The Highlander's Lady (23 page)

Myra huffed. The woman had no idea what was at stake within Myra’s own life, or that going back wasn’t that simple and she wasn’t about to get into it with her.

At that moment, the door opened. Myra whirled around, ready to take off the head of whoever barged into her chamber only to see that it was Daniel. He leaned against the frame, filling the doorway with his body. He was magnificent and recently cleaned up. Even wore his hair back in a queue
as she remembered him. His eyes were sharp and stared from her to Julianna, question in his gaze.

“Apologies for intruding. I did
na know ye had company.”

“Julianna was just leaving,” Myra said sharply.

Julianna raised a brow. “I shall find ye…soon
.”

Myra wanted to shout for her not to bother, to go back to the kitchen and bake bread, but she knew that was not only rude, but unnecessary. Julianna did not mean to frustrate Myra. She was only trying to help as best she could.
Juliana didn’t have to confide in her
, and yet she’d done it all the same.

“Thank ye!” Myra called after her.

Julianna turned and smiled, dipping her head in silent acceptance of Myra’s unspoken apology. She closed the door quietly.

“What was that about?” Daniel’s voice was brusque and he crossed his large arms.

Myra tried not to laugh at the stern look on his face—it was all too obvious he was working hard to keep it there, for his eyes kept glancing down at her breasts making her face and other parts fill with heat.

For a few moments she contemplated whether or not she would tell Daniel what had transpired. She would.
The truth of it was, she trusted him. Completely. H
e was the only person she’d been able to trust since her brother’s murder.
Whenever she was with him, she felt safe. He would protect her, of that she had no doubt.

“The Bruce knew of Ross’ change of heart before we arrived.”

A black cloud filled Daniel’s face and she was certainly glad she was not on the receiving end of his anger.

“What? How is that possible?”

Myra shrugged. “Julianna claims the Bruce
knew of
Ross’ defection to the English. She didn’t say how.
”

“
And instead of warning anyone, they kept this information to themselves?”
Daniel’s eyes blazed with anger.

Myra rushed toward him, took his cold hands into her warm grip and squeezed. “Daniel, dinna be angry for my sake.
There wasn’t enough time for them to warn anyone.
At least the Bruce knew and when he accepted the invitation from Ross to meet, he didna walk into a trap.”

“How was it that Wallace didna know of it? He is supposed to be the Bruce’s right hand.”

Th
at
part, Myra didn’t understand either. “The only reason I can come up with is he informed the left hand and didn’t think the right needed to know.”

“Who is his left?”

She shook her head, studying Daniel’s large hands.
He had scratches all along the knuckles and his skin was rough.
“I dinna know. I suspect it is Julianna.”

“Julianna?” Daniel looked bewildered. “The kitchen wench?”

“She is more than that. She is his family.”

“Of what degree? Ten times removed? The Bruce would not have his family working his kitchens.”

“Are we not all family in some way? Maybe she was adopted in. I dinna know. I could hardly ask her. She speaks in riddles.”

“That I agree with.”

“Can I get ye some wine?” Myra asked, hoping to calm Daniel’s anger.

He nodded and slumped into a chair. “With Wallace chasing after the Bruce and the Bruce not truly in danger, what are we to do about the Ross warriors?”

He said
we
…

“Have ye spoken to Ronan about it?”

Daniel snickered. “Sort of.”

“What do ye mean by that?”

“We had a wee fight.”

She noticed then the redness beneath one eye. Must be where he scratched up his knuckles as well. Myra smiled. “Who won?”

“I did, of course.”

“Of course.”
She poured him a cup of wine. Outside the sun was setting and the moon shone silver behind the clouds. “What did ye think of the bluster the Ross warriors put on?”

“I found it…childish.
Annoying. Thought we were under attack but the bastards only threw filth over the walls and then ran away.
”

Myra
crinkled her nose and
sat across from Daniel, handing him the cup.

“Are ye not going to have any?”
he asked.

“I forgot. This whole mess has me tied up in knots.”
She rubbed her eyes, trying to rub away the tension that had built behind them.

“I’ll get it for ye.” Daniel set down his
cup
and stood gracefully for a man of his size. He poured her the cup and set it before her, then held his cup to hers. “To us.”

“To us.”

Somehow, they would make it through this unscathed. And somehow she would find peace and happiness… She hoped.

Chapter Twenty-One

“I
have a confession to make.”

Myra jerked her gaze up from the cup of wine Daniel had given her. “Confession?”

He nodded, his expression grim. “Aye, lass.”

He
said nothing further. When the room filled heavily with the words he left unsaid, so full of doubt, question and fear, Myra broke the silence. “Well, tell me what it is, Daniel.”

She sat forward, steadying her breaths, trying to ready
herself
for what he would confess.

