Highlander's Reckoning (The Sinclair Brothers #3) (17 page)

Meredith nodded shyly, and Burke, who was hovering
close to her, smiled warmly.

“Perhaps you can make some more of that tea,
Jossalyn,” Rona said, longing to be helpful. “Meredith was a bit unsettled by
the boat ride.”

Jossalyn took Meredith by the hand and led her
toward the kitchen, leaving Alwin and Rona slightly apart from the men, who
were still slapping each other on the back and catching each other up.

“Garrick said I reminded him of you,” Rona said to
Alwin, feeling suddenly shy.

“Did he now,” Alwin replied conspiratorially. “What
could that mean? That you are strong-willed? Stubborn? Outspoken?”

Rona’s eyes widened, which made Alwin smile.

“Garrick thinks he can subdue everyone with his
glower. Just keep standing up to him. That’s what I do.”

Rona’s face broke into a wide grin. Why had she been
nervous to meet her new family? She knew now that they’d all get along just
fine.

“I could give you the tour, if you’d like,” Daniel
was saying to one of the men in response to a comment about the castle.

“I’d better see to Jane,” Alwin said to Robert.

“I can send Agnes up to you. She’ll be thrilled to
have a babe in the castle,” Rona offered. Agnes was a grandmother and couldn’t
get enough of the wee ones.

“Thank you, Rona,” Alwin replied.

As the men filtered out to the yard and Agnes led
Alwin to a chamber abovestairs, Rona was left standing alone in the hall.

She glanced up the stairs after Alwin and Agnes but
didn’t have the faintest idea how to help a new mother and young babe. She
looked toward the kitchen but decided she wouldn’t disturb Meredith and
Jossalyn.

The only thing she could think to do was to prepare
herself for the wedding feast later that evening. She made her way toward the
chamber she shared with Daniel.

The feast would be festive and enjoyable, especially
with the castle full of Daniel’s family. But she longed to speed up time so
that she wouldn’t have to wait for Daniel to explain everything to her. The end
of the secrecy couldn’t come soon enough.

“I can see the Bruce’s hand in this castle,” Robert
said from the battlements.

Garrick nodded in agreement. “That was my exact
thought the first time I saw this place.”

Daniel had forgotten that Garrick had passed through
Loch Doon once before. He was with the Bruce’s army as they fled to the Outer
Hebrides and eventually Ireland. So much had changed since then. It was only a
few years ago that the cause for independence looked hopeless, and that the
Bruce’s claim to the Scottish throne would go unfulfilled.

And just two years later, here Daniel stood,
watching over the Bruce’s ancestral home, preparing a decisive blow against the
English in the name of Scottish freedom. And in the name of Sinclair revenge.

“Leave it to him, the wily devil, to build the most
defensible, impenetrable castle in all of Scotland,” Robert went on. “The
eleven-sided curtain wall, the stone tower keep, the portcullis. And then
there’s the fact that he built it on a bloody island!”

“How was Gilbert Kennedy?” Burke asked.

Daniel shrugged. “Easy enough to deal with. He was
more incompetent than disloyal, though it still irks me that he agreed to pay
Warren a protection tax.”

All four of them tensed. They’d all seen the lasting
effects of Warren’s warmongering, greed, and cruelty.

“We’ll just have to collect a tax of our own against
Warren,” Garrick said darkly.

“How go the plans?” Robert interjected. Leave it to
his eldest brother to try to take charge despite the fact that Daniel had
everything under control.

“We gave Jossalyn the task of creating a map of
Dunbraes with as much detail as she could manage,” Daniel replied. Having
Jossalyn at Loch Doon was going to be a huge advantage. She’d lived in
Dunbraes, plus she knew her brother and how he operated.

“She’s still adding to it,” Garrick said.

“And what of the Bruce? When will he join us?”

“I’d guess he and his army will arrive in a week,
two at most,” Daniel said.

“Good. We can work on planning until then. But we’ll
need his forces if we hope to wage a powerful enough siege to bring down
Dunbraes.” Robert couldn’t help it. He was a Laird. It was as natural as
breathing for him to take charge.

The group fell silent for a moment, and Daniel took
the opportunity to launch into a slightly more uncomfortable topic.

“I assume you’ve all…explained things to your
wives?”

“You mean about sieging Dunbraes? Aye, of course,”
Burke replied with a furrowed brow. The other two nodded as well.

Burke’s frown deepened. “Don’t tell me you haven’t
told Rona, Daniel,” he said disbelievingly.

