Page 12 of The Wild Rose of Kilgannon (Kilgannon #2)

My vision blurred as my tears came unbidden, and I held my hands tightly over my heart.

As the riders grew closer I looked in vain for Malcolm, but Robert was behind Alex.

The wind freshened, but I did not feel the cold.

All I could see was my husband as he moved toward me at that horrible walk.

With each step I saw more of the damage they had done to him.

Blood stained his shirt and his hair, and his right cheek was a battered and bruised mass.

He held himself stiffly, his eyes on us except when his gaze rose to sweep the men on the wall.

From behind me there was a stir of excitement as someone shouted the MacGannon war cry.

Alex’s head snapped up at that and a crooked smile flitted across his face.

He raised his hands in the air and I stifled a gasp as I saw they were bound together and then realized his feet were tied as well under the horse’s belly.

The soldiers stopped with Robert at a distance and let Alex come on alone.

He stopped before me. Angus grabbed the horse’s bridle and I met Alex’s blue, blue eyes for the first time in months, an expression in them that I could not read.

I smiled at him and spoke in a clear voice that carried to the soldiers.

“Welcome home, my love,” I said and Alex’s face crumpled.

He drew a deep breath as he struggled to regain control.

No one stopped them as Angus and Matthew undid his bonds and Alex slid to the ground and into my embrace.

I could hear Angus sheathing his sword. Alex and I clung to each other as the wind strengthened.

I closed my eyes and pressed my face against his shoulder.

He laid his cheek on the top of my head and I tightened my arms around his waist, much leaner than before.

He was holding himself up, I suspected, only through the force of his will.

“Thank ye for that, lass,” he whispered. “Thank ye. I dinna ken if ye would welcome me home.” I pulled back and caressed his uninjured cheek, tears streaming down my cheeks.

“Oh, Alex, my love, my love, how could you think that? I love you. I will always love you. All these months, all I wanted was you home, and now, thank God, you’re here.”

He nodded, his eyes filling with tears that he blinked back.

“Thank ye for that, lass,” he said again and glanced at the soldiers waiting behind us, then at Angus and Matthew.

He spoke to the three of us. “Robert Campbell and his men are here to take me to Edinburgh. I have only today and tonight. We leave in the morning.” At my wail he tightened his arm around me.

“Dinna cry, Mary Rose, dinna cry. I have no choice. I’ll go with them on the morrow and then Robert will come back to take ye and the boys to yer family, lass.

He has said he’ll see ye there safely. I’m assuming that the boys are tucked away somewhere. ” Angus nodded.

“No,” I said. “No! Alex, tell me this is not true! You cannot go with him.” I glanced at Robert, motionless on his horse, and then back at Alex.

“Alex, do not leave me again! Tell me you’ll stay!

Let Angus do whatever it takes to keep you here.

You don’t have to go. We can—” He interrupted me with a gentle finger on my lips, his tone weary.

“Hush, lass, hush. I canna stay. I have given my word.” He wrapped his arms around me and held me to him, whispering that he loved me.

The wind rose and the men around us shifted, but they all waited while he tried to explain it to me.

I heard only that he was leaving and I sobbed in his arms, remembering my barter with God.

One night , I’d begged. Just one night .

His arm tightened around me, but at last he turned to Angus.

“I have given my word that my conduct will be proper and that Kilgannon willna rise to free me. Tell me it will be kept. ”

Angus looked at his cousin without expression. “It doesna have to be. We could take them, Alex.”

Alex’s eyes flashed anger but his voice was calm. “Aye, and then the others would come and burn us out and rape the land and the women. I willna have it here and ye ken it well, we’ve discussed it enough times. It’s my decision, Angus.” Their eyes met and I felt Alex’s heart pounding.

At last Angus nodded. “It will be as ye say, Alex.”

“Thank ye,” Alex said and added something in Gaelic that made Angus’s face brighten.

I stepped back as they embraced. Then Alex hugged Matthew and turned to the others behind us, greeting them before facing the men on the terraces and walls.

