Epilogue

Castle Chalamine, Glenelg, a fortnight later

A fire roared on the hearth in the castle’s great hall, but Giff, slipping quietly in through a nearby side door, doubted that any but one of the company gathered there could hear it over the din of chatter. Certainly no one had noticed him yet.

With Macleod of Glenelg’s wedding to Ealga Clendenen two days past, and most wedding guests departed, only the family remained. But as rapidly as the Macleod sisters seemed to produce children, the family alone was larger than most Highland clachans. Only two dozen or so were scattered in groups throughout the hall now, though, without the bairns: the seven Macleod sisters and their husbands; Hector Reaganach’s twin brother, Lachlan, and his wife, Mairi of the Isles; Macleod, his bride, his sister the lady Euphemia Macleod; and Giff’s own family.

As Giff moved toward his unsuspecting target, Lady Adela turned her head and saw him, but when he raised a finger to his lips, she turned back again and resumed her conversation with her new stepmother, who was sitting beside her.

Lady Cristina also glanced toward him but turned away naturally as if to intervene in the friendly argument going on between her huge husband, Hector Reaganach, and Sir Hugo Robison. Heaven knew what this latest debate was about, but Giff did not care. His attention shifted back to his target.

She sat near the fire with her stitching, as much out of the conversation as she always seemed to be in large company, and as usual, the others still tended to behave as if she were invisible. He did not understand yet how they could. His own gaze sought and found her in any room without thought on his part.

It had astonished him, too, to see how quickly she had returned to being Silent Sidony, as if her kinsmen’s behavior ruled her own. He knew better, but he also understood now that she was content, even comfortable, amid the sort of conversational chaos that engulfed them now. Fortunately, she was as comfortable at Duncraig, if not more so, and had already made a good friend of his mother.

He touched her shoulder, hoping he would not startle her, but when she looked up and smiled the way she smiled only for him, he knew she had sensed his presence already and welcomed it.

Putting a finger to his lips again, he nodded toward the nearby doorway. Without a word, she set aside her stitching, rose gracefully, and followed him until he stood aside to let her precede him to the stairway.

He shut the narrow door and strode after her, but when she looked back over her shoulder with a smile, picked up her skirts, and hurried up the stairs, he caught her at the first landing. Standing a step above him, she was face-to-face with him at exactly the right height to kiss, so he did.

“I knew you would come for me,” she said, putting a soft hand to his cheek when he let her breathe.

He kissed her again, lightly, but when she would have turned away again, he held her where she was. “How did you know that I would come for you, madam?”

She chuckled. “I saw you slip away when Hugo walked up to Hector, so I supposed you saw your opportunity and took it.”

“I created that opportunity,” he said. “I muttered something about finding the garderobe and fled before they could engage me in another of their interminable discussions of who should have done what, and when, on some field of battle.”

“Are we escaping them?”

“For an hour or so,” he said. “But I do want to return to Duncraig tomorrow when my parents do.”

“I told Adela you would.”

“Adela? Has she taken up the reins here, then?”

“Aye, sure,” Sidony said. “She cannot help it, and Ealga does not mind. She said Adela has taught her a great deal in the sennight since they came up from town.”

“I don’t want to talk about them,” he said, turning her about and giving her a gentle nudge. “I want to make love to my wife.”

“’Tis a good thing, then, that Adela arranged for us to have a private room,” she said, looking back at him. “Except for my father and Ealga, everyone else is packed women with women, men with men, and bairns with bairns.”

“Being newly married has its advantages,” he said, leaning past her to open the door to their blessedly private chamber. “This is just one of them,” he added as he shut the door and bolted it against the castleful of inquisitive bairns.

“You still have not told me what you did with the Stone of Destiny,” she said. “This would be a good time, don’t you think?”

The look on his face told Sidony that she had stunned him, which was as good as an admission.

Recovering, he said evenly, “What makes you think I had the Stone?”

“Lord Fife called it sacred and spoke of the treasure separately, as something the Chevalier de Gredin wanted. I wasn’t sure, though, until we came here. Nay,” she added hastily when he frowned. “I did not overhear anyone else talking, nor ask them to tell me, but I did just casually mention the Stone of Destiny to Isobel and Sorcha, and Sorcha said we ought not to discuss it at all, so I knew.”

He shook his head at her. “Rob is right. Keeping secrets is devilish hard. We’d all do better to forget all about it and hope that everyone else does, too.”

She just looked at him.

With a sigh, he said, “Very well, I suppose you ought to know that it was, in good part, your doing. Sithee, despite all that you, Henry, and the others had said to me about my being too reckless, it wasn’t until you insisted on leaving Girnigoe with me that I realized I had been, especially where you were concerned. In troth, I did not want to leave you at Girnigoe, but I knew I could not take you with me to meet Ranald. In thinking how best to take precautions for your safety, I realized I could take like precautions with the Stone. ’Tis why we went to Duncraig.”

“So it is at Duncraig?”

“Not exactly,” he said. “Nor does that matter. Just know that it’s safe now. The men who aided me have served my family all my life, and their ancestors served my ancestors. I mean to tell only Rob and Henry what I’ve done.”

“But I want to see it,” she said.

“Mayhap you will one day,” he said. “One day all Scotland will see it, when the world is at peace and all men who would do evil lie at the bottom of the sea.”

A peaceful Scotland sounded wonderful, but she did not think the world would ever be without evil men. Not while men continued to lust for power and wealth, and were willing to kill anyone who stood in their way or whose opinion they did not share. A chill touched her just to think of such men.

“Hold me,” she said.

“Gladly.” He drew her close, his touch warming her as always. A moment later, dulcetly, he added, “I’ll even help you take off your gown, my child.”

Stiffening, she said, “I have told you before, I am not a child.”

“I keep forgetting,” he said with a teasing smile as he kissed her. “Come to bed and prove that to me again, sweetheart.”

She went willingly, and minutes later, naked in bed with him, she responded to him as she had from the first time he had kissed her.

His every touch sent waves of warmth through her, but he could do the same with a look from across a vast great hall or with a certain tone of voice. And when he wanted to stir her, as he did now, he had many methods and seemed always to be finding new ones. In minutes, he had her squirming, hot, and wet with passion.

She knew he liked dominating her in bed, so when he moved atop her and eased gently into her, she expected matters to go as they had before. Instead, with a mischievous grin, he rolled to his back, carrying her with him so that she straddled him. Then, still grinning, he pushed her upright, saying, “I’ve wanted to do this since the first time I saw you on a horse, lass. Let’s see how well you ride me.”

Although she felt awkward and oddly exposed at first, she soon found that she enjoyed the position and delighted in pleasing him as well as herself. In time, as their passion increased toward its climax, she found herself under him again and soon, gasping, achieved her release. His came but moments later.

As they lay back against their pillows, she snuggled close to him, content.

“It is good to be home again,” he murmured.

“Sakes, Chalamine is not our home.”

“Sweetheart, my home is wherever you are. We belong.”

“Aye, we do. Your mother wants us to stay at Duncraig, though. She said we could have the entire north wing to ourselves if you’re willing.”

“I know she did, and I’m eager to go home,” he said. “If you wouldn’t mind, though, I’d like us to take our meals in the hall with everyone else.”

“Is that for my sake, because you’ll be away again for long periods?”

“Nay, love. I’d miss my bonnie, demanding wife too much. ’Tis because I have already lost too much time with my family. Are you ready to try riding again?”

“Sakes, are you ?”

“Aye, sure, I am,” he said, hugging her. “Sithee, I never knew before how much I could enjoy being put on my backside.”