Page 66

Just outside the village of Lockerbie

The Scottish borderlands

Three weeks later …

“HAVE YE HEARD … the Mackays are here?”

Greer looked up from where she’d been sewing a tiny tunic, blinking as she came out of her reverie. “Excuse me?”

Across the tent, her maid, Morven, smiled.

Greer didn’t like the glint in the woman’s eyes or the thinness of her smile. Not for the first time, she wished Inghinn was with her. However, Inghinn was wed to Errol now, and they lived in Druminnor.

Inghinn Forbes was part of her old life, whereas Morven Sutherland belonged to her new one. And whereas Inghinn had always been fond of Greer, Morven had taken against her from the moment they’d met.

“Aye … two parties, one from Castle Varrich and another from Dun Ugadale.” Morven watched her with predatory intensity, measuring Greer’s reaction.

But Greer gave her nothing.

She’d known that the Mackays had offered their help to the crown, as had the Sutherlands, and she’d braced herself for their arrival. Nonetheless, Morven’s announcement had thrown her. On the outside, she kept her expression sanguine, yet on the inside, she was in turmoil.

It was unlikely Brodie was among those from Dun Ugadale, yet knowing that Iver Mackay—the man who’d thrown a punch that had knocked his brother senseless—was nearby made nausea wash over her.

Putting aside the tunic, she stood up, rubbing her sore back as she did so.

Despite that she was surrounded by burning lanterns inside her husband’s tent, the light was poor in here.

It wasn’t good for her eyes to work on sewing and embroidery for too long—and not only that, but it felt as if the sides of the pavilion were closing in on her.

“I shall take a breath of fresh air,” she announced, speaking slowly, for words drained her these days. She then made her way toward where her maid stood by the entrance.

Morven’s sharp blue eyes narrowed. “Ye should remain indoors, Lady Greer,” she said. “Yer husband will be displeased if ye wander far.”

“I’m sure Malcolm won’t mind if I take a turn around our enclosure,” Greer replied, awkwardly brushing past her. “Ye are welcome to join me, if ye wish?”

Actually, Greer would have preferred to take a stroll alone. Nonetheless, that wouldn’t be possible. Malcolm liked her to be accompanied at all times.

“Oh, I shall , Lady Greer,” Morven replied tightly.

Greer stepped out into bright sunlight, blinking owllike as her eyes adjusted.

The late April sun warmed her face, a reminder that they’d left the bitter weather of winter behind.

On the journey south from Dunrobin Castle, the landscape was awash with butter-yellow daffodils.

They’d passed through woodland where snowdrops and bluebells carpeted the forest floor and had seen newborn lambs running after their mothers across velvet-green hills.

It was a lovely time of year—Greer’s favorite—but this spring, there was no joy in her heart, no excitement for the coming summer. These days, there was a veil between Greer and the rest of the world.

She was numb, wooden.

Her reaction to Morven’s news about the arrival of the Mackays was the first time she’d felt anything in months. She needed to walk it off, to regain her comforting sense of detachment once more.

Beyond the Sutherland pavilion lay a sea of colorful tents. Banners—a red shield studded with three golden stars—fluttered in the breeze. They had the Sutherland motto ‘sans peur’ underneath them.

Without fear.

“Ye shouldn’t walk too far,” Morven said, hurrying behind her. “Not in yer condition.”

“I’m well, Morven,” Greer replied with a sigh. “I’m with bairn … not infirm.”

Morven muttered something under her breath, yet Greer ignored the woman. According to the midwife, she carried the bairn well and high, and wasn’t due for another two turns of the moon.

Nausea washed over Greer once more, bile stinging the back of her throat. It wasn’t because of the bairn she was carrying—she’d suffered little sickness during the past months—but fear.

The midwife had predicted that the bairn would arrive in late June, after considering when Greer and Malcolm had been wed and lain together for the first time.

But the woman didn’t know that Greer had already lain with someone else.

Greer’s heart started to race, sweat beading on her brow. If this bairn was Brodie’s, she’d likely give birth much sooner—and when she did, everyone would know the babe wasn’t Malcolm Sutherland’s.

A breeze whipped through the camp, causing tents to flap, and bringing with it the smell of crushed grass, and horse.

They’d arrived at the amassing army on the outskirts of the village of Lockerbie just a few days earlier. But already, the numbers of those supporting the king had swollen.

Most of those rallying here were lowlanders—Johnstones, Carruthers, Maxwells, and Scotts—who had previously been dominated by the ‘Black Douglases’ but now revolted against them.

But the Highland clans that had sworn allegiance to the king were here too: the Sutherlands, Mackays, MacLeods, and the Gunns.

On the edge of the Sutherland tents, new standards had been erected. Golden flags with a black boar’s head upon them fluttered in the breeze.

The Campbells were here as well, and just the eve before, Greer and Malcolm had taken supper with the Lord of Glenorchy and his wife.

Greer caught sight of a tall, regal figure up ahead then, an older woman with white hair pulled back into an elegant knot. Sheena Campbell was unmistakable, even at a distance. She’d just emerged from the pavilion she shared with her husband, a woolen shawl about her shoulders.

It had been a surprise indeed to see Sheena here—and to discover she was now married to Colin Campbell.

Catching Sheena’s eye, Greer raised a tentative hand.

The two women had hardly spoken the eve before, allowing their husbands to talk politics and battle strategy instead.

Sheena had been polite, if a little aloof, with her, and Greer had little to say either.

After learning what Brodie had suffered at this woman’s hands, she couldn’t trust her.

She was also unsure how Sheena would react to her, knowing what had happened last summer.

However, Lady Campbell favored her with a nod now before walking in her direction.

“A fine afternoon for a stroll, is it not?” Sheena greeted her.

