The Bride Quest II Boxed Set

by Claire Delacroix

  What could he say? Duncan picked her up and kissed her brow, murmured reassurances to her.

  ’Twas then he spotted his step-daughter, standing aside from the proceedings as if she had indeed ceased to draw breath. When he noted the resolve in Jacqueline’s pale features, Duncan feared that Eglantine’s way of bidding her daughter adieu would only erect a barrier between mother and daughter, and one that would not be readily removed.

  But then, the censers swung, filling the air with heady clouds of scent. Candles were lit and held high, banishing the gloom of an overcast day. The household fell into order, those of rank before those of less rank—first, Eglantine, then her Alienor and Esmeraude. They were followed by Alienor’s husband and child, then the closest members of Eglantine’s household. The vassals filled the most part of the procession, though ’twould have been otherwise at a great French estate like Crevy. There would have been knights and squires there, visiting nobles and rich relations.

  Not so here, and Duncan marveled again at what his wife had left behind in her flight to Scotland. ’Twas indicative of her determination, and his admiration for her blossomed anew.

  Eglantine truly desired only happiness for her daughters.

  The assembly began to chant a mournful dirge. The priest began the procession as the empty coffin was hefted to be carried behind him.

  Duncan reluctantly stepped to his wife’s side, unable to resist a last glance at Jacqueline. She remained to one side, outside the procession. No one spoke to her, none so much as looked at her, by Eglantine’s dictate—and indeed, by the custom of their own ritual.

  She stood with her mother’s straightness of spine, her chin high, her lips set. She was a beautiful young woman, one who usually had roses in her cheeks and stars in her eyes, one whose sweet and giving character was a delight to all in the household. Indeed, in Jacqueline, beauty ran to the core.

  She stood there, so determined to be brave, to stand steadfast, that Duncan’s heart nigh broke in half. He watched her catch her breath and blink rapidly when she spied her mother’s funereal garb and guessed that she was not so certain of her choice as that.

  Aye, Reynaud had terrified Jacqueline. Duncan wished he could make the matter right. He was tempted to lock her up, to compel her to listen to reason, to keep her from sacrificing all her choices for the sake of one night’s sorry events.

  And that urge to sequester Jacqueline showed him that he was not so different from his wife, after all.

  “God in heaven,” Eglantine muttered through gritted teeth. “I cannot imagine how the girl comes by such a stubborn nature. I do not recall that her father was so obstinate.”

  Duncan knew better than to suggest the obvious. The procession wound its way past Jacqueline and out of the hall toward the chapel. The skies hung heavy and grey, threatening a greater downpour. It seemed that even the land mourned his step-daughter’s choice.

  How Duncan wished he could be certain she made the right one.

  Chapter One

  Ceinn-beithe was behind Jacqueline, only her vows ahead. Her mother was wrong—Jacqueline had a calling and she knew the truth of it. She had not been swayed by well-intentioned argument, though she had come close, simply because of the price of her choice. Her mother’s point was well made and well taken.

  Though it changed naught. Tears pricked at Jacqueline’s eyes as she realized how much she would miss her mother’s and Duncan’s protective love.

  She tried not to think overmuch about leaving Ceinn-beithe behind forever, as her small party rode toward the hills that sheltered the holding on the east. On the far side of these hills and a little further on, down a ragged trail from what might be generously called a main road, lay her destination—the convent of Inveresbeinn.

  Her parents had selected these four men to accompany her because they trusted them. They were simple men, hardened by the elements rather than by warfare. Ceinn-beithe had been at peace for so long that their military skills—or lack thereof—were of little import. All knew this road held no threat.

  All the same, there was not a one among the party with whom she might have shared a friendly word. ’Twas a lesson, just as the funeral had been a lesson. This was a lesson in the limited appeal of solitude and silence.

