‘What are you doing here, Matheson?’ Connor called out. Rob turned in the direction of the call, hoping he faced Connor, but not certain because he could not see well.
‘I am here for Lilidh,’ he answered back, wondering if she was watching this and cheering for Rurik.
‘You are not worthy of her. Go home and do not return here.’
‘I think I am, MacLerie. I will not leave without her.’
The quiet at his approach now gave way to complete and utter silence, only the sounds of his hard breathing breaking into it. He’d challenged their laird—something few men had done and lived to tell of it. Thinking about it, the only man he knew who had was the one who had greeted him—Rurik.
‘Then show me how worthy you are, Matheson.’
The gauntlet had been thrown now. Rob would have to take her father down to prove himself to all the
MacLeries. But even that did not guarantee Lilidh would accept him. This was just the next step in what would undoubtedly be the most painful experience of his life. Well, he thought as he took in as deep a breath as his chest would allow, she was worth it.
That was the last coherent thought for some time as he charged across in Connor’s direction and attacked. He gave it his all—never giving ground, never slowing, always moving forwards. He swung that sword until his arms screamed and until he could barely draw a breath. The noise overwhelmed him—so loud that it sounded like an army in a pitched battle around him. Or that might be because Connor had struck his head with the hilt of his sword and his ears were ringing.
He knew from the grunts that he had hit Connor several times, though the man never slowed down or tried to evade him. He only thought about Lilidh as he struggled to keep up.
Then, somehow, he managed to catch hold of Connor’s sword and fling it away with his. The crowd roared again, but he did not waste time listening. He chased Connor down and ploughed into him, knocking him to the ground as he tried to grab for the sword. Though he was certain his shoulder came out of its socket from the force with which he landed on Connor, he swung around and pinned Connor on the ground. Then, with his sword at Connor’s neck, he demanded his surrender.
Instead of hearing the words, he heard swords being drawn around him. MacLerie warriors surrounded him and pointed their swords at him now—killing their laird simply would not be allowed, whether he’d won or not. He put his hand up then and dropped his sword. Connor climbed to his feet and strode up to him, to deliver the death blow, no doubt.
‘Tell her I tried,’ Rob said quietly to Connor.
‘Tell her yourself,’ Connor growled back, looking over Rob’s shoulder towards the keep. Rob forced his battered and bleeding body to turn.
She looked like an angel, her hair streaming out behind her as she moved towards him. Her mouth opened and suddenly he realised it was not an angel—she was the legendary bean-shithe, the fairy woman whose scream foretold one’s death. Men moved out of her path in fear that she shrieked for them.
By the time the creature reached him, he thought it was Lilidh, but his open eye blurred from the blood dripping into it from a cut somewhere above it. He tried to reach out for her, but his arm would not obey. She stood before him now and he was grateful that the last thing he saw in this life would be her face.
Then the ground reached up and pulled him down to meet it.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The sting of frigid water woke him and he coughed and choked on it, sending slashes of pain throughout his beaten body. But the pain told him he yet lived.
Forcing his one eye open, he saw Connor and Jocelyn standing above him. The lady was whispering furiously at her husband, who did not seem to be listening at all. Tilting his head back, he recognised the curtain of black silk that cascaded around him—Lilidh’s hair. He wanted to tangle his fingers in it, but one hand would still not obey him and the other was holding hers.
‘Give me your hand, boy,’ Rurik said, reaching down for him. Though Lilidh began to argue and Jocelyn, he noticed, turned away, there was no way to avoid the warrior who grabbed his useless hand and pulled it. The sky above him flashed white and the very fires of hell coursed through his body as Rurik put his shoulder back in place.
‘Good fight, boy,’ Rurik said with a nod in his direction. ‘I would not have thought it in you,’ he added as he walked past.
When Rob could sit up, he noticed that Connor did not look unscathed and he felt some satisfaction in that. He might not have won, but he had given as good as he got. Connor nodded his head at Rob and he found himself hauled to his feet by two guards.
