you can defeat them in the woods.’ The comte had spent the afternoon whining about Douglas’s tactics, as if how the war was fought was more important than whether it was won or lost.
The old man’s grin split his face. ‘He’s a pompous, puffed-up idiot, the Frenchman. You said it sure.’ He studied Gavin’s face. ‘I’ll think on what you said.’
‘Dangerous men don’t need to think long.’
‘What’s the hurry?’
He couldn’t escape war here. But maybe he could hide from it long enough to stitch up the worst of his wounds. The ones people couldn’t see. ‘I’ve been away ten years. It’s time I reclaimed my Scots side.’ When he had left this land, he had lost a piece of himself. Now, he hoped it was still here where he could find it.
‘Can you live up to it?’
‘Do I have to kill someone to prove it?’
The man stared at Gavin a long time without a word.
‘Not yet,’ the old man said, finally. The determination in his eyes matched his daughter’s. Gavin hoped the old man would come to a better conclusion than she had. ‘But there’s six red cattle on the other side of the hill on Robson land that used to live in the pen leaning up against our wall. If they were to come home, you and I might have more to talk about. A lot more.’
And their shared smile was as strong as a handshake.
As the men in the corner of the Hall rolled their dice, Clare rearranged her patterns one more time, trying to fit a new hood, jesses, and bewits for Wee One’s bells on her last piece of Flanders leather. When she heard her father’s step, she abandoned the effort. ‘Did you send him away?’
He looked at her, something like a smile tugging at the wrinkled corners of his mouth. ‘No.’
‘Why not?’ She fought her feeling of relief.
‘I don’t have to explain my decisions to you, me girl.’ He shook his head when the gamblers waved him over. ‘Pour me another brogat and come upstairs. There are things I need to tell you.’
He said it in his most stubborn tone, so she did as he said, and followed him to the next floor.
In his chamber, she perched on the small stool, leaving the chair for her father. He settled in with a comfort able sigh.
‘What did you want to talk about, Da?’ she asked the question, even though she knew what he would say.
‘How old are you, daughter?’
‘Can’t you even remember that about me?’
‘Are you tryin’ to avoid the question?’
‘You know I’m eighteen.’ Seven more years and she would have lived longer than her mother.
‘Your mother was sixteen when I married her. It’s time you married, daughter.’
‘I know, Da.’ Did he think she did not? She longed for Alain, children and their home in France a dozen times a day.
‘Without your mother …’ He sighed and took a sip. ‘I’m no good with these things. After you came back, I was content just to have you home.’ He put his gnarled hand on hers.
She did not return his squeeze. When her mother had died, he had sent her away to be fostered in France with a family of Lord Douglas’s choosing. While she was gone, he had taken Murine to his bed and Euphemia to his knee. After, it seemed, he had taken no more interest in her until she had been trained to run his house and bear his grandchildren. By then, both he and Scotland were strangers to her and Alain’s family closer to her than her own.
Now, she searched the cold, barren room in vain for any sign that her mother had ever slept within these walls.
‘Alain is back now,’ she said. ‘We’ll be able to resolve our future.’
Only the war had kept him from asking for her. She was certain.
Her father tossed back the rest of his drink. ‘Well, if it’s the lily-livered Frenchman you want, I won’t stop you.’
‘Alain was the one who wanted to fight the English honourably, by the rules of chivalry, as war should be fought.’
‘Daughter, we’ve chased Edward back over the Border, whether Alain likes the way we did it or not. The enemy is out of the country. But you need t’know something. I made an agreement with Lord Douglas.’
The set of his chin made her uneasy. ‘What kind of agreement?’
‘Something that will secure Carr’s Tower for my grandchildren.’
‘What’s that?’ She cared nothing for the tower and the lands. While as the only child, she might hold them after her father’s death, she had assumed that once she left for France, Lord Douglas would award them to some distant cousin of the clan.
‘Well, it began the night we almost captured Edward near Melrose.’ He sat forwards, launching into a tale. ‘We had the trap all set. We would have caught him, too, if William Douglas had listened to me. I told him not to wait for better weather, but he was listening to no man and—’
‘Da! What have you done?’
‘Well, we broke into the ale and I got William good and bungfued and reminded him of the promise he made to your mother as she lay dying on her bed.’
‘What promise?’ Her father was well on his way to being bungfued himself. ‘You’ve never said a word of this before.’
‘He promised that her wee daughter, only child of my poor darlin’ wife, could keep Carr’s Tower when she married and that I could choose the man.’ He leaned back, a satisfied smile on his face. ‘I’ve got William’s word, and witnesses.’
She blinked, searching for her tongue. Difficult to imagine her French-born mother forcing such a promise. ‘I’m sure Alain will be glad of that.’ He would appreciate the income, at least, meagre as it might be. A steward could see to things. ‘We’ll certainly visit every few years.’
‘No! Ye canna protect the border from France! If it’s Alain ye want and who wants ye, you’ll have to stay here, or I’ll not approve the match.’
‘But he has his own lands, his own responsibilities.’
‘So do you. Your husband must be here to hold it. Himself.’
She closed her eyes in dread. Surely her mother, no lover of Scotland, had not foreseen this. ‘I’m sure Mother never meant to tie me here.’
‘Ye don’t know everything, daughter. She trusted me to do what was best for you and for Carr’s Tower.’
Clare bit back further protest. If Lord Douglas had made a promise to her mother and her stubborn father had his way, her wishes would have little sway. She must think of one thing at a time. First, Alain must speak for her. Then, she would raise the conditions with him, and find a solution.
But
