She knew that voice. Her husband. Her husband who had risked his life to come save her. It pulled her from the nightmare, and when she opened her eyes, sunlight streamed into the room. There was no more darkness, and when she reached for her wrists, they were free.
She was free. But she hurt all over.
“Cora, there ye are. Easy now,” Alec said as he sat on the edge of her bed and looked down at her uncertainly. “Innes is gone. Dead. Ye have no reason to fear him again.”
“What happened? How did I get here?” she asked as she tried to sit up. Her body felt weak, as though she hadn’t eaten in ages, but that made no sense. She wasn’t even Innes’s captive for more than a day.
“Ye caught ill. The healer said it probably took root when ye rode out in the rain, and it overcame ye quickly. Ye have been fighting a fever for nearly a week now. I didnae think that ye were going to make it.”
A week. A whole week had passed? “You are all right? Jamie? Stephen? They were wounded. I saw the blood. Lord, your thigh!”
“We lost no men that day, and even now, I believe Jamie has some bonnie MacKay warming his bed and tending to him,” he joked with a smile before his expression turned serious again. “I will have the healer come examine ye.”
No. She didn’t want him to leave, but as she reached for him, he deftly moved out of her grasp and opened the door.
With a heavy heart, she realized that he had yet to touch her. Did he think that she had betrayed him? Innes’s nasty words echoed in her head. She had left him, without a word, just as she had tried to do before, but he had come for her. Come to rescue her. Surely he wouldn’t do that if he didn’t want her by his side?
The door opened, but it was not the healer that bounded in the room.
Cora’s eyes widened as a young woman threw herself on the bed. “Cora! Cora!” Lana burst into tears and wrapped her arms around her. “You are alive! I cannot believe it!”
“Lana, really, you must let Cora breathe.”
Shocked, Cora watched as the Thistles followed in, both of them crying a little as they saw her. Wordlessly, she looked up at her husband. “Mary told me what had been happening,” Alec said gruffly. “We reached out to the Thistles to make sure that they were safe, and they insisted on seeing ye. I thought, now that I could protect them, that ye would want to see them.”
“Thank you,” Cora said softly and wrapped her arms around her sister. As they cried, Alec quickly slipped out of the room.
Finally, when they separated, Donna handed her a glass of water and sat on the edge of the bed. With no room left on the bed, Calvin pulled up a chair and reached for her hands. “Life hasn’t been the same since we thought you dead,” he said quietly. “I can think of no happier moment than when a terrifying highlander nearly beat down our door, told us that our lives were in danger, and that you were still alive.”
“Bryce Sinclair,” Lana whispered. “He was so handsome and so savage. Two other highlanders came charging out from across the street, and he slew them right then and there. We had to call for a runner, and honestly, I thought the runners were going to pass away from fear when they saw him, but they explained everything.”
“Innes was having you watched.” Cora shuddered. “I wanted to believe it was a bluff. You are here!”
“Where else would we be, dear?” Donna asked as she reached for Cora’s other hand. “You are our daughter, blood or not, and we were not going to sit idly by and wait for more news. We needed to come see for ourselves how you were doing. The young Sinclair man escorted us back here, and you were already so sick, we feared we were going to lose you all over again.”
They started crying even more and embracing each other. Cora couldn’t believe that Alec had done this for her, was allowing more English under his roof so she could reunite with her family.
So why wasn’t he here?
The healer entered and ordered them all out. “I have to go tell Grace that you are awake,” Lana said as she rose. “I know that she’ll want to see you. And Mary and Louise. Louise has been cooking a special meal for you every day in case you woke up.”
“Which I will fetch now,” Donna said. “But we will be right back. Do not fear.”
They left, and Cora looked at the older woman. “So?” she asked finally with a brave smile. “Am I going to make it?”
“Lass, I have called ye Sassenach under my breath ever since I met ye, but after what ye have survived, now I can only call ye a highlander because I know that ’tis Duncan’s blood that runs through ye and ’tis the only reason that ye have survived this long.”