“I know
ye plan to escape
.
That ye never planned to stay married to me. I canna allow that.
”

That was not at all what she expected. Picking up her
cup
of wine, she took a long slow sip. Despite her efforts to remain calm, her heart kicked at her ribs painfully and her stomach swirled with the stress of it all. He knew. That meant she wouldn’t be able to easily remove herself to Foulis. He would only follow her there. That meant there was no escape from this marriage.

Like it or not, she was going to be Lady Murray. Lady of his castles. And what of her own people? Myra slowly sat back in the chair, feeling the wood dig into her spine and shoulder blades as she pressed herself hard against it, almost
as though
she wished to become the chair. The wine left a sour taste in her mouth, made worse with his confession.
How the hell had he figured it out, and why did he want so badly to see i
t
through?

Not that a part of her didn’t also want to…

’Twas naïve of her to have thought that he would never figure out
her plan, that he wouldn’t confront her on it
. How many other things had she been naïve about? Her ability to rule Foulis until the bairn was born? Her ability to be a wife?
Perhaps she should creep back to where she belonged, within the castle walls and tell Daniel he was better off with one of the women his mother
found
for him.

“Lass?”

Myra glanced up, her eyes connecting with his. Daniel gazed at her, concern written in his features, and regret. He’d not wanted to tell her he knew
she’d leave, so why had he?

“Will ye not say anything?”

Myra swallowed hard, keeping her gaze steady on his.

“
What makes ye think I’ll run
?”

Daniel’s lip quirked into a smile. “Ye think I jest?”

“One can never be too certain about anything,” she challenged.

“Truer words have never been uttered.” He slapped his hands on his knees and leaned forward, his breath tickling her nose. “If ye must have me say it a
loud
, ye
’
re
eye twitches whenever talk of our marriage is uttered.”

“Ye’re lucky ’tis not my fist clutching a dagger twitching.”

Daniel chuckled. “’Tis good to see ye’ve not lost your sense of humor. Ye know the
one thing that drew me to ye when I met ye all those years ago was your vibrant personality. Why did ye shut me out, Myra?”

Confusion struck deep. “Shut ye out?”

“Why did ye not come back?”

“What are ye talking about?”

“At Foulis. We danced, we laughed, I went to get ye more ale while ye said ye needed a moment and then ye did not return.”

Myra did not recall that being the case at all. Vivid memories of returning to the great hall only to see that Daniel had filled the space where she’d been with several other ladies ran rampant in her mind. “That is not true.
And we’ve already had this discussion.
”

Daniel shook his head.
“
Not all the way, we never really delved into it. T
ell me the way of it, because I waited three days for ye to come out of hiding.”

Hiding. That was what she’d done after seeing that. And
aye
, three days was how long he waited, but she’d not thought he’d waited for her. She thought he was just using all that time to get
sow his oats
with the other ladies
present
.

“Ye were not waiting for me, Daniel. Let us not pretend that I meant something to ye back then, just as I will not pretend that I mean something to ye now.”

Daniel’s nostrils flared and he jumped to his feet.
His plaid swung angrily against his knees, hands fisted at his side. “Ye are even more naïve than I thought, or ye know just the
right way to twist a man’s kilt
to make
him
angry.”

Myra jumped to her feet too. How dare he start flinging insults at her? She stepped forward, her boot tips hitting against his. Tilting her head all the way back, she glared daggers up at the giant whose gaze was equally enraged.
T
he power of her anger overcame her fears
and her hands flew to her hips
. She was not going to back down.

“If ye think so low of me
,
why would ye want to marry me? Is it pity? Ye feel bad that Byron’s been killed so ye wanted to help out his lowly, unimpressive sister? Or is it even worse? Ye have a vendetta against the Ross and ye knew he and I were to wed so ye thought to steal me away instead?”

“Are ye mad or daft, or both?” Daniel growled, his face coming within inches of hers.

“How dare ye!”

“How dare I? Ye
slur
my manhood and my honor with your insults. I should take ye over my knee and paddle some sense into ye. Lucky ye are that I’m the one who found ye covered in blood in the woods. Another m
an would not be so kind to ye and your stubborn, ill-tempered mouth.”

Myra gasped, rage flushing her cheeks.
For once,
she was speechless. But not for long.

“Well, I’m sorry that ye had to come across me then. Sorry for having agreed to be your wife. But I’m not sorry for who I am. That is something I’ll never be sorry for.”

Daniel took a step back, his expression changing for a moment before he whirled around and faced the hearth. He stomped toward it, leaving Myra feeling cold
in his wake
. Where had the fight in him gone? What had she said? Mayhap he was simply realizing the error he’d made in choosin
g
her to be his wife.

