Maggie took her seat on the other side of Innis and smiled tremulously at Fraser. Fraser did not even bother to smile back but turned his attention to the person on his other side. Colin pressed his clenched hands together in his lap and checked his urge to walk across the hall, drag Maggie out of her seat, and punch Fraser. If she had smiled at Colin like that, he would have returned the favor and then engaged her in conversation, making sure no one else had a chance to converse with her.
He sat through the rest of the interminable dinner, unable to stop watching the scene at the main table. Maggie appeared miserable. Fraser ignored her. Innis looked uneasy and Evan seemed to be fuming as he cast glares at his sister. Apparently, Evan was going to blame Maggie for Fraser’s lack of attention.
Before the servants could clear his plate, Colin was moving through the room toward the exit. He couldn’t watch any more of the foolishness. It was so apparent that this marriage should not take place, but no one except Maggie seemed to realize it. Other than stealing her away himself, he didn’t know what to do.
As he was leaving the hall, he spied Fraser and a second-in-command striding in his direction. For a reason he couldn’t name, Colin slid into an alcove. When the men passed, Colin followed at a discreet pace. He found them around a corner and melted into the shadows to listen.
“She’s deliberately making a fool of me,” Fraser said in a low, furious voice. “And I will no’ have it.”
The second-in-command mumbled something that Colin couldn’t hear.
“Sinclair canno’ control his women,” Fraser said. “That is obvious, and it’s regrettable. That hair…” His voice trailed off, and Colin wished he could see Fraser’s expression. Colin loved how Maggie’s hair curled this way and that and how she was constantly pushing at it to keep it out of her eyes and behind her ears. It just proved Colin’s point that the man didn’t appreciate what was in front of him; he looked at her differences and counted them against her. He refused to see that those differences made her unique.
—
Maggie fled the great hall as soon as she was able. Fraser, thank God, had already made his excuses, and Maggie wanted to get out of there before she was alone with a furious Evan.
Her brother refused to see that she and Fraser did not suit. Instead, he thought of the benefits her marriage would bring him, and it broke her heart that the brother she loved and admired now thought of her only as a bargaining chip. For the first time in a long while, she wished her mother were alive. Maggie didn’t know what it was like to have a mother, but she had to believe that a mother would argue for her daughter’s happiness.
Her heart was thundering and her hands were sweating and, to her disgust, she was crying as she hurried down the dark hallways to ensure that she was as far from Evan as she could get.
She understood that Evan needed to stay in the good graces of the surrounding chiefs. She understood that fighting for Scotland put Evan and clan Sinclair in a precarious position and that Fraser could protect him from the English.
She skirted the corner and entered a hallway only to discover that Fraser was at the other end, talking to the man who was his second-in-command.
“Sinclair is a fool,” Fraser was saying. “And the girl is an embarrassment.”
She opened her mouth to protest but quickly closed it, thinking it best not to alert Fraser to her presence.
“If I did no’ need those upper north fields so much, I’d kick the bloody wench in the teeth and walk away.”
Maggie reared back, appalled. The thought of any man deliberately harming a woman was unconscionable. She had to think he was just saying that, but a tremor of foreboding ran up her back. This was what her brother wanted her to marry? And all for land. She’d wondered what this marriage would provide for Fraser, and now she had her answer. He wanted more land. She was being sold for cattle food.
“She’ll need to be properly schooled,” he was saying. “I’ll teach her manners and how to respect her husband even if I have to beat it into her.”
The blood rushed from Maggie’s head. What the hell did “properly schooled” mean?
“Ye’ll still wed her, then?” Fraser’s man asked.
Fraser seemed to think about that for a moment while Maggie held her breath. Say no. Oh, please say no.
“Aye. Unfortunately. I’ll speak to her brother in the morning and tell him the price has gone up. I’ll want the eastern lands as well. He canno’ deny me. Lord knows he’ll never pawn her off on anyone else, and he wants protection from the English desperately enough that he’ll comply. I’ll also tell him that my protection is dependent on his sister’s behavior. If she does no’ obey me, I will withdraw my protection.”
