Page 30 of Much Ado About a Scot

He would never be a victim again. Neither would anyone he cared about. Xander shook off his memories and placed his hand over Jamie’s much smaller one. “Would you like me to show you how to use a sword?”

A smile crept over Jamie’s face. “Aye!”

Candlelight flickered over the rich brown of Jamie’s hair and highlighted his rosy cheeks. A hopeful eagerness reflected in his gaze. Would his own child look at him that way someday—as though he held all the answers? Xander reached out and stroked a curl that lay against the boy’s cheek, feeling the velvet softness of his skin. So young. So innocent. So desperately in need of protection. “Let’s go home and get started on that, shall we? Besides, I’m certain your mother is out of her mind with worry over your disappearance.” Xander stood.

Jamie’s smile slipped as he got to his feet. “I didn’t mean to get lost.”

“You’re not lost anymore, Jamie. Before I teach you how to use a sword, would you like to learn about tracking? That’s how I found you. I followed your footsteps.”

“Really?” The excitement in his tone bounced off the walls and rang back at them, causing them both to smile.

“Look at the footprints around us. Do you see any that are different from the others?” Xander instructed as they stood side by side, their eyes glued to the dirt.

“There are some bigger ones and some smaller ones.”

“Exactly. Which ones do you think belong to you?”

Jamie pushed his smaller shoe up against Xander’s booted foot. “The smaller ones, silly.”

The two shared a laugh before Xander got down on his knees and pointed out things for Jamie to look for when tracking, or in this case, backtracking the way he had come. And when the little boy had identified his own footsteps in the candlelight, Xander took the boy’s hand and let him guide them out of the tunnel.

Chapter Twelve

Isobel left Dunbar Manor, heading back toward her home when her steps faltered. Where was Jamie? Her heart wrenched. She had survived the loss of two husbands, but she did not think she would be able to go on if she lost her only child. The thought filled her with an ache so big she had to clamp her lips together to keep from crying out.

It was all she could do to stay upright as she trudged across the courtyard drive. The scenery that usually inspired her suddenly appeared dead and lifeless, crumpling before her like long-dead leaves.

She took a shuddering breath and stared blindly out before her, when something moved at the edge of her vision. She turned to stare at it . . . at the image that didn’t reconcile with her brain until she shook her head, clearing her senses. The pain of the last few hours faded as her heart swelled.

Her feet took flight at the sight of Xander and Jamie walking down the hill toward her. Hiking up her skirt, she ran pell-mell across the grass as her heart thumped in her chest with both exertion and joy.

When she reached them, she scooped Jamie into her arms and hugged him tight. “I love you. I missed you. I am so glad you are safe.”

“Mummy, you’re squeezing me,” the little boy replied even as he put his arms around her and hugged her back.

Once she was certain all of this was real and not some trick of her imagination, she lifted her gaze to Xander’s. “Thank you for finding him. Where was he?”

A strange emotion entered his eyes. “That is a much longer conversation. For now, why don’t you take Jamie home and I will tell those who are searching that the lad has been found?”

Wondering what had shifted within him, she nodded.

“I’ll meet you there soon.”

She stood a moment as he strode away, toward the fields where Isobel could see some of those who had joined the search party before she returned her attention to her son and kissed his cheek. “You scared me, Jamie. I was worried you might not make it back home again.”

“Don’t worry, Mummy. My new daddy taught me how to follow tracks left behind so that I can find my way home again.”

His new daddy?

Isobel felt weaker, more defeated and alone than she ever had before. When Xander had given her his terms in order to marry her, she’d thought only of the estate, of the harvest, and what others would think if she lived with a man out of wedlock. She’d never considered the long-term effect his presence would have on Jamie. Her son was growing attached to this new man in her life, which under normal circumstances would be something to rejoice, but not with Xander.

They’d only been married a few days. What sort of attachment would Jamie have to Xander in two months? What kind of connection would she have with the man? She squeezed her eyes shut, battling a tide of grief and pain.

A little, not-yet-beaten voice inside her heart pushed through her sorrow. Perhaps he’ll stay with you both.

The tiny seed of hope blossomed only to be squashed by the harshness of her reality. She couldn’t let herself hope for things that would never come into being. Only fools latched on to such fantasy, and she was not a fool.

Nay, it was better to step back from the man who had invaded their lives, to keep him at a distance from now on so that when he left, she and Jamie might be able to once again pull together the pieces of their broken hearts.