Highland Grace (4 page)

“Aye, there is!” Branwenn piped in. “We
simply must make a journey there.” She turned to Daniel and said,
“Can we? Please?”

For a split second, a look of alarm crossed
Bao’s countenance before he blinked it away, and Jesslyn knew why:
‘twas to do with the other trade in which he was secretly
involved.

“Have you forgotten my wife’s delicate
condition?” Daniel asked her. “I don’t think a journey will be
likely to happen for quite some time to come.”

The woman saw her first and settled her hand
on Bao’s shoulder, leaning with intimacy and familiarity into him
as she whispered something to him and tilted her head in Jesslyn’s
direction. The same carnal smile he’d bestowed on Jesslyn so often,
darkened his features as he gazed at his companion. Jealousy,
molten and quick, pounded through her veins. ‘Twas clear that the
lady was much more than a responsibility to him.
Was she one of
the ladies who paid him for his services?

He swung his gaze to Jesslyn. His eyes
flashed with what she believed to be lust, but instantly
disintegrated into a look of bored disinterest. It cleaved her
chest like a sword. He gave her a nod. “Jesslyn.” Mayhap the
friendship they’d managed to salvage last summer was an illusion on
her part. Which told her that he would not be happy about the babe,
and would be better off not knowing he’d fathered it.

“G’morn,” Jesslyn replied shakily, with a
quick dip of courtesy.

“Come inside.” Daniel broke from the circle
they’d formed by the hearth and walked over to her, placing her
hand in the crook of his arm as he began escorting her toward the
others.

“I beg you, don’t say anything about my
condition just yet, will you?” she said
sotto voce
as she
walked beside him.

Daniel narrowed a gaze at her, but nodded his
agreement.

* * *

Bao stepped to the other side of Lady
MacGhille, in hopes that Daniel would step into the void with
Jesslyn, so that Bao could keep his distance from her.
Unfortunately, Daniel chose to neatly tuck Jesslyn between them.
Almost instantly, the scent of lavender assailed his senses, and
brought forth a visceral memory of the glide of her silken skin
against his abdomen, the cushion of her full breasts against his
chest.
Blood of Christ!
He had to get a grip on this hunger
for her. They’d parted friends the last they met, but his discovery
of her brother’s perfidy—and her family’s own profit from that
perfidy in specific regard to Bao’s mother—had killed those warm
feelings he’d held for her for good. Now all he needed was for his
body’s desire for her to die a quick death as well. He was here for
only as long as it took to transfer Lady MacGhille to her husband,
and then he would be off again. No
Hogmanay
festival, no
rekindling of the flame between himself and the widow.

Derek, Daniel’s lieutenant, came through the
entry at that moment. “Lady MacGhille’s husband has arrived. He
gives his thanks and his regret, but is pressed to take his wife
immediately to their holding, as the King has requested his swift
return to court on urgent business. I am to escort the lady to her
palfrey.”

Daniel stepped toward him. “I shall come with
you and greet Laird MacGhille.”

Bao stepped forward. “I’ll come as well.”

The two men left with Lady MacGhille on
Daniel’s arm.

* * *

A half-hour later, all were gathered once
more in the great hall.

“The meal should be ready to be served in a
few more moments,” Bao’s grandmother said to him. “I’ve requested a
bit heartier of a fare than we usually have at this time of day,
since you’ve been traveling for so many days and are in need of
meat.”

Bao grinned down into her unusual eyes, one
blue, one green, and put his arm around her waist, giving it a
squeeze. Was she thinner than she’d been a few moons past? She
somehow seemed more fragile to him than she’d been before. And her
hair seemed even more gray than it had been then, as well. But her
cheeks were rosy, and that boded well for her health, surely. “My
thanks to you for that, Grandmother. Oat cakes and ale have been
our main sustenance for most of our journey. I believe I could eat
an entire sheep, were it placed before me now—hooves and all!”

“Bao, if you ate the hooves, I’d swallow a
toad!” Branwenn said.

“Alive or dead?” Bao replied, a sinister
gleam in his eye.

Daniel and Maryn laughed.

“Boiled or raw,” Branwenn rejoined, the devil
in her eye.

Maryn laughed so hard she snorted, which
caused his brother to howl even louder.