Maggie could barely breathe, she was so stunned. Fraser was a heartless man. He had her cornered and he knew it. Her brother’s safety and the safety of the Sinclairs fell on her shoulders.
She pressed a hand to her heaving stomach and leaned against the wall because her legs had lost their strength. Evan had sold her to the devil.
“She’s atrocious-looking. Her bosom is too small. Her hips are too small. She’ll probably die birthing my heir. And the clothing…” Fraser’s voice trailed off as he shuddered.
Maggie’s blood ran cold. Die in the birthing? Terror nearly made her fall to her knees. She had no desire to bear Fraser’s offspring. She didn’t want to have anything to do with any of this. She pressed her fist to her mouth to keep her whimper of fear from escaping.
“She’ll fall into line once I have her on Fraser land,” he said. “I’ll no’ put up with these outrageous antics.”
“It’s an advantageous marriage,” the second-in-command said.
“Aye. It is. We’ll be wed on the morrow if this godforsaken place even has a priest. And she better as hell be wearing a damn gown, or she’ll wed me naked as the day she was born.”
The bile rushed up Maggie’s throat, and it took everything she had to swallow it down. She pressed her hand harder against her lips. Fraser and his man moved down the hallway. Tears blurred Maggie’s vision. Evan was going to force her to wed Fraser, and Fraser, in turn, was going to beat her until she behaved and then get her with child, and if she didn’t cooperate, Evan would pay the price.
When she managed to blink the tears away, she was surprised to see MacLean step out of an alcove close to where Fraser and his man had been standing. He spied her at the other end, her fist pressed against her mouth, fighting the urge to spew her dinner.
Somehow it was so much worse, knowing that Colin had heard the disgusting conversation. He’d heard Fraser call her an embarrassment and he’d heard Fraser’s hope that she would die birthing his child and he’d heard why and for what price her brother had sold her off.
“Maggie…” He started for her, and the shocked look on his face splintered whatever paralysis had her in its grip. With a small cry, she spun around and ran down the hallway, bouncing off one wall to push away from the other.
“Maggie,” Colin called from behind her.
“Please go away,” she pleaded, but realized they weren’t words that escaped her but a short whimper.
“Maggie, please.”
Somehow she found herself outside on the parapet. She lifted her head to the cool air that brushed against her heated face, but nothing could stop the sobs that shook her body.
—
“Maggie, no!” For a brief moment Colin was terrified to find Maggie leaning over the parapet wall. It appeared that she was preparing to throw herself over the edge, and he raced toward her. But she quickly straightened and held her hand out to stop him.
“Go away,” she choked out. Her body shook from sobs and her face was streaked with tears.
“Maggie, please.” He held his hands out in supplication as she scooted down the wall to get away from him.
She choked on another sob and pressed her hand against her mouth. Her dark eyes, filled with shock and terror, swam with tears.
Colin slowly approached, but he worr
ied she didn’t even see him, so consumed was she by her fear.
“Go away,” she whispered.
He cupped her face between his palms, surprised by how violently she was shaking. “Look at me, Maggie. Look at me.”
Slowly, her eyes began to focus.
“I’ll go to Evan. I’ll tell him what I heard. He will no’ force you to wed Fraser when he hears what the bastard said.” There was no possibility that Evan would allow his sister to be used in such a way. Colin was convinced of it. There had to be a solution, and Colin swore to himself that he wouldn’t leave until he found one for her. He hadn’t saved her from that damn prison cell to have her abused by the likes of Fraser.
“He said…” Her gaze began to glaze again.
“I heard what he said. I’ll talk to yer brother.”
She started crying in earnest and he had no idea what to do for her. So he went on instinct and gathered her to him, wrapping his arms around her in a fierce, protective hug in the hope that his strength alone would stop her shaking.
Maggie collapsed against him and sobbed into his shirt, her body quaking. Colin rubbed her back and whispered in her ear. He had no idea what he was saying, but he needed to feel like he was giving her some comfort.