Suddenly Daniel was reminded that he was the
youngest and that these three had always enjoyed bullying, baiting, and
needling him.

“I…haven’t found the right time yet. But I plan on
telling her tonight.”

“Why did you keep it from her for so long? What does
she think you’re doing here, or what
we’re
all doing here for that
matter?” Garrick asked with a raised eyebrow.

Daniel fought the urge to shrink defensively from
his family’s hard stares. Instead, he stood up taller, crossing his arms over
his chest, as he’d learned to do as a lad.

“She knows I was sent here by the Bruce to bring
Loch Doon under his control. I told her you are all here to celebrate our
wedding.”

Burke’s eyes widened and Garrick snorted, but Daniel
went on authoritatively.

“The illusion that we are only gathered for a
wedding celebration had to be convincing to the outside world. What’s more
convincing than having the lady of Loch Doon believe it’s true herself?”

“Aye, but surely she deserves to know the truth.”
Robert’s cold blue eyes cut into him.

“As I said, I plan on telling her tonight. Things
have been a bit…bumpy for us. I didn’t want to divulge too much, too soon.”

“Bumpy?” Burke quirked a smile at him. “Oh my, that
doesn’t sound good for the marriage bed.”

“Everything is fine in
that
department,”
Daniel said through gritted teeth, though his ire only seemed to increase the
amusement of his brothers and cousin.

“You three wouldn’t understand,” Daniel went on. He
suddenly realized that part of his defensiveness arose from jealousy for his
brothers’ and cousin’s happy, smooth marriages.

“You all got to choose your wives. You had time to
come into your feelings, time to learn about your lasses, time to develop trust
in them,” he said quietly. “I’m grateful to be married to Rona, truly. But we
have had to cut our own path in many ways.”

Robert sobered quickly. “You’re right, Danny—Daniel.
The Bruce thrust this marriage on you, and you’ve handled it as best you can.
But you two seem to have some…affection, do you not?”

“Aye, though she’s a hell of a lot more than I
bargained for,” Daniel said wryly.

“She’s like Alwin,” Garrick supplied to Robert.

Robert turned to Daniel with raised eyebrows and a
smile playing on his lips.

“Well, then, I wish you the best of luck. And I’ll
say a prayer for your sanity tonight.”

Later that evening, Daniel took a quick and frigid
dunk in the loch in preparation for the celebratory feast. He made his way to
his chamber to dress in fresh clothes but didn’t find Rona inside.

After donning a clean shirt and kilt, he descended
to the great hall. The castle’s men mingled guardedly with the Highland
warriors. Though Daniel hadn’t expected Robert to bring quite so many warriors
to add to their sieging force, it was pleasantly familiar to have more kilts
and Highland brogues surrounding him. He hoped that with the help of the
castle’s plentiful ale, the two groups would merge into one loyal band.

The servers had already moved the large wooden
trestle tables and benches out into the hall for the feast. The raised dais was
prepared with enough chairs for all the guests. Robert, Garrick, and Burke were
already sitting at the table of honor. The only ones missing were their wives.

Just then, one of the Highlanders loudly cleared his
throat, and Daniel’s eyes jerked to the stairs. A hush fell over the group of
men as Meredith, dressed in a fine gown of deep red, glided into the hall and
toward the raised dais.

Burke immediately jerked to his feet even before the
rest of them could rise. Daniel watched as adoration softened Burke’s features.
Meredith stepped onto the dais and took Burke’s outstretched arm, the red gown
accentuating her glowing cheeks. But before she was settled in her seat,
Jossalyn appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

She wore an emerald green gown, her golden hair
spilling down her back in loose waves. Her eyes never left Garrick as she moved
past the awestruck men-at-arms and Highland warriors.

As she took her place next to Garrick on the dais,
Alwin emerged from the stairs, clad in a gown of gold. The combination of the
gown and the soft candlelight filling the hall brightened her brown hair, which
was held back from her face with a golden circlet. Jane must have already been
put to bed for the babe was nowhere in sight.

Daniel darted a glance at Robert. His normally
serious eldest brother looked prouder than a lion at the sight of his wife.

But then Daniel’s gaze was tugged back to the stairs
as the final lady emerged. His wife. His Rona.

She wore the same blue gown as she had on their
wedding day. It was cinched perfectly to show off her lithe, delicately curved
figure. Even from this distance and in the low light, he could make out her
bright blue eyes, which fluttered nervously around the hall. She didn’t like
being the center of attention, but damn if she didn’t deserve the awed stares
of all the men gathered.

