Forbidden Heart (Hearts of the Highlands #6) - Paula Quinn Page 0,46
am forbidden to speak of something someone tells me in confidence.”
That seemed to mollify her uncle’s wife and she finally went back to eating.
Her uncle and his wife were quite different from what she expected. She hadn’t expected that Matilda would be so fond of her husband’s captain. She wondered what the church would think of that.
“If you will excuse me.” Silene rose from her seat and swayed a little. The captain was up in a flash. She held up her hand to stop him from perhaps leaping over the table to help her. “’Tis time for my prayers and then bed.” She turned slowly toward her uncle. “Thank you for supper, my lord.”
She left the table without looking at the captain. She could be easily read—it seemed—around him. She hurried to her room and disappeared inside. Oh, she drank too much!
She pressed her back to the cool wood and finally let herself breathe and sway on her feet.
Were those footsteps she heard in the hall?
Someone knocked on the door. Three raps that made her want to leap from her skin.
“Go away,” she spoke out on the softest sigh.
“Silene,” his husky, Highland burr stirred her blood, her soul.
She closed her eyes and prayed for strength.
His voice came through the door and tore through her. “Silene, pray fer me.”
Chapter Eleven
The next sennight went by in a blur of prayers and practicing going before the church council. Silene also spent time with the captain, the children, and Daffodil. She helped them smuggle the kitten into Lizzie’s room so the two could meet.
One more little soldier in the captain’s army.
Silene’s duty was to distract Matilda and get her out of the chambers.
She almost failed when Matilda refused to leave her daughter alone.
“But she is so much better. And I will remain with her,” Silene offered. “Or do not go at all. ’Tis up to you. I will just go tell Captain MacPherson that you are unable to go to him.”
“Is he hurt?” Matilda asked, concerned.
Silene felt terrible for deceiving her, but the captain promised to go find her and speak to her about last night at the table. So, she was not really lying.
“Nay. He is not hurt.
“Fine then. I will go. Where is he?”
“In the great hall.”
“If my husband looks fer me, tell him where I am.”
Surprised, Silene nodded and felt worse. Matilda wasn’t overly fond of the captain. Perhaps she was concerned for him—as any friend would be.
She watched Matilda leave and closed her eyes to pray while she waited for the captain and the children.
“Where is Mummy?” came a small, quavering voice.
Silene spun around and smiled at Lizzie, swallowed up in the large bed.
“Greetings, Lizzie. I am Silene.” She sat in the chair beside the bed. “Your mummy will return in a few moments. How do you feel?”
The three-year-old girl nodded, which Silene concluded, meant that she felt well.
The door opened and Margaret came skipping in with Daffodil in her arms. Her brother walked in with a bit more dignity. Silene smiled at the captain when he strode inside last.
“Lizzie, look! A kitten!” Margaret held up Daffodil for inspection. It meowed and Lizzie smiled and held out her arms. She laughed when Margaret set the kitten down on the bed and it hopped up to Lizzie’s face and meowed again.
“Where is Matilda?” the captain asked her.
When Silene guiltily told him, he offered to leave and go find her.
“Not yet. Let Lizzie play with the kitten a little while longer. But you should not keep taking the kitten to Lizzie in secret. A babe’s laughter is a soothing sound for a mother.”
“Aye. Ye are correct,” he admitted. “Where are ye goin?” he asked when she smiled at Lizzie and turned for the door.
“I have confession with Father Nathaniel today. I believe I will be with him a little longer now.”
The captain’s smile was like the dawn after a long, harrowing night. It was also contagious—more so than Lizzie’s fever.
She hadn’t asked him about his betrothed and he hadn’t offered to tell her. She wondered when he would.
“This is the first time I have seen ye in two days. I’m thankful that ye havena sent me away.”
She wanted to agree but frowned. “I cannot stay.”
He nodded and drew in a deep breath. “Will ye tell Father Nate aboot me?”
Should she tell him? “I have not yet decided what to tell him. I fear things will get back to someone in the church and damage John’s dream.”