Page 109 of Her Accidental Highlander Husband

There he spotted the dowager leaning over the crib. She raised Elizabeth in her arms, and Cam gasped. What did she plan to do to his child? He could only imagine the worst.

“Please, don’t hurt her. She’s all I’ll have left after tomorrow,” Cam begged, knowing he couldn’t make it across the room if the woman chose to drop the babe on the floor.

His hands were raised in a nonthreatening manner as he stepped closer.

She looked at him aghast. “I wouldn’t hurt this child.”

“You don’t seem to like bairns all that much, especially ones spawned by two Scots.”

The dowager made a noise that would have been a snort if it weren’t coming from someone so aristocratic.

“I don’t care who her parents are. She’s an angel.” The dowager rocked the babe and smiled down at the infant in her arms.

Cam relaxed a little, though still a trifle wary. “I have to be honest and say it’s because she looks like me.”

“Arrogant wretch,” the dowager said without her usual bite of distaste.

“I think she is the most beautiful babe ever created,” he said, serious now.

“By Scots,” the dowager amended.

His jaw dropped. “Did you just make a joke, Your Grace?”

“Aye,” she answered, using his own word.

He laughed and stepped closer, completely at ease now. When she made to hand Lizzy over to him, he shook his head. “Go ahead, if it pleases you.” He even pulled the rocking chair over from the corner so she could sit. “Does your foot still bother you?”

“It’s much improved. Thank you.” She sat and rocked the baby with a stiff smile on her lips. She wanted to say something else. He could tell. It was the time of night one needed to unload worries and often sought out a place of peace to leave them.

“Is something bothering you?” he asked.

“I think you have enough worries of your own than to take on mine, as well.”

“I need a rest from my own. I canna do anything for them.”

“I’m sorry this is happening. I wish now I’d done more.” Her face softened with sadness and regret.

Cam understood. She probably thought she might have helped her son if she’d known of his problems. It was Cam’s experience that some people were inherently evil and couldn’t be helped.

“You didn’t know.”

“That’s just it. I did know.” She frowned. “I once had a daughter named Elizabeth.”

Startled, he cocked his head at her. “Is that so? I wonder why Mari didn’t mention it when we chose the name.”

The dowager pushed out a shaky breath. “She didn’t know. My daughter died many years ago.”

A prick of sympathy went through him. “I’m sorry. Mari’s sister lost a babe once, and it haunts them still.”

“Children have so many things stacked against them. It’s a parent’s job to protect them. That’s why I’m the one to blame for my Eliza’s death.”

He studied her thoughtfully. He’d never before seen such emotion touch her expression as now. “I doubt that’s true,” he said kindly. “I think we often take on more guilt than we’ve truly earned.”

She shook her head. “Sometimes. But not in this case.”

She seemed to want to tell her story, so he gave her the opportunity. “What happened?”

She was silent for a long moment, then she began in a voice thick with emotion, “After having five boys, my husband and I were blessed with a girl. Her older brothers doted over her. She was their princess, always cheerful and happy. But when she reached about ten, she became quiet. Not having experience with little girls, I thought it normal. But nothing about the situation was normal. It was only a few months after her eleventh birthday that I found out she was with child.”