Tender Feud

“Would you hold this, sweeting?” Raith interrupted her. Handing her the candle, he pulled a pistol from his belt and moved toward the older gentleman. Colin Campbell’s look of bewilderment turned to extreme wariness at the sight of an enemy Highlander brandishing a weapon. But Raith merely held out the pistol to him, butt first. “Here, you’ll want this to arrest me.”

Campbell took it gingerly and turned it on Raith, his expression growing angrier by the minute. Her uncle had apparently, Katrine realized with a sinking heart, made the mental connection between her abduction and the trouble the MacLeans had given the Campbells lately. His face was turning red with the effort at control. But he was also determined to be strictly fair, it seemed.

“Do I understand you correctly, sirrah?” her uncle demanded of Raith. “You are responsible for the abduction of my niece?”

“Indeed, I am.”

“And the plaguey cattle thievery that has bedeviled Clan Campbell over the past three months? You are the villain behind it?”

“I wouldn’t phrase it quite that way,” Raith replied easily, “but you could hold me accountable, yes.”

“But you came here to give yourself up?”

“Actually, I came to claim my bride, but I ran into a slight difficulty. She declares she won’t have me now.”

“Bride?” Campbell nearly barked the word, while his sharp gaze sliced to Katrine.

“Indeed,” Raith admitted. “Katrine wed me while she was at Ardgour, you see—”

“That isn’t so!” she broke in. “There was no marriage, you said so yourself!”

“The trouble is,” Raith continued, giving her a quelling glance that was at odds with the dancing gleam in his blue eyes, “I didn’t wed her in return. But I’m willing to remedy that at once.”

“No, you won’t. I won’t have you—”

“Don’t interrupt, my love. I’m trying to explain to your uncle what happened. You see, Campbell, Katrine fell in love with me while she was at Ardgour—”

“I did not!”

Raith raised a skeptical eyebrow. “I thought you weren’t in the habit of telling falsehoods. Do you mean to deny now that you love me?”

Katrine refused to reply, but the flush that rose to her cheeks was answer enough. Raith grinned. “Now, where was I? Ah, yes, your niece. I should like to remedy this situation by asking for her hand in marriage. I assure you, I hold her in the greatest esteem and affection.”

Ignoring this dubious piece of flattery and the teasing manner in which it was delivered. Katrine stamped her foot. She didn’t know whether to be more incensed by Raith’s assumption that he had only to wed her in order to win her, or by the way he was making a mockery of the peril he was in. But his next words scattered her current thoughts.

“Before you decide the merits of my suit. Campbell, there is one other small detail I neglected to mention. You and I will shortly be related by blood. Katrine is to have my child.”

Katrine gasped at Raith’s perfidy, while her uncle’s fingers tightened around the pistol.

Unconcerned by this new danger, Raith regarded her with a bland look. “You didn’t tell him, my love?”

“Is this true, Katrine?” Colin Campbell thundered, making her jump with the fierceness of his tone.

Avoiding her uncle’s scowling gaze, Katrine didn’t answer. She simply glowered at Raith, her cheeks flushed with anger and frustration.

If it is true,” her uncle pronounced grimly, “then there is no question but what you should marry. At once. Without delay.”

Katrine turned incredulous eyes on her uncle. “You want me to wed a criminal?”

“Alleged criminal, my love,” Raith amended. “Pray don’t convict me before all the facts are weighed.”

“That is quite enough from you, sirrah!” Campbell blazed, his limbs, his chin and the tail of his nightcap all quivering with rage. “I will not tolerate this…this disgrace to the Campbell name. Criminal or no, you will wed my niece at once!”

Genially Raith gave the elderly gentleman a deep bow. “Naturally, I am at your service, Mr. Campbell.”

“No, Uncle Colin!” Katrine interjected. “I won’t marry him! Disgrace or no, I refuse to accept him as my husband.”

Still scowling, Colin Campbell turned to glare at his niece. “Why the deuce not?”