“I dunnae give a damn about the castle,” Alex growled. No one but his guards occupied it at the moment for training, and they could easily train at Duart, his main holding. “Ye will shame Lena if ye make such a proclamation.”
“I ken,” the king said, “and I’m sorry for it, but I feel certain ye will soothe her feelings and show her she has worth to ye.”
“But, Sire,” Alex began, not above pleading for Lena’s sake.
The king held up a staying hand. “It must be this way. I’ve reason to believe someone in the MacLeod clan is nae trustworthy, and if they believe ye to be unfaithful, as well, perchance they will approach ye. If things go well for us, they will reveal themselves before ye ride away, and then ye can use them, make them believe our deceit, so that they will vouch to my nephew that ye have broken with the MacLeods.”
Alex felt his mouth part. “I kinnae believe Iain and his brothers would nae be faithful to ye.”
“Nae one of the brothers,” the king said dismissively. “I would nae believe it, either, but it is best they dunnae ken the truth so that their real reactions help draw out the traitors. After I make the declaration, ye will storm away, taking Lena with ye. This will be the beginning of what will appear to be a breach between us. Go to Duart and send word to my nephew that ye wish to see him and join his cause.” The king speared him with a narrowed look. “I will have yer pledge on this, and if ye break it, I will have yer head.”
Alex clenched his teeth. “I give ye my pledge freely. Ye dunnae need to threaten to receive it.”
The king clapped Alex on the shoulder. “We are both tense,” David replied, his way of offering an apology without actually uttering the words. “Soon ye will seem a betrayer to all. Ye must remain strong.”
“Aye,” he replied, saying a silent prayer for himself, as well as Lena.
Five
Something was vexing Alex, and Lena had little doubt it was their impending marriage. The tense lines of his face revealed his displeasure, as did his halting words in the solar earlier. It was clear he felt forced to wed her. Anxiety knotted in her chest. She felt compelled, too, but what choice did she have, given the alternative of marriage to a Campbell?
She had hoped it had been her imagination earlier that had made Alex sound so reluctant to marry her, but there was no denying it now. She took a deep breath for courage and ran a smoothing hand over the gown that Bridgette and Marion had helped her don.
Iain stopped beside her and linked her arm with his. She glanced sideways at her brother, as he frowned down at her. “He will be good to ye. I vow it.”
She nodded and cleared her throat. “The king is forcing him to marry me,” she whispered so only her brother could hear.
The king, Father Murdock, and everyone who had been called to attend the wedding at this late hour stood near the dais at the front of the great hall. All her brothers and their wives were present, even Sorcha and Cameron. Lena felt terrible that their wedding night was being intruded upon, but Marion had told her the king had commanded all her siblings to be present. So the wedding celebration for her youngest brother and Sorcha had ended. The guilt snaked through her once more.
“Nay,” Iain assured her, as a loving, dutiful brother would.
“Aye. Ye ken it as well as I do,” she said in a low tone. “He looks vexed.”
“Ye look vexed, as well,” Iain said in about as gentle a tone as she’d ever heard him use. “Ye did nae wish to marry, either, but I vow the two of ye will rub along nicely. Alex is honorable and will defend ye with his life.”
He’d expect to join with her, too, she suddenly realized, the thought making her heart race in fear. But she just nodded, not wanting to worry Iain any further. “We should move forward,” she forced out. She was aware that everyone had turned to look at them, and Alex was now openly frowning, as was the king.
Iain nodded and led her down the middle of the great hall. Lena’s legs trembled as she walked toward Alex, and she could not help but think about the last time she had been ordered to marry. She certainly was not comparing Alex to her abusive deceased husband, but both marriageshadbeen thrust upon her. She’d known from the moment she stopped in front of Findlay in the chapel, when he’d berated her for daring to look him in the face, that the marriage would not be a happy one. Had she known in that moment just how horrid the marriage would be, she would have attempted to flee and risk survival in the wild.
With the thoughts of that night swirling in her mind, she looked down at her slippers and kept her eyes there through the entire ceremony. She heard Alex say his vows. His voice, smooth as velvet, washed over her and soothed her, yet the past continued to pummel her so she kept her gaze down. When it was her turn to speak her vows, she started them, only to feel the lightest touch of a finger under her chin and then an upward nudge. She lifted her head and met Alex’s dark-brown eyes.
“I would see yer face as ye become my wife,” he said, his voice low but intense nonetheless. His words did not sound like a command, though. She’d been commanded enough to recognize the difference in the way the words fell on her ears. His was a request, gentle and almost beseeching. Her heart squeezed as she nodded. She quickly said her vows as instructed, with the king looking on from beside the priest and her family at her back.
When she was finished pledging herself to Alex, the priest pronounced her his wife, and her brother Lachlan called out, “Ye must kiss to seal the marriage with good fortune!”
Her eyes went wide as her breath caught in her chest. She was going to embarrass herself! She was already trembling, and her palms were damp. Alex’s gaze darted to the king, and the king nodded, as if commanding Alex to kiss her. It was plain to see that he did not want to do so, and it left her feeling as if she were floundering in the loch during a great storm. Alex’s jaw had tensed at the king’s nod. His earlier words of being drawn to her like a bee to honey mocked her. He must have been trying to make her feel less awkward by being kind, and it had worked. How very clever of him.
But now things were different. Now he was stuck with her as a wife. Her embarrassment suddenly turned to fury—not so much at Alex but at Findlay that he had made her such a sniveling creature. She didn’t want to be this way. She wanted to have the same spirit standing in front of a man that she had around women. She reminded herself of a scared hound, and it burned her gut and throat. Alex turned to her, his achingly beautiful face tilted down to hers. Aware the king was likely waiting for Alex to obey his command, her gaze darted toward him, but the sheer size of Alex’s massive shoulders and his towering height blocked her view of the king and Father Murdock.
Alex drew closer, and her pulse sped up as his heat washed over her and a faint scent of pine tickled her nose. He raised his hands slowly, but even the care he was obviously taking did not stop the beat of her heart from taking to a gallop. But she clenched her teeth and fisted her hands, determined to stand still and not flinch when her husband—dear God above, this commanding man was her husband!—touched her.
Caution flickered in his eyes as he slid one of his hands around her waist to press his fingertips to the small of her back. She sucked in a sharp breath between her now parted lips, as his fingertips curved to her spine in a reassuring way. His touch was so exquisitely light and undemanding. It was nothing at all like Findlay’s had been. Still fear beat harshly in her breast put there by her past, but hope still threaded through it.
His other hand came to the nape of her neck, almost like a breeze against her skin, and then he leaned close, his lips barely grazing hers. Yet as the heat of his lips brushed across hers, something tugged deep within her belly and the blood pounding in her brain made her knees tremble. His mouth pressed near her ear, and he whispered, “Dunnae lose faith in me.”
He drew away before she could respond, but his urgent plea rang in her ears and sent worry rushing through her veins.
“I dunnae doubt ye disappoint yer bride with that kiss,” the king boomed, making Lena jerk at his words.
