Never Love a Highlander (McCabe Trilogy #3)(47)

Rionna was transfixed by the babe. She was a beautiful lass, with a head full of black hair just like her parents. Tiny, delicate features and a bow-shaped mouth.

Mairin reached out to gently touch Rionna’s eye. Startled, Rionna drew away and stared at the other woman.

“ ’Tis sorry I am you were drawn into our fight,” Mairin said in a low voice. “Caelen said you were badly beaten.”

Rionna pressed her lips together in a frown. “Nay, ’tis my fight as well. I’m married to a McCabe.”

Mairin smiled. “Caelen is lucky to have one as fierce as you. I worried so about him leaving our clan to become laird here, but I think my worry is misplaced. You’ll keep him safe.”

“Aye, I will. I’ll not let harm come to him, if I can help it.”

Mairin squeezed Rionna’s hand and then let out a weary sigh that spurred Rionna to action. “Please do sit,” she urged Mairin.

Mairin nodded gratefully. “Isabel will be wanting her meal soon. We’ve traveled since yesterday morn. Ewan was afraid to stop.”

Rionna waved to one of the men standing nearby and bid him to add wood to the fire. Then she sent one of the women for cider.

“The meal will soon be served,” she told Mairin.

“Don’t think me ungrateful, but ’tis the truth I’d prefer to sit by the fire. I’m too tired to go to the table and ’twill be more comfortable here holding Isabel.”

“I’ll sit with you and hold the babe while you eat,” Rionna replied. “The men can have the table so they can discuss matters. ’Tis likely they’ll be at it all night. You and I can escape upstairs and they’ll never notice.”

Mairin chuckled. “Aye, I think you’re right. Thank you, Rionna. You’re sweet to look after me so.”

Rionna’s cheeks warmed at the other woman’s praise. She glanced over at Caelen, expecting to find him deep in conversation with his brother, but to her surprise, she found him watching her and Mairin, a most peculiar expression on his face.

She smiled hesitantly. He nodded in her direction, but his gaze continued to linger as she looked away.

“You must tell me how marriage is suiting you, Rionna. I must confess you look quite well. And … happy. You have a glow about you that was absent before. You’ve always been a beautiful lass, but now you outshine the sun.”

Flustered by Mairin’s words, Rionna ducked her head and then reached clumsily for Isabel when Sarah arrived with cider and a trencher for Mairin.

The babe squawked in protest but then nuzzled against Rionna’s breast when Rionna held her close. Mairin chuckled. “She’s not a picky child. Any breast will do. ’Tis amusing to watch Ewan’s face when she roots against his chest.”

Rionna laughed softly and touched her fingertip to Isabel’s tiny palm. Isabel promptly curled her fingers tight around Rionna’s finger and waved it about as her unfocused gaze found Rionna.

“She’s just beautiful, Mairin.” Rionna sighed.

“I thank you. She is a true treasure. Ewan and I delight in her every day.”

It was hard to hold Isabel and not imagine holding her own babe in her arms one day. A son or daughter with Caelen’s green eyes. Aye, that would be perfect.

Mayhap she was already breeding.

The thought sent a jolt through her veins, shocking in its discovery.

Could she be carrying his child already? It had been some weeks since they’d arrived here on McDonald land. Even now, a child could be growing in her womb.

She slid her hand from Isabel’s bottom to her flat belly and splayed out her fingers. ’Twas a marvel she hadn’t considered it until now.

Oh, she knew children were inevitable if God chose to bestow such a gift on them. But she hadn’t considered that it could happen so soon, even though Caelen had all but guaranteed she’d deliver a child within a year of their marriage.

She’d thought his prideful statement to be a natural boast of a newly married man.

She caught her bottom lip between her teeth and nibbled as she contemplated the possibilities. She knew it was her duty to provide heirs for Caelen. ’Twas a duty she owed her clan as well, to provide them with the next laird.

But ’twas God’s truth, she wasn’t sure she was up to the task quite yet.

It wouldn’t cause her distress if ’twas a little while longer before her womb bore fruit.

CHAPTER 20

Rionna was fair to falling over by the time Caelen sought their chamber. She’d sat by the fire yawning for the past hour, waiting for him to come to bed.

When he opened the door and stepped inside, he looked surprised to see her. Then a faint frown drew his brows together.

“You shouldn’t have waited up for me. ’Tis late and you have need of your rest.”

It would have been a thoughtful statement if he hadn’t accentuated it with that frown.

Ignoring his gruffness, she rose and went to help him undress. He went still as she unlaced the leather ties of his trews. So still that she wasn’t sure he was even breathing.

When her fingers brushed his firm belly, he flinched. She was sorely tempted to run her palm up his midriff to his chest, but she was going to properly attend him first.

She guided him toward the chair she’d vacated by the fire and urged him down. He watched through half-lidded eyes as she tugged at his tunic and then pulled it over his head, baring his broad, hair-roughened chest.