My Daring Highlander (25 page)

Keegan nodded. “Nor do I wish to put
our clan in danger. I hope you don’t think me a fool when I say—”
Hell, could he tell Dirk that he loved Seona without appearing
completely mad? Dirk loved Isobel, and he’d told Keegan as much.
Anyway, ’twas obvious to anyone who saw them together.

“Aye?” Dirk prompted.

“I cannot help that I love Seona, and
I cannot live without her now. Surely, you of all people understand
how I feel.”

“Of course, I do. I would’ve fought
twenty men singlehandedly, if I’d had to, in order to keep
Isobel.”

“I would do the same for
Seona.”

A knock sounded at the
door.

“Aye,” Dirk called.

Rebbie stuck his head in. “I thought I
heard a woman’s screams.”

Dirk motioned him forward. Rebbie
entered and closed the door.

“’
Twas this scoundrel who
caused it,” Dirk said. “He was discovered in Lady Seona’s
chamber.”

“Och.” Rebbie grinned. “You are naught
but a stag in rut, aye?”

Keegan’s face burned and he rolled his
eyes. “’Tis not the way of it.”

“Watch him blush,” Rebbie said. “’Tis
obvious he’s your cousin.”

Dirk frowned. “What’s that supposed to
mean?”

“Remember when you had to spend the
night in that wee cottage with Isobel? The next morn you were
blushing the same way.”

“You’re daft.”

“Nay. Your face was as red as your
hair.” Rebbie dragged another chair forward and sat
down.

“Pay him no heed,” Dirk
muttered.

“So… are you going to marry the lass?”
Rebbie asked.

“Indeed,” Keegan said. “If her father
will allow it.”

“Well.” Rebbie sat back and crossed
his arms. “I like that. A decisive man.”

Dirk nodded. “’Twould be an ideal
match, if only Keegan can gain her father’s permission.”

Rebbie hissed a breath between his
teeth. “Ambrose Murray is a wee cantankerous.”

“You know him?” Keegan frowned. This
was news to him.

“Not well. When I was a lad, he came
to our home to buy a horse from my father. They argued for half the
day about the price. Murray got a bit vexed at my father, although
in a veiled way. I remember him saying ‘with all due respect, my
laird,’ several times. My father was the Earl of Rebbinglen at the
time. ’Twas before his father passed and he gained the marquess
title. And Murray was newly chief and Baron of
Gillenmor.”

Isobel burst into the room. “Keegan, I
cannot believe what you did.” She smacked him lightly on the arm as
she passed by, like a sister might. “Seona is mortified. Lady
Patience is having a fit.”

He caught a glimpse of the smile she
was trying to hide, realizing she was halfway teasing. Still, his
face burned. “I am sorry. ’Twas not my intent.”

“It never is,” Rebbie
muttered.

“I but wished to speak with her. She’d
locked herself in her room for two days. I feared she was ill. I
ken you said she wasn’t,” he told Isobel. “But I had to see for
myself. I also wondered if she was angry with me, or if I had
offended her in some way.”

“Considering all the ruckus, I hope
you had time to steal at least one kiss,” Rebbie said.

Keegan narrowed his eyes at the
devilish earl. Aye, ’twas all a grand jest to him.

“He did,” Dirk said.

Rebbie smiled, then quickly sobered.
“How about this? I will go with you to take her home and I’ll put
in a good word with her father. I’ll tell him what an exceptional
husband you will make for the lass.”

“I like the sound of that,” Keegan
said. Indeed, Rebbie enjoyed needling others, but he was a good man
who wished to help when he could. “Do you think he will
listen?”

Rebbie shrugged. “He is no doubt a
stubborn man, but I outrank him. I don’t think he will tell me to
go to the devil.”

Keegan relaxed a bit. “I thank you for
your offer of help.”

Aye, perhaps the earl could convince
her father to see reason.

