Page 32 of Claimed Highland Brides

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“F iona, wait! Stop! Why are ye making such a stramash aboot this?” Jamesina hurried after her sister, who had rushed away before she could explain that what she had seen was…not what she had seen.

Fiona wheeled around. “Did ye really just ask me why I am fashit aboot ye kissing my husband’s steward? A Sassenach? One who we dinnae ken if’n we can trust? One ye aren’a marrit to?”

Jamesina sighed, looking away from Fiona as her cheeks heated. “It wasnae like tha’. It was just…” She stopped, helpless to explain it even to herself. Of all her sisters, she considered herself to be the most sensible. The one who made sure the others weren’t letting their emotions run away with them.

What she had done with Delwyn was in a word…inexplicable.

“Will ye tell Daividh?”

“He is my husband!” Fiona snapped. “I shall have tae.”

Jamesina shook her head. She wanted to say that she had been Fiona’s sister for a lot longer than she’d been married to Daividh but she knew exactly what Fiona meant. The relationship she had with her husband hinged on honesty and caring, sharing their troubles. She knew that this thing was too big for Fiona to keep to herself.

Still, she was not prepared to face the consequences should Daividh decide to call her to account.

“If I may?” a soft voice said from behind her and she jumped, not having realized that Delwyn had followed them. Fiona fixed him with a glare.

“If you may…wha’?”

“I would like to assure you, Mrs. Campbell, that I am not in any way toying with your sister. I fully intend to make an offer for her.”

Fiona blinked in surprise. Jamesina turned to Delwyn with wide eyes.

“I beg yer pardon?” Jamesina said.

Delwyn looked from one to the other as if waiting for one of them to spring at him. “I said, I fully intend to make an offer for you.”

Jamesina turned to Fiona, at a complete loss for anything to say. Fiona looked back, eyebrows raised. “Weel?”

“Weel, wha’?” Jamesina was ever more bewildered.

“Do ye accept his proposal?” Fiona asked, looking at her as if Jamesina was slow.

“I…” Jamesina’s throat clicked, suddenly very dry. “I dinnae ken.”

“Ye kissed him and ye dinnae ken if ye accept his proposal?” Fiona practically screeched. Jamesina winced at the sound although Delwyn seemed perfectly unperturbed.

“Who kissed who?” a deep voice asked from the end of the corridor and Jamesina’s shoulders slumped in defeat. Fiona turned to face her husband.

“Daividh, something has happened,” she said, sounding nervous.

“Och aye? And what is tha’?” He came into the light of the torches, his brow furrowed as he looked from Jamesina to Delwyn.

“Your steward kissed Jamesina,” Fiona said in exactly the same voice she used to tell on Jamesina to their father.

Daividh’s frown deepened.

“And I have offered for her hand,” Delwyn cut in.

Daividh’s midnight blue eyes flicked from Jamesina to Delwyn and then back to Jamesina. “Did he force ye?” he asked her.

Jamesina’s eyes widened further. “Wha’? No, he dinnae force me!” she squeaked.

“Alrigh’ then. Ye havenae any objection to be betrothed ti him do ye?”

Jamesina just blinked helplessly.

“Let us give her the night tae think aboot it,” Fiona cut in, stepping between Daividh and Jamesina.

“Aye alrigh’.” His eyes flicked to Delwyn. “Ye should get some rest as well.”

Delwyn bowed to them and took his leave and she was left with Fiona and her husband. Fiona reached out a hand. “Jamesina, if he coerced ye in any way, now is the time tae say,” she said softly.

Jamesina let her lashes sweep downwards, hiding her eyes. She could not hide the flush in her cheeks, however, as she bitterly regretted ever going up to the ramparts by herself. She was embarrassed that her sister had caught her in such a compromising position and now she would have to deal with knowing that her brother-in-law—whom she respected and loved—knew what she did as well. Now they would be forced to deal with the Englishman in a way they evidently did not want to.

“I think I shall retire as well,” she said.

Fiona nodded. “I’ll take ye to yer chambers.”

Jamesina opened her mouth, about to object, but then closed it. She supposed she could not blame Fiona for her abundance of caution. Jamesina had clearly shown she could not be trusted.

They took the backstairs, walking in silence, the torches in their sconces lighting the way for them. Jamesina took a breath several times to say something but could think of nothing.

They arrived at her door without having exchanged a word. She reached for the knob but Fiona stayed her hand.

“Jamesina, look at me please.”

She raised her eyes slowly and met Fiona’s eyes. Her sister sighed. “Are ye alrigh’?”

She sounded so worried that Jamesina could not continue to stand stiffly next to her. She slumped forward, knowing that her more diminutive older sister would catch her.

“I’m sorry,” she said into Fiona’s neck.

“Dinnae fash. It’ll be fine.”

“I dinnae ken what I was thinking. One minute we were standing there, and then he kissed me.”

“Ye’re attracted to him. ’Tis only natural.”

“You think so?” she sniffled, uncaring that she was spreading snot on her sister’s shoulder.

“Tis obvious.”

Jamesina sighed. “I suppose it is. I like him. I dinnae want to marry someone I do not know and I am not attracted to. There is just something aboot him...” She straightened up. “But I dinnae ken if we can trust him.”

“Aye, I dinnae ken either. But love happens to ye. You cannae choose it. ”

They stared at each other helplessly.

“What will we do?”