Eventually, her sobs gave way to sniffles and the occasional hiccup, and after a while she pulled away and wiped her swollen red eyes. “I feel like an ijit,” she said on a watery laugh.
“Why?” He brushed away the last of her tears with the pads of his thumbs. Her skin was so soft and supple. The thought of someone abusing her, of marking that supple skin, infuriated him.
“For crying like that. I never cry.”
“It’s understandable.”
She looked up at him. “I do no’ know what I would have done if ye had no’ been there to hear all of that. Surely Evan would never believe me if I went to him with such a story. I thank ye, Colin MacLean.” She rose up on her toes and kissed him on the lips. He was so astonished that he didn’t move. And she froze, still standing on her toes. Their gazes collided, hers wide and surprised.
He took her cheeks between his hands again and leaned down to really kiss her. It was everything he remembered the last kiss to be except she was a little more tutored and willingly opened her mouth to let him sweep his tongue in. It pleased him to know that he’d been the one to teach her how to kiss and it infuriated him all over again that Fraser would abuse a beautiful soul such as Maggie’s.
She wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled herself closer to him as if she wanted to crawl beneath his skin for safety. He would have opened himself up and let her in if it meant protecting her from the likes of Fraser. Instead, Colin lifted her up and set her on the wall of the parapet so their lips were better aligned, and he kissed her deeply, savoring the salty tears on her lips and the warmth of her tongue. She tasted of salt and wine and woman, and it was an arousing sensation.
A noise behind them had Maggie pulling away with a gasp. Colin automatically tightened his hold on her to keep her from toppling backward off the wall. He glanced over his shoulder to see not only Sinclair behind him, looking thunderous and ready to kill, but Fraser looking on with such a cold expression that it chilled Colin’s heart. His first reaction, apart from protecting Maggie, was to smirk at Fraser, but he checked his instincts and concentrated on Evan instead.
“Tsk, tsk,” Fraser said with an unfriendly grin. “It’s bad form for a lady to be found kissing a servant.” He turned to Sinclair. “Ye have a problem keeping your kin in line, Sinclair. A sister who dresses and acts like a man and a whore at the same time, and a servant who is supposed to be protecting yer home and family taking disgusting advantage.”
Colin knew when he was being baited and he kept his mouth shut. Fraser was intent on inducing Colin to fight, and he wasn’t giving the man the pleasure. Besides, it was best that Fraser thought him a lowly servant rather than the chief of clan MacLean who was wanted by the English.
Fraser disappeared into the bowels of the castle. Colin took a half step to the side to protect Maggie from her brother. It was ridiculous. Sinclair could do anything he liked to her, and there was nothing Colin could do about it.
“I’ll see the two of ye in my solar tomorrow morning.” Sinclair turned to leave, thought better of it, and turned back. “Margaret, come with me.”
With her eyes downcast and uncharacteristically meek, Maggie slid past Colin. It took everything in him to keep from grabbing her arm. Of course Sinclair wouldn’t leave his sister with the man who was continually caught kissing her, but damn it, Colin feared for her, and everything inside him wanted to protect her.
Before she disappeared down the steps, she looked over her shoulder at him with bleak eyes.
Chapter 18
Maggie didn’t even try to talk to Evan when he led her to her bedchamber. She knew him well enough to know when to keep silent, and now was definitely one of those times. He was furious. More furious than she’d ever seen him. More furious than when she took his new, unbroken horse and tried to ride him. More furious than when she forgot to duck when sparring with Gilroy and was knocked out by his broadsword.
But she, too, was furious. Furious that she was nothing more than a bargaining chip, that she didn’t mean more to him than the cattle he traded. And so she had no interest in speaking to him at the moment.
He opened the door to her bedchamber and stood back to watch her enter, then stood in the doorway and said, “Ye will no’ leave this bedchamber until I come get ye in the morning. I will leave a guard at yer door. So help me God, if ye try to leave here, I will beat ye. Do ye understand me?”
