out and took Ben’s boy. He fussed a little in her arms. When she placed her finger inside his little mouth, he settled again.
“Ye have a way with him.” Ben smiled. “I’m glad.”
“I’m not sure where it comes from, because I’ve never been a mother. But I intend to be the very best that I can be.” It was a declaration Kenzie was determined to keep. And maybe they, too, would have a child together. Loving Ben as much as she did, nothing more would please her than to give him a daughter to complete their set.
Ben leaned down and kissed his son’s head before kissing her. Shouts and heckling sounded from the keep and Kenzie laughed, smiling when Ben yelled out for them all to get on with their own celebrations and let him kiss his wife.
“I’m sorry that Gwen and Braxton are not here. I know ye were hoping they would attend.”
“You heard from them?” Kenzie met Ben’s gaze. “They weren’t mad that I’ve decided to stay and marry Black Ben of Castle Ross.?” She laughed when he frowned.
“Nay, they weren’t mad. In fact, they sent their congratulations and well wishes for the day, but with a warning.”
“What warning?” Kenzie didn’t like the sound of that, and with Gwen’s abilities it could mean anything.
“A warning to me to be true and kind to ye or they’ll bring war down on my head.”
Kenzie laughed, relieved to hear it was only familial concern and nothing sinister. “I have complete faith in my choice and in you.”
He kissed her again, deeper this time, and Kenzie pulled back at the sound of shouts outside the castle walls. “What is that?”
Ben pushed her toward the castle doors, and she stumbled. “Get inside, lass. I dinna know what that is.”
“Ben,” she said, going back to him and clasping his arm. “Don’t do anything rash. This isn’t late May, but it’s not far off. It could be those outside the gates mean to do you harm.”
Ben yelled out for his men to arm themselves, and Kenzie watched as the women and children stood about as the men transformed from clansmen enjoying their laird’s wedding day to men about to defend their home and families.
The yelling for Laird Ross to come out and face the foe outside the gates increased and dread pooled in Kenzie’s stomach. She watched as he strode to the stairs to look out over the gates and see who stood outside. The tensing of his body and the quick speech to Bruce, commanding him, no doubt, told Kenzie all she needed to know about how her wedding day would end.
With Ben dead and possibly her, too, since she was still here. She yelled out to the families standing about, their faces drawn and pale with worry. “Everyone, go to the safe places we’ve talked about. Use the exits that will give you best passage and do not, under any circumstances, come back, until you know it’s secure.”
The women within the walls rushed to do as Kenzie bade them, and she, too, did what Ben asked her to. She went into Castle Ross and shut the door on the keep, bolting it closed.
A small flicker of relief pumped through Ben, seeing the castle door close behind Kenzie and his boy. Looking down on his keep he saw his clansmen, all of them mayhap a little drunk from the earlier celebrations, but it was nothing that they’d not been before in battle.
Ben stood at the top of the battlements and watched Clan Grant, in particular Evan, the eldest boy and heir who was holding the hilt of his sword like he knew what to do with it. Which Ben had to concede, he probably did. “Are ye looking for a fight, Evan?” Ben yelled down, receiving a glare in return.
“Ye are a disgrace to the Highlands, and ye should not be laird of Castle Ross any longer. We’re here to make sure our nephew is raised away from yer softness toward the fairer sex and yer weak ways with ye clansmen. Yer wife,” Evan said, spitting beside his horse, “is not fit to be the future laird’s mother, and we’ll no stand for it.”
Anger thrummed through Ben at the insult to Kenzie. She was more than fit to fill Aline’s position and was certainly a much better choice than the other Grant daughter, who was nowhere to be seen.
“And I suppose that ye think that your sister Athol makes a better wife for me?”