Highland Warrior (Campbell Trilogy #1)(29)
Jamie hadn’t missed the slight smugness in his brother’s voice. “I’m in no mood for your guessing games, Colin. If you’ve something to say, say it. Either that or get out of my way so I can find the earl.”
“He’s not here. He’s been delayed at Inveraray, though he is expected soon.”
Jamie frowned. “Nothing is wrong?”
Argyll had lost his countess last year following the difficult birth of his heir and had taken it hard. The troubles with the MacGregors hadn’t helped matters any. The king held him to blame for their continued disobedience.
Colin shook his head. “The nursemaid hired to care for young Archie ran off, so he had to find another.”
Jamie paused at the top of the tower stairs and looked at his brother. “So what is it that you are obviously so eager to tell me?”
Colin smiled. “I’m surprised you haven’t heard by now,” he said nonchalantly. “It seems Alasdair MacGregor isn’t anywhere near the Isle of Bute. He’s been spotted near Loch Lomond.”
Jamie frowned. “How can you be sure it’s him?”
“The MacLaren chief wrote Argyll and asked for help in defending his lands against repeated assaults—he swears it is none other than Alasdair MacGregor who has been attacking his people. There have been numerous incidents on the road near Stirling, and ’tis rumored MacGregor has returned to the Braes of Balquhidder.”
It would make sense, Jamie thought. It wasn’t the first time MacGregor had sought to make his home on the MacLaren’s lands. But it had seemed too obvious. Jamie had been sure MacGregor had gone to Bute, but he felt a surge of relief. For Caitrina and her family’s sake, he was glad to be wrong.
He wasn’t the only one. Colin took obvious delight in having Jamie proved in error. His brother resented Jamie’s place at Argyll’s side, a place that he believed belonged to him by birthright.
“So it seems your journey to Ascog was a waste of time,” Colin added, conveniently forgetting that it was he who’d urged Argyll to send troops to Ascog without waiting for proof of Lamont’s complicity. Having crossed the barmkin, they walked up the forestairs to the keep. “How did you find the Lamont’s daughter? As beautiful as they say?”
Jamie stiffened, knowing what delight his brother would take in knowing the truth—that he’d asked the lass to marry him and been harshly refused. “Fair enough,” he said, and then, switching the subject, “I’ll leave tomorrow morning.”
“You don’t want to wait for our cousin to arrive?”
Jamie shook his head. “Not while the trail is hot. I’ll leave him a note.”
As they entered the tower and passed through into the great hall, Jamie looked around, right away noticing the subdued atmosphere. Ever since Colin’s wife had died a few years ago in childbirth, the place had felt like a tomb. Though Jamie could smell the peat, the air was cold and damp. Only a few candelabras had been lit, and there was little sign of life about the place. With Lizzie’s arrival, he’d expected to see her feminine touches livening up the place a bit. He frowned, noticing something else. Lizzie was usually the first person to greet him. “Where’s Lizzie?”
Colin frowned. “At Castle Campbell. Where else would she be?”
Jamie felt a flicker of unease. He shook his head. “She wrote me a few days before I left that she was coming here.” He met his brother’s gaze, neither wanting to give voice to their thoughts. “She should be here by now.”
Colin’s face hardened with anger. “He wouldn’t dare.”
“There is not much that Alasdair MacGregor would not dare,” Jamie said grimly. “He is a man with nothing to lose.” He turned, striding for the door he’d just entered, not wanting to delay another minute.
Colin cursed and followed after him. “I’ll go with you.”
“No,” Jamie said, his thoughts already on the journey before him. “You must be here when Argyll arrives. I’ll go. But I will need men. Even now, mine are on their way back to Bute.”
Colin looked as if he might argue but seemed to realize someone would have to stay and explain things to Argyll and nothing would turn Jamie from his course. “Take whomever you need. I’ll have Dougal ready the provisions.”
Jamie was already halfway down the stairs when his brother called after him. “And Jamie . . .” He turned. “Bring me his damn head on a pike.”
Colin had always been the bloodthirsty one, but for once Jamie was in perfect accord. “If MacGregor has touched one hair on Lizzie’s head, you can be sure of it.”
Shaken by her argument with Jamie and the events that precipitated it, Caitrina took her time in returning to the castle. But when she entered the great hall and caught her father’s questioning gaze as he spoke with a few other chiefs, she knew right away that her wish had been granted: Jamie Campbell was gone.
Just like that. As if what had happened between them had never occurred.
She felt a jolt of something akin to panic as she fought to stem the unwelcome tide of emotion. This was what she’d wanted. It was only the shock of him leaving so quickly—on the heels of such a cataclysmic event—that made her feel such an overwhelming sense of loss.
She’d dreaded the explanation to her father, but he’d accepted her decision to refuse without question. He wrapped her in his arms and placed a kiss atop her head, telling her that she must do whatever made her happy.