Highland Barbarian Part 53

"You have a lovely body, my lady.

"Twould please me to create gowns for you."

"Did you sew all these?" Meredith swept her hand to indicate the gowns that littered the bed.

"Aye. These are a sample of my wares."

"Yours is a fine talent."

Meredith saw the woman beam at her compliment. As Rowena helped her into the water and began lathering Meredith's hair she said,

"I was once the royal seamstress."

"You sewed for Queen Mary?"

"Aye." The woman's tone grew dreamy.

"I was but ten and three when I accompanied the infant queen to France.

Because of my deformity, 'twas determined that I would never marry. So I was taught from childhood how to sew. When the queen mother, Marie de Guise, saw my work, she insisted that I would spend my life dressing her child."

"How wonderful. Did you enjoy your time in France?"

"At first. It was so gay there. There were so many b.a.l.l.s and state dinners. I was kept so busy I hardly had time to sleep. I was given a little room filled with bolts of silks and satins and a clean bed of my own. Though it was drafty, and far from the queen and her ladies-in-waiting, it was heaven after the humble cottage I had been born in here in the Highlands."

Meredith leaned back in the water, loving the feel of the woman's strong hands against her scalp.

She had been cold, so cold, on the long journey from Kinloch House to this ancient fortress. The warmth of the bath, the lingers at her scalp, threatened to lull her into a false sense of security. She cautioned herself to stay alert to any chance at escape.

"It all sounds wonderful."

Meredith heard the note of pain that crept into Rowena's tone. ' "Aye.

It was. For a time. But when the young queen married the dauphin, his mother, Catherine de' Medici, stated that I was an embarra.s.sment at Court. She insisted that I be sent back to Scotland at once."

Meredith's sense of fair play overcame her earlier dislike of this woman.

"Was the queen not able to use her influence on your behalf?"

"Influence." Rowena gave a hollow laugh.

"As long as Catherine de' Medici lives, there is no other influence in France save hers."

"But Queen Mary has returned from France." Meredith sat up as the woman wrapped a linen about her damp hair. "Perhaps you should entreat her to reinstate your position and once again use your talents."

Rowena toweled Meredith's hair vigorously, then picked up a cake of fragrant soap. Her tone was one of resignation. "I am a humble Highlander. The queen is surrounded by important people, her time taken up with matters of state. By now she has forgotten her childhood dressmaker. There is no way I could ever approach her."

"What of your lord Mackay? Could he not use his influence as a Highland chief to intercede with the queen?"

"My lord Mackay," Rowena said with a note of contempt, 'would never act as an intermediary for one of his clan. He is a cruel leader who thinks only of his own pleasures

' Then why do you a.s.sist him in this?"

The woman looked away, unable to meet Meredith's steady gaze. In a soft voice she whispered,

"I must survive, my lady. To refuse Holden Mackay is to invite death."

Meredith fell silent for a moment. She had not given a thought to the many people who were at his mercy.

"What made him so?"

Rowena handed the soap to Meredith, then lifted a kettle of hot water from the fire. As she emptied it into the bath she said,

"It is rumored that when he was born, his father, Douglas Mackay, was engaged in a terrible battle with English soldiers who had stormed their Highland fortress. One of the soldiers ran his sword through the swollen stomach of Douglas's wife, Genevieve, who was close to her birthing. Genevieve died, but a servant delivered the b.l.o.o.d.y baim and placed it in Douglas's arms. He scarce looked at the babe before turning it over to be suckled by a village woman who had also recently given birth."

So caught up in the story was Meredith that she barely took time to appreciate the luxury of her bath. In minutes she stood and wrapped herself in the linen offered by Rowena. Seated before the fire she listened while Rowena dressed her hair and continued the tale.

"Douglas Mackay was gone for two years, locked in terrible battle with the English. When he returned, he stopped at the village and claimed his son, who was still living in the cottage of the woman who had nursed him. Father and son were never apart after that. When Douglas Mackay died, Holden Mackay became obsessed with ama.s.sing as much land and power as he could."

"But the death of his mother at the hands of the English and his own cruel birth should not be sufficient reason to be cruel to his people."

Rowena's voice lowered to a murmur, as though fearing that at any moment the object of their discussion might come through the door and overhear her words.

"There are those who say that Douglas Mackay's son was too frail to live, and that the village wench gave up her own son in order to ensure that he would be laird of the manor. Others even whisper that Douglas Mackay's son was murdered by the woman in order to place her own son in the laird's castle. Whatever the truth, she carried it to her grave. But until the day she died, Holden Mackay was devoted to her. It was she who was his adviser; she who taught him greed and avarice and spurred him on to achieve even greater wealth and power than his father before him."

Meredith was too stunned to speak. That might explain Mackay's cruelty. If he was raised from birth to lie and steal another's inheritance, he would become the kind of man who would stop at nothing to succeed.

"Why did Holden Mackay ride with Brice Campbell?" Meredith asked suddenly.

"My lord Mackay boasted that it was his intention to befriend the Highland Barbarian and discover his weaknesses. In that way, he could overthrow Brice Campbell and claim his land and t.i.tles."

"t.i.tles?"

"Aye, my lady. Did you not know that Brice Campbell is also Earl of Kinloch? His father was held in highest esteem by King James, until he fell into disfavor just before his death. Despite the blot on his name the queen considers Brice Campbell to be a n.o.ble man." Her voice lowered. "But there are those who would disgrace him and force the queen to award his land and t.i.tles to others."

Meredith sensed the hand of another in all this.

"Could it be that Gareth MacKenzie and Holden Mackay have joined forces in order to destroy Brice and divide his wealth between them?"

"There are many who covet the land and t.i.tles of Brice Campbell, my lady."

Meredith was aware of the warmth in Rowena's tone when she spoke of Brice.

"Do you know my lord Campbell?"

"Oh, aye," Rowena said softly.

"He was one of the few at Court in France who treated me with kindness." Her tone betrayed her pain.

"There are many who fear those who are different. And many more who are merely offended by my appearance."