"I meant no offense, my lord," Colin MacDonald said, ignoring Atholl, "but we highlanders are used to speaking our minds. We don't couch our words in pretty phrases that only hide their meaning."

The king nodded. "I prefer plain speaking myself," he said. "Tell me, how came ye by yer lands in Nairn, for I am given to understand that yer father was Donald of Harlaw, late Lord of the Isles."

"My mother, Moire Rose, was the heiress of Nairn. She was my father's mistress for a time. My father made it known to my grandfather that he wanted me to have my mother's inheritance. My grandfather made me his heir. I came into my own several years ago." Reaching into a space between his shirt and the swath of plaid across his chest, he drew out a silk pouch and handed it to the king.

After carefully taking papers from the pouch, James Stewart spent the next several minutes perusing them. "These are all quite in order, my lord, the line of descent clear." He folded the sheets of parchment, put them back into the pouch, and handed it to Colin MacDonald. "See my secretary in the morning, and he will affix the proper seals to yer documents. Ye are reconfirmed in yer titles, lands, and rights."

"I thank ye, my lord."

"And will ye swear yer fealty to me now?"

"No, lord, I cannot, for I am vassal to my brother, Alexander, Lord of the Isles. 'Twould not be right for me to swear my fealty to ye before my brother swears his. Indeed, my brother would be verra angry at me for such a presumption. I know that ye understand."

"I will expect ye at Inverness when I come, Colin MacDonald," the king said quietly, but there was a hint of a smile about the corners of his lips. "Ye will swear me yer fealty directly after yer brother."

The MacDonald of Nairn nodded his head in apparent agreement. "Aye, and I will. First to ye, James Stewart, and then to yer fair queen, may God make her fruitful." He bowed to them both.

"A wicked rogue if I ever saw one," Fiona Hay said when Colin MacDonald had taken his leave of the throne and moved back into the hall. "Ye had best beware of him, my liege. No MacDonald ever had Scotland's interests at heart, I fear."

"But he has great charm." The queen laughed softly, watching the big highlander make his way out of the hall.


"A dangerous man," the king said knowingly. "Aye, Mistress Hay, ye are wise to not be fooled by an easy smile and manner."

"I don't like the bold way he looked at ye," Angus Gordon said darkly.

"Did he look at me?" Fiona said, surprised. "I didn't notice. Have ye told me that ye are the only man for me, my Black Angus?" Fiona teased him wickedly, and the royal couple laughed.

"Yer a brazen baggage," Angus Gordon pretended to grumble. "I don't know why I even put up with ye." His eyes were twinkling.

"He'll wed her soon, before the year's end," the queen said wisely to her husband when the laird and Fiona had taken their leave and moved away from the dais.

"I thought to give him a nice English wife like I have," the king teased his bride. “Do ye not think he would like one, Joan?''

"If he were not so deeply in love with Fiona Hay, and she with him," the queen replied, "I would want him for my cousin, Elizabeth Williams. He is a good man, James, but then ye know that."

"Ye miss Beth," James Stewart said. It was a statement.

"Aye," the young queen replied, "I do. In the autumn Mistress Hay will return to Loch Brae with the laird. They are so desperate to get home, James. We cannot in fairness keep them here much longer, but then I shall have no confidant of my own age. Beth was always my confidant."

"In a few more weeks," James Stewart told his wife, "I will send down into England for your cousin. One little English girl can hardly offend the Scots, and ye will have yer dearest companion again."

"I'm glad," the queen said, and then, leaning over, she whispered into her husband's ear. He grinned, but Joan put her finger to her lips, pledging him to silence for now.


***

June passed, then July. Though the king worked hard at the business of restoring order and justice to Scotland, he also made time for pleasure. There were more young people at the court than there had been in many years. They hunted deer in the hills about Scone and waterfowl near the river Tay, and they fished for trout and salmon in the swiftly moving streams. The king enjoyed the game of golf. As it happened, the two best players at court were Angus Gordon and The MacDonald of Nairn, who fell into an immediate and fierce competition.

"Ye shouldn't grip yer club like that," Angus Gordon scoffed one afternoon as they played with the king and the Earl of Atholl. "Ye cannot gain any distance with yer ball if ye have such a grip."

Colin MacDonald drew himself up to his full six feet four inches and sneered down at the six-foot-two laird, “I managed to beat ye last time quite handily, Gordon, with just such a grip."