  She had made her choice and would live with the result. She believed ’twas in the cloister that her intellect would be appreciated, ’twas there that the gifts granted to her could be given and accepted in kind. Mortal men wished only to possess her because of her appearance, and Jacqueline had no interest in becoming an ornament in a man’s life. She knew she had the wits to do more and the compassion to give more, and she would not waste the gifts that God had granted her.

  ’Twas her calling and her choice, and she would defend it to her last breath.

  Aye, and as a novitiate, Jacqueline’s world would be one of silence. She knew that and anticipated difficulties with it. Even understanding what her mother did and why did not make the sense of isolation easier to bear. Already the silence pressed against her ears, making her want to shout, to laugh, to scream.

  But Jacqueline would persevere, for she had chosen rightly. She straightened in her saddle, reminding herself that ’twould be a long day’s ride to the convent, and began to murmur her rosary.

  The hills rising before them were shrouded with mist, a fog gathering undoubtedly in the valleys. The sky was darkening to a grey the shade of pewter and the hills seemed clad in myriad greens and blues. Silence seemed to echo over the land, even the birds quiet. ’Twas a tranquil scene, filled with the serenity that would characterize the remainder of her days, and Jacqueline told herself that she was content.

  But there was more than silence lurking in the hills ahead.

  * * *

  “There.” Angus knelt in the shadow of the stones, his stallion hidden behind an outcropping of rock. Only the beast’s ears flicked, as though he too understood the need for concealment. Angus’ vantage point overlooked the road that wound toward distant Ceinn-beithe, home of the man who had betrayed Angus’ family.

  His loyal companion hunkered down beside him and peered into the mist that had followed the rain. “God’s teeth, boy, but Dame Fortune cannot be finally smiling upon you.” Rodney’s comment was typically skeptical, though there was a light of consideration in his eyes now.

  “Surely ’tis not so unlikely as that,” Angus murmured, “when all has gone awry for so long.”

  Rodney chuckled. “Do not tell me that you believe in good outweighing bad in the end?”

  Angus almost smiled, but he was intent upon studying the small party upon the road below. ’Twas critical that they make no error in this moment, for Fortune would not smile so sweetly again.

  A woman shrouded in white rode in the midst of the group yet slightly apart, her position revealing her station. Her guardians more stocky than fearsome, and Angus guessed that they had not seen battle so recently as he. They were likely to be lax in their defenses.

  “Who is she?” Rodney whispered.

  “Who else might she be than the daughter of Cormac MacQuarrie?”

  Rodney granted him a skeptical glance that he could nigh feel. “She could be any woman at all.”

  “Nay. Not so guarded as this. This is a precious woman, as only the daughter of a chieftain can be. And she leaves Ceinn-beithe, for there is naught else on this road other than the sea beyond that estate.”

  “Then why is she abroad at all?”

  Angus set his chin upon his gloved fist and considered the matter. “She must go to wed. Mhairi would be aged for such a rite, but then, Cormac was always said to overvalue her merits.”

  The older man chuckled, his gaze flicking over the situation of the rode below. “You said his daughter was the only creature he truly loved.”

  “Aye. ’Twould not be implausible that he could not find a match to suit afore his daughter was nigh unweddable. Perhaps she weds for the second time.”

  “But someone weds her now
.”

  Angus felt his lips thin. “Cormac is a formidable ally.”

  “And an equally formidable adversary,” Rodney concluded, quite unnecessarily to Angus’ thinking. Then he scoffed. “Look at these louts! They are ill-prepared to defend her. Such is the price of prosperity and peace.”

  “And you mock the hand of Dame Fortune in this,” Angus muttered. “’Tis the first matter to go aright in years. Let us not lose the chance to make amends.”

  The two men discussed their plan of attack and pointed out details of the landscape to each other. Rodney slipped into the shadows and mounted his steed.

  “Now Cormac will pay dearly for his daughter’s safe return!” Rodney murmured gleefully.