Cora smiled. “That is only because you never met my mother.”
After the healer had come to him and abruptly announced that Cora would survive, Alec gave his wife the time she needed with her family and friends. Not only did they take up her time, but Connor, Grace, and quite a few of the men streamed in to tell her how thankful they were that she’d survived.
When the last had reported that she’d eaten and gone back to sleep, Alec chose to have his dinner alone. The last few days had been exhausting. Not one but three MacKays had come forward to confess that they had been passing along information to Innes, but they were adamant that it was the Campbells who had shot at them and had set fire to the village crops to weaken Alec’s hold on the clan. Because they had come forward, and because they swore they had no idea what Innes really had planned, Alec had sentenced the three strapping lads to labor on the watchtowers for three months rather than exile or prison.
He was just about finished when the door opened and the Thistles walked in. Donna and Calvin were cautious, but Lana immediately pulled out her chair and sat down. “What are your intentions toward my sister?” she demanded.
Alec looked up at Calvin and saw the same determined look on their face. “I have already married her,” he said slowly. “’Twas legal and sanctioned by the King. Now that Innes is dead, there is no fear that it will be dissolved and she forced to wed another.”
Lana rolled her eyes, and suddenly, he wondered if it was a good idea that the young lass was spending so much time with Grace. The two of them were a force to be reckoned with. “I don’t mean legally. Cora was taken from her home, forced to witness the murder of her father, imprisoned, forced to marry you, and then kidnapped again. How many more dangers will she face here? Can you keep her safe?”
Alec’s chest tightened. He didn’t want to think about all that Cora had gone through. It was hard enough to know that he was going to have to face a future without her. “With Innes dead, there are no more threats against her, but I have already received a missive from the King. My place as laird here is secure. Cora is no longer a political chess piece. I intend for our marriage to be the freedom that she deserves.”
“What does that mean?” Lana demanded.
Alec stared knowingly at Calvin. “She is free to go home with you. Though she will never be able to wed another, I will not interfere with the life she chooses to lead in England. She will be allowed a large allowance to do and live as she wishes. I hope she finds happiness.”
“And if she is carrying?” Donna asked softly.
Alec flinched at the knowledge. “If there is a child, I wilnae take it from its mother, but it wilnae grow up abandoned by me. We will find a way to raise it in both worlds as it will be heir to the MacKay clan.”
Lana’s eyes filled with tears, and she rose, her gaze accusatory. “How could you not love her? How could you be married to her and have spent all this time with her and not love her? I do not understand you, Alec Sinclair, and I think I hate you!”
As she ran from the room, Donna followed behind her, but Calvin stayed behind. “Cora would stay,” he said softly. “If she knew how much you loved her, she would stay with you.”
“Cora has been stripped of her choices for too long. Aye, she’d stay, whether she thought I loved her or not. She would stay out of duty because that is the kind of woman that she is. I have dealt a hand in her m
isery here. I didnae trust her. Perhaps if I had, she would have told me the truth rather than running to her death. There is nothing I could give her that would make her happier than her freedom.”
Calvin cocked his head. “England does not speak highly of the Scottish and even worse of highlanders, but in the few days that I have been here, I don’t think I’ve ever met more honorable men. I agree that you could have treated her better, but I will tell you right now that if you force her to go home with us, you are still stripping her of her choice. We welcome her home, of course, with open arms, but a man who loves her would give her the chance to choose.”
He headed for the door and turned back. “You have underestimated her before, highlander. I trust that you will not do it again.”
25
Trapped in another nightmare, Cora screamed and fought, but when she woke, the arms around her were warm and loving. “I have ye,” Alec whispered as he tenderly kissed the top of her head. “I have ye, Cora.”
“You’re here.” Night had fallen, and the room was dark, but Cora turned to him and snuggled into his embrace. “I didn’t think you’d be here.”
