“I’m going. I just wish to say one thing.”
Iain gave Lachlan and Graham a look that said he was helpless to stop his wife. “Make haste,” he said sternly.
“Graham, nae a soul here thinks lesser of you just because you have a limp.”
Bridgette groaned and rolled her eyes. Marion was trying to be kind, but she did not understand that her words would further anger Graham.
Graham clenched his jaw. “I think lesser of me, Marion. And if I am denied going, the rest of the clan will think lesser of me, too. They’ll ken Iain dunnae think me capable of the journey.”
What Graham said was true. Lachlan knew it, and the resigned look that swept across Iain’s features could only mean Iain understood it to be so as well. Lachlan tried to think what else could be said to convince Iain not to send Graham when Iain spoke. “Graham will ride to bring David to us. Lachlan, ye’ll stay here. I may need to journey to see the clansmen at the outer edges of our land, and I dunnae wish to leave without one of us here.”
Lachlan opened his mouth to argue that he should journey to the king and Graham should stay when Bridgette scrambled to her feet. “Ye kinnae send him! He’s weak and kinnae ride well.”
Steely determination swept over Graham’s face. It struck Lachlan in that instant that Graham likely wanted to go to prove to Bridgette that he could. He did not want her to see him as weak, and she had just confirmed that she did.
“Iain, please,” Graham begged. “Ye would wish to accompany the men if ye were me, and ye ken it well. Ye would nae let injury stop ye.”
Lachlan sighed. Graham’s words were true. Iain would never let anything stop him from protecting the clan. He’d bear the pain. He had always expected Lachlan to do the same, as well, but not Graham. Lachlan started at the realization, and as Iain blinked and his eyes drew slightly wider, then locked on Lachlan, he knew Iain had come to the same realization. They had both worked in silent agreement to protect Graham and Cameron as much as possible, but now it was time to let them prove they were MacLeod warriors.
“As ye wish, Graham,” Iain said. “Ye will lead our men, and Cameron will act as yer second-in-command. Do the clan proud.”
“Nay!” Bridgette cried and ran to Graham’s side. “Ye’ll be hurt worse or killed. What if the party is struck? What if David’s own men turn on him? What if traitors are lying in wait to kill David? Nay. Nay. Let Lachlan go!”
Lachlan stiffened. Bridgette’s fierce protection of Graham and her willingness to send Lachlan into peril instead was exactly how it should be, yet her words still ripped him apart. They battered his body like unseen blows. And by all that was holy, her pleas for his brother made Lachlan yearn for her more. Graham smiled slowly at her, cupped her by the neck, and kissed her full on the mouth. Lachlan turned swiftly away, fearing the jealousy and desire he felt would show on his face.
“Are we finished?” Lachlan asked, wishing to depart.
“Nay,” Iain responded. “The king imparted some verra interesting news in his letter that we need to discuss.”
Lachlan turned swiftly around at the tension he heard in Iain’s voice. “What is it? Should I call the council back in?”
“Nay. I would keep this between us for now,” Iain said, his eyes coming to rest on Atholl.
Atholl gave a quick nod, and then Iain continued. “It seems Uncle Jamie has returned to Scotland.”
Lachlan jolted at the news that their father’s brother, the man who should have become laird when their father died but had been banished long ago by Robert I, King David’s own father, had once again returned to Scotland.
“I didn’t even know you had an uncle!” Marion exclaimed to Iain.
Iain shrugged. “We dunnae anymore. He is dead to us.”
Marion scowled. “Where has he been if not in Scotland?”
“England,” Iain said. “He was banished from Scotland many years ago by David’s father, and he was nae to return to Scotland or else face death, but this makes it his fourth return. This will be the last time he evades captivity, though.” A dark scowl marred his face.
Lachlan exchanged a quick glance with Iain, then Graham, and Cameron. Iain would not say so in front of Marion and Bridgette, but if Jamie was back it was for the same reason as always—to try to take control of the MacLeod clan and the lairdship he claimed had been unrightfully taken from him and given to Iain. The last time Jamie had returned to Scotland was with Edward Balliol, and when Jamie had evaded Iain’s capture, Iain had vowed that he would hunt their uncle down if he returned again, no matter how long it took, and kill the man. That meant they were about to go to war. Jamie would not be here without having first formed an allegiance. The question was, with whom?
Marion’s forehead creased as she frowned. “Why was he banished from Scotland?”
“King Robert ordered him to marry one of the daughters of the Sinclair laird, at the time,” Atholl replied. Lachlan stared when the man spoke because Atholl rarely said a word unless directly addressed. Atholl gave a shy smile as if he knew his talking was odd.
Iain nodded. “Atholl is correct. Jamie dunnae wish to wed the Sinclair woman, according to my father.” He looked to Atholl to confirm.
“He dunnae, ’tis true.”
Iain looked as if he was trying to recall something. “Did Jamie wish to marry another?”
Atholl shrugged. “I dunnae recall. But the woman he was being forced to marry was nae comely at all and simple in mind, but Jamie did nae have a choice. She was found dead shortly after the marriage, chained to a rock in one of the caves near Dunvegan where the tide rises high. She’d gone missing a few days earlier.”