  “He has only one thing to surrender that I desire,” Angus took one last look, saw no complications, then swung into his own saddle and held the reins tightly. Lucifer did not so much as move. The two men waited until the sound of the approaching party echoed on the road just before them, then, at Angus’ nod, they erupted from the shadows as one.

  With lightning speed, two men on horseback appeared from naught, swinging their swords as they roared. The little party froze as the bandits bore down upon them.

  They were still on Ceinn-beithe’s land! Jacqueline halted her steed to stare. One of her escorts swore, then slapped the buttocks of her horse, sending it fleeing from the fray.

  Jacqueline could not help but look back.

  The attacking knight in the lead struck down two of her escorts before those men even had time to draw their blades. A knight? One heard of knights turning to villainy in France, but not here. Fear rippled down her spine—Jacqueline had learned to expect ill of knights from abroad.

  The third in her party was engaged in battle with the knight’s companion. The fourth had drawn his sword but was no match for the knight’s prowess. He fell to the ground and moved no more.

  Then the attacker’s course was unobstructed.

  He rode like an avenging angel, and one determined to smote those who defied him. He was tall and broad of shoulder. His red cloak flared behind him, his tabard was white with a cross of blood red on the shoulder. His mail gleamed, even though the day was overcast. His large ebony stallion was caparisoned in white and red, that extraordinarily fine beast fairly snorting fire.

  And when he turned his steed toward her, Jacqueline thought her heart might stop.

  In panic, Jacqueline dug her heels into her palfrey’s sides. The horse needed little urging to run at full gallop across the peat, but was no match for the long strides of the black stallion in pursuit.

  The stallion drew closer, until she could see the steam of its breath just over her shoulder. Jacqueline gave a little cry and tried to urge her horse to go yet faster.

  But the knight snatched her from her own saddle, so quickly that her breath was stolen away. He cast her across his saddle, so she lay on her belly before him. The sight of the rollicking ground beneath her made her dizzy. He was strong, wrought of muscle and steel. Jacqueline screamed and fought him all the same.

  He swore and caught her against him in a tight grip, his arm locked around her chest and arms. He turned his steed, and slowed it to a brisk canter. Jacqueline heard her own palfrey continue to flee into the distance.

  She bit his glove and kicked his steed, and he swore with ominous vigor. He pulled her up so that she sat before him now, though was no less free to move with his arm locking her elbows to her waist. Indeed, she could feel every relentless increment of him, his chain mail digging into her back.

  “Let me go!” Jacqueline gave a powerful wrench that only rubbed her wool kirtle so hard against his mail that she was sure the wool left a burn on her flesh.

  “Nay.” He spoke grimly, his French as fluent as her own, his words tight and hot. “Be still or you will frighten the steed.”

  “I should think naught would frighten this monster,” Jacqueline snapped. A French knight holding her captive was no reassurance at all—she could not help but think of Reynaud, holding her down, heaving himself atop her.

  The very thought left her chilled, sickened and faint.

  The knight laughed under his breath though ’twas a mirthless sound. He pinned her against him with one arm, so casually that he might be accustomed to capturing innocents, and rode back toward his companion. Jacqueline squirmed, though she made no progress against his strength.

  Just as she had made none against Reynaud. The breath left her chest for a moment, leaving her dizzy with fear, but she forced herself to breath deeply. Somehow she would escape!

  The knight doffed his helm and cast it into his open saddlebag. When she heard it land there, Jacqueline could not restrain her curiosity.

  She turned and her heart trembled, so certain was she that she looked into the face of a dark angel. Her captor’s lips were drawn to a tight line, his gaze narrowed. He would have been a handsome man—had it not been for his ferocious expression and the scar upon his cheek.

  And the patch over his one eye.

  Then he smiled slowly, like a dragon anticipating a hearty meal, and Jacqueline panicked. She managed to punch his nose, then drove her heel hard into the stallion’s belly. The beast shied—’twas too large and vigorous to be more than startled—and Jacqueline took advantage of the moment of surprise to jump from its back.

  She turned her ankle on impact, but ran all the same.

