Moonstone (24 page)

She had no words.
The baby quickened inside her. She touched her stomach. “I felt him. I wish you could feel it too, but I think he has to be bigger before you can.”

This was nothing like her first baby. She had felt no movement with that child. She’d also been underweight, and knew it was possible the baby was unwell from the start. This one was healthy and strong. She knew he was. He grew quickly
, and he wiggled inside her.

“Go within,” William said. “’Tis too cold.”

“But the sun is out.”

“I said go within.”

Rhiannon bit her lower lip and turned her back on him. She did not stay within the hall though. She found Alice and they walked together in the garden where William would not see that she had disobeyed
his Lairdship
.  

Chapter Twenty-Three

Rhiannon stood in the middle of the courtyard watching William ride away, hoping he would look back at her. But he didn’t. And he had not had the decency to make love to her the night before. Even that one gesture would have done so much for her sense of security.

Triona slid her arm around Rhiannon’s waist. “When he returns and sees you
holding his
bairn
in your arms, he will abandon his idiocy.”

But will I be able to forgive him
for it?

She wasn’t sure she
could.

“He is only trying to keep her safe,” Ronan said.

“Go polish your sword, will you,” Triona snapped.

He glared. Triona glared back.
With a sigh, he ducked his head to the both of them and swaggered off.

Triona gave Rhiannon a squeeze. “Let’s go within. You could use a warm drink.”

“I need more than some herbs in warm wine.” Her voice sounded as hollow as she felt. Triona led her inside anyway, sitting her down on a padded chair before a hearth. A mug was pushed into her hands. Rhiannon took a sip as she stared into the flames. “He may return to me, but only in body. I have lost him.”

“Strange, how he
says the same about you.”

“You say that, and I have tried to reach him, but he has built a wall so thick around his heart I cannot break through
it.”

Triona sipped her wine. “Then perhaps you need more powerful weapons.”

Rhiannon looked away from the fire. There was an impish gleam in Triona’s eyes. Rhiannon recognized it, and felt her spirits lift a little. “What are you thinking?”

“Maybe you should follow him.”

“But how?”

Triona leaned forward, talking quickly. “Give him a day, then take Mora and a guard and leave. You will be able to catch up with them because there will be only the three of you. Mora will be no trouble. She is uncommonly hardy.”

“What about you? Do you not need her?”

“One of her daughters will see to me. I have already done this.” She
looked at her stomach. She was past her due date. “Several times.”

“But what guard would be willing?”

Triona smiled. “The same one who brought me here when Ronan left without me.”

“Graham
?”

“
With the right persuasion, he will cave.” Triona nodded. “He may be unrivaled on the battlefield, but he is helpless when it comes to women.”

“He is . . .” Rhiannon needed to conquer her fears. “So big, and he is blond. I do not trust blonds”
Geoffrey had been blond.

Triona lifted her fair brows in question.

“I meant that I do not care for blond men.”

“Then Graham will help you work past that. Ronan has placed my safety in his hands more than once. Why would he do that if he did not completely trust him?”

Rhiannon took a deep breath. Maybe it was about time she faced her fears. Bravely.

Something she wished her husband would do.

One of them needed to be brave, because everything they had was crumbling down around them.

* * *

Graham sheathed his Irish long-sword. “Ye want me to what?”

Rhiannon stood before
him, Triona at her side. She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, willing her fingers not to shake.

“They are only one day ahead,” Triona said from next to her. “It will take no time at all to catch up with them.”

Triona nudged Rhiannon with her elbow, and Rhiannon, taking a deep breath, looked Graham in the eye. “Will you please take me.”

He
shook his head at the sky, then  sighed and pointed. “Off the field, ladies. Then we can discuss this.”

They made their way to
a three-sided shelter just off the training field. Graham turned to face them. He looked at Rhiannon, then came down to his knees, sitting back on his heels. Rhiannon realized Triona must have told him he intimidated her.

“If Laird William wanted to take ye with him lass, he would have
.”

“
Do it as a favor to me,” Triona said. “You know how miserable I was when I was in the same position.”

“Aye, I know.”

Rhiannon watched Triona stare him down. She possessed an open boldness Rhiannon used to have, before Geoffrey.

Or maybe it was still there, somewhere, hiding
; waiting for her to recapture it and set it free. 

“Please,” she said. “This is something I have to do. But I cannot do it alone.”

“Laird William will have my head for this.”

