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“Yes, M’Laird, I do,” Bernard replied firmly. “Thank you for everything you have done for me. I wish you well.”
Then he turned on his heel and walked out. He went straight to his quarters in the keep and began to pack his few belongings, then realized that he would have to speak to Catriona. He groaned. Breaking someone’s heart before he went was not what he had planned to do at all.
18
Catriona was sitting, quietly sewing in her workroom, when Bernard appeared. The other seamstress who usually worked with her had gone to take her finished work to somewhere else in the castle, and she was alone. She was dressed in her grey working smock and looked clean, innocent, and as pretty as a china doll. She looked up from her work as she heard him approaching, but although she smiled when she saw him, there was a certain reticence about her.
“Good mornin’, Bernard,” she greeted him.
She stood up and leaned forward to kiss him, a soft, chaste peck on his lips, but she made no move to put her arms around him.
“Good morning, Katie,” he replied nervously. He looked down at his hands, which he was twisting around each other without even being aware of it. He stilled them with an effort and made himself look at her. “I have something to tell you,” he said reluctantly.
“I know,” she told him, smiling. “Ye’re goin’ away.”
“How did you know?” he asked in amazement.
“I had a feelin’. I heard about Laird Stewart, an’ I just knew,” she replied.
“Are you angry with me?” he asked. “It will mean that we will not see each other again.”
She smiled sadly. “I knew it couldnae last, Bernard. Ye need somebody of yer own kind who knows a bit more about the world an’ knows how tae kiss properly!” She laughed. “I told the girls what happened an’ they a’ laughed at me.”
“I am really not worthy of you,” he said thankfully.
“Pfft! Ye think ye are the first man who ever ended things wi’ a woman?” She began to sew again, smiling. “There is somebody else, is there no’?”
Bernard was startled at her perspicacity. “N-Not exactly,” he stuttered.
“But ye wish there was?” Catriona asked, raising her eyebrows in a question.
“Yes,” he replied heavily.
“Then what are ye waitin’ for?”
She stood up, turned him around, and gave him a little push.
He turned back, smiling. “Thank you.” He bowed. “And is there someone else for you too?”
“I had given up waitin’ for him, but when he heard about you, he declared himself,” she replied. “I suppose we two were just comfortin’ each other. My heart isnae broken.”
“I am glad for you, Katie.” He smiled warmly. “Good luck.”
Then he turned and walked out, feeling a hundred pounds lighter.
William met him as he went to the stables.
“All ready?” he asked.
“I doubt I will ever be ready to face Janice,” Bernard sighed wearily. “But I must try if I am not already a lost cause.” His face was the picture of gloom. “Or if she was not betrothed to someone else as soon as I left.”
“I think you should try to be more hopeful,” William advised. “From what I could see, you two were already more than friends.”
“It has to be more than lust, Will.” Bernard sighed. “She has to love me.”
“Why are you so miserable?” William gave him a playful punch on the arm. “You look as if the sky is going to fall on you. Look at you! I would kill to have your handsome face!”
Bernard chuckled. “Thank you, but it takes more than that. Look at Janice’s brothers. Handsome devils, both of them, but not a brain between them!”