She nodded, not about to tell him that she wanted a guard at her door to keep Fraser out. She didn’t even want to take the chance that he would come to her in the middle of the night. She was beyond frightened of that man.
She undressed, tossing her hated gown in the corner and sliding on an overly large, very worn shirt. She climbed between the sheets and stared up at the ceiling, her eyes dry but her body shaking. She would admit that she was naive. Culloden and the English prison had taught her that, but her encounter with Fraser had shed more light on just how naive she truly was.
Who was she to think she could stand up to evil such as that?
She shuddered at the cool tone of his voice when he’d told his man that he would simply beat her until she learned her place. As if it were of no consequence. As if she were a dog who needed training.
She rolled to her side and pressed her fist against her mouth, a feeling of black doom descending on her. Colin had to convince Evan that she couldn’t marry Fraser. If he didn’t…
Please, God. Please let Evan believe Colin. If ye answer this one prayer, I’ll never wear breeches again.
She fell asleep in the middle of her prayer, but her sleep was disrupted by images of her running, always running, and never getting anywhere. Someone was chasing her, getting ever closer. She knew she was going to be caught and there was nothing she could do about it.
She awoke when a maid walked in her room. “Ye’re being summoned to the lord’s solar,” she said.
Maggie rolled out of bed and put on her breeches and shirt, barely giving the gown a glance. She quickly washed in icy water. Her heart was heavy. Her feet were even heavier. She knew that her fate would be decided within the next hour, and she had no earthly idea how it would go. Evan could easily dissolve her betrothal and could just as easily force her to wed Fraser. Her only hope was that MacLean had been able to speak to Evan and convince him to break it off.
When she entered the solar, her gaze immediately went to Colin, searching for her answer. He shook his head slightly and her stomach dropped. What did that mean? Had he not been able to speak to Evan, or had he spoken to Evan and not been able to convince him to break the betrothal?
She looked at her brother, standing behind his desk. It appeared he’d gotten far less sleep than Maggie had. And of course Colin had gotten no sleep because he’d tak
en the night watch.
“Fraser left last night,” Evan said into the silence. “The betrothal is off, but no’ before I had to surrender a chunk of yer dowry.” He shot Maggie a lethal look. “Ye ruined a fantastic opportunity.”
Maggie’s relief was so enormous that she actually staggered forward a step. Her knees quivered and she feared she would fall, but she didn’t care. Fraser had left and she was free. She would make the rest up to Evan and hope that someday he would not be angry at her.
“If I may—” Colin took a step forward.
Evan’s glare switched to Colin. “No. Ye may no’.”
A muscle twitched in Colin’s jaw but he remained silent.
Evan pierced Maggie with his glare. “Are ye happy?”
“Yes.” She couldn’t lie. She was relieved and ecstatic.
Evan’s look turned thunderous. “Ye ruin everything, Margaret. I tried. I tried to give ye a good life. I tried to find ye a good husband, but ye thwart everything I do.”
She took the words for the blows they were meant to be and fervently wished a hole would open up and swallow her. She felt like the lowest sort of human being, because Evan was right. She was spoiled and hardly ever thought beyond herself, but in this he was wrong. The aborted betrothal with Fraser was entirely different, and she wished he would see that.
Evan crossed his arms and took in the two of them. “Ye give me no choice. MacLean, since ye canno’ seem to stop kissing my sister, and Maggie, since ye refuse to listen to anything I say and ye ruined the best prospect I had for ye, the two of ye will marry.”
Stunned silence followed that pronouncement. It wasn’t at all what she’d expected. She quickly glanced at MacLean to find that his face was an alarming shade of red. “The hell ye say,” he nearly shouted.
Evan placed his hands on his desk and leaned over it. “Ye ruined her for another man. Surely Fraser will spread the news that the betrothal was broken because ye two were discovered being intimate in public. One can only assume what ye do behind closed doors. It will make him look good and ruin Maggie’s reputation.” Evan straightened. “She’s yers now, MacLean. I wash my hands of the whole affair.”
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