“He could never stay mad at you,” Triona said. “
He loves you too much for that.”

He eyed Triona, then focused on Rhiannon. “What of you, lass?
Can
you travel with me?”

Rhiannon cleared her throat.
“It will not be easy, but yes, I can.”

He watched
them for a moment.              

“Please Graham,” Triona pleaded.

He scratched at his neat blond beard. “Ready yourself. We will leave tomorrow morning.”

Triona hugged Rhiannon.

“Ye can both thank me later, assuming my head is still attached to my body.”

“I will warn Mora,” Rhiannon said.

“Mora?” he asked. “There is to be another one?”

“The midwife. You would not
want her to leave Mora behind, would you?” Triona asked.

“Nay,” he said with feeling. “I would certainly not.”

“I will smooth everything over with Ronan when he finds out you’re gone,” Triona said.

“Wonderful,” he muttered.

* * *

Rhiannon
closed up her saddle bag. “Are you sure you will be all right without Mora?” she asked.

“I’m sure,” Alice said. “Are sure you are up to this?”

“Very sure. I have to. William has to know that I can do this.”

“Please, take care of yourself.”

Rhiannon took Alice’s hand, squeezing it. “I will.”

Alice came around the bed post, hugging Rhiannon. “Please come home safely.”

“I promise. Take care of Connor, and your baby when he comes.”

“I will. Best your husband, my lady, and be sure to do it well, so that he will always know what a fool he
really is.”

Smiling, Rhiannon hugged Alice one more time. “Thank you.”

“Always.” Alice wiped her eyes and took up the bag, slinging it over her shoulder. “I will carry this to your horse for you. I’ll go out the servant’s entrance. No one will notice as long as I am careful.”

Alice slipped out, going one way. Rhiannon went the other. She met up with Triona and they continued on to the stables, where Graham and Mora were waiting for them.

“I hope this doesn’t get you into trouble with your husband,” Rhiannon said.

“Dinna worry about it
. Ronan enjoys trouble. That is why he loves me.”

Graham was
in the stable when they walked in, holding her stallion’s reins. Alice was there as well. Mora was already seated upon a white mare.

Triona hugged Rhiannon. “God speed,” she said.

“With any luck I will be home again before my baby comes.”

Poor Alice was teary-eyed
again, and Rhiannon gave her yet another hug.

“We have not b
een apart like this ever before,” Alice said.

“I know.
It will not last long, and you have Connor now, anyway.”

“But it is not the same.”

No. It wasn’t the same.

“I love you.” Rhiannon released her, looking down into Alice’s earth brown eyes.

“I love you, too.”

Graham gave Rhiannon a hand onto Jeremiah. The tall charcoal stallion curved his neck around, watching her with one dark eye. She scratched his neck.

Graham mounted. “Ready?”

Rhiannon nodded. “As ready as I
can be.”

Chapter Twenty-F
our

“You might want to see this,” Angus said, jogging up to William. “I do believe we are being followed.”

William tossed a stick into the fire and rose to his feet.  “By whom?”

“It might be better if I show ye.” He nodded to Alec. “You too.”

William and Alec followed Angus out of camp and over a craggy hill. Boot soles slipped over exposed granite in the dark, overcast night.

“There.” Angus pointed across the glen. A small campfire split the cold, dark night.  “Their group consists of one rather large man, a young woman, and an old one.”

William wasn’t the swearing sort, usually, but he used a few choice words anyway. In two different languages.

“Graham,” he
said finally.

Angus scratched his
red beard. “Tattoos and all.”

Rhiannon was afraid of Graham. She would never have schemed him into accompanying her. Unless it was Triona’s idea. In which case, anything was possible.

“Rhiannon asked me to talk to you before we left,” Alec said. “She wanted to accompany us.”

William studied Alec in the low light. His shoulder length hair was the same color as Rhiannon’s. His facial expressions reminded him of her too.

“I told her I would not get between the two of you,” Alec said. “My sister is willful. It is a family trait. If she wants to be with you, then she will find a way.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Perhaps I should have warned you sooner.”

“I will deal with her.” William cocked his head at Alec and Angus. “You two head on back.”

Alec gave no argument. Nodding, he turned away. William had to give him credit for knowing enough to mind his own business. Alec and Angus half-slid back down the hill. William moved forward on sluggish limbs.

He would send Rhiannon back.

He should send her back.

He didn’t want to send her back.

