Page 54 of The Chieftain
Connor always knew Ilysa was devoted to the clan. But devoted to him?
“Ilysa enjoys keeping my household,” he said. “And it will only be until I conclude negotiations for my marriage and my wife arrives.”
“Don’t ask this of her,” Moira said, leaning forward with her hands on her hips.
Ach, MacDonald women were the most stubborn, willful women in all of the Highlands. And as for his sister, well, they had not called her Princess Moira as children for nothing.
“Does Ilysa want to marry any of these men?” he asked after taking a deep breath.
“Not yet, but she will,” Moira said. “Ilysa loves children. She deserves a husband and family of her own.”
Ilysa, married?It was hard to think of it.
“Ye seem to have forgotten that it’s your duty to help a widow find a new husband,” Moira said.
Moira was right about that. As chieftain, his duty to safeguard his clan was all-encompassing and included protecting them from attack, feeding them in famine, and, unfortunately, finding husbands for widows. Connor would rather fight a hundred MacLeods than matchmake. And finding the right man for Ilysa would not be easy. He would have to be a strong warrior who could protect her, but also a kind man.
“If ye let her be, Ilysa will have no trouble finding a husband on her own,” Moira said, folding her arms.
“As ye just reminded me, it is my duty to make certain she weds agoodman,” he said, “ifshe wishes to marry at all.”
“Ilysa deserves happiness,” Moira said. “Give her a chance to find it.”
***
Ilysa watched for Alastair MacLeod. When he did not appear in the hall for the midday meal, she decided to find him. Duncan had assigned Niall to escort her if she left the keep, but he was speaking with Lady Philippa so evading him would be easy. In fact, she worried that Niall was the one who needed guarding.
Ilysa guessed that a chieftain of the MacLeod’s stature would be given a chamber inside the castle and asked a serving maid.
“The MacLeod is in the West Tower,” the maid told her.
Ilysa found two enormous MacLeod warriors guarding a door on the second floor of the tower.
“I’m a healer, and I’ve brought a salve for your chieftain,” she said and held out the jar.
The guards exchanged glances. Instead of taking the jar from her, one of them went inside. A few moments later, he returned and demanded her name.
“Ilysa.”
The guard opened the door and jerked his head to the side to indicate she should enter.
“I don’t need to see your chieftain,” she said. “I only brought the salve.”
“Go in.” The guard gave her a look that said she could walk in or he could carry her.
Ilysa felt uneasy about entering the MacLeod chieftain’s chamber. As soon as she crossed the threshold and saw him, however, her uneasiness vanished. His face was drawn with pain. She sat on the stool next to his chair.
“I brought that salve I promised ye.”
“It won’t help,” he said.
“This is always a good salve.” She held it up for his inspection. “But this particular batch has special healing powers.”
“Lilies?” he asked after sniffing it, just as Connor had. “What makes it special?”
Ilysa hesitated to tell him, but she knew the salve would ease his pain and she wanted to persuade him to use it. “I collected the water lilies from a faery glen on a night of the full moon.”
She had seen the lilies in a pond amid the odd, conical hills as she left the glen that night and had stopped long enough to cut a few and put them into her bag.
