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“I feared my lord would not swear,” Fiona said afterward. They were safely back in their own tent. She had her husband ensconced in a wooden barrel Roderick Dhu had confiscated for her. The barrel had been filled with hot water, and she was now scrubbing her husband's red-gold head with great vigor.
“Ouch! Go gentle, sweeting” he begged her, and then, “My brother does not consider his oath binding, for the king forced it from him. Had he not sworn, James Stewart would not have let him go.”
Secretly, Fiona agreed with her brother-in-law, but she would not say so aloud. “An oath sworn before God and witnesses is an oath to be kept,” she said severely. “What harm has been done? All yer brother must do is keep the peace. Can he not do that, Nairn?”
“His pride has been compromised, Fiona mine. He has been publicly shamed and made an example of in the king's hall. How can he forget that? It must be made right, or there are those among the clans who will believe he has become weak. Then he will not be able to keep the peace in the north for James Stewart.”
“And how does yer brother propose to salve his pride then, my lord?” she asked scathingly, dumping a bucket of warm water over his head.
Colin MacDonald shook his head free of the droplets. “I don't know yet, for he has not decided what he shall do.”
Fiona snorted with impatience and handed her husband the scrubbing cloth and some soap. “Wash yerself, and do a good job of it,” she cautioned him. “A week in the king's dungeon, and there is enough dirt on ye to grow cabbages, my lord.”
“I wish we were at home,” he said, “so we might bathe together.”
“’Tis not bathing together yer thinking about.” She laughed. ‘ Jesu, Colin MacDonald, ye have just escaped possible death, and do ye give God a prayer of thanks for it? No! Ye think of coupling with yer wife!”
“Aye,” he admitted, not in the least ashamed. “The whole time I was in the king's jail I didn't fight or fret, for I just kept thinking about yer pretty round littletitties, and how sweetly ye sheathe me when we join, Fiona mine.”
She laughed again. “Well,” she told him. “I canna say I am disappointed that ye thought of me, Nairn. I worried a great deal about ye, particularly when they would not let us see any of ye or even bring ye small comforts. Then when the king hanged James Campbell, those of us in the encampment were hard put not to be frightened.”
“Campbell deserved hanging,” Colin MacDonald said grimly.
“Well, I'm grateful the king did not hang ye.”
Nairn rose, pushed himself up and out of the barrel with his strong arms, and attempted to embrace her, but she scolded him, saying, “The living space is not private, and ’Tis the middle of the day. What if the children or the servants or, God help us, yer mam, were to come upon us? Behave yerself, Nairn. Now that I have ye safe there will be plenty of time for loving ye, but not here or now, my lord. Did ye sleep well in prison?”
“No,” he said, almost purring as she rubbed him dry.
“Then ye will need a good night's sleep, my lord, for unless ye have objection, I would depart for Nairns Craig as early tomorrow as we can go. And when we are home, Colly, ye will not regret controlling yer baser instincts for me now” She drew a clean shirt over his big body, her hand slipping beneath the fabric just a moment to caress his love rod. “If ’Tis hungry now, ‘twill be even hungrier in two days if I can wait.”
He chuckled. “Yer a brazen piece of goods, wife,” he told her, but he did not sound displeased with her at all.
Colin MacDonald had no sooner finished dressingthan Roderick Dhu ushered in a royal page. “The lad comes from the king” he said dourly.
“What is it, lad?” Nairn asked the boy.
“The king would speak in private with yer lady, sir,” the page told them. “I am to accompany her to the castle.”
“Why does he wish to speak with my wife?”
“Is this not the lady who spoke out so boldly in the king's hall the opening day of the parliament?” the page replied.
“I am,” Fiona admitted.
“Then ye are the lady the king wishes to speak with,” the page said firmly. Then he said confidentially, “I think he means to scold ye, lady. He was verra angry that day”
“Was he indeed, lad?” Fiona said, unable to help the small smile that touched her mouth. “He means me no harm, Colly,” she reassured her husband. “I think the lad is right. I will go with him and return soon, I promise.”
“Mistress!” Nelly came forward and handed her Johanna. “Take the bairn for safety's sake, my lady.” She slipped a sling of warm plaid about Fiona's neck and tucked the baby into it so that it lay cradled against Fiona's bosom. “Aye,” she said with a small chuckle. “That will do nicely. No man, even a king, can be harsh to a woman with a tiny bairn clinging to her.”
Fiona bit her lip, restraining her laughter, and when she had gone with the page, Nairn said to Nelly, “Yer as clever a lass as yer mistress is, Nelly. When do ye intend wedding poor Roderick?”
“When we return to Nairns Craig,” Nelly said calmly “’Tis time, I'm thinking, that we settled down properly, my lord.”
Roderick Dhu looked stunned at this revelation.“Yer finally ready?” he asked, amazed, for Nelly had held him off forever, it seemed. “What has happened to change yer mind, Nelly lass?”
“I saw how easily a woman might lose the man she loves,” Nelly told him honestly. “And I do love ye, ye great, gangling gawk of a man.”
