was overseeing some repairs to the defensive wall. “Niall, can we talk?”

“Leave it, Fingal,” Niall warned.

With barely controlled anger, Fingal said, “Ye are my laird, and I would not show disrespect to ye, but ye are also my brother and that is who I want to talk to. Will ye talk with me privately?”

“Fingal, as your laird I am telling ye this is not a good day to talk to your brother.”

Fingal tried one last time, speaking very lowly, “Niall, she is my mother and that is only by sad chance. She has never been a real mother to either of us. She doesn’t have the capacity to love anyone but herself, and still ye give her free rein over your clan. Ye have a wife who has given ye her heart, and yet ye are letting the same woman who destroyed ye destroy her as well.”

“Fingal, I warned ye. Ye are crossing the line. Ye will not tell me how to treat our mother, this clan, or my wife. I am your brother, and because of that I am not going to call ye out on this, but if ye raise the subject with me again, particularly if ye make any comment about my wife, ye will pay the price. Do I make myself clear?”

With gritted teeth, Fingal answered, “Aye, Laird. Ye have made yourself clear.” He bowed and left, feeling frustrated and having nowhere to vent his anger.

~ * ~

For the next several days Niall had the peace he sought, but the strain nearly killed him. Eithne ruled Duncurra and he stayed away. Niall thought perhaps the tension was getting under Malcolm’s skin as well because he returned home, but Lady MacIan begged him to come for Christmas and he agreed. Because of that, Eithne refused to allow Katherine to put Tomas in “Laird MacLennan’s” room. Katherine put him in an empty chamber on the third floor, but Fingal woke most mornings to find his nephew on the floor of his room.

Each evening Katherine took Tomas to bed immediately after the meal. On the first two nights, Niall found her asleep beside Tomas and he carried her to their chamber without waking her. The third night he wanted her so badly he ached. He laid her on the bed and undressed her, kissing and caressing her bare skin as he went. In her state of half-sleep she responded to him instinctively. A little moan of pleasure escaped her lips as he continued the delicate assault. As she woke more fully, she returned his caresses and seemed to join with him willingly, but without the joyous abandon he found so erotic. Afterwards, Niall held her close, breathing in the clean scent of her, and feeling as if he had lost something.

~ * ~

She lay in his arms until she thought he had gone to sleep, then slipped out of bed. She put on a shift, wrapped an
airisaidh
around her shoulders, and sat on the floor near the hearth, resting her head on her knees as she stared into the fire.

“What are ye doing?” he asked.

“I thought you were asleep. I am cold.”

“Katherine, come back to bed, I will keep ye warm.”

“I just want to sit here close to the fire for a minute. I will come back to bed soon.”

“Come back to bed now.” He sounded irritated.

She hadn’t shed a tear since Eithne arrived days earlier. She had held herself together with her forced calm and it had been grueling. She wanted to please Niall, but he allowed Eithne to run rough-shod over his clan. She didn’t want these people, whom she had learned to care for, to suffer Eithne’s malice but she didn’t know what to do about it. Right now, more than anything in the world, she just needed to cry.

“Niall, please, please let me be. Please, go to sleep. I will come back to bed soon. Please...” she was trembling.

“Enough, Katherine, come to bed now,” he demanded.

“Nay,” she said. “Your quiet biddable wife will be back in the morning, I promise. I just—please....” She turned her head away from him as the first hot tears slid down her cheeks. She stayed as still as she could, knowing a sob would give her away.
Please just go to sleep.

“Are ye crying?”

“By all that is holy, Niall,” her voice cracked, “even Tomas knows I don’t like to be seen crying. Can’t you please, just this once, please let me be?” He was out of bed instantly. When he scooped her into his arms, she could no longer hold back the sobs.

“Wheesht, lass. Why are ye crying?”

She sobbed, “B—be—because—y—you’re an idiot.”

“What did ye say?” he asked, astonished.

“I said—I’m crying—because you’re an idiot.”

“That’s what I thought ye said.” He said nothing more, but held her while she cried. When her tears finally subsided, he asked, “Do ye want to tell me why I’m an idiot now?”

“Niall, after you saw how badly Uncle Ambrose beat me, you made me promise never to hide anything from you. Then, that day in the glen, you said you would try not to assume the worst, but you have. The one time I needed you, I needed to talk to you and tell you something, you wouldn’t listen. You ordered me to stop.”

“Is this about the day my mother arrived?”

“Idiot,” she said under her breath.

“Aye, that’s been established,” he said dryly, “and ye are right. Ye made me a promise and I made one to ye. I did warn ye it might take a few tries before I got the knack of it. Sweetling, I am sorry. I was tired and angry and I should have listened to you. Will ye tell me now?”

“Why bother?”

He tilted her chin up to look at her and said, “Because I asked you to.”

Katherine shook her head in frustration, but launched into the whole story. She started with Eithne’s chastisement for addressing her as “Lady Eithne.” When she reached the point where Eithne scolded her for not having a bath prepared, Niall said reasonably, “But she hadn’t asked for one.”

“She called me simple-minded when I made that observation. That is when she told me to remove the rag from my head. I said I understood she was a Highlander and I knew she would appreciate why I didn’t want to remove my kertch, and she slapped me. After that I was rude, and I should not have been, but—”

“She struck ye?” Niall’s eyes grew dark.

“Aye but—”

“She struck my wife in the face? In front of clansmen?”

“That’s what I wanted to tell you. That’s why I hid Tomas. Why wouldn’t you listen? I swear I tried to keep the peace. I—” she couldn’t hold back a sob.

“Wheesht,” he said, carrying her back to bed. When the new wave of tears had quieted, he said, “Katherine, ye are right. I am an idiot.”

The next morning when they rose, Katherine started to put on a kirtle and Niall shook his head, “Nay, Katherine, I was wrong.” He handed her a
léine
and an
airisaidh
. “She
was
Lady MacIan, but I am laird now, and ye are my wife, the lady of this castle. He retrieved her kertch, and giving it to her he said, “In the future, I won’t let anyone forget that.”

“This isn’t going to be pretty,” Katherine said, tying her kertch on.

When they descended to the great hall, Eithne sat at the laird’s table. “What’s the meaning of this?” she spat when she saw Katherine’s attire.

Niall answered, “Lady Eithne, there has been a mistake. Ye were my father’s wife and ye are Lady MacIan.” She smiled smugly. “However,” Niall continued, “I am laird here now. Ye chose to leave this keep more than twelve years ago, and during that time ye managed to impoverish this clan.” Eithne opened her mouth to protest, but Niall put his hand up to silence her.

“Ye have given up the right to any authority at Duncurra. Ye are welcome to live here, or in Edinburgh, or anywhere else ye choose, on the allowance ye have been given, but Katherine is the lady of Duncurra. Ye will show her the respect she deserves as my wife, and which she has earned by caring for this clan.” Eithne appeared to burn with fury, but before she said anything, Niall added, “One more thing, Lady MacIan, if ye ever strike my wife again, I will banish ye.”

Eithne stomped off to her chamber and did not emerge for the rest of the day.

Under Bridie’s strenuous objection, Katherine did have the evening meal sent up.

Once again Duncurra ran smoothly, but with Eithne in residence, things were not always pleasant. Katherine continued to find herself in the role of protector as she had been at Cotharach. Although she had the authority to prevent some of Eithne’s punitive behavior, she had no power to curb her acid tongue. Eithne continued to be an irritant to everyone who lived or worked at Duncurra, and the comfortable rhythm existing before her arrival was shattered.