"Ye won at the end by only a stroke-and only because the wind blew a wee bit of grit into my eye," the laird snapped.

"But I won. I always win when I choose to win, Gordon. Be advised of that. By the way, how is yer pretty little mistress? She is surely the bonniest lass in all of Scotland." He grinned wickedly, and his bright blue eyes silently challenged the laird.

The laird of Loch Brae clenched his teeth and, concentrating with all his might, hit his ball a tremendous length down the green. Then he turned, grinning his own challenge to The MacDonald of Nairn. "Ye’ll be going north again soon, I imagine," he said pleasantly.

“Those two are worse than a pair of lads," groused the Earl of Atholl. "Squabbling over a damned game of golf."

" 'Tis not golf they squabble over," the king said.

"Eh?" his uncle asked, confused.

The king watched the two younger men as they walked ahead of Atholl and himself. "I think it has something to do with Mistress Hay, although I have not yet figured out exactly what. If she is not with the queen, she is in Angus's company, yet I have seen Nairn eyeing her most covetously. I don't know if he has even spoken to her."

"Little escapes ye, laddie, does it?" the earl asked thoughtfully.

The king smiled cryptically. Then he said to his uncle, "I plan to execute Albany and his sons for treason. It will all be done under the law, of course. Albany will die for his presumption, and his offspring because they have the misfortune to be born his sons. I will not be threatened by my own kin."

Atholl nodded, fully understanding the unspoken warning his nephew had just given him. He was shrewd, and the moment he had met James Stewart, he had realized the mettle of the man and wisely chosen to be loyal. "When?" was all he said to the king.

"Soon. Ye are not sentimental, Uncle, are ye? There is no place for sentiment if a man is to be king."

"I have no sentiment where Albany and his whelps are concerned, Nephew," the earl assured the king. Then he drove his own ball down the long length of the green, pleased at his skill.

While the king played golf, the queen and her ladies were tossing a ball among themselves, laughing as Mistress Hay and Lady Grey got into a contest to see who could toss the wooden ball the highest. Finally the two women collapsed upon the grass, wheezing, while their companions took up the game. The queen, however, chose to sit demurely watching as her ladies raced back and forth, their hair becoming loose and blowing in the afternoon breeze.

"Ye have not met my cousin of Nairn yet, and he will soon be returning north," Maggie MacLeod said, her breath finally restored.

"I don't think it wise," Fiona said, breathing deeply. "Angus says he looks at me like a wolf eyeing a lambkin." She laughed. "I don't want to make him jealous, Maggie."

"Why would ye say that?" her companion asked. "Of course ye want to make him jealous, ye silly little fool! Ye’ll get him to the altar a whole lot quicker if he thinks another man wants ye. They're all like that. Men are such donkeys! Besides, ye don't have to encourage Nairn. Personally I advise that ye don't, but it canna hurt to be presented to him. He's been dying to meet ye. I canna discourage him, but mayhap ye can. Actually I think the only reason he is hanging about the court is in hopes of meeting ye. So let him, and then ye can send him packing, for I certainly have no influence with him, and Ben Duff is beginning to get suspicious, for Nairn will tease him by making all sorts of suggestive remarks with reference to our childhood. Ye would be doing me a great favor, Fiona Hay, and I will not forget ye for it."

Fiona laughed again. "Oh, verra well, Maggie, for ye have been a good friend, but I warn ye I shall not be sweet."

"Don't be sweet!" Maggie MacLeod chuckled. "He would take it as a sign of encouragement, and ye don't want that!"

The king and his golfing partners returned to find the queen and her ladies still playing upon the grass. Colin MacDonald's eyes went immediately to Fiona Hay. She was wearing a yellow silk gown called a houppelande. Its short waist was set beneath her small round breasts, the long skirts flowing down into the green of the lawn. She was flushed, and her hair was loose about her face. He had never wanted a woman more in his life than he wanted Fiona Hay at that moment. Then he felt hard eyes upon him, and turned to meet Angus Gordon's gaze. Colin MacDonald smiled insolently but said nothing.

The laird of Loch Brae's heart and mind were filled with dark thoughts of murder and mayhem in that brief moment. He wanted to gouge those bold blue eyes from The MacDonald of Nairn's head so that they would never look with lust upon Fiona Hay again. They had to go home! They could no longer delay their departure. He wanted to be back at Loch Brae. He walked across the green lawn and slipped his arm about Fiona. "Did ye miss me, lassie?"