Even though she’d though
t
the same thing, as much as said it…now she had doubts. Regrets in fact for having spilled the words.

“At Foulis,” she started, then stopped. Myra huffed a breath and trudged toward the slim windows, pulled back the fur covering and felt every bit of the chill wind that swept into the room. Her breath came out in a puff of steam and gooseflesh covered her arms, the cold and the emotions storming inside her making her nipples hard. The sky was clear, for once since she’d trekked out of the secret passage of her castle. Hundreds, thousands of tiny golden stars dotted the sky, and though there were no clouds she could still smell the snow.

“At Foulis?” Daniel said from behind her.

She’d not heard him approach. Myra didn’t turn around. She took a few moments, several deep breaths and worked up the nerve to say what she had wanted to say a few moments before. ‘Twould hurt her pride, embarrass her for certain, but if she did not say it now she was certain she would come up with every excuse she possibly could until she never told him. That would leave too much unsaid between them.

“At Foulis, I thought I’d found something special in ye,” she managed to say, though her voice sounded strangled. “I rushed off thinking I’d come back to ye worshiping me,
show
er
ing me with affection. Ye’re right. I was naïve, and since that moment, I’ve changed. I’ve grown up.”

Daniel’s hands slipped onto her shoulders and he squeezed gently, reassuringly. “If ye’d come back to me I would have.”

“Ye see, that’s the thing ye dinna understand, Daniel. I did come back.”

“When?”

“
I told ye afore, m
oments later, not long. Ye were surrounded by women. Smiling, laughing, touching their arms, just as ye’d done to me, and I knew that I was not special.”

Hot breath caressed along her ear as Daniel whispered, “Ye were special. If only ye’d watched a moment longer ye would have seen me shake them all off. I only had eyes for ye. Waited
with
baited breath day after day for ye to return to me. But ‘twas as if ye vanished. Gone. When I asked of ye, your brother…”

“Dinna say it. I have an idea of what he said.”

“Do ye?”

“Aye. I believe the negotiations were already being considered with Ross, although they were not finalized until recently. My father believed it would be best for our clan, and I think my brother would have pushed ye away. In any case, Byron was overprotective of me. Worried over me worse than my nursemaids.”

“Why?”

“’Tis a long story.”

“We’ve nowhere to go.”

Myra let go of the fur flap, feeling the instant warmth as the cold air was n
ot able to stream in so easily. She turned around, aware of how close to Daniel she stood. Every whisker on his face seemed to catch her attention, diverting her from the conversation. She knew that it would be rough and yet soft at the same time. Without thinking, she reached
toward his face and stroked two fingers over his stubble. Daniel closed his eyes momentarily. When he opened them his pupils were dilated.

“Ye think to distract me,” he murmured.

Myra gave a small smile. “Mayhap I was distracting myself.”

“Do ye need a distraction? Is it so difficult to talk about what happened in the past?”

“Aye, ‘tis.”

Daniel
g
rasped her hand in his, pulling it away from his cheek to his lips where he kissed her softly on the back of her hand.
She resisted the shiver that raced up her arm.
“Myra, I would never ask ye to do something ye dinna wish. Of that, ye must be aware. I didna make ye tell me your message to the Bruce, let ye share when ye were ready. If ye are
not
ready to share with me the pains of your past, then dinna.”

How could he do that? Make her admire him…dare she think it—love him?

Damn…
She wanted to pull her hand away as much as she wanted to sink against him, feel his lips on hers. Feel his arms wrapped around her. Myra bit her lower lip, turned her gaze back toward his, terrified that her feelings would be showing on her face. Could he see them? See how he affected her?

“Thank ye for understanding.” Myra swallowed, waiti
ng for Daniel to say something. W
hat
,
she wasn’t sure. She could stand here and gaze into his eyes all day, fantasize about his kisses, his mouth on her flesh. When her thighs began to quiver and her nipples hardened, she blurted out, “Why did ye not tell me
sooner about…
”

“Ye wanting to leave?”

“Aye.”

“Ye seemed to want to keep it from me. I didna want to force ye. I’m not a monster, lass. I figured in time ye’d
change your mind
. But time has passed and I didna think it was fair
to let the farce go on.
Didna want to wait until ye disappeared.
I
care
…for ye.
I dinna want ye to leave.
”

He
cared
for her. Hardly
the vast depth of emotions she had started to feel for him.
Myra
was utterly
disgusted with herself. How could she have allowed herself to fall so deeply for Daniel—without even realizing it? And he only
cared
for her. She cared for her maid. Cared for her horse, the several hunting dogs her father had owned. Myra cared for apple tarts and whisky. She didn’t care about Daniel. Nay, ‘twas all too obvious to her now that she didn’t simply care for the brute. Love had somehow found its way into her heart. Damn him.