Thirty-Eight

“You’re not paying attention to me, are you?”

“Eh? What’s that? Sorry, love, I didn’t hear you. Wasn’t paying attention. I had my eyes on your perfectly formed arse.”

Catherine fixed him with a glare worthy of a Scottish schoolmaster. “This is serious business, Jamie. If you’re to pass for a Highlander, you’ve got to get the kilt just so.”

“Bah! You’re a hoydenish vixen. You just want to ogle my knees.”

“Nonsense. I’m sure you’ll find the ah… freedom and… utility very appealing once you try it on.”

“You mean you think I’ll like the feel of the family jewels waving free?”

Blushing, she spread both great kilts on the ground. “One lays down on it like so. Oh stop grinning, Jamie, and do try.”

She was so earnest and eager in her lesson that he hadn’t the heart to tell her he’d worn a kilt a time or two before. He watched with solemn attention as she showed him how to roll it around his hips and then drape the upper half across his shoulder.

She surveyed him critically, nodding her approval, and he seized her by her hips and pulled her up against him hard. “Ah yes, my love. I see now exactly what you mean.”

His new kilt bulged in an unseemly manner and Catherine had no trouble imagining what lurked beneath. She felt a stab of excitement and didn’t object when he grasped her bottom with one hand, and the back of her head with the other, and pulled her mouth to his. Blushing crimson, eyes tightly shut, she ran a hand down his hips to his thighs, flipping aside his kilt and reaching underneath to take him in her hand.

It was another hour at least before they left.

* * *

They continued on like happy children, laughing and merry under sunny skies and brilliant star-filled nights, until they came to the edge of the Great Glen. There they perched, side by side, regarding the valley below. Beyond it lay the ocean and her home.

“Well, my dear, the world descends upon us. Here we are, rebels both. You can no longer come home with me, and I can’t go home with you. What are we to do?”

She couldn’t believe it had never crossed her mind. She’d been lost inside a blissful dream, but they were back to the real world now, a world in which he was a Sassenach who’d marched with William’s army, and she was a Jacobite rebel. Her heart stuttered and a chill ran down her back.

“I want you to stay with me.” It’s not supposed to be this way. It isn’t fair!

“I’m not sure how we do that, my love. I don’t see your people welcoming me. I still bear the scars from my last visit with your family, and it leaves little room for hope. I think your uncle might have seen me at Killiecrankie. I doubt his feelings will be warmer to me now.”

“Can you go back, Jamie? Won’t they think you a traitor and deserter?”

“I am a traitor and deserter, but they were all so busy running they might just think me dead.”

“Do you want to go back?”

“No. There’s nothing that interests me in London anymore. There never really was.”

“Then stay. I’ll speak with my uncle. I’ll talk to the council. I’ll make them listen. You can wait in the hills and I’ll come for you once it’s safe. It was different before. Donald was chief and he wanted me married to Cormac O’Conner. I know I can convince them now.”

He looked at her doubtfully. “Even if you could, now you’re safe I need to see what I can do for Sullivan and his people. They’re my responsibility, and the closest thing I had to family before I met you.”

“Of course you do. I understand that, but you don’t have to do it right this minute. Come with me first. Meet my family. I want to be certain you feel it’s your home.”

He touched a finger lightly to the tip of her nose. “You’re my home, mouse. If I must suffer your ill-natured, ill-mannered, ill-favored family in order to have you, then I’ll try. The question is, will they suffer me?”

Two day’s later, and just a few miles from home, Catherine set a small fire in a clearing on top of a hill. When it burned down to the coals, she smothered it in a thin layer of wet leaves, then used a breacan as a blanket to catch the rising smoke. She released two puffs, followed by a pause, and then three more. After twenty minutes, she did it again, then put the fire out. “Jerrod knows this signal. He’ll see it and come or he won’t. There’s no point making others curious.”

“And will he bring a host of raging Scotsmen with him?”

“No. He’ll recognize it as a private message from me and come alone. We’re the only ones that use it, now my father and my cousin Rory are gone.”

Jerrod burst upon them two hours later. “Lord love you, Cat! You live up to your name! I swear you were born with nine lives though you can nae have more than one or two left.” He enveloped her in a crushing hug. “I saw your signal and my heart almost stopped. I feared it was your ghost sending me a message. When you tumbled in the river, I was certain you were gone. We held a lovely service for you.” He put her down and turned to look at Jamie. “And what have we here? Who’s this fine-looking fellow? You caught yourself a braw fish in the river, it seems. Step forward, lad, don’t be shy.”

Jamie spoke in a slightly bored British drawl. “I’m with the lady, sir. If you’re looking for braw laddies you’d best look elsewhere. Perhaps you can find a pretty sheep that—

“Jamie, stop it!”

“Aha! Sinclair is it? I thought you looked familiar.”

“Good evening, Bucephalus. I’d rather hoped you’d fallen in the river and drowned.”

“So you’re her husband? You’ve a nerve showing your face here, Sassenach. You should be dead with your friends at Killiecrankie. What happened to you? Got mixed up and ran the wrong way?”

“He was there to find me, Uncle. It was he who pulled me from the river and now he’s brought me home. He saved my life. Again. It’s our name you shame by your insults.”

Jamie, standing behind her, gave Jerrod a mocking smile.

“You think it’s funny, Sassenach? I saw you there. Wondered who you were. Didn’t recognize you without a bloody back. You’re big for an Englishman, and you were bashing heads like a Highlander. How many of our lads did you kill?”

“The other day? Or since I first took up the sport?”

