Page 67 of Won By The Highlander

Elva came over and slid her hand into his. Wolfric looked down at their entwined hands and flinched when she said, ‘A lion of a man like you should not have to suffer a shrew for a wife. The whole county knows that Orla Gordon could not catch a husband, so she was lucky you took her when you won that contest. Many at Blackreach thought you would spurn her, and so you should have.’

Wolfric shook free her hand. ‘Stop. I will not have you speak ill of my wife. And you are ungrateful, for Orla has been kind to you, has she not? I came here today with her blessing, yet you malign her.’

‘Oh, I am sure she pretended to be kind, but she must think the worst of me. I am sure she suspects we are lovers, that I am a whore who has led you astray.’

‘But that is not true?’

‘It is what people think, isn’t it?’

‘To hell with them. My wife knows I am not an adulterer. And as to your ill-deserved reputation, when the bairn is born, and you are gone from here, you can leave it behind.’

‘And will you stick to your promise to find me a place, or will she turn you from it?’

‘Of course, I will find a place for you and your bairn, and Orla will help too.’

‘I don’t want her help. I only want you to come, Wolfric.’ She came closer and stared up at him, longing in her pretty eyes. ‘If she comes, she will look down on me and judge me a whore. I only want you to come.’

To his surprise, Elva reached for his hand and placed it on her stomach. It was a horribly intimate gesture which had him wanting to recoil from her.

‘Do you feel it kicking? Is that not a marvellous thing?’

‘Aye, it is.’

‘I love it already, Wolfric, almost as much as I love you.’

He leapt away from her. ‘Stop it, Elva. You must not say such things, and you do not mean them.’

‘But I do,’ she wailed. ‘If I had not fallen, if I had not been ruined, I would love you and care for you to the end of my days. You are so kind, so gentle with me. And I see you looking at me sometimes.’

‘No, Elva. That is out of concern for your welfare and nothing more.’

‘Aye, you look, and there is desire in your eyes. I have seen it.’

‘You have imagined what is not there. It is only pity, lass. I pity your situation, and I have tried to help you. But I cannot come again if you persist in such talk.’

‘I do not expect marriage, yet we can still be together. I would rather be your mistress than any other man’s wife, Wolfric. I can be a refuge from your unhappy marriage, give you succour, attend to your needs in a way a wife can’t.’

Wolfric was appalled. He was not flattered by her declaration nor aroused by it. He was mortified and rushed away from Elva. ‘Have you taken leave of your senses to be saying such things? I will go now, and I will ensure the midwife calls daily to check on you.’

Her lip trembled, and she burst into desperate sobbing. ‘Do not forsake me, I beg you. I meant no offence.’

‘You are alone and frightened, lass. Being cooped up here is making you speak this way. But all will be well, and soon, you will have your bairn to care for. Now promise me we will not talk like this again, for I love my wife and want none other.’

‘You love her,’ she croaked.

Wolfric sighed heavily and let the words settle in his heart. ‘Aye, I suppose I do, and there is nothing I can do about it.’

Chapter Twenty-Three

Orla ensured she was busy for the remainder of the day to avoid facing Rufus and Sykes once they emerged from their tryst, but they did not show themselves, thankfully. By late afternoon, she took the chance to ride out unnoticed. She had a musket in her pocket and a dirk strapped to her calf just in case she encountered redcoats. If anyone tried to molest her, they would be sorry. But even so, if Wolfric found out about her riding about the glens alone, she would be in trouble.

When she thought of the night she had just spent with her husband, Orla’s face grew hot despite the crispness of the day. Was she a harlot to enjoy a man’s hard body as much as she did? Indeed she craved it now, as if she could never get enough, and wished Wolfric back from Inverness as soon as may be. Aye, she wanted him back and the day’s task done with.

Her ride was breathtaking. Autumn had a stranglehold, and the glens rang with the clatter of antlers and baying of stags competing for females in the rut. Nature’s beauty made Orla gasp as she rode up the hills and looked back. A patchwork of gold, amber and red trees was mirrored in the grey surface of the loch. The biting midges had already succumbed to the cold, and the woods were full of bright berries and sprouting mushrooms.

Orla determined that today would be a turning point. She would trust in Wolfric and banish the spectre of his having a mistress. Amazingly, she was beginning to relish her life at Blackreach – its wildness, its freedoms and most of all, its fierce black-sheep of a son.

Wildwood Glen was at its loveliest when she arrived, and beyond the flat land to the west, past moorland choked with ochre deergrass, she could just make out the leaden bulk of Fort George squatting by a grey-green ocean. The wind was gustier higher up and tore at her hair, sending a shiver went down her spine when a cloud blew across the sun.

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