“Your Grace?” she asked, her voice thick with emotion.
He withdrew a deep purple velvet bag, sealed by a gold filigree cord, a carved Celtic cross on each end. “’Tis from your father.”
What little color that had returned to her face fled. “My father?” Her eyes clouded with confusion. “What has my father todo with this?”
“He was loyal to my cause,” the king replied, his voice solemn.
Disbelief filled her eyes, and she glanced at Aiden before facing the royal. “L-loyal to you?”
Robert Bruce walked to her, placed the bag in her palm, then curled his fingers atop hers. “When your father was dying, he arranged to have this sent to me. In the writ he wrote,‘Give this to my daughter. When the time comes, she will know what to do.’”
Her mouth opened and then closed, her cheeks tinged with red. “He never told me,” she whispered, her words thick with hurt. “Why?”
The king’s sage eyes held hers. “Given the unrest in Scotland since King Alexander’s death, of your father’s numerous travels, and how he often left you at Latharn Castle alone, he felt ’twas best.”
Gwendolyn’s throat worked. “H-how long had he beenloyal to you?”
“Years,” he replied without apology.
“Years?” The brittle word collapsed into a strangled whisper. She stiffened. “I see.” She gave a cold laugh. “And I was fool enough to believe he loved and trusted me.”
“You are wrong,” the king said, his words soft. “You were everything to him.”
Outrage flashed in her eyes. “If I mattered, if he had trusted me, he would have informed me of his alliance with you. ’Twould seem, as with you, I am naught but chattel.” Her hand crushed the velvet. “I thank you, Sire, for restoring my home.” After another deep curtsy, head held high,she strode out.
God’s teeth! Aiden glanced at the king.
The Bruce’s brow lifted. “She is your greatest challenge, Lord Lennox. Dinna fail her.”
Challenge? An understatement.“Aye, Sire.” He bowed, then hurried out.
Late afternoon sunlight beat down upon him as he caught up to her as she entered the path into the woods, frustration rushing his words. “We must come to an agreement to make ourmarriage work.”
She shot him a scalding glance before hurrying down the slope. “With your having been granted both castles, I find little left to discuss. You havewhat you want.”
“Blast it—”
Eyes narrowed, Gwendolyn whirled at the bottom of the incline. “Did you know of my father’s loyaltyto the Bruce?”
He sighed. “I learned of itthis morning.”
“And like the king, found such critical information unnecessary to share. ’Tis what men do, is it not? Decide what to tell or keep from women.” She glared at the crushed velvet clenched in her palm. With a hiss of disgust, she hurled it into the woods. The sack landed within the ferns with a soft thud.
“Gwendolyn—”
She stepped back. “Leave me.”
How he wanted to respect her request. “Do you not wish to help plan the assault?”
Gray eyes narrowed. “Iwill be there.”
With their future sealed beneath a marital vow, ’twas imperative to find a compromise, a way to work together. He smothered the words. There would be time to talk later. “I have an errand I must attend to. Once I am finished, I will escort you to the meeting.”
Cool eyes held his, and then, with a curtnod, she left.
Scowling at her departing figure, Aiden rubbed the back of his neck.That went bloody well.He glanced toward the ferns, then pushed aside the leafy stems until he spied the glint of the gold filigree cord. He retrieved the sack.
However upset, once she calmed she might want her father’s gift. Securing the pouch within his garb, he headed toward where his men were caring fortheir weapons.
