Page 20 of Bride Takes a Charmer (Highland Vows & Vengeance #3)

Sorsha was hesitant to leave Luthor. Being so young, she wondered if he would be afraid during the night or if he feared the dark. Before she closed the door, she heard him speak.

“I miss my mama and papa,” his little voice came.

Sorsha’s heart hurt hearing the desperation in his tone.

She approached the bedside and clasped his hand.

“They must miss you as well. Worry not, because we will find them. The king’s chamberlain will know where they are.

While we await word from him, I want you to consider yourself part of this family.

I won’t let anything happen to you, Luthor.

” She knelt next to the small fire in the hearth and stoked it to make it warmer in the chamber.

Then she lit the stub of a candle on the little table near the bed.

At least if he awakened during the night, he wouldn’t be so fearful.

“I will check on you during the night and will stay close, so do not be afraid.”

“I am not afeared, Milady.”

She knelt next to his bedding, tucked the covers around the courageous lad, and pressed her hand on the soft locks of his hair.

“I know you are not. You are the bravest lad and spent a good many nights by yourself. You are safe here, remember that. Now, close your eyes and sleep sweet, and I shall see you on the morrow.”

Before she left the chamber, Luthor rolled onto his belly and closed his eyes.

Sorsha closed the door and turned to leave the hallway when she spotted a woman entering a chamber next to Luthor’s. She wasn’t sure where she would sleep or if Shaw intended to share a chamber with her. Rodick never had.

At the top of the steps, she almost bumped into Edra, who carried her valise.

“Milady, I wanted to show ye where the laird’s chamber is.

And the men brought your belongings.” She ambled down the hallway and stopped at the door where she’d seen the woman enter.

While it was good that she wouldn’t be far from Luthor as promised, something struck her about the woman who had gone into Shaw’s room, and instead of entering, Sorsha turned away.

Her heart felt crushed. He was like all husbands, unfaithful, and had a roving eye.

How many times had she witnessed Rodrick taking his mistress into his bedchamber?

Too many to count. Not that she had mattered because Sorsha had been grateful she did not need to spend the night with him.

Still, a woman hoped for a devoted husband and she thought that Shaw would be so.

“I need some air and wish to walk about before I seek my rest.”

“Very well, Milady. I shall put your belongings inside your chamber.”

She couldn’t leave fast enough, certain that she would have interrupted Shaw with the woman. Certainly, that was something which she didn’t want to see!

When she reached the outside, she pulled her cloak around her and fastened it with its tie.

Sorsha walked along dejectedly, without a purposeful direction.

She wanted to cry at the thought that her husband had a mistress.

An even worse predicament before her was what she should do about it.

Should she confront him? Should she demand that he send the woman away? Or should she say nothing?

She’d always thought she wasn’t woman enough for Rodrick but she hadn’t loved him so it hadn’t mattered.

But for Shaw to have a mistress was unbearable.

She loved him, she realized, and didn’t want to share him with any woman.

She would fight for him, she decided, but first she’d need to confront him.

“Ye look like ye have the weight of a crag on your shoulders, Milady.” A woman stood before her, the one she’d seen when they first approached the Mackintosh village. “I am Niahm. Walen told me that our laird had married and I wanted to meet ye.”

Sorsha took in the beautiful woman who stood before her.

Her glorious reddish locks hung in waves about her face.

The woman had bluish-green eyes, rosy-hued skin, and pretty pink lips.

She was absolutely lovely. Compared to Niahm, Sorsha was as comely as a field mouse with her drab brown hair and similarly-colored eyes.

“Good eve, Niahm. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

“Are ye all right, Milady?” Niahm bowed her head, smiled, and moved to walk beside her.

“I am,” she lied. Sorsha wasn’t about to speak of her heartbreak to a stranger.

“Would ye like me to show ye around?”

Sorsha nodded and allowed the woman to lead her forward. “You mentioned Walen. How do you know him? I became acquainted with him many years ago when Shaw visited the king and we recently met again in Edinburgh.”

Niahm’s cheeks brightened. “We… ah , he comes by occasionally and visits.”

“Visits? Oh! By that, I suspect you mean that you and he are—”

“Pray, do not speak it, Milady, but aye I mean… that .”

Sorsha hid her smile because it was nice to have a woman to speak to and she hoped to befriend Niahm. “Are you close? Might he want to take you as his wife?”

Niahm’s gaze lowered and she looked at her feet. “I know not, Milady, but I hope he does. It has been my fondest wish that he notice me and he has. But ’tis well-known that he does not want to marry. I will not have false hope.”

They were sisters in mistreatment at the hands of men, Sorsha decided and she linked her arm to hers. “Niahm, call me Sorsha. I deem you are a friend and as for Walen… we shall endeavor to inspire him to offer marriage since you desire it.”

“Do ye think we can influence him?”

“Why not?” She took a deep breath. Now that Niahm had confided in her, and since she felt a camaraderie with the woman, Sorsha felt ready to share her worries. “Now tell me, does Laird Shaw visit many women in the clan? I am newly married to him and confess I do not know much about him.”

Niahm stopped her from moving forward. “Laird Shaw, as far as I know, has never visited any of the women in the clan. Why do ye ask?”

It seemed impossible. A virile man like Shaw had to have some kind of mistresses. Didn’t he? “Do the women visit him? I thought I saw someone entering his chamber and…” Sorsha hoped that her summation was unfounded. Did Niahm tell the truth? “Perhaps I was mistaken.”

“I know not if they visit him. But if ye are bothered by it, ask him. What is the worst that can happen? If he says aye , then at least ye know the truth. If he says nay, then ye can make him explain why the woman entered his chamber.” Niahm nodded confidently as if she knew firsthand what she spoke of.

“I do not want there to be discord betwixt us especially with us being so newly married. Perhaps I shall ask him…If I am not cowardly.”

Her new friend scoffed. “I doubt, Milady, that ye are cowardly.”

Sorsha reflected on her conversation with Niahm and chided herself for caring whether Shaw was interested in other women.

With the years of marriage to Rodick, she had learned her place as his wife was not as important or as coveted as much as that of being his mistress.

And she knew that Geoff Chattan would have been much the same, if not worse.

Now, even if her marriage to Shaw was less than what she expected or hoped for, at least she was better off than being married to Geoff Chattan.