“And I thank you as well,” Dirk said.
“If you two would take the stallion to her father as a gift from
me, I would appreciate it.” He glanced down at his swollen calf.
“With this injury, I fear traveling that far would be a
problem.”

“Aye, send me to soothe Beelzebub
himself while you remain here in this floral and lace bower,
coddled by this lovely lass.” Rebbie waved a hand toward
Isobel.

Dirk grinned. “Not to worry, my
friend. One day you will have a sweet wife to see to your
wounds.”

“Och. Not a wife. Nay.”

“You will need a wee Rebbinglen heir,
will you not?” Keegan asked.

“Aye.” Rebbie grimaced, then shook his
head. “I pity the lady they saddle me with. I pity myself as well,
for she may be as homely as George.”

Imagining Rebbie’s lanky servant
dressed up as a woman, Keegan chuckled.

“Why do you not find your own wife?”
Isobel moved to stand behind Dirk and placed her hands on his
shoulders.

“Ha. Are you thinking my father would
allow that?” Rebbie asked. “He’s been scheming and searching for a
bride for me for at least a decade, mayhap longer. ’Tis his
favorite pastime. Gushing fathers and mothers with their lasses
constantly parade through his great hall, bringing him grand gifts.
Why do you think I never go home? He’d find some way to leg-shackle
me to one of them.”

“Well, you never know. One of them
might be beautiful and sweet,” Isobel said.

Rebbie lifted a brow. “If she is, I’m
certain my father would send her away. He will want me to suffer
greatly for what I’ve put him through over the years.”

“All the more reason for you to start
searching out a bride yourself,” she said.

Rebbie shrugged. “If I find a lady
that meets all my requirements, aye.”

“And what are your requirements?”
Keegan asked.

“Beautiful, buxom, sweet,
accommodating, a lady… but she should also have a wild side,
someone who is not too serious or aloof. Of course, my father will
demand that she be from a prominent family.”

“’
Tis what every man
wants,” Dirk said.

“And some of you get it,” Rebbie
muttered.

“I am a lucky man.” Dirk grinned,
taking Isobel’s hand and kissing the back.

“Forget requirements, Rebbie,” Isobel
said. “You need someone to fall in love with, who will love you
back.”

“Hmph. Not all of us can live in
fairy-land as you do, m’lady.”

“’
Tis not fairy-land. What
Dirk and I share is real.”

“Aye. I have no doubt of it. But I can
count on one hand the people I know who have a marriage based on a
love match. For the rest of the kingdom, marriage is a political
arrangement. You got lucky. I fear I will not be.”

Keegan feared he would not be as lucky
as Dirk either. And that realization was like getting gored in the
stomach.

“Lady Patience is saying she wishes to
leave in the morn,” Isobel said. “I tried to calm her down but
’twas no use. I feared she would fall into a fit of
apoplexy.”

“In the morn?” Keegan asked. “But we
have not yet found Haldane and his outlaws.”

“I’m not certain they will be found
until they wish to be,” Dirk said. “’Tis the way McMurdo has always
been. Haldane is becoming just like him.”

“Aye.” Keegan stood, the urge to see
Seona again near overwhelming him. He might not get to be with her
much longer. But he still could not conceive of giving her up. “I
should go apologize to Lady Seona and Lady Patience.”

“Nay, not now,” Isobel said gently.
“’Haps in the morn.”

He nodded, annoyed that he had made
such a grand blunder, getting caught in Seona’s room. “Very well. I
bid you all good-night.”

They responded in kind and Keegan let
himself out into the corridor. All was quiet and Seona’s door was
closed. He had to leave now, else Lady Patience might attack him
again with a fire poker. He strode to the end of the corridor and
took several steps down the spiral stair. A door opened and closed
behind him. He inched back up far enough to see who it was. Lady
Patience. She disappeared into her own chamber. Excitement lit
within him. Dare he go back and speak with Seona again?

