Page 8 of Highlander’s Captive Bride (Troubles of Highland Lasses #4)

8

O n the way back to Elodie’s chambers, discreetly shadowed by Jamie, Daisy pondered what Nadia had told her about the upcoming Beltane celebrations. It was a high point of the year—the official beginning of summer—and a holiday throughout the land. Masses of folk would be attending, and there would be a lot of drinking. It was the perfect cover for her escape.

People would be so merry, they would not notice if she slipped out of the castle. She figured if she took a horse, she could be miles away by the time everyone sobered up enough to realize she was missing. By that time, it would be too late. She would be back at Castle McGunn with Dominic, able to help Violet at last.

Though she intended to take her chance to get away, she felt almost torn in two. The thought of Violet’s condition worsening in her absence tormented her. At the same time, she was wracked with guilt at the prospect of leaving little Elodie to her fate.

* * *

Bellamy had been rushed off his feet for days. On the one hand, the committee handling the arrangements for the Beltane celebrations seemed unable to make the simplest of decisions without consulting him first, taking up a lot of his time.

On the other, the dissatisfaction rife within the council over his unorthodox procurement of the healer was also demanding an inordinate amount of both time and energy. And between times, there was still the usual day-to-day business of the clan to oversee.

When he was not engaged in one or another of those tasks, his mind dwelled either on praying for a cure for Elodie, or on the woman striving so hard to find it.

How unexpected had been the kiss they had shared. And how sweet! Replaying it in his mind, he could almost taste her lips again, and he was freshly amazed at the way she had kissed him back with such fire.

At every turn, Daisy surprised him. Never in his life had he met a woman like her. And deep down, it scared him.

“I think ye’ve bitten off more than ye can chew with that one,” Jamie told him one evening.

They were lounging in a couple of wingback chairs in Bellamy’s study after the day’s business was done, their boots up on the fender in front of the blazing hearth. Each had a dram of whisky in hand.

“Aye, she takes nae prisoners, that one,” Bellamy agreed, shaking his head in genuine wonder. “Ye can tell she’s a laird’s daughter—the way she talks so high and mighty. There’s nae fear in her, nae respect. She may be small, but she has the guts of a man. She yelled at me so loud, I thought me eardrums would burst.”

Jamie cackled with delight. “Och, what I wouldn’t have given to be a fly on the wall.”

“And I’m glad ye weren’t, for I ken I’d never have heard the end of it!”

And that was also the very reason why Bellamy was withholding from his closest friend the effect Daisy had on him.

“So, ye havenae told me, what was this fight about, then? I’ll wager it was something to do with ye taking her to task for letting Elodie outside,” Jamie asked, clearly unable to suppress his amusement.

“Aye, ye’ve hit the nail on the head there,” Bellamy confirmed, his mind flashing back to the argument, to Daisy’s blazing eyes as the accusations of his fatherly inadequacies had poured from her mouth. “She reckons I dinnae spend enough time with the wee lassie, that I dinnae even ken me own daughter. She called me a hypocrite, saying how I’m always going on about how Elodie is the most precious thing in the world to me but I dinnae make an effort to spend time with her. I make the lass miserable by shutting her out, she says.”

He downed his dram in one swallow and looked across at Jamie. His friend’s boyish grin had been replaced by a frown of concern.

“Ach, that’s harsh,” Jamie muttered, knocking back his dram, too.

“And d’ye ken the worst thing about it?” Bellamy continued. “It was that I knew it was all true. She was absolutely right. I found meself tongue-tied, unable to deny it, though I was furious at the time.”

He sighed and stared into the fire reflectively. “No one has ever dared say such things to me before, except ye,” he added, feeling suddenly stricken by sadness and an unfamiliar feeling of inadequacy unbecoming of a laird. “But she was just speaking the truth.”

“All right. I can see that was upsetting for ye, but if ye admit to yerself that she was only telling ye the truth, or what she sees as the truth, then what d’ye intend to do about it?” Jamie asked, leaning forward, turning his glass in his hands.

“Things have to change,” Bellamy told him unequivocally. “Ye ken better than anyone what that wee lassie means to me. I’d rip out me heart to save her if I have to. When she was a baby, it was nae trouble to play with her…”

Once again, he paused for thought before continuing. “But the truth of it is that the bigger she grows, the more she resembles me sister, and it hurts me heart to even look at her sometimes. It’s gotten worse and worse. Now, sick though she is and desperate as I am to have her healed, I cannae deny that I find it almost impossible to spend time with her. Daisy was right. I have shut me daughter out.”

