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‘As to this offer of allegiance, you hate Robert.’
‘Aye, with good cause. Look, you don’t have to like me any more than I like Robert. We often have to get into bed with people we don’t especially like, though I do not count your sister in that number.’
‘Do not test me Bain.’
‘But we grit our teeth and get it done, take what we want out of it. So, if your Buchanan pride will allow it, send word to me of how events unfold and, if I feel like it, I will come to your aid.’
Cormac said nothing, he merely whirled around and rode away. Will was left to ponder this latest change in his life and to wrestle with the strange twist of elation and anger taking hold at the thought of having Morna Buchanan as his bride.
Chapter Seventeen
Will waited to calm the turmoil inside him before he went in search of Morna. He found her on the battlements, staring out at a surging ocean and a steely sky, full of ragged clouds. Morna did not turn when he called out to her, but he saw her draw a hand across her eyes.
‘So your brother has come and gone,’ he said, keeping his voice even.
‘Are you going to let him leave in safety?’ she said with a sob in her voice.
‘Aye, for the bargain is struck, and we are to wed. You might have asked me first, Morna. I don’t like being backed into a corner, and your proposal was a little surprising, though I will put my head into the marital noose if it buys peace.’
Silence.
‘I know you are distressed at upsetting Cormac, but he will resign himself to this marriage, in time, and this wound will heal. It is so strange how the world turns. I had no idea I would start this day preparing for a fight and then end it in my marriage bed.’
Will went up to Morna and gently turned her around. Her beautiful, brown eyes were raw from crying, hands icy and shaking when he took them in his.
‘Come inside where it is warmer. I have sent word for the priest to be found and we will do this thing tonight. I want no delay, in case you change your mind.’ He smiled down at her, wanting to hold her tight and take away the pain. ‘Come, be of good cheer. You are to be a bride before the day is out, for it would seem that, despite your protestations to the contrary, you are madly in love with me, enough to defy your fierce brother at least.’
‘I do care about you, Will, though you don’t deserve it, but not nearly as much as I care about my brother.’
Will’s smile faded. ‘What do you mean?’ he said lightly.
Morna bit her lip and took a step back. She was fearful. Why?
‘I told Cormac what he needed to hear to make him leave, to stop him and my clansmen and all the people in this keep from throwing their lives away because of your stubbornness. I am so tired of men butchering each other, so I lied, to avoid bloodshed, and it worked, didn’t it? Cormac is content, thinking that I love you and that we are to be wed, it is enough for him and I am now reconciled to my fate.’
‘Your fate?’
‘Will, you can’t honestly believe that I love you or want to wed you.’
Will’s soaring anticipation crashed brutally to earth. Morna could not have hurt him more if she had driven a nail into his heart. He wanted to rage at her, to beat her into taking back such cruel words. He wanted to shake her until her ears bled, until he could force her to want him, but he let none of his anger show on his face. Instead, he laughed.
‘Good, so we are of one mind. I didn’t for one moment fall for all that false affection. I was merely going along with the pretence. It seemed the polite thing to do to get Cormac off my land and get what I want. In fact, I am amazed your brother swallowed the lie. As to the marriage, well, I no more want a wife than Cormac wants me to be part of his family.’
Morna’s face froze in shock.
‘Didn’t expect that, did you?’ he thought.
‘What do you mean, get what you want?’ she said, frowning.
‘I needed a way to gain the King’s ear, and I needed an alliance with one of the powerful clans in the Highlands. Marriage to a Buchanan will secure me that. Once we are wed, I will send word, and Cormac will consider me his ally. Anyone Cormac trusts, King Robert also trusts.’
‘Why would you want to get close to the King? You hate him.’
‘I do, but the Bains cannot stand alone against him if he wins this war. I will wait and see which way the wind is blowing before I jump for any side. This way, I am perfectly poised to go either way. When Cormac arrived at the gates of my keep, I saw a chance, and I have taken it. That is why I didn’t hand you back.’
‘Did you plan this from the start? Did you use me just to forge an alliance with the King?’
‘The Bruce could win this war. If I am not on the right side of it when he does, my clan and I are doomed. He will come for us and burn us out like a nest of rats. So yes, an alliance is, for us, survival, and there is nothing I won’t do to survive in this world.’
