Not Mine to Give (30 page)

Duncan mounted his horse, then reached down and lifted Kate to his lap. Her father came to stand before them.

“Are you all right, Katherine?” the earl asked. The concern in his eyes was obvious.

“Yes, Father. I’m fine.”

“Good. I have much to say to you, daughter, but I will wait until you’re safe and warm in your home.”

She nodded, then leaned her head back against Duncan’s chest, and he turned his mount toward home. The home he and Kate shared.

“Is it true, Kate?,” he whispered as they made their way over the last rise before they reached
Lochmore Castle. “Are you carrying my babe?”

“Yes.”

“You were na going to tell me?”

“I would have told you, Duncan. I only needed time.”

“Time?”

She lifted her head and looked into his eyes. “I needed to know first if you wanted the babe.”

“You thought I would na want it?” He couldn’t believe she thought he might not.

“I wasn’t sure. The babe will be part English.”

Duncan took a deep breath. “Aye. He will be part English. And he will be part Scot. We will let only the best of each show itself.”

Kate put her head back against his chest and smiled. Duncan leaned down to kiss her forehead, then held her closer to him. His Kate was safe and where she belonged.

…

Katherine sat in a chair near the hearth and let the heat from the fire warm her body. She was cold from the inside out and even the thick covers Duncan had wrapped around her shoulders didn’t warm her. Her husband hadn’t left her side since they’d returned, and Elizabeth bustled around taking special care of her as if smothering her with attention could erase everything that had happened.

Angus stayed close by, making sure there was a full goblet of his special potion in her hand. With every swallow of the warm, soothing liquid, she felt more of her aches and worries ease.

For the first time since Duncan had returned from England with Brenna, she’d left the darkness and come to the great hall to be with them. Katherine knew her reason for joining them was to find out what had happened to Bolton. And, perhaps she was in hopes that when her brother came back, his English wife would not be with him.

Katherine lifted her gaze to the quiet lass sitting off to the side. She wanted to go to her and comfort her. She wanted to tell her she understood how frightened and alone she had felt being at Bolton’s mercy, but she knew her overtures would not be appreciated. She knew Brenna was not ready to accept the English woman her brother had taken as his wife.

She watched as Angus handed Brenna a goblet filled with his soothing potions. She hoped it would help. At least Brenna had come into the open. It was a good first step.

“Will you be all right, Katherine?”

Katherine lifted her gaze to find her father standing before her. With shoulders braced and hands clenched behind his back, he asked his question in a soft, caring voice. The look in his eyes expressed a genuine concern Katherine had seen often, yet never recognized before.

“Yes. I’ll be fine.”

“It was a very brave and noble thing you did to keep the crown from Bolton. The scars on your back are proof of it.”

Katherine lifted her chin and faced her father squarely. “I was neither brave nor noble. I was scared. I knew if I gave Bolton the crown he would use it only for evil. To him the crown represented power, but the power he would yield would be cruel and unjust.”

“And you didn’t give the crown to your
Scot. Even though you love him and knew how much he wanted it.”

Katherine shook her head. “I pray in time he’ll forgive me. His Ferguson honor was at stake.” Katherine paused and clenched her hands tighter in her lap. “I’m a disappointment to Duncan, just as I was to you.”

“You were never a disappointment to me, Katherine. Never.”

“That’s not true. I was always too outspoken and too bold. I saw how you hated it. I tried, but I could not be meek and quiet.” Katherine took a deep breath that quivered as she released it. “I could never make you smile and laugh like Mama and Elizabeth did. I didn’t know what to do so you would love me like you loved them.”

“Oh, Katherine. How I have failed you.”

Katherine shook her head. “No, father. It’s my shortcoming. I don’t know how to be anything but what I am, and it’s not good enough. I’m a disappointment to Duncan just as I was a disappointment to you.”

“Nay, lass,” Duncan said from behind her, then knelt on one knee by her side and cradled her hands in his. “You have never been a disappointment to me. From the moment you kissed me in Ian’s dungeon and placed the Ferguson medallion in my hand, you have been anything but a disappointment to me.”

“But I couldn’t give you what you needed to restore your father’s honor. I couldn’t break the vow I’d given the priest
and give you the crown.”

Brenna stood and all eyes turned toward her. “Giving Duncan the Bishop’s Crown would not have been what Father wanted.” She slowly walked to Katherine’s chair with Malcolm at her side. “Father did
na want Scotland to keep the crown. He knew many Scots would die if we kept what did na belong to us. That is why he gave it to our priest and sent him to Ian’s wife. He was na proud that Scotland had stolen it from the English king. I know this, Duncan, because when the dying McGowan Scot gave Father the Bishop’s Crown, Father wept.”

Brenna clutched her hands around her waist and
Malcolm put his arm around her shoulder and held her close. “I had never seen Father cry before, Duncan. He cried because he knew in this he had to go against Scotland and give England back the crown.”
Katherine looked at the confusion in Duncan’s eyes and reached for his hand. She entwined her fingers through his, as he had done to comfort her so often before.

“But Father died to protect the crown,” Duncan said, the disbelief evident in his voice.

“Nay. Father was murdered. Bolton killed him because he would na tell him where he had hidden the crown. Bolton killed Mother when she tried to save Father.”

Brenna rested her head against Malcolm’s chest and the warrior wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him. “Father would
na have wanted you to keep the crown, Duncan. He would have wanted you to give the crown back to England, just as your wife has done.”

Duncan knelt at Katherine’s feet and clasped her hands in
his. “I love you, Kate. I thought it was the crown I wanted. But I was wrong. I will thank God every day of my life that He sent you to me and that you had the wisdom to follow your conscience.”

Katherine closed her eyes and the tears of joy she could not contain spilled down her cheeks. Duncan wiped them away with one of his rough, callused fingers.

“The crown was not mine to give, Duncan. All I have to give is my heart, and that you already possess. It was yours from the moment you held me in your arms and carried me from the dark.”

Another tear spilled down her cheek and Duncan wiped it away. “Then you will never be a disappointment to me, lass. There is nothing more I could want than what you have already given me.”

Dedication

To my best friend
Petie, who’s like a sister to me.

Thank you for being so special.

Laura Landon

is the bestselling author of

SHATTERED DREAMS

WHEN LOVE IS ENOUGH

A MATTER OF CHOICE

BROKEN PROMISE

MORE THAN WILLING

Watch for

INTIMATE DECEPTION

THE MOST TO LOSE

and SILENT REVENGE

new from Amazon
Montlake in October 2012

Visit Laura at www.lauralandon.com

About Laura

Laura Landon enjoyed ten years as a high school teacher and nine years making sundaes and malts in her very own ice cream shop, but once she penned her first novel, she closed up shop to spend every free minute writing. Now she enjoys creating her very own heroes and heroines, and making sure they find their happily ever after.

A vital member of her rural community, Laura directed the town’s Quasquicentennial celebration, organized funding for an exercise center for the town, and serves on the hospital board.

Laura lives in the Midwest, surrounded by her family and friends. She has written more than a dozen Victorian
historicals, five of which are selling worldwide in English, and one which is currently being reprinted in Japanese. She is a Prairie Muse Platinum and Amazon Montlake author.

NOT MINE TO GIVE
is Laura’s first Scottish historical

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

NOT MINE TO GIVE

Copyright © 2012 by Laura Landon

First
ebook edition

ISBN
978-1-937216-34-4

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used in the context of another work of fiction without written permission of the author or Prairie Muse Publishing. Contact [email protected]

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