He raised his arms and his voice as the clansmen roared at him.

“I thank ye for yer welcome,” Alex shouted.

He gestured to Robert. “This is Major Robert Campbell. His men are my escort and I ask that ye welcome them to our home. I will be leaving with them tomorrow. Please receive them tonight as ye would any guests at Kilgannon.”

The men bellowed in response and started moving off the walls and terrace toward him.

I was lost in a sea of plaids as they reached us, and I stood back, watching.

Alex was thinner and very drawn, his bruises startling colors, his shirt encrusted with blood from a wound hidden by his hair, a rat’s nest of tangles and matted clumps.

But he was standing and in one piece and he was home, still the Earl of Kilgannon.

I glanced at Robert and his men where they waited at a distance, not relaxing their guard.

Robert’s handsome face was a stone mask as he watched Alex, then turned to meet my gaze.

He dismounted and came to meet me as I walked toward him.

When we stood facing each other I extended my hand and he caught it in both of his.

“Welcome to Kilgannon, Lord Campbell,” I said loud enough for his men to hear.

He bowed over my hand and met my eyes before looking away.

It had been momentary, but long enough for me to see that Robert remembered as well as I all that had gone on before.

“Robert,” I said, in a quieter tone, and his brown eyes found mine again.

“Thank you for bringing him home. Thank you.” I embraced him.

At first he stood woodenly and then he clasped me tightly to him, holding me longer than was necessary.

As if realizing that, he abruptly let me go and I swayed at my release.

He grabbed my arm to steady me, then released me as though my arm burnt him.

Puzzled, I glanced up at him but he was looking behind me and I followed his gaze.

Alex had been swallowed by the crowd, appearing now and then as the men shifted position, but Angus stood apart, watching us with a grim expression.

I turned back to Robert but he had gone back to his men.

Both Robert and Alex had undergone a transformation and neither seemed the happier for it.

I fought my way to Alex’s side and his arm went around me.

“Mary Rose,” he whispered in my ear, then kissed me gently on the mouth.

“Mary Rose, I love ye, lass.” I clung to him as we moved up the terraces and into the courtyard.

Someone had told the women it was safe and they swarmed forward now, greeting Alex.

Wee Donald, Ellen at his side, thumped Alex’s back, then released him as Ellen embraced Alex and nodded happily at something he said to her.

How can she smile , I wondered, when Alex will leave again?

How can they all be smiling and laughing?

Do they not understand? And if they did not, I agreed.

I did not understand it all. I felt as though I watched them from afar.

Most of the clan arrived in the next hour to welcome Alex home.

Berta, Ellen, and I were hard-pressed to arrange food and drink for all, and it was quite a while before I found myself standing at the side of the hall next to Robert.

Alex’s eyes had found me wherever I was, and now was no exception.

He smiled at the clansmen before him but he watched Robert and me standing together.

And at the edge of the crowd around him Angus watched us as well.

If Robert noticed he gave no acknowledgement of it.

“You’d think he was home for good, not one night, Mary,” Robert said quietly. “Do they always greet him this way?”

“Yes,” I said and then took a deep breath.

“Robert?” He turned to me with a blank expression and I thought of the many times I had stood companionably next to Robert Campbell.

How strange life is, I thought, to bring the three of us together thus.

“Robert, why are you here? Why did you bring Alex home?”

“I am to bring Alex to Edinburgh for trial.” His voice was toneless. Whatever he was feeling was well hidden.

“Then you went the wrong way.” Something flashed in his eyes, but he said nothing. “I understand that you are bringing Alex to Edinburgh, Robert, but why did you come to Kilgannon?”

Robert looked at Alex and then at me. “He agreed to go with me without a battle and I agreed to spare Kilgannon. When we leave here I will bring him to Edinburgh and he will be tried for treason.” He lowered his head to speak very quietly.

“Mary, you must understand that if he escapes tonight, troops will come and take Kilgannon by force and then many will die.”