‘Aye,’ Brita said. ‘He asked to rent this cottage. Said the laird set him to the task of finding you.’
She sat in silence as the girl tended to her hair. She desperately needed to wash it, but just having it brushed was a pleasure. Brita finished the tasks she’d been sent to carry out and curtsied when she was leaving. She stopped at the door, just before opening it.
‘My mam said you should know that your bleeding stopped two days ago. She was the first one to tend to you, lady.’ The girl’s face filled with a blush as she said such a thing. ‘She said she thought you would want to know.’
Eva smiled and nodded, feeling both relief and sorrow. The fever and bleeding had been happening together since she’d given birth. Fearing childbed fever and death, Eva knew it had continued too long. But her mother had refused to speak of the birth at all, so there had been no one she could seek advice from. Everyone at Castle Varrich had been forbidden to speak to her about those months she’d spent away, visiting kin in the west was the explanation.
Brita left, and Eva remained sitting up, leaning against the wall with several blankets behind her. Rob would return shortly, according to the girl, and it would do her good to move a bit. But, she feared the first time she would put her weight on her injured ankle. Even now, wrapped tightly, it throbbed from just moving it around as she washed and dressed.
A few minutes later, the door opened and he walked in.
The first thing she noticed was that his auburn hair was windblown and wild. She must be feeling better if she was taking in such details now. He seemed more alive than when he’d left. He pushed the door, and she heard the latch catch.
‘I found this in the cave,’ he said, tossing the small bag to her. He was angry. Again.
She opened it and found the few things she’d managed to take with her when she’d run off in the middle of the night. A small purse filled with coins. A small sgian dubh made to fit a woman’s hand. A comb. An extra shift. Her prayer beads. And the skin of water she carried.
‘You left the safety of your father’s keep with only this?’ he asked. ‘What was so terrible that you would risk your life to get away?’ His hands fisted and released, and she could feel waves of ire pouring off him. ‘Why did you run?’
Something was terribly wrong here. If she’d suspected it before, Eva knew it now. This man had no right to speak to her like this. Or to be in the same chamber as she. Or to demand help and supplies on behalf of her father. Who was he?
A sick feeling roiled through her stomach then. It had nothing to do with her illness and everything to do with the man standing before her.
If he’d been paid to do this by her father, he would have sent word for someone to come for her in her condition. A mercenary would not even worry over her illness, he would be paid for finding her.
A mercenary would not give a moment’s thought to why she’d run or what she’d taken. He would not have done most of the things this man had in caring for her.
A sinking feeling filled her, and she could feel the blood draining from her face and head. It took all of her courage to ask the question that now spun out in the space between them, but she must. The answer, which she suspected she already knew, would explain so much.
‘You are not my father’s man.’ She asked, her voice trembling with each word, ‘You are the Mackintosh’s counsellor and cousin, are you not?’
He crossed his arms over his chest and nodded. If his face grew any darker with anger, it would explode.
‘Robert Mackintosh,’ he said as though introducing himself to her for the first time. ‘Your betrothed husband.’
She gasped at his declaration. ‘Betrothed?’ she asked, shaking her head wildly. ‘We were not betrothed.’
‘Aye, lady, we were. Your father and I signed the documents before he gave me his blessing and sent me off to look for his runaway daughter.’
‘Nay!’ she cried out, trying to get to her feet in spite of her injuries and continued weakness. ‘I cannot marry you. You cannot force this on me!’
He took her by her arms and pulled her up to him, their faces but inches apart. He stared at her, searching there for something.
‘In the eyes of the Church and by the laws of this land, we are married, lady. The vows can be spoken when we return to Castle Varrich. The rest can wait until we arrive in Glenlui.’
The rest? The rest! Eva would never share with any man what she’d given to Eirik.
She balled up her hands and pushed against his chest with them, trying to force herself free. He simply held her tighter, giving her no chance to get away. Because he was so much taller and stronger than she was, her feet did not even touch the ground.
‘You do not understand,’ she began to plead. ‘I cannot marry you. I...’
‘Are you pledged to someone else already?’ he demanded. ‘Tell me why you cannot marry me.’
She could not reveal the truth to him. Her father would be furious if she continued to fight this marriage. He was the only one who knew where her baby was and, if she did not do as told, the wee bairn would pay the price. Ramsey MacKay was a cold-hearted and ruthless man when it came to getting his own way. No one opposed him—not his wife, his daughter, his kith or kin—and not suffer for such defiance.
‘And tell me who Mairead is,’ he said, in a quiet but no less dangerous voice. ‘Who is she?’
He could have hit her and it would not have hurt as much as hearing her daughter’s name on his lips. The shock rippled through her and in the next moment, as he called out her own name, Eva fainted.
‘Eva!’
Rob swore aloud, but she did not even react to the coarse words he’d said. The mention of that name had caused this. Her eyes had been glaring at him one moment and then they rolled up into her head the next. Cursing her, her father, her mother, his friend and anyone else he could bring to mind in that second, Rob carried her to the pallet and laid her there, being careful of her injured leg and foot.
She did not rouse. He tapped on her cheek, saying her name in as calm a tone as he could, but there was no sign of her coming around. Stalking as far away from her as he could get within the cottage, he watched her.
Bloody hell! Damn this woman to perdition!
She’d run from him. Refused to marry him. Worse, she placed herself in immeasurable danger because of her wilfulness. It was a miracle he’d found her in that cave before the storm blew in and flooded it. It was a miracle that she had not been attacked by ruffians or outlaws in the forests and on the roads between her father’s keep and this place. A miracle.
He let out a loud breath then, releasing some of the pent-up anger within him. Walking back to her side, he knelt down and touched her cheek. Thank the Almighty—no fever. When she did not move or wake, he sought out the cloth and water and touched the rag to her head and cheeks and then along her neck. Rob repeated it several times before her eyes began to flutter open.
Rob brought over the cup of ale and held it out when she looked at him. Without a word, she pushed up to lean on her elbows and took the cup. She averted her gaze and sipped several times before handing it back to him. As he watched, those blue eyes filled with tears that began to spill down her cheeks. The lady turned away, tucking her face into the pillow and sobbing silently.
He felt sick to his stomach. He’d wanted to force a reaction from her and he got one, just not the one he was hoping for. He wanted truth, but realised he’d