  The knight swore with savagery behind her, but Jacqueline did not waste a moment in looking back. She leapt into a scree of rocks, knowing that the stallion could not follow her, and ran as though the devil himself pursued her.

  She was not entirely certain he did not.

  The knight did pursue her, though, punctuating his progress with oaths. Jacqueline would not consider how he would hurt her if she was caught. Oh, he was furiously angry and would desire vengeance just as Reynaud had desired vengeance.

  And was likely to claim it in the same way. Jacqueline pushed her fears of that aside and simply ran.

  He gained upon her all too quickly, for he was much taller and more agile than she. Jacqueline glanced back when his footfalls grew loud, her own steps faltering at his proximity and his fury. She stumbled, then fell with an anguished cry, and he was immediately upon her.

  He was quick with the braided leather he carried, but to her astonishment, he was not harsh. He bound her knees together loosely, though she could not have fled. He tied her wrists behind her back, moving with such speed that Jacqueline had no hope of a second escape.

  She writhed on the ground, seeking a weakness in the knots that she did not find. He stood and stared down at her from his considerable height, his expression unfathomable and all the more terrifying for that.

  Finally, when she had nigh exhausted herself with her struggles, he drew his blade, then crouched before her. Fearing the worst, Jacqueline flinched.

  “You are worth more to me whole,” he snapped, then cut a length of cloth from his tabard. She stared at him in confusion, noting that his move exposed more of his chain mail.

  When he reached for her injured ankle, Jacqueline cried out and squirmed away. She would not suffer him to touch her! She rolled and desperately tried to crawl away from him, though ’twas not easily done with hands and knees bound.

  He snatched at her foot and caught her all too easily. He held her captive thus, even as she squirmed on her belly, his fingers exploring her ankle as though he was blinded in both eyes. Jacqueline shivered, then felt the heat of a blush stain her cheeks at his familiarity.

  “A fine view, but you cannot imagine you would get far.”

  “I will not lie meekly while I am raped!”

  He laughed then, the sound so surprising that Jacqueline turned to look at him once more. He was crouched behind her, holding her ankle in one hand, his grip resolute but gentle.

  He did not acknowledge her gaze, though he must have known she looked. Nay, he frowned in concentration, focused on his task. He removed her shoe and stocking wi
th surprising care. He had doffed his gloves and his hand was warm against her bare flesh.

  Jacqueline thought she might die of the mortification of having a strange man touch her thus.

  “If touching a woman’s foot is akin to rape,” he said mildly, “then there are far more lawless men in this world than even I imagined.”

  He glanced up, his smile broadening as he considered her expression and no doubt guessed the reason for it. His smile was cold, but there was a heat in his gaze that made her tremble. “Or are you so innocent of men that you do not know the nature of intimacy?”

  There was a look about him that warned Jacqueline he had thoughts of contributing to her education.

  She decided to feign boldness, for a show of fear would win her naught. “My innocence is not of issue here,” she retorted and tried to draw her ankle away.

  He moved his thumb smoothly across her instep, the deliberate caress making her shiver with something that was not entirely fear. “I should say ’tis. And the preservation of your innocence shall be a considerable concern...at least for others.”

  He flicked Jacqueline a hot glance that made a lump of dread rise in her throat. He did not wait for an answer, but checked the way her ankle had already begun to swell, his fingers moving deftly and gently.

  She deliberately kept her expression impassive, hoping she could hide both her terror and the curious sensations his touch awakened within her. He finished binding her ankle with the cloth, his gaze hooded as he gave his attention to the task.

  “’Tis not broken,” he informed her, then sat back on his heels. He donned his gloves once more and watched her. She nigh fidgeted beneath the intensity of his gaze and felt she should confess something, anything, whatever would make him look away from her. “’Twill heal quickly enough, Mhairi.”

  Jacqueline blinked. “Mhairi? I am not Mhairi!”

  He shook his head. “You lie.”