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considered that it might have been her face and expression that gave her away. She’d never been good at hiding her feelings—not long ago when they met and not now that they’d been married for almost a score of years.
    She looked away from him then, trying to hold back the tears and anger that threatened to erupt. She would be of no help to her husband or their daughter if she fell apart as she wished to do in that moment. Tightening her lips so no words escaped, she thought on how her own goal could be accomplished even in the face of Connor’s resistance.
    ‘I think I prefer the devastated mother’s expression to the mutinous MacCallum one you wear now,’ he observed, crossing his arms over the wide expanse of his chest and glaring at her.
    She shrugged and shook her head. ‘I know not what you—’
    ‘Come now, Jocelyn. We have been through so much together and I am insulted that you think I do not know what that look in your eyes and the tilt of your chin up ever so slightly …’ hesaid, as he reached out and outlined the curve of her chin and face down to her neck. Chills shot through her at his touch. Any time. Every time. ‘… means. It means you plan to defy me in this.’
    ‘Connor, surely—’ She withheld any further arguments.
    ‘I think I would prefer not to hear a lie from your lips,’ he admitted. His stern gaze gave her no sign of leniency, only understanding. However, her husband was an intelligent man who could make the right decisions when left to it. She waited and finally after several seconds heard his exhaled breath. ‘Do nothing that will lessen our chances of getting what we need. Pay heed to Duncan and Rurik.’
    Duncan
and
Rurik? If he was sending both, he was preparing for war as well and making quite a show of strength. That manoeuvre could either impress the Mathesons or cause them to act rashly. She prayed in that moment that it was the former and not the latter.
    ‘When?’
    ‘We must wait on them and the messengers I’ve sent before sending armed men to his lands. Give him a chance to come to his damned senses and release her on his own.’ He paused then. ‘About a sennight, I would think.
    ‘You will do nothing that Duncan and Rurik do not give permission to do while there. You will remain within our camp and—’ When he began to announce a long list of orders and prohibitions, she stopped him the one sure way she knew would work—she stood on the tips of her toes and kissed him.
    He clasped her shoulders and held her close, their breaths mingling, as he stared into her eyes and studied her face. Then he settled her back to her feet and released her.
    ‘You will be safe, Jocelyn.’ She nodded and began to leave, for there was much planning and packing to do. ‘And, Jocelyn? I am allowing you to go in case Lilidh needs you,’ he explained.
    Those last words would haunt her days and nights until she next beheld her daughter and could ascertain for herself any damages done to her at the hands of the Mathesons.
    Oh, woe to Rob Matheson if her daughter was harmed. Woe to him if he incurred the wrath of a mother! Connor could not be more dangerous than that.

Chapter Seven
    L ilidh was out of breath and straining with each step by the time they reached the lower level where the hall was located. Dougal had gone slowly, but that mattered not right now. The pain in her leg, eased by the long soak in the hot water, was back in full force. Spasms pulsed through her leg with each step. Finally they stopped and Dougal let her catch her breath. When she looked up and met his gaze, she saw pity enter and she hated it.
    ‘Hold out your hands,’ he said. Dougal took the length of coiled rope off his shoulder, found the end and tied a looped knot in it.
    Her time as a prisoner officially began now and all who saw her would know it.
    She reached up and tucked the strands ofhair that had come loose from the braid back behind her ears and then offered her hands to him. She