Jesslyn’s hand flew to her mouth, hiding a
smile that sent warm sunbeams through Bao’s center, which he
viciously squelched.

“Now, now, my wee bairns, no one is eating
hooves
or
toads, so cease this silliness and find your seat
at the table,” his grandmother said as she pressed her hands into
the curve of both their backs and urged them forward. “Daniel, will
you escort your wife and Jesslyn to the table?”

Bao reached around his grandmother and tugged
on his sister’s straight black locks that had grown past her
shoulders in his absence.

“Ow! Stop that you buffoon!” she yelled and
slapped at his hand.

His grandmother halted and grabbed a fistful
of each of their outer clothing, forcing them to stop their forward
motion as well. “Branwenn, that was extremely unladylike. Beg
forgiveness from your brother for raising your voice.”

“But Grandmother Maclean, he started it! He
pulled my hair!”

“You are my ward and I’ve promised to train
you to be a lady. A lady may not have control over another’s
actions, but she most assuredly has control over her response. You
have just shamed me with your behavior.”

Branwenn’s eyes got misty as bright flags of
fury—and no doubt mortification, Bao was sure—slashed across her
cheeks, but she blinked away the tears and turned to him. “I’m
sorry I yelled at you, Bao,” she said in a strained voice.

Bao felt horrible. He’d just been so happy to
see her and had fallen easily back into his life-long habit of
teasing and tormenting her. But, his grandmother was right. He’d
asked her to train his sister so that she could make a good match
for husband, and he must learn to treat her differently, at least
in front of others. “‘Twas I who was wrong to treat you as a bairn,
when ‘tis so obvious that you are a young lady now. I beg your
forgiveness.”

Branwenn nodded.

Bao looked into the sad, purple pools of his
sister’s eyes and resolved to spend some time with her alone as
soon as they could arrange it. He needed to soothe his niggling
worry and conscience that his sister was not settling in here.

His grandmother lifted her hand to his
sister’s fiery cheek and pressed a kiss to the other one. “That was
as gracious an apology as I’ve ever heard. You’re a beautiful young
lady, I simply want your behavior to match your appearance.”

“Aye, Grandmother,” she said and leaned into
her embrace.

“Shall we join the others at the table then?”
Bao asked. Maryn, Daniel, and Jesslyn had discreetly left the three
to their discussion and had already settled at their places.

“Aye, let us dine,” his grandmother said.
“Otherwise, we
all
may become so hungry we’d eat
hooves.”

Bao and Branwenn grinned at her jest. This
time, Bao moved between the two ladies and led them toward the
others. He gently held his sister’s delicate-boned, tiny hand in
his beefy, calloused one and the warm glow that filled his heart
expanded further.

After seating his grandmother, he settled his
sister onto her stool and bent low, whispering in her ear, “Will
you take a walk with me after we break our fast?”

Branwenn nodded. “Aye.”

He took the place his grandmother indicated,
the same place he’d had when he’d been here last summer. Next to
Jesslyn.
All right. After the meal, after the walk with
Branwenn, I’m gone from here.
Before he could stop himself, he
stole a glance at her.
Why did she have to wear the same damned
gown she’d worn the day he’d plundered her?

As if his sister had read his mind, she
leaned around him and said to Jesslyn, “The silvery-blue of your
gown makes your eyes even bluer. You look lovely.”

Jesslyn’s gaze lifted from her seemingly
intent study of the trencher. “My thanks. Malcolm, my late brother
bought the material for me with his earnings in the holy lands and
sent it to me. He wrote that he’d purchased the cloth with that
precise thought in mind.”

Every muscle in Bao’s body went rigid and he
was sure the hate he felt showed in his gaze when he moved it over
the garment.

“Then your brother was a very wise man,”
Branwenn said.

His sister’s voice brought reason back and he
turned his attention to the trencher. Leaning forward, he inhaled
deeply. “The rabbit stew smells good, Grandmother.” With effort, he
brought forth some semblance of manners for the others’ benefit,
and glanced at Jesslyn again, saying, “The meat is in quite large
portions; shall I cut it a bit more for you?” tho’ he couldn’t keep
the ribbon of steel from underlaying the polite words.

Confused by Bao’s cold, distant behavior,
Jesslyn replied, “Aye, that would be quite helpful. My thanks.”
Why?
It seemed to be more than just disinterest. There was
brooding displeasure there as well. And that venomous look he’d
just given her. What was that about?

