The Highlander's Destiny (Highland Rogues #2) - Mary Wine Page 0,66

lasted forever.

By the end of it, Cora was certain she’d aged an entire year. Her belly was only half full, but she stood and left the hall.

But she didn’t get far. Waiting in the passageway were women who had come to have her decide issues that pertained to the female members of the clan. Debates over dowry portions and handfasting. Nothing so grand as money, but in the highlands, a pair of hens was cause for discord. Arguments over wages for girls who had served in houses in the village and an accusation of sour milk having been sold in the village market.

She didn’t climb the stairs to her chamber until the sun was going down.

Will he come then? To join ye?

Cora discovered herself grateful for the matters that had kept her busy for the afternoon, for her doubts hadn’t had the opportunity to prick at her.

Strange how she’d always raged against measuring herself by men’s standards, and now, she discovered herself very worried that Faolan wouldn’t consider her performance in bed to be something he’d be interested in sampling again.

Or when no one would be checking.

“Thank ye, Brynna.”

Brynna lowered herself before she left for the night. One floor down, the area was divided into four chambers. Cora had given one to Brynna when there was a small sleeping closet in the receiving room, which Noreen’s own companion had been expected to occupy. There were many who wanted a witness to the most intimate moments between a laird and wife. Such things assured there would be no grounds to be sent back to her father for failing to conceive when the husband had never bedded her.

Faolan wouldn’t lie.

But that doesn’t mean he’ll seek ye out…

She really should dismiss such doubts. Faolan had carried her from the hall because he was so eager to share her bed.

He’s had ye now… Men seek new conquests.

Cora couldn’t hide from that truth. She’d heard many, many things she shouldn’t have in the passageways of the Mackenzie stronghold. Without a mother to see to her being closeted, Cora had learned the conversation would flow so long as she was hidden.

Perhaps that had not been the wisest choice.

Now she recalled how often husbands snuck into the storerooms with other men’s wives. She’d heard the maids confiding in one another about the names of the fathers of their children.

Aye, well ye also saw that same look in Faolan’s eyes as he said he’d have ye…

Cora suddenly felt her spirits lift. That was true. She’d witnessed the gleam in the eyes of lovers as they met. The anticipation and the zeal with which they hurried away together.

“Tonight I will have ye, Cora, for no one will ever again have cause to doubt that ye are mine.”

He’d taken her like a lover.

Cora felt her checks warm only this time, she smiled and enjoyed it. She went to her bed but didn’t put the lanterns out.

*

Una watched the passageway.

The sun had set an hour ago. Which meant the time was coming close. Her patience paid off when there was a soft patter on the stone floor. The maid she’d left to watch for the laird was in stocking feet, so Faolan wouldn’t hear her running. She stopped at the end of the passageway and stretched her arm above her head to signal to Una.

“It’s time,” Una said to her companions.

One of the other women snapped her fingers at the two boys who slept in the bunks in the kitchen. They rolled over and pulled their plaids up and over their heads as they faced inward. Orla had set out fare for the laird and his men on the main worktable. Off to one side was a smaller workroom used during the day. Una and her companions went into it.

“Aye, it’s a fact the poor mistress looked exhausted,” Una exclaimed to one of the other women when she heard the men enter the main kitchen.

“Little wonder with how much blood there was on the sheet.”

“His body sculpted by God,” Una declared. “But likely his cock was created by the devil.”

“The mistress dropped off to sleep the moment the sun was set,” one of the women added.

“One can hope the laird has the decency to not trouble her too often.”

Una held up her hand. The women fell silent. They all grinned, for there was satisfaction in knowing they might affect the men around them. Men who believed themselves in charge of the world.

*

The women’s words carried into the kitchen. Yestin and Gainor