Fiona shrugged and then smiled slowly. “Let’s sleep on it. Something might occur tae us in the morning.”

Jamesina turned and went to her chambers with a sigh. She really hoped that Fiona was right.

* * *

Delwyn thought furiously as he paced up and down in his chambers. By accident, he had landed in a situation that was to his advantage.

The question is, what will I do with it ?

He was very confident that the laird did not trust him. Neither did the laird’s wife. Hell, he wasn’t even sure what it was exactly that Jamesina felt for him.

What about me? What do I feel for her?

Delwyn couldn’t answer that question either.

He sat down on his bed with a sigh as the sound of a scream drifted up to him from the courtyard below. It was high-pitched and filled with laughter and it reminded him so much of Maegan. His sister was relying on him to bring her home and here he was agonizing about the fact that the means to do that had fallen in his lap!

He stood up and began pacing again, his mind running a mile a minute as he tried to reconcile his morals with the imperative to save his sister. The truth was that he was rather charmed by the girl. Sharing a bed with her and having all the time in the world seemed like a dream. He could easily get used to that! After all, he had to marry sometime. Never before had he met a girl he could imagine himself getting old with! She was witty, spontaneous, vigorous. He was calculated, calm and thoughtful. They completed each other!

I can marry her and pay the dowry and still be a good husband, can’t I ?

He stopped pacing for a moment, wondering if he’d hit on the answer.

But what will I tell her about her missing dowry ?

I can win her trust while being married and then tell her the truth. Delwyn resumed pacing back and forth, his mind spinning. His deadline loomed like a shadow in his mind. He knew a wedding announcement might buy him some time, but not much. If he did not give those men what they wanted heaven only knew what they would do to his sister. Delwyn did not think he could live with himself if he had not done everything in his power to save her.

He stopped pacing again, throwing off his tunic and divesting himself of his breeches before he crossed to the basin and used the cold water therein to clean himself up. He was glad of the cold, for it cleared his mind and made everything stand out clearly.

Once he was married to Jamesina, everything she had, including the dowry, would belong to him. She would have no right to question how he used it. As her husband, it was his right to spend it any way he chose. He would be doing nothing wrong in using a portion of it to save his sister. Once that was done, he would devote himself to being a good husband. She would have no reason to regret her choice.

With a heavy heart, he set aside any dreams he’d ever had of going to sea and seeking adventure. Clearly it was not meant for him. He changed into his nightclothes and burrowed under the blanket, trying to make a plan for tomorrow. Yet it did not surprise him at all when he heard a knock on the door.

With a sigh, he got up again and went to answer it. He stepped back, resigned, as Laird Daividh Campbell stormed into the room. He stomped up to the window and looked out, taking in the courtyard below before turning to face Delwyn.

“What d’ye want wi’ Miss Jamesina?”

Bereft of words and with no defense for his actions, Delwyn kept quiet. The laird took a step closer. “So ye dinnae intend tae speak at all?” he demanded.

He shrugged, spreading his hands out helplessly. “What can I say that will excuse my actions, sir? I acted in a rash and reckless manner and I am quite willing to take the consequences.”

“Especially when the consequences come wi’ a decent pile o’ gold eh?” Campbell eyed him cynically.

Delwyn took a deep breath. “I suppose it does make things easier to accept,” he murmured.

He’d barely gotten the sentence out when the laird leaped for him, wrapping his large hand around Delwyn’s neck. He squeezed, cutting off Delwyn’s air. “Ye think this is a jest? Ye think ye can just bandy my sister aboot like a wee bawbee? I shall end ye!” His voice was low, hissing, and absolutely threatening. Delwyn tried to swallow but the laird’s hands around his neck were squeezing too tight.

“I spoke... out of turn. Forgive me.” He managed to utter. He looked at Daividh’s eyes with no fear and then moved his head to the side. Daividh loosened his grip a bit so that Delwyn could talk. “What I meant to say,” he rasped, “was that while the thought of not having to provide a roof for my bride is somewhat of a relief given my reduced circumstances, I am not marrying her solely for that.”

“Solely?” The laird squeezed tighter. “So ye have other reasons? Like wha’?”

Delwyn closed his eyes, trying to construct a sentence that would not give him away. “Your sister is very becoming. I was taken with her from my first sight of her at the inn.” He realized as he said it, that it was the truth. He had been struck by her ruddy hair, a blaze of color that stood out in the midst of the dark, stony, dreary surroundings of the inn’s corridor. Her doe eyes, so huge and innocent, making him want to defile her in the filthiest ways. He was not surprised that he could not acknowledge those feelings before.

“So you elected to wha’? Follow her and see wha’ would happen?”

Delwyn could see that the laird was determined to take anything he said out of turn. He relaxed in the man’s grip, meeting his dark blue-eyed gaze with his own.

“I did not plan it, but…this outcome is not unpleasing to me. If you’re worried that I shall mistreat your sister in any way, I do assure you that I am a gentleman and will act accordingly.”

“Ye dinnae ‘act accordingly’ this night.”

Delwyn nodded, determined to remain unflappable. “That is true and for whatever disrepute I have brought to Miss Douglass, I am sorry.”

The laird exhaled loudly and with great annoyance. “Yer betroth will be announced taemorrow at breakfast. Dinnae be late.”

Delwyn’s eyes opened wide. He nodded his understanding and the laird strode out.