* * *

“Mama! Mama! Is Bao really home?!” A loud
boom sounded following the query, and ‘twas clear to Bao that
Jesslyn’s son had thrown the door to the keep so wide it banged
against the wall. He stood and turned. No matter his feelings for
the mother, the lad had found a permanent place in his heart. When
Alleck finally entered the great hall, Bao stepped off of the dais
and strode toward him. “Good morn, Alleck. I wondered where you
were.”

Just as he’d done so often before, Alleck
flew at him, wrapping his arms around Bao’s lower legs and holding
tight. “Bao!” He looked up into his face and said, “You said you
wouldn’t come back here for
Hogmanay
, but I’m glad you did
anyway.”

Deciding not to disabuse the lad of the false
notion, he said only, “I’m glad I came back as well. Have you been
at Niall’s then?”

Alleck nodded his head with vigor. “We’re
buildin’ a big”—he thrust his arms out wide—“fortr’ss around this
ol’ cart outside the blacksmith’s.”

“‘Tis a sound undertaking, I trow. Will you
show it to me when you’ve finished building it?”

“Aye.”

“Come, have a seat at the table and we’ll
break our fast together.” Turning, Bao placed his hand on the lad’s
back and pressed him forward.

A stool was placed to the right of Jesslyn.
“You’ll sit next to me, Alleck. We’re having rabbit stew—are you
hungry?”

“Aye! How come we get to eat stew so early,
Mama?” He squirmed and fidgeted on his seat.

“Because Bao’s been traveling for days now
and needed something a bit heavier than bread and cheese for his
meal.”

“How is the fortress building coming along,
Alleck?” Daniel inquired.

Alleck chewed faster and swallowed his bite
of stew with a loud gulp. Bao grinned. Clearly Jesslyn had tutored
the lad not to speak with his mouth full. “Good. But we hafta find
somethin’ we can use to make our mang’nel.”

Lady Maclean’s gaze sharpened in alarm.
Looking from Alleck to Daniel and then back to Alleck, she said,
“Mangonel! I hardly think you lads need weapons. You might hurt
yourselves, or someone else.”

“I agree,” Jesslyn said. “I thought you two
were building a privy place for you and your other friends—that
hardly requires a missile-lobbing engine.”

Alleck’s brows slammed together. “But how are
we s’pose to keep the lasses out of our fortr’ss if we can’t blast
stuff at ‘em?” He crossed his arms over his chest and pursed his
lips in a defiant pout.

“You’ll simply have to think of another plan,
laddie,” Jesslyn said. “And straighten up. No more of your peevish
behavior or I shall send you to your bedchamber.”

Alleck huffed a loud sigh and Bao hid an even
broader grin behind his fist. “Aye, Mama,” the lad replied
sullenly. After another moment, he dug back into his meal, the
episode seemingly forgotten.

* * *

Maryn leaned into Daniel’s side, needing the
added support now that the babe had grown so big in her belly, and
said softly, “Have you noticed the way Bao and Jesslyn keep looking
at each other when the other doesn’t see? There is definitely an
attraction between them.”

Daniel looked over at the two and watched
them a moment. “Aye. ‘Tis almost palpable, is it not? Although, my
brother does seem to be fighting against it awfully hard.” He
narrowed his eyes, his mind filled with new possibilities. “‘Twould
certainly make things easier if Bao would wed Jesslyn. The babe
would then be a legitimate Maclean.”

“That’s a fine idea!” she said. “But do you
think he’d wed? He’s been so set on keeping his life free of
further involvements.”

Daniel shrugged. “He asked to speak with me
in privy later this afternoon. I shall broach the subject then and
try to overcome his objections.”

“Will you tell him of her babe?”

Daniel nodded. “Aye. And I shall tell him who
I believe the father of the babe to be.” He looked directly at her
then and continued, “He’s family; he should be told for that reason
alone. But, because of our blood tie, ‘twill also allow him to see
the importance of keeping the babe within the family as well.”

* * *

“Would you like more water?” Bao asked
Jesslyn, still all politeness but no warmth.

“Aye. My thanks,” she replied.

Alleck leaned forward and looked past Jesslyn
at Bao. “Mama’s got a babe in her belly, jus’ like Maryn.”