Greer forced a smile. “Aye.”

“My old bones could do with a little movement to ease my aches,” Sheena went on, holding out an arm to her. “Will ye walk with me for a while?”

Greer nodded, even if she couldn’t help but think all Sheena’s talk of ‘old bones’ was a ruse. In truth, she glowed these days. Greer had seen the way she and Colin looked at each other. The softness in Sheena’s eyes when she gazed at him had surprised Greer.

She’d never seen the former Mackay matriarch look at anyone in such a fashion.

Sheena’s attention shifted then to where Morven had halted behind Greer. “Ye can leave us, lass,” she instructed briskly. “I shall escort Lady Sutherland back to her tent once our walk is done.”

Greer glanced over her shoulder to see Morven’s pretty face tense. The maid had a fiery, dominant temperament—and sometimes Greer believed her father-by-marriage, Robert Sutherland, had installed the woman as her servant deliberately—but she visibly withered under Sheena’s imperious stare.

“Go on, Morven,” Greer said wearily. “I shall not be long.” Without hesitating to see her maid’s reaction, Greer then took Sheena’s arm. “Let’s go.”

They moved off across the trodden grass. The smell of smoke from cookfires drifted toward them, from where men were readying supper for the soldiers. Greer could also hear the faint shouts and grunts of warriors sparring with each other on the outskirts of the camp.

Greer’s belly fluttered then, and she placed her hand upon it. As if sensing her nervousness, the bairn had just given her a sharp kick.

“Ye are carrying the bairn high,” Sheena said, eyeing Greer’s swollen stomach. “I’d say it will be a lass.”

Greer swallowed, forcing another, brittle, smile. “Do ye think so?”

In truth, she didn’t want to talk about the bairn. She was walking with Brodie Mackay’s stepmother. The woman was a reminder of everything she’d lost.

They strolled in silence for a short while, circuiting the edge of the Campbell enclosure. It was a pleasant afternoon indeed, and Greer slowly relaxed. The feel of Sheena’s arm through hers was reassuring, and Sheena wasn’t the sort to fill empty silences with prattle.

Not like Greer once had.

Her throat tightened. When her father had called her a ‘silly chit’, it had stung, but she’d had plenty of time over the past months to think upon his words. And she didn’t agree with his estimation. She hadn’t been silly; she’d just carried the world lightly upon her shoulders.

How she missed that cheerful lass.

“Is it Brodie’s?”

Sheena’s voice snapped Greer out of her thoughts. All at once, the ease she’d felt shattered. She’d forgotten how blunt Sheena could be.

Heart pounding, she forced herself to meet the older woman’s gaze. Sheena’s dark-blue eyes were penetrating, demanding honesty.

“I don’t know,” Greer whispered, her voice suddenly hoarse.

“But the midwife will have told ye when the bairn should arrive?”

“Aye … but this bairn isn’t large and the midwife doesn’t know …” Greer’s voice trailed off. Lord, she couldn’t continue, couldn’t admit to Sheena what had happened. After all, the woman couldn’t stand Brodie.

Moments passed, and then Sheena huffed a deep sigh. “Christ’s blood,” she muttered “What a mess ye two have made.”

Greer’s throat thickened, tears misting her eyes. She couldn’t reply; she’d start sobbing if she did. Lord, she wished the numbness would return—it was preferable to this agony.

“And yer husband … does he know?” Sheena asked then.

Greer blinked, forcing down her grief. It was easier in Sheena’s forbidding presence, for the woman gave her no pity. “I’ve said nothing … and if he has guessed, he has never said,” she admitted huskily.

It was true: she and Malcolm played a game these days, one where they pretended she hadn’t ruined herself, and that there was no doubt she was carrying his child. It was a game she clung to, for anything else might harm the bairn.

And she would do everything in her power to keep this child safe.

Greer’s hand went to her belly once more, and she felt something kick the palm of her hand.

“Oof,” she murmured. “She’s feisty today.”

Sheena arched an eyebrow. “Some of them are. Lennox kicked my innards like a donkey for the last month or two before I gave birth to him.”

Despite the misery that pressed down upon her breastbone, Greer’s mouth curved at the edges. “Aye,” she replied. “I can imagine Lennox doing that.”

The two women continued on their way, silence falling once more. Eventually though, it was Greer who shattered it. She knew she shouldn’t ask this question, yet this was her only chance. Who knew if she’d ever take a walk alone with Sheena again?

“How is Brodie?” she asked softly.

Sheena didn’t reply immediately. Moments passed, and when Greer glanced the older woman’s way, she saw that Sheena stared ahead, her jaw tight.

Under other circumstances, Sheena was the last person she’d have asked, but Greer was desperate. She thought the woman might reprimand her, or refuse to answer, but to her surprise, she didn’t.

“I saw little of him after his return from the northeast,” Sheena replied, still not looking in her direction. “He locked himself away in his forge and shunned contact with the rest of his kin.” She paused then. “When I left with Colin, shortly after Yuletide … things were no different.”

Greer’s breathing grew shallow at this news. She hated to think of him as unhappy or suffering. Yearning rose up, so sharp that it twisted like a blade under her ribs.

“He’s here … ye know?” Sheena said after a weighty pause.

Greer stumbled before coming to an abrupt halt. She then pulled her arm free and turned to face Sheena. Her heart started to gallop, her hands curling into fists at her sides. “He is?”

Sheena nodded, watching her warily. “Aye … maybe I shouldn’t have told ye, but ye shall no doubt hear it from someone else, sooner or later.

” Her gaze slid down then to Greer’s midsection, her jaw tightening.

“However, I think, for everyone’s sake, it is better if he never discovers ye are present too. ”