Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT

“ W ill ye let me look at it, Domhnall,” Enya demanded. “Ye’re so bloody stubborn.”

“I’m fine. It’s a scratch,” he said, trying to pull his arm away.

But Enya was having none of it, and grabbing hold of his wrist, she pressed her hand against the wound. It wasn’t really a wound, but Enya was determined to heal the small cut, no matter how much he protested.

She had healed him many times before, and like on those earlier occasions, he felt a warmth move through his body, traveling from the affected area, and ending somewhere in his chest. For a second, as it was every time when Enya used her power, it was like the air had stopped and everything had fallen still.

Domhnall and a few of his men had been working in the great hall. Soon, the Yule log would be brought in and lit by the burning flames of the fire that sat in the huge fireplace. Before that could happen, the long wooden banquet tables needed arranging, as did the benches that sat beside them.

It had been as Domhnall had grabbed the end of one of the tables, that he had caught his hand on a protruding nail. A nail that ought to have been taken care of the moment it had been noticed. The cut was neither deep, nor did it hurt particularly much, but Enya had spotted it and the blood that dripped from it, and being the empathic and compassionate lass she was, could hardly help herself from going into her usual caring disposition.

Once the healing was over, however, Enya did not let go of Domhnall’s hand.

“We need tae talk,” she said, looking up at him knowingly.

“What is there tae talk about?” Domhnall feigned ignorance, but he knew his sister well enough to know what was coming.

Enya raised her eyebrows and gave him a look of disbelief. “Ye ken well what.”

Sighing, he moved several steps away from the other men who continued working. Besides the fact that he didn’t really want to discuss the subject anyway, he certainly didn’t want any gossip travelling around the castle. Whatever she had to say to him was none of their business.

When they were further across the room, Domhnall looked down at her expectantly as she looked up at him with the same expression. When Enya realized Domhnall was not going to speak, she shrugged her shoulders. “This cannae go on. Ye cannae keep avoiding Katherine as though by nae acknowledging her, she’ll suddenly disappear.”

“Now that would be a miracle I would look forward tae,” he growled.

“Domhnall!”

“Fine,” he hissed in frustration. “But I dinnae ken what ye want from me.”

“O’ course, ye dae. Ye’re nae a fool, so stop pretending tae be one. She’s going tae be yer wife soon, and then what? Are ye going tae ignore her then as ye dae now?”

“I’m nae ignoring her. She just isnae in the same places that I happen tae be.”

Enya planted her hands on her hips and tilted her head. “Then maybe ye ought tae find the places she is and be there,” she quipped back. “I’ve already told ye. This is as hard fer her as it is fer ye.”

He knew that. Not only had Katherine made her feelings perfectly clear, Domhnall was fully aware that she had been forced into this. He had spent some time considering her position over the last few days. English lasses were not the same as Scottish ones. In Scotland, the women often were as hardy as the men. In England, the women were treated as commodities.

Katherine was being used as a pawn in a game far bigger than either of them, and she had no more power over her fate than he. Taking his sister’s words several days before into account, he also realized that he had been offered the far better deal. While Katherine had been torn from everything she had known, he remained as laird in the same castle, ruling over the same lands, and looking after people he had known all his life.

Katherine knew no one. She had not even arrived with a maid, which Domhnall had found strange. From what he knew, a lady always had a maid. He had tried to work out why she had arrived alone but had reached no conclusions. Perhaps he ought to ask her, and maybe, had he not been avoiding her like she had a plague, he might have already known.

“So?” Enya pressed when Domhnall did not reply.

“So?” he repeated.

“Domhnall, ye’re being impossible. Whether ye like it or nae, ye have tae marry Katherine, and I fer one am nae going tae stand by while ye treat her like a leper.”

“All right,” he sighed. “I will try harder.”

Enya gave him a piercing look.

“I will. I swear,” he said, lifting his hands in assurance.

“Maybe ye can start now then,” she said, jerking her head towards the doorway. “Go and find her. Tak’ a walk around the gardens together.” Enya’s eyes widened and she gave him a determined look. “Avoid the streams.”

Domhnall couldn’t help but laugh at Enya’s expression, and while she tried to stop herself, Enya found herself letting out a little giggle too.

Giving her a quick kiss on the head and leaving the great hall, Domhnall strode through the castle in search of his future bride. Enya did make valid points, and in truth, he knew everything she said to be true himself. If they were going to be forced together, he supposed he ought to try and make the best of it, as stubborn as the woman was.

Rounding a corner, he met Kai and Magnus coming the other way. The three came to a stop, and Kai said, “I’m leaving for the MacDonald lands. I’ll be travelling back with Ava.”

Ava was Kai’s closest friend, and the MacDonald’s had been an allied clan for long before Domhnall was even born.

“Laird MacDonald is away, and willnae mak’ the wedding,” Kai continued. “I dinnae want Ava travelling all this way by hersel’. I’ll collect her and accompany her back here.”