‘Go away,’ Connor ordered loudly.
The yard, now that he could see it, cleared at the laird’s orders, leaving only the four of them.
‘You are not the boy you were then, Rob,’ Connor said, gruffly.
Jocelyn whispered something to him and pushed against his arm. Connor held out his hand to Rob. Rob took it, wincing at the power in the older man’s grip.
‘I want your blessing, Connor. I would have Lilidh to wife if she will have me,’ he insisted, not looking at Lilidh for fear he would lose his nerve then.
‘If she will have you,’ Connor said, releasing his hand and putting his arm around his wife. ‘I was wrong about you, Rob. I was wrong.’
That was as close to an apology as Rob was going to get, but he did not care right now. Lilidh yet held on to his other hand and had not moved from his side. Connor grabbed his wife’s hand and tugged her in the direction of the keep. ‘Come into the hall and tell us if we have a wedding to prepare or not,’ Lilidh’s father called back to them.
Rob lifted their clasped hands up and kissed hers. The bloody mark he left from his split lip was not the most romantic thing he could have done, but she seemed not to notice it. Though he dripped water on her, she leaned against him.
‘I am sorry it took so long to understand your advice, Lilidh.’
‘My advice?’ she asked. Then a smile lit her face and he knew she was going to laugh. ‘You listened to my advice?’
‘These last months I could hear your words in my head. But I want to hear them from you. I want you to help me be the laird and chief I can be—not the one my father was or your father is.’ He kissed her gently and then added something that he had never said aloud to her. ‘I am so sorry for what I did to you, what I said. I understand if you hate me for the cruel words, but I hope you will forgive me and give me another chance. I love you, Lilidh, and I want you for ever, not just a year and a day.’
She kissed his face then, feathering light, gentle kisses across all the cuts and bruises he now wore and he lost himself in the love she showed him.
‘I forgive you, Rob,’ she whispered to him, easing the tightness in his chest that had nothing to do with the fight he’d just survived.
‘And you will have me? For ever?’ he asked, hoping that her answer was the one he hoped it would be.
‘Yes, my love. For ever.’
He would have to wait to show her how happy it made him, for the air around him began to shimmer and sparkle and the ground began to move back up at him. The good thing was that having her at his side slowed his descent and he landed with less of a thud than the first time.
‘Rob!’ she cried out, waking him from his stupor.
‘I am well,’ he answered though his body rebelled at the lie. He did not want to think of the number of broken bones or bruises or cuts on him. He just wanted to think about her.
‘Is this a good time to tell you something else?’ she said, as she brushed the hair back out of his eyes and caressed his cheek.
‘What is it?’
‘I think my parents will want a wedding quickly, Rob.’
‘Do you not want to wait and have one they have time to prepare for? Is that not what every woman wants?’ he asked, feeling the blood whooshing around inside his ears.
‘If we do not marry soon, people will be counting back and calling our bairn a seven-month babe.’
It took a few moments for the news to rattle through his brain and make sense, but when it did, he pulled her close and kissed her breathless.
Well, he tried, but then he began coughing and groaning from the pain. ‘You carry my child now?’ he asked.
She smiled and nodded. ‘Are you pleased?’
For a moment, a vision of her blossoming under his watch, filled with his child, was all he could see.
‘I am very pleased, Lilidh.’
That was the last thing he remembered until he woke in her bed in the keep two days later.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The bride was radiant, or tried to be, everyone agreed, even though her face was a ghastly shade of green as she walked up to meet her husband. The ceremony had already been delayed by her sudden bouts of illness. Though most of the men thought it must be her nerves, all the women recognised it for what it was.
The groom looked worse for the wear, but so did the bride’s father who escorted her forwards and presented her before the priest. The Matheson laird limped and held his chest during some of the ceremony and he had difficulty leaning over to sign the contracts when they were presented to him.