“I hadn’t planned to,” he admitted. “I thought perhaps ye would want to spend the night with yer sister.”
“I am overjoyed to see them, but it is you that I want by my side, Alec.” Her chest squeezed painfully. He was acting so strangely earlier. “You are still angry with me.”
Rising up on his elbows, he stared down at her, and his eyes were stormy with anger. “That ye would put yer own life in danger to protect me? Aye. I am furious. If Mary had not confessed yer plan to travel to England, I may not have gotten to ye in time.”
“You did not go to England?”
“No, I know my wife better than that.” His expression softened, and anguish filled his eyes, and when he opened his mouth, he couldn’t speak.
Cora clutched at his body and buried her face in his shoulder, and he stroked her hair. “I did trust you. I didn’t at first, but when I realized the kind of man that you were, I knew that I could trust you, but if I told you what Innes was doing, you could have gotten yourself killed. To save the Thistles, I could have gotten you killed. To keep you safe, I could have gotten them killed. I couldn’t live with either of those. I did go to sacrifice myself to Innes. I had hoped to speak to Mac, hoped that he did not know what his brother was doing.”
“Ye knew that there was a chance that ye would not make it,” Alec whispered harshly. “Ye knew that ye could be sacrificing yerself. Cora, nothing in this world is worth yer life. Certainly not me.”
Filled with love, she simply held him. “Will you be mad long? I do not know that I could bare it. You left, and it broke my heart. Promise me that you will forgive me soon.”
“Cora.” He pulled out of his embrace and stared down at her, and instinctively, she feared what he would say next. “I did not stay away from ye because I was mad at ye. I thought it would be easier for me. Ye have found naught but misery here, and I wanted to give ye some peace. Some happiness. I was going to let ye leave with the Thistles. Live yer life in England with yer family.”
“You were what?” Pushing herself up, she glared at him.
“Ye deserve happiness. Ye deserve the choice to live as ye please. I wilnae abandon ye. Ye will get an allowance that will allow ye to live like a lady in England. If there is a bairn…” His voice broke and he put a hand over her belly. “If we have made a wee bairn, then we will both be a part of his or her life, but I wilnae force ye to stay here.”
“Alec Sinclair!” Absolutely furious, she pushed his hand away and nearly smacked him. Instead, she scrambled off the bed and started to pace. “I have thought many horrible things about you, but not once did I think you were an absolute idiot! Live in England? I am your wife! Aside from them, I love you. Despite you being a bloody moron, I absolutely adore you. I cannot imagine a life without you, and you think it will make me happy if you banish me?”
To his credit, Alec winced. “I suppose I deserve yer wrath, but if ye continue to shout, ye will wake the whole keep.”
“Good! I want them to wake up. I want them to witness this so you can never again doubt me. If you even dare try to send me away, I will simply come back. Again and again until I drive you so mad that you have no choice but to accept me because I know that you love me, and I am so bloody tired of people making decisions for me. To hell and back, Alec, I will be by your side.”
“I had no idea ye could swear so,” he said, but he was grinning like a fool.
Her heart swelled with love. “I am just getting started. Oh, Alec, tell me that you love me.”
“Aye, Cora. I am a bloody moron, but loving ye has been the wisest choice that I have ever made. If ye will stay with me and find yer happiness here, then I will never leave yer side. I swear it!”
“Tis about time!” Grace yelled, and Cora turned and gasped. The door was partly open. Walking over, she opened it the rest of the way and saw that the hallway was filled with people listening in. Grace grinned sheepishly from her spot on the ground. “We’ve been here all night, waiting to see if ye were going to stay with my idiot of a brother.”
Alec growled behind her, but Cora only laughed. They were the strangest mix of people. Sinclairs. MacKays. Servants. Guards. And the Thistles. All nodded at her encouragingly. Her family had expanded, and she couldn’t be more happy about it.