“And the fact that ye have a soft spot for her has naething at all tae dae with it, I suppose,” Domhnall said with a slight smirk.

Kai shook his head. “Nae, I dinnae.”

“Och, come on, Kai,” Magnus added. “The whole castle kens that ye carry a flame for her. Though with all the other lasses ye have in yer life, I’m surprised ye have time for another.”

Kai smirked then. “I like tae keep me options open.”

“As open as a barn door,” Domhnall quipped.

“That’s just rude,” Kai replied.

Domhnall and Magnus chuckled.

“Maybe,” Magnus said through his laughter, “but probably true.”

Kai rolled his eyes and tried not to look like he found their jibing amusing.

“Are ye leaving directly?” Domhnall asked a moment later.

“Aye.” Kai nodded.

“Then be careful, keep yer eyes open, and stay safe.”

Domhnall then gripped his brother’s forearm and pulled him against his shoulder in a warm embrace. Magnus and Kai shared the same farewell, before Kai nodded to them both and turned back down the corridor.

Magnus and Domhnall then continued walking.

“I have news, and it’s nae good,” Magnus said.

Domhnall frowned.

“Birlinns have been discovered on the south o’ the island,” Magnus continued. “Scouts have tried tae discover who they belong tae, but nae one seems tae ken anything.”

“Katherine would have traveled in on a birlinn,” Domhnall offered.

“Aye, but the boat would have left as soon as she was on shore. These are still moored. Besides, there are three o’ them. Even with the men she brought, Katherine would only have needed tae travel in one.”

“Ye’re saying there are people on the island that dinnae belong,” Domhnall growled.

Magnus gave his older brother a wary look, confirming the very same, and at that thought, Domhnall felt anger beginning to rise. Had their family not suffered enough? More to the point, who had arrived on the island without his knowledge, and where were they?

“Where are the scouts now?” Domhnall growled, struggling to keep his temper under control. He hated the fact that he still could not seem to get a handle on his emotions, even after all these years.

“I have them spread across the island, braither. It may tak’ some time, but we will get the answers ye seek.”

“If it’s the English, I’ll kill every one o’ the bastards,” Domhnall spat.

Magnus came to a stop and turned to face him. “Let’s nae jump tae any conclusions yet. With the wedding on the horizon, it could be guests travelling tae the castle.”

Domhnall took a deep breath. It was a possibility. A possibility that hadn’t even occurred to him.

“Aye. I suppose ye might be right.”

Magnus nodded. “But tae be sure, I’m heading tae the guard’s quarters tae send more men out.”

“Good.”

“I’ll see ye at supper,” Magnus replied, turning the corner and leaving Domhnall with his thoughts.

Turning back the way he had come, Domhnall now had other things on his mind other than his future wife. Magnus may well be right. It could be guests coming from the mainland. But what if it wasn’t? He wanted to be sure, and what better way to discover that than sending a missive to those who had been invited?

He was nearing his study and readying himself to enter it, when the door opening brought him to an immediate halt. No one ought to be in his study without his knowledge or consent. No one ever dared. Even his own siblings did not enter without asking him first. It was surprising enough to acknowledge the fact that anyone was in his study. Who he witnessed exiting it, however, astonished him even more.

Katherine was in the middle of closing the door, when she turned to find him standing there, looking down at her.

“Oh, my god,” she gasped.

“Not quite,” Domhnall replied, looking down at her expectantly.

Clearly surprised at seeing him there, Katherine looked flustered and then a torrent of words spoken so fast flowed from her mouth, that they nearly tripped over each other.

“Oh, er… there you are. I have been looking all over for you. I… I was searching for you. Well, not exactly searching for you, but I have been looking for you. I thought perhaps, that you might have been in your study, but evidently, you are not.”

“Clearly,” Domhnall replied dryly.

“No. No. Clearly.”

“And why were ye looking for me?” he asked, wondering if he ought to be suspicious about how nervous she looked.

“Well. I… I thought that perhaps, we might… that we might. Er…” she struggled, floundering some more.

It didn’t exactly help her case, for either she was making all this up as she went along, or Domhnall’s piercing gaze was unnerving her.

“Go for a walk,” she blurted, as though her memory had that very second been restored. “Yes. That’s it. I thought we might go for a walk. Perhaps you could help me gather some pine branches like the ones you have in your study. They smell wonderful, it reminds me of the coming holiday season.”

Had she been talking to Enya? Hadn’t that been the very thing his sister had suggested only half an hour before? Was this some kind of conspiracy between the women to get them closer?

Domhnall didn’t know, and he certainly wasn’t going to ask. By how Katherine had acted in the last few moments, he would likely not get a lucid answer at any rate. There still remained a small niggle of suspicion in the back of his mind, but taking a moment to think about it, he couldn’t imagine what benefit she could get from being in his study.

After gazing down at her for another long moment, and coming to no conclusions of any harm she could do, he made the decision to just go with it.

“Shall we?” he said, gesturing to the corridor before them.