None of his family was present, save one cousin who stood as his witness. That one seemed to be the only one enjoying himself, for he frequently laughed aloud at the groom’s moans and groans.
The vows were spoken, rings and kisses exchanged and the priest declared them married and husband and wife. Before clapping or cheering could begin, the bride bolted for a bucket and several people found it difficult to keep their own food down at the sound of her retching.
‘Bad food, do you think?’ Duncan, the MacLerie negotiator, asked his wife in a joking tone from where they stood in the back of the church.
Marian slapped him and laughed. ‘I think not,’ she answered, as they all remembered her condition on their wedding day.
‘I did not think he would come for her,’ Rurik said.
‘Did you have to be so harsh to him?’ his wife Margriet asked. ‘And then he faced Connor as well? No wonder he is still limping.’
‘I did not damage any of his important bits,’ Rurik said.
‘Rurik, not here,’ his wife chided.
The group followed the procession back over to the keep where a feast had been prepared. If this wedding was last minute or rushed, no one complained. Duncan had little trouble drawing up the marriage contracts and getting both lairds to accept them. Lilidh brought a handsome dowry to her new husband, along with a renewed bond between their families. Too late to mend the rift between Connor and his old friend Angus, but soon enough to allow Lilidh and Rob their happiness.
* * *
Some time later, fulfilling their tradition of being last in their hall, Connor and Jocelyn joined them at table where they raised a cup and sent up a cheer for the newly married couple. After a few cups were shared and the hall grew quiet, Connor finally spoke about the past.
‘I was wrong all those years ago,’ he said.
‘Something you do not usually admit,’ Jocelyn said.
‘Something he never admits,’ Duncan added, holding up his cup in a mock salute.
‘The night is late and we should seek our beds,’ Rurik said, beginning to rise from his seat.
‘Not so quickly, Rurik,’ Margriet said. ‘We need to discuss the wager.’
Connor was suspiciously silent, as was Jocelyn.
‘I understand why Connor is not boasting of our victory in this match, the women always thought they would make a good match,’ Duncan explained.
‘Her marriage to Iain was a good one. They seemed happy,’ Connor added, trying not to lose completely.
‘Jocelyn,’ Rurik said, ‘you are strangely quiet about this.’
Duncan watched as the woman he’d brought for his laird long ago blushed. ‘What have you done?’
‘I...cheated!’ she said with a laugh and a guilty glance thrown in her husband’s direction.
The mother of the bride was not supposed to interfere, but apparently Jocelyn had broken that rule and was unrepentant about her violation.
‘What did you do?’ Marian asked. His wife had tried to influence their daughter’s marriage choice, as well. Women, Duncan had discovered long ago, meddled where they were wont to.
‘I sent Rob a note about Connor’s plans,’ she said, looking around the table at them. ‘The boy needed a push.’
‘Tell them,’ Connor growled at her.
‘Twice. I sent two notes. Once before the match with Iain and another when I discovered that Lilidh was...’ She stopped before announcing it officially.
‘Just so,’ Duncan said.
Margriet met their eyes and smiled. ‘So this would appear to be a draw, then—her first marriage was the men’s choice, this second one ours.’
‘I wonder who will be next?’ Connor asked as he rose and took Jocelyn by the hand. Duncan could see that the strain between his laird and his wife seemed to be easing. A good thing, for the bond between them affected everyone and everything in Lairig Dubh and the strife between them was too obvious to ignore these last weeks.
‘Well, since my daughter and yours are married now, it would seem only fair if Rurik and Margriet’s was next,’ Duncan said, taking his own wife’s hand and kissing it. Standing, they looked down on Rurik and Margriet, who now looked as though they had both eaten something spoiled.
‘I can only pray not,’ Margriet, the woman raised in a convent, said with panic in her eyes.
‘Isobel is too young yet to be thinking of this,’ Rurik declared as he crossed his arms over his chest in a gesture that warned them not to contradict him. None dared argue with him.