William knew
he being an arse. But if he gave himself to Rhiannon entirely, and then lost her, it would unravel him, and he couldn’t take that risk. It would hurt too much—the rotting kind of pain that ate a man from the inside out.

Graham looked up as William neared. He rose to his feet, ducking his head in greeting. Rhiannon followed Graham’s line of sight, then
jerked, making William flinch. He needed to decide how best to respond to her, and soon. Trying to force her to leave was out of the question. It made him sick to his stomach, anyway.

  Graham said something to Rhiannon and she stood, clasping her hands behind her. Mora watched them
with a look that said she knew he was an idiot, and he’d better do right by Rhiannon, or she was going to personally knock some sense into him.

Rhiannon
came forward, her skin washed to a soft golden hue by the firelight. His chest felt tight and his blood warmed at the sight of her rounded body. He wanted nothing more than to carry her off in his arms.

She stopped before him, hesitated, then launched herself into his chest. He caught her, noticing the changes in her body since the last time he’d taken the
opportunity to actually hold her. She was warm and full of life.

“Say nothing.” Rhiannon pressed her face against his neck. “I know you are angry with me, and I understand why. I went through a hundred different arguments with you in my head, but right now, all I know is that I need you. If all you have to give me is your touch, then touch me. We can fight about this in the morning. Just love me tonight.”

He backed them away from the others, then wove his fingers in her hair and lifted her face to his. He bent and tasted her softly. She was sweet, and perfect, and even better than his best memory.

“Take me,” Rhiannon whispered against his lips, curling her fingers in his shirtfront. “I need to feel you again.”

William lifted her up and carried her away.

Laying her out on his plaid in a secluded niche, he warmed her with his skin
. Both were wordless, yet far from silent.    

* * *

She awoke before dawn, stirring in his arms. William kissed the top of her head, wary. He felt used, but at a loss. He couldn’t deny her when she gave him what he needed. Physically. But he had time to think during the night, and there was something he needed to know, aside from whether or not she was capable of bearing his child safely. He needed to know that she was willing to forsake all else for him. England, her brother . . . and what? Herself? Was that even fair?

He knew it wasn’t.

But he couldn’t seem to help himself.

Rhiannon looked up, smiling, sleep in her eyes. Then the passion of the night before vanished like morning dew and she looked away, her face pink. He left her under his plaid as he gathered her clothing
and helped her dress.

She was more beautiful than ever with his babe growing within her. William touched her face and she leaned into his hand.

“We should rejoin the others,” he said, knowing those were probably not the first words she wanted to hear from him.

Her eyes dimmed, and
Rhiannon pulled away, walking off. William followed. The smell of fresh oatcakes and gruel filtered through the damp morning air. Iron pots clanged.

“I need to speak with my men,” he said.

She took a breath as if to say something, then appeared to change her mind. “I will eat.” Rhiannon glanced at the fire, then her gaze flicked over William. “I brought Mora with me.”

“I saw.”

“I rode Jeremiah.”

“Good. He will watch out for you.” William tightened her cloak around her shoulders.

“And will you?”

He couldn’t meet her gaze. His eyes focused over her head. “Aye, lassie, of course I will.” He rubbed her arms out of habit.

Unsure of what else to say or do, he turned and walked away.

William sought out Graham and found him with his palomino mare. He was just settling the saddle over her back. 

Graham rested his big, sword-nick scarred hands on the pommel of his saddle and sighed, his head bowed. The wind clicked the beads in his long hair together. “I would like to say they caught me off guard,” he said. “But seeing as this is not the first time I have done this, I realize that I have no excuse.”

William couldn’t be angry with Graham. For one, Graham didn’t work for
him. He worked for Ronan. Second, Graham was his friend. Third, and most importantly, Graham was his own man. He
chose
to follow Ronan.

“I understand.” And he did, all too
much. “I recognized my cousin’s handiwork all over this.”

Graham straightened, his hands falling away from the saddle.

“I should have known, anyway,” William said. “What did they do, gang up on you?”

“Aye.” He shook his head. “I didna have a chance
against two pregnant women.”

William looked over his shoulder at Rhiannon. She was sitting with Mora
now, a bowl in her hands, steam rising off it.

“Maybe I should have brou
ght her in the first place.” William ran his hands through his hair. “I willna send her back.” Blast it, but he was going to cave and keep her with him. He still planned to kill Geoffrey though. “I need you to watch out for her. It is really important. For the remainder of this journey, I put her safety in your hands.”