“I guessed it might be something like that,” Jamie told him with compassion in his voice. “I ken it must be very hard for ye to admit that to yerself, let alone to me. But Elodie is just a wee lassie. She loves ye with all her heart, and even I can see it hurts her sometimes when ye go in to see her and then leave five minutes later.”

“Aye, and that’s what’s got to change. I see now that I’ve been weak,” Bellamy mumbled.

“Weak? How d’ye mean?” Jamie asked, his face a picture of puzzlement.

“Aye. Weak. Selfish,” Bellamy answered with a scowl. “I say I love her, and I do, but I’ve been putting me own pain first instead of her feelings. I havenae been the faither she deserves. I couldnae face up to seeing Bridie in her face, so I’ve deliberately shut her out, and I’ve hurt her in the process.”

“Well, I must say, I’ve never seen ye like this before, Bel, not since Bridie died,” Jamie said after a few moments of deafening silence.

Bellamy got up and went to get the whisky flagon, bringing it back with him. He topped up their glasses before sitting down again.

“So, what d’ye plan to do about it?” Jamie asked.

“Buck me bloody ideas up!” Bellamy exclaimed with grit in his voice. “Make time for the lass every day. Read to her. Play with her. Take her out with me. From now on, I’m goin’ to do all the things a good faither should do.”

* * *

One evening, Daisy was on her way to check on Elodie with a new concoction she hoped would help settle the obvious inflammation in her stomach. It was a variation of the original one containing powdered chalk that had seemed to provide the child with some relief, and Daisy was eager to try it out and see the results.

She figured that even if she had failed to find the cause of the illness so far, she could at least provide the girl with some respite from the pain as well as a good night’s sleep.

Just as she opened the door to Elodie’s chambers, she heard a giggle. She smiled, for it was encouraging to hear the little girl laughing in the circumstances. Then, she heard a deep baritone voice talking in low tones. It sounded remarkably like the Laird’s.

Surely not, she thought, entering the room. But she stopped in her tracks, gaping in shock to see that it was, indeed, him. She blinked to make sure she was not imagining it.

No, it was him all right, large as life, sitting on the bed next to Elodie, with a book in his hands, reading a traditional Scottish fairytale to her. Some of his long, dark locks, which were tied atop his head, had escaped and flopped over his forehead.

There was something arrestingly boyish about the gentle expression on his usually grim features that made Daisy’s heart clench, giving way to a strange fluttering sensation in her chest.

Elodie was sitting up in bed, her face alight with pleasure as she gazed adoringly at her father, clearly hanging on his every word. The fluttering in Daisy’s heart increased, and the resentment she had been harboring for the Laird since their argument turned into a warm glow in her chest.

He actually listened to what I told him!

When they heard her come in, the Laird broke off his narration, and father and child turned to look at her. She could not help smiling at them both. But when Bellamy’s eyes met hers, he did not return her smile. His gentle expression changed instantly to one of almost brooding intensity.

His eyes darkened suddenly, and his gaze flickered up and down her body before seeming to settle on her lips. The fluttering in Daisy’s heart intensified under his inspection, and only when he gave her the briefest of nods and looked back at his daughter did the strange feeling begin to abate a little.

“Daisy!” Elodie squealed, beaming at her. “Da’s reading me a bedtime story. Is that nae grand?”

Fighting to maintain her self-control, Daisy somehow managed to make it to the other side of the bed and sat in Poppy’s chair. She tried to rein in her smile a little and appear somewhat professional. Despite the fluttering sensation in her chest, she did not want Bellamy Kane to see how touched she was by his action.

One story changes naething.

“Well, well, that is certainly a nice surprise, hinny,” she told the little girl sweetly, casting a pointed look across the bed. “How kind of him to find time in his busy day to come and read to ye.”

“He is very busy, Daisy,” Elodie argued. “Are ye nae, Da?”

Bellamy pinned Daisy with a penetrating glare, tilting his head questioningly as if to say, “What are ye at, woman?”

However, what he actually said was, “A clan disnae run itself, ye ken? There’s much to do and only one Laird.”

Daisy maintained her smile, feeling a smidgen of triumph at having annoyed him. “Ye could say that’s a blessing,” she said, feeling the urge to needle him further, tickled by the glower he sent her. She saw him open his mouth to speak, but she cut him off. “I mean, what a blessing for the clan to have such an efficient chief.”