If he did, he would get into deeper
trouble, for he didn’t simply want to talk to her. He wanted so
much more, and all involved physical contact.

***

Seona covered her head with the
counterpane and blankets, so glad Aunt Patience had finally
exhausted herself with that rant and gone to her own room. Seona’s
head throbbed painfully from the woman’s shrieks.

Aye, she knew her aunt would report
all the scandalous news to her father, but she didn’t want to think
of the horrid consequences right now. She’d already tortured
herself with those for the past two days.

Keegan loved her—that was
all she could focus on now. He’d said the words—
I love you
in that deep, spellbinding
voice. The look in his eyes had been serious, passionate and
emotional. He’d meant what he said. ’Twas what she’d hoped for
during the past few months.

She did not know the exact moment
she’d fallen in love with him. It had happened gradually with each
smile he’d bestowed on her. Each lingering gaze. Each touch of her
hand on his arm.

“Please, God,” she whispered. “Help me
to make Keegan my own. My husband. He is a good man.”

She knew Keegan would protect her
always and treat her like a queen. She imagined what life could be
like with him. They would share a bedchamber at Dunnakeil and sleep
together every night. He would kiss her until she was dizzy and
begging him for something she didn’t fully understand.

They would talk, laugh and make love.
She would never tire of gazing into his spellbinding blue
eyes.

She knew now—she’d always felt his
love in his kisses, from the first. Closing her eyes, she relived
that last one. His lips on hers created magic that sent her into
another realm, one where only the two of them existed.

But they couldn’t remain there
long.

Aunt Patience was insisting they leave
tomorrow and head for home. However, the castle where Seona grew up
was not truly her home. ’Twas a prison, and her father the
warden.

How would she and her sister escape?
How could Seona keep her father from knowing about her and Keegan?
She had to find a way to protect him.

Chapter Nineteen

The next morn, Keegan noted that Seona
did not eat at the high table with everyone else. But her annoying
aunt was there, giving him the evil eye every minute or two. If he
were to rise from the table and head for the stairs, she would no
doubt follow and try to bludgeon him again. He sighed and ate the
porridge, eggs, bacon, and oat cakes without enthusiasm. His
stomach ached with dread for today he had to take Seona
home.

An hour later, everyone
gathered in the back courtyard, near the sea gate, preparing to
board two of the twenty-oar
birlinns
which would take them to the
other end of Loch Duich. Their horses had already been transported
on larger
birlinns
and would be awaiting them so they could ride east through the
glen.

Keegan glanced up at the overcast sky,
gray as his own mood, but no rain fell.

Seona emerged from the keep, and when
her enchanting blue eyes met his, his heart somersaulted in his
chest. If her aunt hadn’t been beside her, Keegan would’ve
approached her.

Isobel hugged Seona and
they spoke quietly. His stomach knotted for he knew his time with
Seona would be short unless he figured out a way to convince her
father of his own worthiness as a husband. If the man was as
stubborn as Rebbie had indicated, likely even
he
would not be able to get through
to him.

“Why are you looking so grim?” Dirk
asked beside him. He had not even noticed his cousin
approaching.

“I’m sure you ken. I have a near
impossible task ahead of me. And why are you out here? Does your
leg not pain you?”

“Aye, but a warrior must pretend pain
does not exist.”

Dirk did appear a wee bit pale, and
Keegan feared he was not as recovered as he acted.

“You must take care of yourself and
mend,” Keegan said.

“I’ll do my best.
Hopefully, you will be back within a fortnight—with your new
bride—and we’ll return to Durness in the large
birlinn
the MacKenzie is giving me as
part of Isobel’s dowry. ’Tis an impressive vessel, far larger than
our others.”

“Aye.” Keegan could only
hope and pray Seona would be his bride by then. But if her father
said
nay
, what
would he do?

“You must be ever vigilant for
Haldane,” Dirk said. “Rest assured the only way to stop him from
his goal is to kill him.”