When Callum stepped away without taking her hand, she tried not to feel the sting. "I swore yesterday that I’d cherish ye, Mhairi. Taking ye into a war camp makes me a liar."
She muffled a frustrated growl. "You're thinking with your heart no’ your head, Mackinnon."
"Aye, lassie, I am." The impressive jaw set like granite. "Because my heart would break if anything happened to ye."
Oh, dear Lord above, what did he
expect her to say to that? Poignant emotion jammed in her throat and something else that felt like pride. Not only that he loved her, but that he was prepared to make an unashamed declaration of his feelings in front of witnesses.
Which didn't mean he was right about leaving her behind.
As the anger leached away from her, she sucked in another breath. She knew when she agreed to marry him that he was obstinate and determined. She also knew that, despite the bad first impression the kidnapping had made, he had a protective streak a mile wide. She only had to remember how he’d blamed himself for Sheena’s treachery, to the point where he’d been willing to release her.
"Callum, listen to me, please." She spoke softly as she came up to curl her hand around his brawny arm. His muscles were tight beneath her hold, and the glance he cast her told her he didn't trust this sudden conciliatory attitude.
Mhairi kept her voice low and coaxing. "The most sensible way forward is for ye to stay here and prepare to defend Achnasheen while I go to talk to my father. He’ll listen to me, and I’m the only person at Achnasheen who isnae at any physical risk from him."
"Hell, Mhairi!" He broke away and stared at her as if she’d gone mad. "If ye set foot in that camp, you’ll be back in Bruard before you have time to blink."
"Is that so bad?" Brian asked. "Begging your pardon, my lady, but your father is old. Once John Drummond takes over, there's a chance for all of us to find a new way in the glens. He’s always spoken in favor of ending the feud."
"John Drummond hates my guts," Callum snapped. "And he's got a notion to stealing my wife."
"She’s married to ye. He cannae marry her while you live."
"Which means we’ll need to start watching for assassins," Callum spat out.
"I wouldnae have thought of John as a sneaking murderer." Mhairi wished she could give a more ringing endorsement to her cousin’s principles.
Callum bared his teeth at her. "Ye didnae ken he had his eye on you either. John Drummond left here wanting to skin me alive."
"Perhaps," she said. "But I've known him all my life. He’s a sensible man." She paused, remembering his behavior when they’d danced at the feast. Honesty made her add, "Most of the time."
"So you're saying you'll happily go back to Bruard and stay there for the rest of your father's life?"
Callum’s savage question made her wince. "Happily has nothing to do with it," she snapped back. "It's no’ ideal, but it’s still better than my father murdering my husband in cold blood and giving me to my cousin."
"Och it sounds like an old ballad," Duff said and received two glares, one brown, one blue, in response to his attempt at levity.
"It's nae marriage," Callum growled.
"Are ye saying you willnae wait for me?"
"I'm saying, mo chridhe, that I married a wife yesterday and her place is by my side, not pining for me ten glens away. And if ye imagine your father is going to leave you free to roam the way ye used to, you're completely addled. He'll lock ye up tighter than you were ever confined at Achnasheen. He willnae take the risk of ye running back to me or me stealing you away again. If ye go back to Bruard, you go back as a prisoner."
She had a sinking feeling he was right. "Callum, ye said my place is by your side. I agree. Bring me with ye, if you must take this daft risk of meeting face-to-face with my father. He willnae hurt me. Ye know he willnae. And if he sees us together, he may relent. I'm no’ in danger in the Drummond camp. Ye are."
"Mo chridhe, I cannae lose ye…"
His glittering eyes burned into hers, and his fists opened and closed at his sides. She knew he battled the urge to bundle her away to the tower room and put her under guard.
Mhairi made herself smile, although she was equally aware of the risks of venturing into Drummond territory. "Ye willnae lose me. I promised myself to ye yesterday. I'm no’ so fickle that I already wish to take back my vows, Mackinnon."
Duff ventured to interrupt the fraught silence. "Mackinnon, your lady's brave and true. Trust her to guide ye through this. One thing is sure, if ye walk into the Drummond's tent without her, ye willnae come out again. Then the feud will flare up worse than ever and turn both glens red. That's the last outcome ye want."
Callum frowned at her. "You're a troublesome woman, Mhairi Drummond."
Now she knew she’d won, Mhairi could bear his resentment. Relief tinged with a large measure of trepidation rushed through her and made her knees wobbly. "Och, it's Mackinnon now, no’ Drummond."