by Paula Quinn
Alex gave him an evil grin. He had never met the man before, but he hated him on first sight. Despised his slithery voice, his skulking face, even the way he held a sword. The way he hid on the other side of the firepit told him all he needed to know about the man’s character. He was a coward. A true bastard in every sense of the word. So he’d die like a man without honor, not on his feet but on his back.
Alex dinna go around the fire, he ran through it like the devil himself, purposely loosing his sword on the way. He tackled Struan, who had no time to think or defend himself. The Sutherland bastard landed on his back with a loud thud and dinna move.
Instead of beating him, Alex slapped his face hard. When that dinna rouse him, he lifted one of the man’s arms—it was limp.
“Bring a torch over here,” Alex commanded whatever soldier stood closest.
“Aye, milord.”
The torch was delivered immediately.
“Hold it above his head.”
In the light, Alex found the reason Struan had been knocked unconscious. Blood stained the rock he had hit his head on when he fell.
“Is he dead?” the soldier asked.
“Nay. He still breathes. Bind his hands and bring him to his tent.”
“Aye, milord.”
Everything in the camp now belonged to Alex, including the Sutherland retainers. If they dinna swear fealty to him, he’d have every one of them executed. As he walked the distance to Struan’s tent, men on horseback swarmed the encampment.
“Where is Alex MacKay?” he heard Laird Oliphant demand.
Alex grinned as he turned around and walked back to where he’d come from. “Matthew,” he greeted his father-in-law by his Christian name.
The laird snorted. “Ye have bollocks aplenty,” he praised as he swung down from the saddle. “Sacking this camp by yerself.”
Alex lowered his head out or respect. “I had God on my side.”
“Ye’ve suddenly found the Almighty again?”
“Somewhere between my home and this place.”
“Good to know, MacKay. Bloody good to know. Where is my daughter?”
“Safe.”
“And where is the bastard that took her?”
“Nay, no this time,” Alex said. “Struan belongs to me.”
“A kick in the ribs never killed a man.”
“Yer kick in the ribs very well could.”
His father-in-law chuckled so hard he coughed. “Best get my daughter. I wish to see her.”
Alex wanted nothing more. He walked the half mile back to where he’d left her, calling her name softly. “Keely. Ye can come out now.”
“Is it over?” she asked, creeping out from the underbrush.
“Aye, Struan willna be bothering us again.”
She ran into his open arms, and Alex buried his face in her long hair. “Can ye find it in yer heart to forgive a sinner?”
“What sins has he committed?”
“He’s sure he’s broken every commandment.”
Keely lifted her head. “Ye coveted yer neighbor’s wife?”
“No exactly,” he said. “My neighbor’s daughter.”
That made her smile—that beautiful, delicate smile he wanted to see every day for the rest of his life. “I’ve killed, stolen, havena kept the Sabbath, and lied countless times.”
“About what?”
“Ye,” he whispered.
“Me?”
“Aye.”
“Tell me what ye’ve lied about exactly.”
Alex kissed her forehead, then her soft lips. “About how ye make me feel. There’s so much love inside my heart right now, I think it might burst, Keely.” He kneeled before her and took her hands in his. “I doona want to relive the past ever again. But I will tell ye this one time … I left the Highlands a broken man. And returned five years later still a broken man. Not one day has gone by when I havena thought of ye, craved ye in my mind and heart, in my bed, in my arms, in my life. And this time, Keely Oliphant, I am asking ye to marry me the right way.”
He gazed up at her, waiting patiently for her to give him an answer.
“If ye doona want me, I understand. I know how many dreams ye gave up for me, for John, for my sire, and yer father. Men are swine, Keely. We doona consider the feelings of the people around us when we want something. If ye doona want to stay here, I will give ye my ship, and Petro and my men will take ye wherever ye wish to go. Italy. France…”
“Constantinople?”
That caught him off guard. But he’d decided to lay his world at her feet—whatever she wanted, she could have. “Aye, even Constantinople.”
