Never Love a Highlander (McCabe Trilogy #3)(57)

“Help me up and into a gown. ’Twill ease my husband’s mood if he sees me in womanly apparel. Perhaps he’ll not bellow at me too loudly for gainsaying his order to remain abed.”

“I wouldn’t count on it,” Sarah said wryly. “ ’Tis enough if you soothe the men’s worry that he’s dispatched you and is even now having his man bury you.”

Rionna rolled her eyes at the amusement in Sarah’s voice and threw her legs over the side of the bed. A few moments later, she was attired in a gown of amber cloth with gold-colored threads. ’Twas the first time she’d worn the gown since Sarah had sewn it for her. She’d wanted to save it for a special occasion. Avoiding her husband’s ire seemed good enough.

“You look beautiful, lass. Already, carrying the babe has given you a softer glow about you.”

Rionna paused on her way to the door and turned with a sigh. “Gannon.”

Sarah frowned as if just remembering Caelen’s commander herself. Then she shrugged. “ ’Tis unlikely he’ll lay a hand on you. Oh he’ll bluster and try to bar your way, but between the two of us we should be able to make him back down.”

Rionna didn’t have Sarah’s confidence that Gannon wouldn’t physically subdue her.

“Perhaps ’twould be better if you called Gannon inside. I’ll stand behind the door and when he comes in, I’ll hurry out behind him.”

Sarah chuckled. “You’ve a devious mind, lass. ’Twill work if I inject enough panic into my cry. Take your position, but remember to be quick. He won’t like our trickery.”

Rionna gathered her skirts in her grip and then hastened to stand behind the door. Sarah positioned herself across the room and then cried Gannon’s name.

Immediately the door burst open and Gannon ran inside the room. Not taking even a moment to see his reaction, Rionna grasped the door, darted around it, and ran down the stairs. His bellow of outrage followed her all the way down.

Urged on by the heavy tread of his footsteps on the stairs, she ran for the door leading out into the courtyard. She nearly slipped in the snow, righted herself, and ran toward her husband, whose back was to her.

But the men saw her. They lowered their swords in the midst of one of Caelen’s instructions and stared curiously as she skidded to a stop just beyond Caelen’s right elbow.

They glanced between her and Caelen, their expressions wary, and when he turned so that she could see his face, she knew why.

His expression was so coldly furious that she took a step back, her heart leaping into her throat. Gannon strode up behind her and suddenly she was pinned by two extremely angry warriors.

“You were not to allow her from her chamber,” Caelen snapped at Gannon.

“ ’Twas not his fault,” Rionna said softly. “Sarah and I tricked him.”

“You have a deft hand at trickery, wife, wouldn’t you say?”

His tone took her aback. Her mouth fell open at his accusation. She couldn’t be sure exactly what he accused her of, but whatever it was, it wasn’t good.

Her chin went up a notch. “I merely wanted to assure the men that I was well.”

He gestured widely, his hand sweeping over the assembled warriors. “As they can see, you are hale and hearty, no thanks to your foolishness. Now if that is all, we’ve training to finish.”

Her chest clutched at his dismissive, caustic tone. “My foolishness? What is it you speak of, husband?”

He took a step forward and stared down at her, his face so cold that she shivered. “I will speak to you later, when I am not so gripped by anger. Until then, return to our chamber and do not leave it. Are we understood?”

Her mouth fell open. She gaped incredulously at him. What on earth could she have done to anger him so?

She was sorely tempted to knee him in the cods and leave him writhing on the ground in agony. She pressed her lips into a thin line and sent him a stare that would wither a flower in full bloom.

She turned and when Gannon would have taken her arm, she jerked away and gave him an equally icy stare. Over her lifeless body would she obey her husband’s dictate to wait in their chamber for him to take her apart for some imagined slight.

She stomped inside and went in search of Sarah. Caelen should be filled with joy. He was going to be a father. It had been his wish for his seed to bear fruit with all haste so as to further seal his leadership over his new clan.

Now the McCabes and the McDonalds would be joined by blood. Caelen had everything he wanted. Why then did he look upon her as though she’d handed him the worst betrayal?

“You cannot avoid the laird forever,” Sarah warned.

Rionna shot her a glare. “ ’Tis not avoiding as much as it is me not obeying his almighty dictate. He can go to the devil. And to think I wore a dress for him.” She looked down in disgust at the beautiful amber gown that had a fair number of wrinkles in it now.

Sarah chuckled and resumed her knitting. The two women sat in Sarah’s cottage as the fire blazed in the hearth. ’Twas past the hour of the evening meal but Rionna had eaten—at Sarah’s insistence—in the quiet of Sarah’s cottage.

“You can’t miss meals now, lass,” she’d cautioned Rionna. “ ’Tis likely what made you faint. You didn’t break your fast and then you overexerted yourself.”