Page 11 of Highland Flame

Nash and North laughed, and even Gavin smiled, liking the thought of him not able to woo a lass.

“Well, like Old Callum said, mayhap this will quench yer lust for the lassies, after all,” Gavin told him.

“Aye, it could lead to a whole new side of ye,” agreed Nash.

“Mayhap ye’ll even end up bein’ a monk when this is all over.” North chuckled at the mere idea, but Cam didn’t think it was funny.

Cam let out a long breath. “Nay, it willna change me in the least, I assure ye. Plus, now I have a daughter I dinna need or want. I am no’ even sure how the hell that happened!”

“Let me give ye a clue,” said Nash. “Her name was Isobel.”

“I am no’ daft. I ken that! But whores are supposed to have ways to keep from gettin’ pregnant,” protested Cam. “It never should have happened. Isobel was no’ careful.”

“Perhaps, ye’re the one who should have been more careful,” came a female voice from behind him, causing Cam to spin around on his heel. Yvaine was right there, having overheard him. He hoped to hell she hadn’t heard the part about him wanting to kiss and couple with her, too. Thankfully, his daughter was still asleep back in the wagon.

“Yvaine,” he said. “I was just tellin’ my friends –”

“I heard what ye were tellin’ them.”

“How long were ye standin’ there?” he asked, feeling like crawling under a rock from embarrassment. Why was he having illicit thoughts about a woman who was soon to become a nun?

“I heard enough to ken that ye are just like any other man, always blamin’ the women for his mistakes.”

“Now wait a minute.”

“Ye were just as responsible for the conception of that poor child as was the whore ye laid with and got pregnant.”

“That’s no’ so. The whore was responsible only. Right?” Cam looked over at his friends, but they were doing nothing to support him. Nash and North busied themselves tending to their horses. Gavin turned his steed and headed away.

“I’ll keep watch at the border for English as well as Lord Rook,” called out Gavin.

“We’ll help ye,” said Nash, quickly mounting his horse.

“The more eyes the better.” North jumped atop his horse next, and the three of them rode off instead of giving Cam the support he needed right now.

When Cam turned back to look at Yvaine, she had her arms crossed over her chest and her chin jutted out in the air. “Well?” she asked.

“Well what?”

“Are ye goin’ to admit ye are responsible for the child and accept her as yer daughter?”

“Listen. I am a Highland warrior, lassie. I dinna need anythin’ or anyone tyin’ me down. As soon as my sentence is completed, I am goin’ back to the Highlands where I belong.”

“Then ye’ll be takin’ Avianca with ye.” It was more like she was telling him, not asking him a question.

“Nay!” Cam threw his hands in the air. “I canna take care of her, and that is all there is to it.”

“If ye willna care for her, then who will?”

He raised a brow. “Mayhap ye can.”

“Me?” she asked, looking shocked that he’d say that. “I have enough responsibilities of my own. This one is all on ye, no’ me. Besides, I canna take care of my chandler business and another child on top of all that. It’s totally out of the question.”

“Another child?” he looked at her curiously. “What does that mean?”

Damn. Yvaine hadbeen careless with her words and she’d slipped up. Now he’d caught it. “Nothin’,” she said, busying herself by brushing lint off her clothes.

“Do ye already have a child then?” He wouldn’t let up with the questions, and she was going to have to think of something quickly. She didn’t want him to know she was with child. She needed to cover her tracks.

“Nay. I dinna have a child,” she said, which wasn’t a lie. After all, her baby wasn’t even born yet. Her hands subconsciously went to her belly, and his eyes followed. As soon as she saw it, she realized her mistake.

“Are ye . . . pregnant?” he asked, the corner of his mouth turning up in a wry grin.

“It is no’ proper of ye to ask such a question to a lassie.” Anxiety coursed through her, and she felt a bead of sweat forming on her brow. Her breathing shallowed, and she started to feel the way she always did when she was around Dun. She’d never told Dun she was pregnant, because of the fear he would blame her, or purposely do something to make her lose the baby. He’d made it quite clear to her right after they wed that he never wanted children.

“Tell me the truth,” Cam said in a low voice, looking directly into her eyes this time.

Yvaine’s heartbeat sped up, and her head spun. Her tongue felt two sizes too big to even be able to speak now.

“Is that why ye’re goin’ to a priory? Ye are pregnant and canna stay in Hermitage to run yer chandler business by yerself, because ye are goin’ to have a bairn to raise, too? I’ll bet the Chandler’s Guild doesna allow a pregnant widow to take over the business. Admit it. I’m right, are no’ I?”

She wanted to deny it, but when she looked back at the little girl in the wagon, her heart about broke. If she didn’t acknowledge the bairn growing within her, then she wasn’t any better than Cam, denying the fact he now had a four-year-old daughter. Her eyes closed and her body swayed as she suddenly became lightheaded. It felt, once again, as if life were crashing down upon her.

A dead husband.

A baby-to-be.

Her life was changing so quickly that it made her dizzy. Heat engulfed her body and her knees buckled beneath her. The next thing she knew, she was falling to the ground.