“You have your answer,” she said primly. “Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to close this door and kiss my husband.”
They cheered, and she reddened, closed the door, and turned to do just that.
* * *
A year later
* * *
The wee lad screamed, his lungs even stronger than the day he was born, and even then, he threatened to crumble the stone walls with his wails. Alec plucked him up from his crib and cradled him carefully as he walked from the nursery. “Easy there, Son,” he crooned. “Ye know that ye will have everyone running when ye cry.”
It was true. Less than a month old, and absolutely everyone adored him. Today was a big day for him. The priest was there to baptize him, and the keep was bursting with people who would stand witness. King Edward. The Thistles. The Sinclairs. Even Mac Campbell, who was slowly becoming not just an ally, but a friend as well.
All of them eager to hold him if he even looked like he would shed a tear.
“Are you sure about this?” Cora asked him again as she joined him and curved a hand around his cheek.
“Aye,” he told her assuredly. “I have already spoken to the priest and to my brother. I have no doubts.”
“I love you, Alec Sinclair. Every day, my love only grows stronger.”
Leaning down, he captured his wife’s mouth and kissed her lovingly. “And I you.”
Together, they made their way down to the great hall. Normally, they would have the christening in the church, but there were too many people bearing witness that day. The chamber, cleared of tables and chairs, was filled from wall to wall for Alec did not deny any from the clan who wanted to witness. Those that could not fit in the room spilled into the hall and outside the keep awaiting the news.
A hush fell over as they made their way to the front, and Father Donnelly nodded his head and opened his arms for the child. Alec handed his son off.
“What name is given to this child?” Donnelly asked.
Alec looked up and faced the room. Every MacKay in this room, in the hall, standing outside, and working the fields in the land had sworn fealty to him, and in return, he’d sworn to lead and protect them. As each sank to their knees, he saw the question in their eyes even as they didn’t voice it out loud. They were MacKay but led by a Sinclair. What did that make them?
“This child is named Duncan Gregory Sinclair MacKay,” he said, his voice booming in the hall. Although there was no surprise on the faces of the King, his brother, and his friends, a gasp swept out. “Named for his two grandfathers, his father, and the blood of t
he land, for while I was christened a Sinclair, I am bound to the MacKays, and so my son shall bear the clan name.”
Tears filled Cora’s eyes, and the Father dipped his hand in the basin of water and marked Duncan’s forehead. “Duncan Gregory Sinclair MacKay, I baptize ye in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. May ye grow and shine in His love, be protected by the spirits and ancestors of this land, and be always surrounded by the love of the witnesses in this chamber.”
A thunderous applause filled the room and Alec reached out to take his son, who was now wailing louder than the cheers. Leaning down, he kissed his son’s head and took his wife’s hand.
As with every Scottish event, a great feast and party followed. Seated at the table, rocking her son back and forth, Cora leaned against Alec, who wrapped a protective hand around her shoulders. It had only been three weeks since she’d given birth, and he would have liked to see her in bed, but although she looked tired, she assured him that she wanted to be a part of the celebration. Still, he did not ask her to dance, and he glared at anyone who looked like they might.
The babe got passed around to uncles, aunts, and friends. The Thistles had been there for two months, even Lana, to see Cora through the birth and help out. Lana had, according to her father, been a terror during the first season and not a single man dared asked to marry her. Privately, he told Alec he thought his daughter had done it on purpose. Apparently now she wanted to marry a highlander.
Personally, Alec thought Calvin was pleased. Lana was still too young to be married, and Calvin wanted to keep his daughter close a little longer.
Grace visited frequently, usually when Connor grew tired of trying to handle her. She had men from four different clans constantly asking for her hand in marriage. She turned down every single one and started threatening Connor that she would challenge them to a duel if he approved of any behind her back.
Highlander's Beautiful Lia ( Historical Scottish Medieval Highlander Romance) Page 16