“Aye,” she said. “I’ll marry ye, Alexander. With all my heart. I love ye.”
He slowly rose to his feet. “Say it again, lass.”
“I love ye.”
He tugged her into his arms. “I love ye, Keely. Always.”
With the promise of a second chance at life with Keely in his heart, Alex carried his bride back to the encampment.
Epilogue
Two and a half years later…
“Havena I told ye a dozen times ye canna go in the birthing room?” Laird Oliphant blocked the doorway.
Alex heard his wife scream for the hundredth time, and was ready to do anything to get through his wall of a father-in-law. “Get out of my way. Please.”
“Nay.”
“I asked nicely.”
“I doona care if ye beg like a woman. Ye’re not going in there.”
“She’s my wife!”
“And she’s my daughter! But some things are sacred, Alex. And that birthing room is no place for a man. The pains will pass, the screaming will stop. My grandson will enter this world like a warrior.”
Alex dinna give a shite about any of that. He wanted to hold Keely’s hand, to comfort her, to take the pain inside his own body so she dinna have to suffer. “Move.” He shoved the laird’s shoulder.
Laird Oliphant laughed. “Ye shouldna have done that.” He punched Alex in the face.
The pounding pain only made Alex more determined to get inside that chamber. He kicked the laird in the shin, causing the older man to hop one leg, but he still dinna budge from the doorway.
“Father. Alex.” Broc had come abovestairs with Petro.
“What are ye doing, Alexander?” his secretary asked, shaking his head.
“This man…” Alex pointed at the laird. “Refuses to grant me access to my wife in my own house.”
“Is that true, Father?” Broc asked.
Laird Oliphant nodded. “I’ve sired seven children. And not once did I impose on yer sweet mother when she was in the birthing room.”
“Alex.” Petro said in his soothing voice. “Perhaps a drink of ale? Some bread? A walk outside?”
Alex glared at his father-in-law.
“Yer nose is bleeding, Alex.” Petro offered him a square of linen he pulled out of his tunic.
Another scream sounded, only this time, silence followed. A deafening, heart wrenching quiet that filled Alex with dread.
All of the men froze.
“Is she…” Alex started.
The cry of a baby broke the spell.
Laird Oliphant grinned and stepped aside. “Now ye can go in.”
Alex would deal with the man later. He opened the door and his gaze instantly found his beautiful wife. She was propped up on a pile of pillows, and she smiled at him as soon as she saw him.
“Alex.” She opened her arms.
He went to her and knelt beside the bed. “Are ye well, lass?”
“Aye. Tired but overjoyed.”
“Lady Keely. Laird Alex.” The midwife approached the bedside with a squirming bundle of linen. “Yer son.” She placed the bairn in Keely’s arms. “He’s beautiful.”
“Son?” Alex stared at his wife in awe.
“Aye. Our son.”
He slowly stood up and leaned over so he could get a better look. Keely folded back the material. He had dark hair lik
e his mother and pudgy, perfect fingers. Alex gently touched his head. “Milady,” he said, gazing into his wife’s blue eyes. “I am forever indebted to ye.”
“Laird Alex,” the midwife called.
What did she want now? Couldna it wait until the special moment with his family was over? “Aye?”
“Yer daughter.” She offered another bundle to Alex this time.
“My what?” he said shakily.
“Yer precious daughter,” Keely said. “Take her in yer arms.”
Speechless, Alex cradled her, fascinated by her full head of thick, black curls. She stared up at him, her tiny mouth making sucking sounds. “Two babes?” he asked.
“Twins.”
“No wonder ye were screaming to high heaven. I wanted to kill something because I knew ye suffered.”
“Nay,” she said, taking his hand. “It isna that kind of pain.”
“I love ye, Keely. I love these bairns. This clan. The Highlands.”
“I know ye do.”
He repositioned his daughter in the crook of his arm and bent at the waist so he could kiss his wife. “Have ye thought of any names?”
“Rebecca, after my mother.”
