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‘Is he bothering you, Kenna?’ Meyrick stood before them. ‘I saw you leave the hall and was concerned. This one here is often the worse for drink.’
‘Shut up, Meyrick, and go away,’ snarled Conall.
‘No, I won’t, not until I know Kenna is alright.’
‘We’ll see about that.’
‘Conall!’ Rory’s voice was hard, and he had a face like thunder. ‘Whatever this is, I am in no mood for it. Kenna, you will go to bed now, and you two will walk away from each other, or I'll have you both whipped.’
Kenna ran off unsteadily, shame written all over her face.
‘You are like two dogs fighting over a bone, and that girl is not some prize to be won,’ snarled Rory.
‘I was trying to look out for her,’ snapped Conall.
‘If you think that is what you were doing, then you’re a bloody fool, Conall. Now either get back into the hall and calm down or get out of my sight.’
***
Conall calmed himself before entering the hall and headed straight for the whisky. Rory came up to him and regarded him stonily.
‘What the hell was that, Conall? You are behaving like a horse’s arse. What have I told you over and over again about restraint?’
‘Meyrick was all over her when they were dancing. There are plenty of girls after him, and I know he is only doing it to get under my skin.’
‘Aye, either that or he likes her, and why wouldn’t he? She’s certainly easy on the eye, some would say beautiful, in fact, and she’s a free woman. There’s many a young buck eager to get in her good graces.’
‘Aye and her skirts as well.’
‘Conall, that comment is beneath you, and you damn well know it.’
‘You are right. Forgive me my ill temper. If another man said that about Kenna, I would cut them down where they stood. It’s just she infuriates me. She won’t listen to a word I say, and she is naive and trusting, and I don’t want her to be taken advantage of.’
‘By anyone but you.’
‘No, it’s not like that. I am responsible for her.’
‘You are jealous of her and you’re jealous of her friendship with Meyrick.’
‘That is no friendship. That’s a seduction, meant to wound me, Rory.’
‘How could it wound you?’
‘I know Meyrick. He cares for nothing and no one. All he does is bleat about his parentage and claim to all who would listen that he is old Uncle Hugh’s grandson, and we should all acknowledge it.’
‘And that’s what bothers you, his parentage, and his claim that his father was Hugh Campbell’s bastard? Not the fact that he is keen on Kenna, a woman who you watch like a hawk, constantly, whose good opinion can raise you, whose indifference can crush you.’
‘You can talk. There’s a certain servant who seems to have caught your jaded eye, Rory.’
‘We’re not talking about me, and besides, that is going nowhere. Now you’d better decide what to do about Kenna, and you’d better do it fast, Conall.’
Chapter Nineteen
Conall was still smarting over Kenna’s words from the night before as he hurried to see why his father had summoned him. He had been told to go to the study and that usually did not bode well, being reserved for his more severe ear-bashings, out of hearing of the rest of the castle. He was surprised to see both Rory and Murray there when he entered, along with a glowering Father Boyle, and they all stared at him in unison. His father and Rory looked very serious, but he was sure Murray was struggling to contain laughter.
‘What is it?’ he snapped at them, not in the best of moods.
‘A messenger came last night with some disturbing news,’ said Duncan opening up a letter. ‘It is from a Laird Donald Menzies. It seems Kenna is not a free woman. She is betrothed to him. Did you know this?’
