Page 14 of Highlander’s Haunted Past

“They’re just spying on ye fer the Queen. Surely ye know that,” Rob said in a hushed voice.

If any part of this argument was being listened to, and he was sure it was, at least that bit he wanted to keep between the two of them.

“Of course I do! I’m not a fool! But there is a difference between them doing it and ye!”

She pushed him. Hard.

He grabbed her hands and placed them behind her, then pulled her tightly against him while she wriggled to try and break free from his grip. With a grunt of anger, she looked up at him, panting heavily in anger.

“Let me go, Rob Fraser.”

“No, lass, I think I’ll hold ye here a bit longer.”

“Ye haven’t the right.”

“‘Tis not what ye said on our wedding night. Ye told me ye ken all about my rights to ye,” he whispered, leaning his face close to hers as a taunt, hoping that the audacity of it would at least redirect her anger to an argument he thought he could win.

However, pain erupted in his foot instead, and he released her on impulse, peering down to see her delicate shoe atop his.

The break was all Kenna needed to escape, flying from the tent and shouting, “Murtagh, I am off to make water in the trees. I am sure my husband wishes fer ye to bear witness.”

Well, if the rest of the camp hadn’t heard yet, they had now. Rob took a moment to compose himself before departing the tent in search of a Fraser fire and some male companionship.

The small fire was already surrounded when he found it, all the men laughing until Rob came into view. When they saw him, their chortles died, and each man tried some technique to keep themselves from laughing any further, whether it was pressing their lips together while looking at their feet or hiding their smiles behind their plaids.

“Well, get on with it, don’t let me stop ye.” Rob sighed as he sat down on a log.

The men were merciless in their taunts, each doing their best to outdo the other with their jokes. Even his father, who was focused on whittling, laughed at a few.

“What are ye all on about?” Kenna asked, arriving at the circle with Murtagh sheepishly on her heels.

“Just teasing yer lord husband fer getting his first lecture from ye,” one of the men, Jacob, told her.

“‘Tis my duty as his wife to keep him in line,” Kenna said with a ladylike smile as she settled herself on a vacant bit of grass. “Keep up yer mockery, and I’ll have to chat with yer own wife about yer behavior.”

The threat made Jacob’s jaw drop. His wife, as Kenna must have heard, gave the devil a run for his gold. The rest of the lads burst into laughter.

“Terrifying lass, aren’t ye?” Jacob said, joining the laughter circling the fire.

“Don’t ye worry, Jacob. Like father like daughter; full of empty threats. I’d be careful, Kenna, ye ken where it got him in the end,” Rob threw into the mix.

All the laughter promptly ebbed away to awkward coughs and uncomfortable shifting. Rob waited for Kenna to throw back a comment, but it would seem that his blow had bit too hard.

Without a word, Kenna stood back up and strode away. Murtagh set down his cup with a sigh and went to follow her.

Good. I certainly am not of the mind to chase after her, Rob thought.

The mood at the fire had died considerably, the jovial laughs dipping into silence before the men, one by one, found excuses to leave. Hugh was the last to depart, claiming he was off to the ridge to see if his rabbit snares had been fruitful, leaving Rob alone with his father.

“‘Tis wedded bliss, aye?” his father said.

“Aye. Something of the sort.” Rob grunted, taking up Murtagh’s abandoned cup and taking a long swig of the whiskey left inside.

His father stared at him, letting the silence consume them. Rob refused to say anything more, but as the silence continued to weigh on him, and his father simply sat patiently, continuing to whittle away, the weight grew too much.

“How can a man be a good husband when the wife behaves as she does?”

“Seems to be a fine lass from where I sit.”