“Why did ye do that? She could have stayed in the other one.”
Katherine said pointedly, “Niall, Lady MacIan required this room for herself and the other one for Laird MacLennan. I put Tomas’ things in our room for now.”
“Fine,” he said irritably, going to their chamber. He looked angry and Katherine suspected he wanted to be alone with her, but it couldn’t be helped. She made a pallet for Tomas on the floor and slipped into bed wearing her shift.
“Are ye sleeping in that?” he asked angrily.
Katherine sighed, “What would ye have me do, with Tomas sleeping in the room?”
Niall growled, “Ye will find somewhere else for Tomas tomorrow.
~ * ~
When Fingal returned the next day, and Keith filled him in on the events of the past few days, he became furious. “He did what?” Fingal roared. “He let that bitch get to him!”
He was not going to let this slide. Fingal put a lid on his temper and sought out his brother, who was overseeing some repairs to the defensive wall. “Niall, can we talk?”
“Leave it, Fingal,” Niall warned.
With barely controlled anger, Fingal said, “Ye are my laird, and I would not show disrespect to ye, but ye are also my brother and that is who I want to talk to. Will ye talk with me privately?”
“Fingal, as your laird I am telling ye this is not a good day to talk to your brother.”
Fingal tried one last time, speaking very lowly, “Niall, she is my mother and that is only by sad chance. She has never been a real mother to either of us. She doesn’t have the capacity to love anyone but herself, and still ye give her free rein over your clan. Ye have a wife who has given ye her heart, and yet ye are letting the same woman who destroyed ye destroy her as well.”
“Fingal, I warned ye. Ye are crossing the line. Ye will not tell me how to treat our mother, this clan, or my wife. I am your brother, and because of that I am not going to call ye out on this, but if ye raise the subject with me again, particularly if ye make any comment about my wife, ye will pay the price. Do I make myself clear?”
With gritted teeth, Fingal answered, “Aye, Laird. Ye have made yourself clear.” He bowed and left, feeling frustrated and having nowhere to vent his anger.
~ * ~
For the next several days Niall had the peace he sought, but the strain nearly killed him. Eithne ruled Duncurra and he stayed away. Niall thought perhaps the tension was getting under Malcolm’s skin as well because he returned home, but Lady MacIan begged him to come for Christmas and he agreed. Because of that, Eithne refused to allow Katherine to put Tomas in “Laird MacLennan’s” room. Katherine put him in an empty chamber on the third floor, but Fingal woke most mornings to find his nephew on the floor of his room.
Each evening Katherine took Tomas to bed immediately after the meal. On the first two nights, Niall found her asleep beside Tomas and he carried her to their chamber without waking her. The third night he wanted her so badly he ached. He laid her on the bed and undressed her, kissing and caressing her bare skin as he went. In her state of half-sleep she responded to him instinctively. A little moan of pleasure escaped her lips as he continued the delicate assault. As she woke more fully, she returned his caresses and seemed to join with him willingly, but without the joyous abandon he found so erotic. Afterwards, Niall held her close, breathing in the clean scent of her, and feeling as if he had lost something.
~ * ~
She lay in his arms until she thought he had gone to sleep, then slipped out of bed. She put on a shift, wrapped an airisaidh around her shoulders, and sat on the floor near the hearth, resting her head on her knees as she stared into the fire.
“What are ye doing?” he asked.
“I thought you were asleep. I am cold.”
“Katherine, come back to bed, I will keep ye warm.”
“I just want to sit here close to the fire for a minute. I will come back to bed soon.”
“Come back to bed now.” He sounded irritated.
She hadn’t shed a tear since Eithne arrived days earlier. She had held herself together with her forced calm and it had been grueling. She wanted to please Niall, but he allowed Eithne to run rough-shod over his clan. She didn’t want these people, whom she had learned to care for, to suffer Eithne’s malice but she didn’t know what to do about it. Right now, more than anything in the world, she just needed to cry.
“Niall, please, please let me be. Please, go to sleep. I will come back to bed soon. Please...” she was trembling.
“Enough, Katherine, come to bed now,” he demanded.
“Nay,” she said. “Your quiet biddable wife will be back in the morning, I promise. I just—please....” She turned her head away from him as the first hot tears slid down her cheeks. She stayed as still as she could, knowing a sob would give her away. Please just go to sleep.