AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Murray’s smirking just raised Conall’s ire. ‘You may laugh all you like, but the thing is, I’m not for her. I’m no good. She deserves someone kind and decent, not someone like me, and I took her from her family to free her, not to chain her to someone who will never make her happy. I’m no better than Donald Menzies if I force her to have me.’
‘I doubt it’ll come to that. And you deserve this strife for doing the wrong thing and being led by your cock as usual. You know what they say, can’t taste the honey without getting stung.’
Conall rolled his eyes. ‘Is that one of your old sea-faring proverbs?’
‘No, I heard it once, long ago, in a brothel I think it was, but before I wed your sister, that was.’
Conall let out a big sigh but smiled all the same. ‘Kenna fights me, you know, about everything, all the time. She’s impossible.’
‘You may as well accept it, you fool. Your battle is already lost. It is in every look you give her, so best bend the knee and submit. Who knows, perhaps you may find happiness.’
‘I do not want to be married. I didn’t go off on patrol that night looking for a damned wife.’
‘Well, you appear to have found one anyway and brought her back with you, albeit kicking and screaming. Conall, the blindest of squirrels manages to sniff out a juicy nut now and again. She’s bonny with a strong spirit, and I for one like her immensely, so fortune would appear to have smiled on you.’
‘I’m only nineteen, for God’s sake. I thought it would be years before I had to settle down and take on the burden of a wife.’
‘Defy your father and say no then. Marry the girl off to one of the men. She’s beddable enough, one of them will have her. I’ve seen them looking and that Meyrick is always sniffing around.’
‘No!’
‘Someone else then. We can think on it a while. If she’s not good enough to tempt you, then perhaps you can do as your father wants and make a tactical marriage to a girl you barely know for wealth and land and an alliance. That might be the sensible thing to do. Find some girl on the side to warm your bed when your rich wife bores you. Maybe you can tempt Kenna into being your mistress.’
‘Stop goading me. I can’t. Kenna saved my life, and I owe her a debt. So I suppose the honourable thing to do would be to marry or else she is shamed by that old farmer spreading rumours, and she does not deserve that.’
‘If you say so.’
‘I don’t like being forced into it, but I suppose I will do the right thing.’
‘Of course, you will. She is a very lucky girl to be getting such a fine husband,’ said Murray with a big smirk on his face and laughter dancing in his eyes, ‘and one who also happens to be the world’s biggest fool.’
‘You are mocking me.’
‘I am. Now, it is decided you will marry, so no point in whining. Let us go and find a quiet corner and some strong whisky, for I must instruct you on what to do on your wedding night.’
‘I know full well how to bed a woman, Murray. I am not some blushing virgin.’
‘No, but if you are to be believed, Kenna is, and there is a world of difference between bedding and seduction. You are aiming for seduction, Conall. I mean, you really do owe the poor girl some semblance of that at least.’
Chapter Twenty
Conall waited until dusk was falling before he sought Kenna out, having spent the afternoon pacing up and down along Dunslair’s battlements. He had watched her walk to the opposite side of the loch, and so he set off to catch up with her.
His mind was whirling with indecision. Should he marry her under such circumstances, compelled by the opinion of others, by false rumour and spiteful gossip? Shouldn’t he take a woman when he really wanted her, not be forced into it? On the other hand, Kenna was lovely. She had set a fire in his loins since the night in the cottage, given him an itch he needed desperately to scratch and that was all well and good, but what happened after? Would he tire of her and she of him? Would he be a good, faithful husband or a furtive, straying wretch who broke her heart and spirit?
The Moncurs were responsible for almost killing him, and they were an impoverished, wretched lot with an evil legacy. Marrying Kenna would tie him to them forever. He and Gregor Moncur would be bonded, and taking revenge by murdering his father-in-law would not be the best start to a marriage, no matter how much he despised the man. There was also the Campbell name to consider. Could he drag it through the mud by joining it to that of Moncur?
But he was fond of Kenna already and had more feeling in his heart when he looked into her sweet face than he had ever thought himself capable of. Was that gratitude or something else? He needed time. Yes that was it. He needed time to sort out all these feelings and all this confusion. But time was a luxury he did not have. She needed a protector, she needed him, and so he was decided. He would take Kenna Moncur, tainted, wholly unsuitable, lovely and infuriating in equal measure, and be damned the consequences.
With his decision made, Conall actually felt happy. He quickened his step. Kenna would be kept safe once she was his bride, and he was actually looking forward to it.
As he approached, she was throwing pebbles, making them bounce off the loch’s surface, pink and shining in the setting sun. Dunslair rose in the background in all its grandeur, its stern walls softened somewhat by the soft evening light. Conall suddenly felt the weight of his heritage bear down on him.
Kenna turned and saw him coming and resumed staring at the water.
‘You do that well,’ he shouted, stooping to pick up a pebble and skidding it twice as far across the loch.
She dropped the pebbles she’d been holding and said nothing, just a quick smile and her eyes moved away from his. How shy she was with him these days when they had shared so much, so many dangers, so many intimacies. And how lovely she looked with her hair falling about her shoulders and that light in her eyes. He hoped she wasn’t still angry from their quarrel.
