Page 47 of Highland Guard

“Benet, I give ye my word as a knight, the lamb is safe in Glencullaich.”

“I just worry, ye ken.”

“Do ye trust Dunnie?”

“I trust ye, too. But, aye, I do trust Dunnie. He has been teaching me how to care for Roberta.”

“Weel, that is where your lamb will be. With a mon ye trust in a stable ye go to all the time in a keep that doesnae have men as bad as the ones who scared you.” He was relieved to see Benet smile and lie down. “Now, sleep and ye can see the wee beastie in the morning.”

He took the lamb to the stable and shook his head when Dunnie just laughed. Yet he found himself watching how the man treated the lamb for a moment to reassure himself. Harcourt shook his head again and headed back into the keep. Discovering that Annys had gone to see a new baby born to the weaver’s wife, he sat with his men and talked over what they should do on the morrow to continue readying themselves for the war they were certain was headed their way. When he heard Annys return, he waited what he considered a reasonable amount of time and then, ignoring the teasing of the others, went up to her bedchamber.

Annys opened the door at his knock and smiled at him. Harcourt smiled back, stepped inside even as he picked her up in his arms, and kicked the door shut behind him. Carefully he walked her to the bed, tossed her down, and started to take off his clothes as she laughed. It was, he decided, a perfect end to the day.

Chapter Fourteen

Muttering a curse, Harcourt made his way up onto the walls to take a turn at the watch. On the one hand he was more content than he had been in a very long time. He had a willing Annys warming his bed. On the other hand, there was still a lot that stood between them that could turn what they shared from a blessing into a curse.

She had to stay at Glencullaich. His son had to remain David’s heir. There was Gormfeurach and its people waiting for him to return. His brother had entrusted the care of his son’s lands to him. Back at Gormfeurach there was also the chance of gaining some land of his own. If he turned his back on that then he became no more than a landless knight, not a man worthy of the lady of Glencullaich. And that was the one thing that bothered him the most, he decided. He loathed the idea of coming to her empty-handed. She deserved better than that.

“I would have thought ye would be in a much lighter mood,” said Gybbon as he joined Harcourt at the wall. “Ye have certainly been smiling a lot this past sennight.”

Harcourt laughed but the moment of good humor passed quickly. “Aye, and most times I still am despite nay having solved this trouble with Sir Adam. Yet, although I am nay sure if I or she looks for this to last, every so often I find myself thinking of all the reasons it cannae. She must stay here and I must go back to Gormfeurach.”

“Ah, aye, that is a trouble. Especially since ye could gain yourself some land for the care ye are taking of Gormfeurach.”

“’Tis already chosen.” He nodded at Gybbon’s look of surprise. “’Tis but a matter of drawing the boundaries. Many things to consider when doing so. Then I hand o’er a token payment for the deeds to it and ’tis all mine. If I stay here, I really have no right to it.”

“And Annys cannae take the laird of this land away from it, especially with such greedy kinsmen eyeing it. They may have sat back as Sir Adam tries to take it but they all want it.”

“Nay, she cannae.”

“’Tis a shame the elder brother died.”

“Aye, but, if he hadnae, David wouldnae have wed Annys, and, in the end, there wouldnae have been a Benet. That would be a loss. As she said once, for all that is wrong in this tangle we put ourselves in, there is one bright blessing and that is Benet. Change one little thing and he wouldnae be here.”

“How did the elder brother die?”

Harcourt shrugged. “In some battle in France. David always bemoaned the fact that he didnae ken the how or even the where of Nigel’s death. Nay e’en the when. The letters, though ne’er plentiful, just stopped coming about seven years ago. Every inquiry David sent out brought back naught.”

Gybbon looked out on the land beyond the wall. “Ye could always set Nicolas here to watch o’er the land just as Brett set ye in Gormfeurach.”

“Nicolas has no kinship to me or to Annys. It wouldnae hold long.”

“Nay, mayhap not.” Gybbon clapped Harcourt on the back. “Ye will think of something if ye find ye have the need to do so.”

The need to do so was growing stronger every day, Harcourt thought. Each time he had to hold back because her people were around watching them, or he had to slip out of the bedchamber with a care to get away unseen, his resentment of such secrecy grew. He wanted to openly claim Annys as his. The thought of riding away from her once Sir Adam was defeated stung more sharply with each passing hour. It would be as if he had left behind a piece of himself.

He began to think he had done just that when he had left her years ago.

It was far past time that he took a good deep look into his own heart, Harcourt decided. Far past time to make a few hard choices as well. Not only was his indecision embarrassingly clear to his men who knew him so well, but he was finding it irritating himself.

“Who is that?”

Gybbon’s question pulled Harcourt from his thoughts. He followed the direction of Gybbon’s pointing finger and looked out at two distant figures riding toward them. A moment later he breathed a sigh of relief, one heavy weight lifting off his shoulders.

“’Tis those cursed MacFingals returning,” he replied.

“Ye can see that from this far away with naught to aid ye but a weak setting sun mostly covered by clouds?”