Claimed By A Charmer (The Pith Trilogy) Read Free Page B

gently squeezing it in greeting. “I came as quickly as I could. Is my
father still …”
    “Aye, you’ve arrived in time. You
should go to him.” Shelagh kissed his cheek. “I’ve missed ye, Douglas. Come and
rest yourself before you go to him.”
    He sat at the trestle table,
looking fondly about him. Brendan took the seat next to him, but remained
quiet.
    “Where’s Candace? Is she well?”
    “Aye, she’s well, but she went to
the Gordon’s for a visit. She has a friend there and wanted to see her. With
your father being ill, I thought it best she be away.”
    “I should go to him.”
    Shelagh stopped him with a touch to
his arm. “Await, he’s not doing so well. Try not to rile him, Douglas.”
    “I won’t, Mother, I’m not a
barbarian.”
    “Hah, ye could have fooled me. Look
at the size of you. Ye know how your father is, so try to be appeasing. Mayhap
you should wear the Kerr plaid?” She reached for a folded plaid that sat on a
bench beside the stairway.
    Douglas accepted the plaid, and as
he strode up the steps to his father’s chamber, he replaced the MacKinnon plaid
he’d worn during his extended stay amongst that clan with the Kerr’s. After
dropping the extra plaid outside the door, he pushed the door open, and went
inside.
    It was hot as purgatory and dark as
night inside his father’s chamber. Damn, his father really was ill. He wanted
to deny it, and hoped it seemed worse than it was, and that it was just a
passing ailment. Before making his presence known, he assessed his father. The
Kerr laird aged considerably since he’d last seen him, at least five years ago.
His father’s hair was nearly whitened now, and his skin wrinkled with age. Lying
in the bed, he seemed frail, and not the strong warrior that Douglas
remembered.
    “Douglas, come.” His father’s voice
barely reached him from across the large chamber.
    He stood beside his father’s bed. “Father?”
Douglas didn’t want to be affected by Thomas’ state, yet he couldn’t help but
be so.
    “I’m dying, and not as a warrior
should.”
    Douglas cringed. “Ye must not think
such thoughts—”
    “I have a few things to say before
I pass. ‘Tis time ye returned and took your rightful place. I shouldn’t have
sent you to my nephew’s, but ye received better training there.”
    Douglas didn’t want to hear his
father’s regrets. He knew why he had sent him away, and truth be told, he
hadn’t resented him for it. “Father—”
    “Nay listen, I must tell ye, I’m
proud of you. You turned into a fine warrior, Douglas. We need a strong laird
to protect and lead our clan. I must talk to you about …” His breath hitched
and he coughed.
    Douglas grew concerned. “You need
rest. I’ll come back later and—”
    “Nay listen.” His father grasped
his tunic. “I had to send ye away, because if you remained, you would have
learned all.”
    “Learned what?” He released his
tunic from his father’s grip.
    “You know of our feud with the
Dunmores. It began the year before ye were born. Your ma didn’t want to marry
me, but I don’t regret it. On the day we wed, Robert Dunmore abducted Marykate.
When she returned, she was carrying you. She pled for her return to Robert, but
I couldn’t let her go.”
    Incredulous, Douglas’ voice
clipped, “Are ye saying that I’m not your son?” He leaned forward, wanting to
grasp his father’s tunic as his had been grabbed a moment before. He held
motionless, waiting for his father’s denial.
    “Damn it, aye. After ye were
birthed, your mother killed herself. She’s resting in unholy ground, she is. Jumped
off Kilbrun Ridge rather than be wed to me. Broke me heart that day. Robby
didn’t care for her. He told me to keep ‘er, that she was nothing but rabble.”
    “I don’t understand any of this.”
    “She loved Robert. I don’t know how
that came to be, because she was promised to me from the time she was a wee
lass. I sent ye away, lest you learn about it.