Still looking nervous, Katherine nodded her head eagerly, proving to be the most agreeable she had been since she arrived.

Maybe she was up tae something, but what, I cannae imagine.

Walking side by side, the complete opposite of moments before occurred, and the conversation fell into a silent lull. In truth, Domhnall did not really know what he ought to say. Indeed, she was going to become his wife, but so far, he could find nothing at all that they had in common.

Perhaps that’s because ye havenae taken the time tae get tae ken her.

That was true.

But where dae I begin?

They descended the large stone steps of the staircase, and Domhnall opened his mouth to speak, but a sound above him caught his attention, and glancing up, he watched a huge picture frame tumbling from the landing above.

Beside the banister, two servants gawked with their mouths open, both looking on in helpless terror as the picture plunged at great speed towards their laird and his bride-to-be.

Without thinking about it, Domhnall moved with lightning speed, and grabbing hold of Katherine, he lifted her fully off her feet, spinning her around while using his body to block her from being hit. Unfortunately, there was nowhere else for him to go, and though he had saved Katherine from injury, the corner of the frame caught him in his upper back.

“Argh,” he cried out in agony.

A second later, the frame crashed onto the stairs and splintered into hundreds of pieces, bouncing from one step to the next, before ending up in a destroyed mess on the floor at the bottom of the staircase.

Gently, he placed a panting and shocked Katherine back down on her feet, but she was already looking at him with great concern.

“You’re hurt,” she cried.

“I’ll be fine.”

Her eyes glared down at the huge, now destroyed frame. She then looked back up at him.

“As huge as you are, I cannot believe that to be true. Turn around.”

It was a demand he ordinarily would have scowled at. In fact, it was a demand he would never have heard from another lass in the castle. Apart from Enya and Thora. Only his sisters would dare to have ordered him about with such authority, and yet, he knew her instruction came from a place of concern, and thus, he did as she commanded.

“You’re bleeding, Domhnall,” she gasped. “Come. Let me take a look at it for you.”

Domhnall turned back to look at her. “I’ll go tae the healer.”

“It’s the least I can do after you just saved my life.”

“I hardly think I saved yer life, Katherine.”

She glared at him in disbelief. “Do you really think if that great big thing had hit me,” she threw a hand in the direction of the destroyed frame, “that I would not be injured beyond repair? Look at it! And now, I must repay the favor. Please, let me attend to it.”

With a heavy sigh, Domhnall eventually relented, and turning, they made their way back up the stairs. The two young servant boys were waiting for them, their heads bent, their hands in supplication, and both of them rambling how very sorry they were for making such a clumsy mistake.

“What were ye doing?” Domhnall asked.

“The wedding, me laird,” the younger of the two said. “We were cleaning the pictures in preparation fer the wedding.”

As irritated as he was, Domhnall knew they hadn’t let the frame fall on purpose, so he nodded. “Dinnae worry. Those frames are heavy. But try and be a little more careful in future. That was dangerous and that painting was a invaluable family heirloom.”

“Aye, me laird,” the boys said together contritely.

“And get down there and clean up that mess,” Domhnall added.

“Aye, me laird,” they both said again, hurrying past them and running down the stairs.

Domhnall continued on down the corridor, but from the corner of his eye, he noticed Katherine throwing him glances.

“Spit it out, lass,” he demanded.

“I, I suppose I am impressed.”

“With what?” Domhnall said carefully.

He had moved with lightning speed to save her. Had she noticed? It wouldn’t be the first time she had mentioned it, but then, he had made the stupid mistake of losing his temper on the day she had arrived.

“With the way you handled those boys. I will admit, there are lords in England who would have had them whipped or worse for making such a dangerous mistake.”

“And what good would that have done them? It was an accident. Punishing an accident is like beating an animal for making the noises nature gave it. It’s not only pointless, it’s cruel.”

He realized his tone was a little harsh, but he supposed it angered him that any man thought it beneficial to beat a child for making a mistake.

When he looked down at Katherine, she had a slight smile at the corner of her mouth.

“Are ye laughing at me?”

“Not at all.” She shook her head. “I just find your view rather refreshing.”

When they arrived at her bedchamber, Katherine opened her door and walked inside. Domhnall followed, assuming that the open door was an unspoken invitation for him to do so.

“Please. Sit,” she said, gesturing to a chair beside the fire.

She then turned around to the dresser. While she poured water from the jug into a bowl, Domhnall slipped his plaid from off his shoulder and pulled his shirt from his body. He was about to sit when Katherine turned around with the bowl in hand, and upon seeing him, came to an immediate halt, nearly losing her grip on the bowl entirely.

“Oh, my,” she gasped.

He couldn’t stop the smirk from forming while watching her face flush bright red. Her wide eyes scanned his muscular body, as though seeing new territory for the first time, and in that moment, Domhnall came to a surprising realization.

She’s so innocent, she’s never seen a man in a state o’ undress ‘afore now.