But they all knew she was not. And some of them knew that a certain man was already showing an interest in the lovely Isobel Ruriksdotter, though none was brave enough to say so to Rurik’s face.
‘Be well, friends,’ Duncan called out as he and Marian walked hand in hand to their bedchamber. ‘The morning will come far too soon.’
And that night, like so many nights, happiness filled the halls of Lairig Dubh.
Epilogue
Keppoch Keep
Three Years Later
‘My father does not look happy,’ Lilidh whispered to him as they watched the Earl of Douran enter their gates.
Rob turned to glance at Gavin MacKenzie and noticed the same expression on his face. ‘Neither is Gavin,’ Rob pointed out to his wife.
But there was so much depending on this meeting of two of the wealthiest and most powerful chieftains in the west of Scotland that the lack of mirth did not surprise him. It had taken him more than a year to work out the details and arrangements for this parlay and Rob worried over its success. Lilidh squeezed his hand.
‘It will all work out fine, Rob,’ she whispered before letting his hand drop and taking a step back and away from him.
He would allow no such obeisance from her now since any success was in large part due to her efforts as well. No one could force the Beast of the Highlands to do something he was loath to do except for the wife and daughter he loved so much. When Lilidh enlisted her mother’s support, Connor had had no choice but to agree.
But his face showed just how much he did not wish to be here.
‘Connor, welcome to Keppoch Keep,’ he said aloud as he waited for his father-by-marriage to dismount and approach.
Since he was an earl, Rob bowed respectfully as
Lilidh curtsied and they waited for Connor’s signal to rise. Considering that Gavin MacKenzie was of lower rank and bowing as well, Rob almost laughed as Connor dragged out the moment much longer than was customary. Then he watched as Connor gained power over his adversary, as he’d done many, many times before.
‘Connor, may I introduce you to the MacKenzie? Gavin...’ Rob said, turning to the younger chieftain. ‘May I make you known to the Earl of Douran, the MacLerie?’
As expected, Gavin bowed again. ‘My Lord Douran.’
A smile played on Lilidh’s face now and a matching one tugged the corners of the irascible Connor MacLerie as he let the man remain bowing before him. Then Connor reached out and offered his hand to Gavin and he rose and shook it.
‘Come now, Gavin. We are linked by marriage already and hopefully more soon, so please call me Connor. This is my wife, Jocelyn MacCallum, Lady MacLerie.’
He was so predictable in this that Rob found it difficult not to laugh. As the two men introduced their wives and close kin, Rob and Lilidh watched as the first step to the negotiations went smoothly. Then Lilidh invited them all within for the prepared meal and, as the group moved into the keep, Rob tugged Lilidh’s hand to keep her at his side.
‘Does he never use a different greeting?’ he asked her in a low tone so none would hear.
‘Only for someone higher in noble or royal status than he,’ she whispered back. ‘It is successful in reminding others of their lower status, so he continues.’
They reached the dais and he watched as his steward guided everyone to the appropriate seats, which only long discussions and strategic planning could devise so that none were insulted. Once everyone was seated, both at the high table and those below, Rob took his cup and rose to make his official greeting to all those visiting Keppoch Keep.
But as he held his cup aloft, everything around him seemed to cease. Time itself seemed to pause as he beheld all that he had achieved in his life.
Lilidh’s smile, one that held promise and love and passion, reminded him of her support and love since they finally chose each other over everyone else. Now, she carried their second child—a secret she would reveal to her parents during their visit here.
Connor and Jocelyn—his parents for many years—now sat as friends and allies at his table.
His cousin Symon—once his adversary and now the commander of all Matheson warriors—sat next to his wife of a year. Marriage to Mairi MacKenzie had forged a strong bond between their clans, but more importantly, had given Symon the happiness that had been missing from his life for so long.
Terri Brisbin Highlander Bundle Page 41