He must speak with Muir at once.
Tavish rose from the bed once more and slipped into his tunic and boots before departing the room and making his way down the dark corridor to the stairs. He was nearing the bottom when he saw the man he sought outside the hall, speaking with none other than Audrey Keane. Tavish’s boots scuffed against the stair, and when Audrey looked over her shoulder at the intruder, Tavish could see that her eyes were teary.
Audrey turned back to Muir, saying something too low for Tavish to hear before pressing the man’s arm briefly and fleeing away down the other stairwell.
The captain followed Tavish’s approach with a guarded expression. “Laird,” he said. “I thought you had retired for the evening.”
“So thought I,” Tavish said ruefully. He glanced down the stairs. “Is aught awry with Audrey?”
Muir’s gray eyebrows rose. “Is the lady Glenna not in your chamber?”
“What? Aye, of course she is. What sort of answer is that?”
“Audrey is troubled by the fact that her husband-to-be would take on a mistress even before he is wed. I don’t know who would blame her—you look as though you just left the woman.”
“I did just leave her. Audrey and I aren’t wed yet, Muir.”
“True. So you plan to loose the Douglas woman after you take Audrey as your wife?”
Tavish felt his irritation returning. “Would you of all men lecture me on morality? Many lairds keep mistresses; it has naught to do with their marriage. I’ve not agreed to a betrothal with Master Keane, and even if I do, ’tis best Audrey understand now that she’ll not rule over me—Roscraig isn’t Edinburgh. I’ll do as I please. And I’ll bed whom I please. Now and in the future.”
The corners of Muir’s mouth turned down. “I see.”
“I sought you because I have several items I wish brought back from Edinburgh, in addition to what we spoke of before. They may be difficult to obtain on such short notice.”
The captain’s demeanor changed almost at once from that of a disapproving if concerned friend to a businessman about his task. “That sounds like a challenge; I accept.”
It was only several moments later that Tavish was climbing back into the warm bed at Glenna Douglas’s side. She had not appeared to move in his absence, and he wondered if she was already asleep.
“Good night, princess,” he said in a low voice, and then turned over to face the fire before closing his eyes, the wine he’d drunk making the bed undulate comfortingly, like a ship at sea.
“I thought you’d gone to seek another woman” came the whisper from behind him.
Tavish’s opened his eyes to the flickering tableau once more. “Nay. Only a forgotten order for my captain.”
The silence was complete for several moments, and Tavish thought that she had gone to sleep. He closed his eyes again.
“I was heartened by your efficiency.”
Tavish’s lips quirked. “Sorry to disappoint you, but my romantic attentions take far longer than a handful of moments.”
Glenna sighed. “I guessed as much.”
Tavish drifted off to sleep with her quiet lamentation in his ears and an amused smile on his lips.
Chapter 10
Glenna swiped the damp rag across Iain Douglas’s face, and his faded blue eyes rolled up in their cavernous-looking sockets, following her every move, studying her.
“You’re looking much better, Da,” she said softly, hesitant to disturb the peace of the chamber, bathed in bright sunlight, the tiny motes of dust sparkling as if exhaled on a magical breath. “You’ll be well soon enough.”
Glenna turned to the basin to rinse and wring the rag, the strong smell of Harriet Cameron’s herbs tingling the insides of her nose. When she turned back, her father was still looking at her intently, as if he actually saw her and recognized her.
His lips parted, stretching and pulling away from each other slowly. She heard a whisper and leaned closer.
“Who?” The question was little more than a sigh.
Glenna’s heart fell and she straightened enough to look into his face. “’Tis I, Da—Glenna. Your daughter.”