Her hair fell in roiling red waves down her back and
around her shoulders. She must have lent the gold circlet she’d worn on their
wedding day to Alwin, for she bore little adornment, but she didn’t need it.

Her eyes finally found him, and her features
flickered with relief, nervousness, and something else—was that a look of eager
anticipation? He’d promised to tell her everything tonight. Could her
expectancy be due to the fact that soon they would have no more secrets between
them?

Daniel felt something shift deep in his chest as
Rona approached and took his outstretched hand. He realized that he longed for
the kind of marriages the rest of his family had—ones based on trust, love, and
devotion. Despite the fact that their wedding vows had been spoken nearly a
month ago, perhaps tonight was the real start of their marriage.

“What is it?” Rona asked quietly as she sat down
next to him. The hall was beginning to fill with noise again, so he had to lean
into her to hear.

“You take my breath away,” he said simply.

She blushed, which made the band of freckles across
her nose stand out. He let his hand rise to her cheek and caressed her soft
skin.

“Don’t you two have a bedchamber for such things?”
Burke said loudly at the other end of the large table.

Daniel shot him a searing look, but Burke only
grinned.

“They are still newlyweds, Burke,” Garrick said
calmly. “And besides, they’re not nearly as bad as Robert and Alwin were.”

Alwin, who was seated on Garrick’s right side,
swatted his shoulder.

Merriment slowly began to infuse the hall. By the
time the servants brought out trenchers and steaming trays of venison,
vegetable stew, and honeyed oatcakes, the castle’s men and the Highland
warriors were slapping each other on the back, laughing heartily, and
challenging each other to friendly competitions in the yard. The ale flowed
freely and the food was warm and plentiful.

Suddenly Meredith stood, looking pale. She glanced
at a piece of venison on her trencher and swallowed, visibly trying to keep
herself from being sick.

Jossalyn, who was seated next to her, put her hand
on her reassuringly.

“I’ll go make you some tea, Meredith,” she said.
“But I’ll need to get some more chamomile if your morning sickness continues.
Oh!”

Jossalyn clapped a hand over her mouth, and the high
table fell quiet. Daniel shot a glance at Burke, who looked up in stunned
silence at Meredith from his seat.

“You…you’re…?”

Meredith slowly nodded, a soft smile spreading on
her pale face. “I think so.”

Burke shot upright so fast that his chair fell
backward and clattered onto the dais. He pulled her into his arms and buried
his face in her hair.

“A babe? We are going to have a child?”

Meredith could only manage to laugh as tears began
flowing down her cheeks.

“A toast!” Robert said loudly, standing. “To another
Sinclair on the way. And to many more to come!” Daniel didn’t miss the flicker
of Robert’s gaze toward where he and Rona sat at the other end of the table.

Apparently, neither did Rona, for as Daniel cast a
glance at her out of the corner of his eyes, she flushed scarlet.

As the group in the hall toasted loudly, Daniel
leaned in toward Rona’s ear.

“I think we have some business to attend to in our
bedchamber.”

Her bright blue eyes widened in surprise, and he
chuckled.

“I enjoy getting a rise out of you, wife,” he said.
“That wasn’t what I had in mind—at least not until we’re done talking.”

Her delicate features settled into realization, then
anticipation. “So you’ll tell me now? Tell me everything?”

“Aye,” he said huskily, and for some reason, it felt
intimate—even more intimate than teasing her about lovemaking.

He rose to his feet and brought Rona up to his side.

“Good night,” he said tersely to those at the high
table. Garrick raised an eyebrow at them and Alwin smiled knowingly, but Daniel
paid them no heed. He stepped down from the dais and helped Rona down after
him. Then the two of them strode toward the stairs. Luckily, most of the men
gathered in the halls were too deep in their cups to notice them, though a few
whistles did get sent up as they passed.

Once they were on the stairs, Daniel hurried their
pace to their chamber. As he closed the door behind him, he felt strangely
nervous. Perhaps this was how she felt, virgin that she was, on the night they
consummated their marriage. He was going to lay himself bare to her, tell her
everything he’d kept from her, and hope that she’d understand.

The low fire in the brazier filled the room with
warmth and soft light. He watched her for a moment, noticing the color that
lingered in her cheeks. Was she nervous too?

“I wasn’t simply sent her by the Bruce to marry
you,” he began.

She frowned slightly. “I know that. You were also
tasked with investigating my father’s loyalty and taking the castle under your
control.”

“That’s not all.”

She held her breath, waiting for him to go on.

“We are also planning an attack on Dunbraes Castle,”
he said, his stomach clenching, unsure of how she would react.