The dark slashes of Bellamy’s brows drew together, but he leaned back in his seat, folding his arms across his chest, continuing to stare at her. She decided to ignore him, and instead, she turned her attention to the child.

“Well, me pet,” she said to Elodie, feeling her forehead and noting that her temperature had dropped considerably since the morning. “I’ve made some new medicine for ye to try, to soothe yer poor tummy and help ye sleep. I put some honey in it for ye, for it might not taste very nice on its own. Would ye try it?”

Elodie nodded obediently, taking the little cup Daisy handed to her.

“Hold yer nose and down it goes!” Daisy intoned, the rhyme meant to help Elodie swallow what were often quite foul-tasting concoctions.

With a giggle, Elodie held her nose and swallowed the medicine in one go. “That wasnae too bad,” she declared, handing the cup back to Daisy.

“Well done,” Daisy told her approvingly. “Here’s yer reward for being so good.” She pulled a barley sugar sweet from her pocket and gave it to the little girl, who took it, looking delighted.

“Och, thank ye, barley sugar is me favorite!” Elodie exclaimed, popping it in her mouth and grinning at her father. “Daisy is so kind, Da,” she told him earnestly. “She’s the best and kindest healer who’s come to help me, ever. Thank ye for bringing her here for me.”

Daisy felt the Laird’s eyes upon her as he replied, “That’s why I chose her. Because she’s the best, and only the best is good enough for me wee lassie.”

Hearing these words, which seemed directed at her as much as the child, Daisy felt the butterflies clamoring more urgently in her chest, as if desperate for release. She silently watched as Bellamy brushed the hair back from Elodie’s face tenderly, while Elodie sucked happily on her barley sugar, looking from one to the other.

“But she isnae so kind, for she didnae bring me a sweetie,” Bellamy added suddenly in a plaintive tone, a grin flickering across his lips as he caught Daisy’s eye.

Daisy could not quite suppress the chuckle that left her lips, and Elodie burst out laughing. The sound was like music to Daisy’s ears. When the Laird laughed, too, the butterflies in her chest went mad.

“Only those who have been very good get a sweetie,” Daisy said, straight-faced, struggling to calm the butterflies.

“I suppose it depends on what ye mean by good,” Bellamy returned.

“I suppose different people have different ideas about that,” Daisy shot back.

“Like the monster in the story,” Elodie chimed in. “She tried to do good, but the people chased her from the village because they thought she must be bad just because she was a monster.”

“That’s right,” Daisy replied. “Ye cannae always tell what people are like on the inside by looking at the outside. And vice versa. Especially not monsters.”

She saw the Laird’s lips twitch at that and felt she had scored a point, enjoying sparring with him.

“If I ever meet a monster, I shall try to be kind to it and find out what it’s really like inside instead of just running away,” Elodie pronounced.

“And that’s why ye’re a very clever lass,” her father told her, shooting a glance at Daisy, who suddenly felt the room was unusually hot.

Just then, the door opened, and Nadia and Poppy came in, chattering animatedly. They both stopped and stared at the tableau around the bed.

“Well, goodness me!” Poppy exclaimed, beaming at the trio and bobbing a curtsey to the Laird. “’Tis quite a party we have in here. I think we’ve been missing out on the fun, Nadia.”

“Aye, it would seem so, indeed,” Nadia replied. “Good evening, M’laird,” she added, crossing to the bed. Bellamy nodded at her. “Good evening, Daisy.”

“Good evening, Nadia,” Daisy replied as the young woman came to stand next to her. “How did yer meeting with the ladies go? Did ye get much done?” she asked, recalling what Nadia had told her earlier.

Daisy was quite taken aback when Nadia’s head suddenly snapped towards her, and the girl’s eyes suddenly bored into hers, with what Daisy could have sworn was a look of fear.

“Meeting?” Nadia repeated, her voice oddly tense.

Daisy frowned in confusion. “Aye, I thought ye said ye were meeting up with the ladies of the committee to start making some of the Beltane decorations.”

She watched the fear fade from the girl’s expression and her face relax, as if in relief. Daisy wondered why that should be as Nadia’s lips curled into a small smile, and she nodded.

“Aye, aye, of course,” Nadia replied, her tone more even. “Och, ’tis all going very well, thank ye.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Daisy murmured, bewildered by the girl’s strange response. But there were more important things to think about just then, so she shrugged it off.