They’d been testing each other, both of them bristling like angry wolves, and the instant Jerrod reached for his claymore, Jamie drew his.

“Stop it! This instant! Jamie! You promised to behave. You said you’d try to make things work. Jerrod… he can drop you in a heartbeat, I promise you. I didn’t come here to watch the man I love kill my favorite uncle. Put down your swords!”

Jamie was the first to lower his weapon.

Jerrod followed a moment later. “Well, you did fish her out of the river and bring her back. I’m grateful to you for that,” he said grudgingly. “I’ll see to her now, though, so you can scamper off home.”

“No, Uncle. I want to bring him home with me. That’s why I wanted to speak with you first.”

“Are you barmy, lass? He might pass as a Highlander for a stretch, but he was cutting through men and tossing them in the river at Killiecrankie, his own as well as ours. People take notice of such things. We lost over six hundred men there, Bonnie Dundee as well. As soon as someone recognizes him, the lads will kill him.”

“I’ve no intention of pretending to be someone I’m not.”

Jerrod looked him slowly up and down, noting his kilt and claymore. “No… I can see that, Sassenach. It’s clear as day. What would you do amongst us, then? Do you think to claim our lands through her?” He nodded toward Catherine. “Will you murder your own kind for a bit of land and join us in our rebellion?”

“Twelve Highlanders and a bagpipe make a rebellion, Uncle. I doubt you’ll be needing me.”

“Ha! He’s a funny one, your man, Cat. Lucky you. What you ask is impossible. To accept him as your husband is to give a Sassenach our lands. He’d best return to his own if they’ll still have him. He’ll find no welcome here.”

“I fear he’s right, love.”

Catherine turned to face him. “Nonsense! I’ll speak to the council as their chief. You are my husband. They’ll have no choice but to accept it.”

Jamie and Jerrod exchanged a look, but they both knew her well enough not to argue.

* * *

Catherine departed with her uncle early the next morning, anxious to be home again, and anxious to have Jamie safe. She left him waiting on the banks of the Spey, promising to return the next day. Things hadn’t gone as well as she’d hoped between him and her uncle. Well, Jerrod tortured him. There’s bound to be tension between them. But they didn’t kill each other. Surely, that’s a promising start.

Her meeting with the council didn’t go any better, despite their joy at her miraculous return. These are dangerous times, they said. How can he be trusted? He could be William’s agent sent to spy. He’d fought with Mackay, who’d killed hundreds of their men, and among them were a dozen of their own. And never forget, Catherine was their chief, but also a young woman. Perhaps he sought ships and lands that couldn’t be had through conquest by using rogue’s tricks: pretty looks, charm, and guile. They were grateful he’d returned her and would gladly see him safely through the Highlands, but they’d give him nothing more.

“Well, what did you expect, lass?” Jerrod asked, when she came to him seeking advice. “It’s war now, and we’ve only just got started. No one will rest until the king is returned to his throne. Your man threw his lot in with William. We can’t be worried about enemies within when we’re preparing to fight enemies without.”

“What do you mean, preparing to fight enemies without? We’ve done our part. We lost several men. None can say the Drummonds didn’t defend their honor and their king. That should be the end of it.”

“But we had a glorious victory, Cat! The momentum’s ours now. We’re going to take Dunkeld next. Alexander Cannon will lead us. We leave to join him in two day’s time. We’ll crush them as we did at Killiecrankie.”

“No, you won’t. Cannon is not Dundee, and Dunkeld is a town with a walled compound and good defenses. You’ll not be fighting raw recruits, but Camerons and Covenanters, men fanatic enough to be ferocious but not ungovernable like our own. It’s a mistake, just as Killiecrankie was, and it will only waste more men.”

“Killiecrankie a waste? It was one of the most splendid victories the Highlands have ever known! You were there. You were a part of it. Men will tell stories of it, sing songs about it, for years to come.”

“And will that feed us over the winter now our trade with England and the lowlands is gone? Will it bring back any of the fathers, sons, and husbands we lost? I’ve no doubt it’ll fuel that mad taste for glory that seems to run through our race, but it cost us a brilliant commander and a third of our men, and woke a sleeping giant as well. William can’t ignore us anymore.”

“I’d expected more from you, Cat. Your heart’s not in it. Your heart is with your man.”

“That’s so, Jerrod, but it’s never stopped me from seeing my duty. Perhaps your pride is stopping you from seeing yours. We’ve done our part. Now we should take care of our own.”

“You’re right. It is pride, the only thing an old man who’s lost his son has left, but you’ll find it shining bright in all your people, too. It’s a glorious time for the Highlands, lass, and our people want to be a part of it. They need you to lead them where they have to go.”

They’d thought her dead and Jerrod had taken over, and what they wanted was at odds with what lay in her heart. I can’t lead them down a path I know to be wrong, but they won’t follow me anywhere else. There’s nothing more I can do for them. I’m free to follow my heart. She felt a sudden rush of relief, followed by a thrill of excitement.

“No, Uncle Jerrod. For this… they need you.”

* * *

Catherine hopped over boulders, skipped through streams, and ran up and down hills on her way back to Jamie. The relief she’d felt when she’d made her decision had turned to elation as soon as she’d set out. Decisions that had once seemed agonizing and momentous now seemed obvious and hardly worth a fuss. It was a beautiful day! She bounded from a copse of trees into the clearing and her face fell flat. The fire was cold, the camp abandoned, and he was gone. Her legs wobbled and she dropped to the ground by the river, her heart pinched and aching, blinking back tears. The sun was setting over her shoulder when she finally left for home.