“A fine name,” he approved.
“And our son?” she asked, arching a brow.
Alex had thought on it long and hard. He’d spent the last two years of his life mending his ways, loving his wife, and forgiving his father and brother for the mistakes they’d all made. There was only one name that had stayed with him if he had a son. “John Matthew MacKay. After my brother and yer father.”
“John and Rebecca,” Keely repeated. “Worthy names for our little Highlanders.”
“Aye.”
“Now we better open that door, or my father and brothers, and even Petro, are never going to forgive us.”
Alex did the honor, and when his father-in-law crossed the threshold, he placed the man’s first granddaughter in his arms. “Rebecca,” Alex said.
The Oliphant laird took one look at her and tears of joy filled his eyes. “Another Rebecca to love.”
“And this is John Matthew,” Keely called from the bed.
Her sire stared at her like she had two heads. “Ye had twins, Daughter?”
“Aye.”
Everyone shuffled into the chamber, and the babes were handed around.
Alex stood back, taking in the happiness, grateful for everything God had blessed him with.
When Keely looked his way, he blew her a kiss. “Thank ye,” he mouthed to her.
She smiled and nodded.
As he was about to join her at the bedside again, someone knocked on the chamber door. Since he was standing nearby, he opened it a crack.
One of the guards from outside bowed.
“What do ye want?”
“Sorry to intrude, milord, but Helen Sutherland is waiting at the gates.”
Had he heard the man correctly? Alex stepped into the passageway and closed the door behind him. “Helen Sutherland is here? Alone?”
“Aye.”
“What does the lady want?”
“Sanctuary.”
Suddenly, the past he’d worked so hard to forget was staring him down. “I will go with ye.”
He walked outside with the guard, through the bailey and to the gates. As the guard had said, a beautiful woman waited.
“Helen Sutherland?” Alex asked to be sure.
“Aye.”
“I am Alex MacKay, Keely’s husband.”
Helen curtsied. “I know it is late, and I am sorry to disturb the peace in yer home. But my father is a raving lunatic, and I had to get away before he married me off to a decrepit and cruel laird from the isles. This is the only place I thought of—Keely is my only friend. There is nowhere else for me to go.”
Alex considered it. Helen had been kind to his wife—providing what comfort she could when Keely’s own life was in turmoil. And Helen obviously dinna want anything to do with her family, Clan MacKay’s greatest enemy.
“Ye are welcome here.”
“I am?”
He offered his arm and she took it, her leather boots crunching through the snow.
“Where is yer escort?” he asked, surprised the lady would be travelling in the middle of winter by herself.
“Escort?” she repeated as they stepped inside the main hall.
Alex ushered her to the main hearth and offered her a seat in front of it. Helen removed her wet gloves and leaned close to the fire, rubbing her hands.
“Not one man in service to my sire would dare help me. I am chattel, Laird MacKay, meant for one purpose.”
“And what is that?”
“To increase my father’s wealth through a strategic marriage. My heart and happiness have no value in my sire’s eyes.”
“What man did he choose for ye?”
“Laird Baran Munroe.”
Alex’s expression darkened. “No friend of the MacKays.”
“No friend to anyone from what I hear,” she added morosely. “Quick temper, and a murderer if the rumors are true.”
“Aye,” Alex said. “His second wife gave birth to a stillborn lass, and he starved her to death soon after. I am sorry for yer misfortune.”
“As am I.”
“Surely yer father knows the man’s history.”
“Aye. That dinna stop him from signing the betrothal contract. Though in my sire’s defense, he made sure to include conditions for my protection—that Laird Munroe would never deprive me of food and water, or beat me to death if I gave him daughters.”
Alex scratched his chin. “A generous concession on both men’s parts, I am sure.”
Helen laughed. “My father isna a bad man, Laird Alex. He’s simply unfit to be my sire. I am to blame, too. For I have been too quiet and far too obedient all these years, leading my sire to think that I would do anything he asked of me.”