“Aye, my laird.”

* * *

William spoke
to her very little over the remainder of their journey. Rhiannon saw more of Graham than she did her husband. She found herself all the way to Richard and Margaret’s hall, still unsure whether she would ever win William’s heart.

“I thought I would never see you again.” Margaret sat down on a padded bench beside Rhiannon.

“I thought I would never set foot in England again.”
Rhiannon looked into the flames that leapt about in the hearth. She didn’t like the smell. It lacked the earthy scent of peat.

Margaret took a sip of her wine. “I wonder how long the men will be about their planning.” She glanced over her shoulder across the dining hall, as if she expected her husband to enter at any moment.

“You seem happily married,” Rhiannon said. “I am glad. Richard is a good sort of man.”

“
He is, and the things I heard about him before we met were completely wrong. People said he was fat and he had a lazy eye.” She laughed. “They said he let his retainers defend him, and that he never stood up for himself.” Margaret’s eyes lit, and she leaned closer to Rhiannon. “They say that love can make one blind. I remember when I first set eyes on him. And I will admit his hair in not as thick as perhaps it was ten years ago, and that he is not as trim as some men his age. But when he sparred in my mother’s garden with my cousin, I knew the charges against him were all wrong. He moves with perfect grace and is completely capable of protecting me, should it ever come to it. And more than that, he is kind to me.”

“Does he plan to aid Alec against Reginald?”

She nodded. “Of course.”

“Are you frightened?”

Margaret shook her head. “I have watched him train, and he does, every morning.”

“And do you watch him
every
morning?”

“Yes. I do.” Margaret grinned. “And what of you?” She looked Rhiannon over. “Did you ever get the food I sent to you last year?”

“What food?”

Margaret’s face fell. “I had a servant take food to your, well, to Hanover. I told him to go to the servant’s entrance and ask for Alice.”

“Someone must have taken it from Alice. I believe there are things she has not told me, in order to spare me any further grief.” Rhiannon took a breath. “’Tis over now.”

“Did you know anything about
your husband before he married you?”

“It didn’t matter at the time. He was my only chance at a normal life.”

“When I was told that I would be marrying Richard, I thought my life was over. And Alec . . . I never meant to hurt your brother, but I believed it was my duty to my parents to marry Richard.”

“I will not say
Alec is happy about it, but he knows why you made that decision.”

Margaret scooted forward. “Tell me what happened exactly. What made your Highlander come so gallantly to your rescue?”

Gallantly to her rescue.
Yes, that was what he did. If only he could remember how much he had wanted her back then. “William was there at Geoffrey’s hall when I first arrived. He saw the way I was being treated, and challenged Geoffrey for my hand.”

“Just like that? How romantic. Did he even know your name?”

“That was
all
he knew.” Her heart ached.
William, what has become of us?

“So. . . What is wrong?”

“This.” Rhiannon smoothed her hand over her stomach. She wore only light boning in order to give the child room.

Margaret smiled. “
I had wondered when I first saw you, but I didn’t want to ask. That is wonderful news. What could possibly be wrong?”

“William. He lost his parents when he was young and now he fears he will lose me to childbirth.” Then there was Deborah, but that was William’s secret pain, and she would not divulge it.

“I am sure he will change his mind when the child comes. My parents depend on Richard and me to produce an heir. It is taking us so long. I worry it will never happen.”

“Come to Scotland. It must be in the air.”

The double doors at the far end of the great hall opened and Richard stepped through. He was of an average height and build, but there was something about the way his eyes sparkled when he looked at Margaret that made him handsome.

Rhiannon’s
heart ached with longing.

She felt the baby move. She and William could have used a wee bit more time together before nature took is course, but this was their child, and she could not deny the warmth that spread through her every time she felt the baby quicken inside of her. She wished she could share that joy with William.

Alec entered, making a wide berth around Margaret and Richard, his eyes focused straight ahead. Rhiannon stood and moved forward, sharing a sympathetic look with Alec.

“When?” she asked.

“Tomorrow night. The sooner the better, otherwise Reginald may catch news of our actions.”

She nodded, then looked at the door in hopes of seeing William. “Where is he?”

“I am not sure. I thought he would join us. Perhaps he had to speak with Angus, or Graham.”

Rhiannon tried not to let the rejection show on her face. But it must have, because Alec touched her arm. “Why do you not retire, ’tis late. William will show himself eventually.”