Now, Nadia was smiling down at Elodie. “I thought we could play a game together before bedtime, Elodie, if ye’re nae too busy with yer company,” she said.

“Och, I do want to play, Nadia. Da’s finished reading me a story, and I’ve had me medicine, and Daisy gave me a sweetie, too, for being good, so I’d love to play a game with ye,” Elodie agreed in an excited rush.

“It sounds like ye’ve been having a grand time, me pet,” Poppy said from the end of the bed. “But it’s getting near yer bedtime now. I think we’d best give ye a wash and get ye into a clean nightie. Then, ye can have some hot milk and play a wee game with Nadia before ye go to sleep, eh?”

“Thank ye, Poppy, I’d love that,” Elodie replied, looking more content than Daisy had ever seen her.

They all looked at the Laird as he suddenly rose to his feet. “Well, I’d best be off, lass, seeing as it’s yer bedtime, but I’ll come and see ye tomorrow, eh?”

“Do ye promise, Da?” Elodie asked, a small, worried frown appearing on her face as she looked up at him.

Daisy’s heart went out to her, praying the child’s tender heart would not be wounded again.

Bellamy leaned over and kissed Elodie’s forehead. “Aye, I promise. And I’ll read ye another bedtime story. Sleep tight and make sure only to have sweet dreams. That’s an order from the Laird,” he added with a mock glower, eliciting another giggle from her.

“I will if ye will, Da,” Elodie shot back, a glint of mischief in her eyes.

Bellamy laughed, once more setting Daisy’s poor heart aflutter with the obvious effort he was making to show more affection to his daughter.

As long as he keeps it up.

“I’ll do me best, hinny. Good night to ye, ladies,” he said to Nadia and Poppy, who returned his farewell politely.

“Daisy,” Bellamy uttered, at last, turning to Daisy, his dark gray eyes flashing in the lamplight. “Let me ken how that new medicine works out. Good night to ye.” Giving her a curt nod, he strode out of the chamber.

When he had gone, Daisy’s butterflies calmed, and she felt the atmosphere in the room change. The tension that always seemed to exist whenever she and Bellamy shared a space faded away, allowing her to breathe easily again. She, too, decided it was time to go and rest, and stood up.

“Here ye are, Poppy, ye can have yer chair back,” she said. “Now, will ye make sure to note if this new concoction I’ve given the lass has any effects, good or nae?”

“Of course, Daisy. I’ll be keeping a close eye on her,” the young servant promised.

“Thank ye. Ye ken where I am if ye need me,” Daisy added.

“Aye. I’ll call ye if anything happens, ye can be sure. Good night to ye,” Poppy assured her.

“Thank ye. Good night to ye, girls,” Daisy said, smiling at Elodie and Nadia, who responded in kind, before she left the chamber, eager for the peace and quiet of her own room, where she could think undisturbed.

However, as she made her way to her room, she could not help wondering why Bellamy had not escorted her there, as he always had before their argument and passionate encounter.

It truly did appear that he was deliberately avoiding her. That thought was accompanied by a peculiar pang in her heart, which she reluctantly had to admit felt very much like disappointment. She gripped the handle angrily as she opened the door, inwardly cursing herself as she entered her room, just refraining from slamming it behind her.

Wheesht, woman! Have ye gone quite mad? What is wrong with ye that ye should feel so, ye fool, when ye ken very well ye should be glad to see the back of him?

As she got ready for bed, she could not help reflecting on what a strange evening it had been. The most remarkable thing had been finding the Laird reading to Elodie, something she assumed had seldom if ever happened before. She knew how much it meant to the girl and hoped he would continue to spend time with her and show her the affection she deserved.

What made it doubly shocking was that he appeared to have taken her criticism of his parenting methods seriously, something she had never expected to happen.

Bellamy had revealed another side of himself to her that she had never thought existed.

She had personally witnessed his capability for brutal violence, and the passion in his kiss had lit a fire inside her that she had not been able to resist. But this unforeseen tenderness was in some ways even more alarming than either of those. Because it threatened to bring down the last of the walls around her heart that she was just managing to maintain between them.

If she allowed those walls to give way, she would be betraying the men who had given their lives for her.

Which is why I have to stick to me plan of escape. But in the meantime, I must work harder than ever to make sure Elodie is healed before I leave.