Alex’s sly smile reached his green eyes. “Keely wouldna love a lass so much who dinna have spirit.”
“How is my friend?” Helen asked.
Alex rubbed the back of his head. “Yer timing is of interest,” he admitted. “Keely has just given birth to twins, my son and daughter.”
Helen jumped up. “Is she…”
“Resting comfortably and happy.”
“Thank God.”
“May I see her?”
Alex dinna want to excite his wife, not after what she’d just gone through. “In the morn,” he offered. “After she’s rested a spell.”
“I understand, milord.”
“Tis nothing against ye, Lady Helen.”
She smiled softly.
“Do ye like children?” Keely would need help with the bairns. And who better than her closest friend?
“I adore bairns,” she said sincerely. “New life is the promise of a new tomorrow.”
He liked her words very much. “Are ye hungry?”
She nodded.
“Wait here.” Alex walked down the short passageway that led to the kitchens.
The cook and maids were still working, but stopped as soon as they saw him.
“Laird Alex,” the cook asked. “Did ye bring news for us about Lady Keely?”
Jesus, he’d nearly forgotten to share the joyous news. They’d all stayed up late because they loved their mistress so much. How things had changed since she returned on that fateful day two and a half years ago. It had taken hard work to win the hearts of his people again, to earn their trust back. Alex had given her permission to reside over the women’s disputes every month, and she’d proven to be a fair judge. His household had never been more peaceful or efficiently run.
“Twins,” he said. “John Matthew, and Rebecca. Perfect in every way. Lady Keely is recovering—she’s a strong, lass.”
The cheers were endless, and one of the maids handed him a cup of ale.
“Thank ye,” he said, taking a much-needed drink. “There is a lady waiting in the great hall. She needs food and drink. Once she
’s finished eating, take her to my ma’s chamber and give her whatever she needs.”
The maid curtsied. “Aye, milord.”
Alex offered his servants a last smile, then returned to the great hall and found Jamie waiting in the shadows. He was obviously transfixed by the golden beauty of Helen Sutherland and her black eyes.
“Jamie.” He tapped his cousin on the shoulder.
“W-who is she?”
“No one ye need to concern yerself with. She is but a ghost.”
“That woman is no spirit—she’s flesh and blood, the bonniest I’ve ever seen.”
Alex sighed. Damn his bad luck. “Helen Sutherland.”
Jamie’s eyes grew wide. “The Helen Sutherland?”
“The earl’s daughter, aye.”
“What is she doing here?”
“She asked for sanctuary, and I have granted it.’
“On what terms?”
“Her father made a betrothal she refuses to honor.”
Jamie shook his head. “Tis always the beauties that get sold off to the ugliest bastards in the Highlands.”
“She is welcome here for as long as she wishes to stay. Because she treated Keely with kindness and grace, I willna put her out. But ye…” Alex’s expression grew serious. “Are to stay away from her. She is under my protection now.”
Jamie cast a fleeting glance at Helen, then eyed Alex again. “Whatever ye say, Cousin.”
Instead of leaving through the front doors, he stalked down the corridor into the kitchens.
Alex knew Jamie wouldna stay away from Helen. For the last two years he’d tried to find a suitable wife for his cousin, but no one had captured his interest, until tonight. And that interest could cost his clan dearly. For once the Earl of Sutherland found out where his daughter was, the tentative peace they’d reached–after Alex returned his thief-of-a-bastard-son to him and explained how Struan had been robbing his noble guests on the road to Dunrobin–the treaty would be irrevocably broken.
So anything Alex could do to safeguard Helen should be done immediately.
He joined Helen by the hearth again. “I’ve arranged for food and yer room.”
“Thank ye for yer generosity,” she said.
“I will post guards outside the door to keep ye safe, Lady Helen. In case someone followed ye and wishes ye harm.”
Alex knew the lady could see through his lie. He had every intention of keeping her in that bedchamber to protect himself and his clan. “Good night,” Alex said, leaving her to return to his beloved wife.