Seduced by a Rogue

by Amanda Scott

  “The sheriff did threaten to do such a thing, but I did not believe he would.”

  “Sir Hugh did say Sheriff Maxwell means to do so straightaway. See you, m’lady, the man doubts ye’ll be strong enough to stop him.”

  “We’ll see about that,” Mairi said grimly. To the waiting Jopson, she said, “Send messengers north to Lord Johnstone and to anyone else who may be willing to help stop this outrage. Warn them to make haste to Dunwythie Mains.”

  “Should I send to warn the Jardines then, as well, mistress?”

  Fiona’s image leaped to mind, and she said, “Aye, tell them that we are on the way and will welcome their aid. We must not expect them to help, but I could not be easy of mind if I did not warn them that trouble is about to erupt so near them.”

  “Old Jardine be more apt to be a-siding wi’ the Maxwells,” Parland Dow said. “I ha’ nae doots that fierce old man kens fine what be going on, and Will, too.”

  “They most likely do, aye,” Mairi said. “But they may not, and the lady Fiona is with them at Spedlins Tower, so I must warn them. Jopson, tell Captain Gerrard about this and help him gather our men swiftly. I’ll order food for us, change my clothing, and will be ready to ride as soon as the men are. Tell Gerrard they must dress as if they were raiding England, and to prepare themselves well for battle.”

  “Ye willna go yourself, m’lady!” the steward exclaimed. “Beg pardon, but… I mean to say, ye’d only be—”

  “I ken fine that I am no warrior, Jopson. But I will not send our men into danger whilst I stay safely here. Dunwythie of Dunwythie will lead the way, as always. However,” she added dryly, “assure them that her ladyship will pull aside before she can become a nuisance—most likely before we reach the chapel hill.”

  When he frowned, she added, “I should be safe enough riding that far with our men. The Maxwells, coming from Dumfries, will likely cross the Annan north of the Hall. With the recent heavy rains, the ford below Applegarth won’t be safe.”

  “I think Sir Hugh expects ye to stay here at Annan House,” Dow said warily.

  Meeting her indignant look with a rueful grimace, he reached hastily into his leather jack and withdrew a narrow roll of vellum, adding as he held it out to her, “I did bring ye another message, as well, from Dumfries.”

  Taking it gently, she said, “Faith, who sent this?”

  “I warrant it will bear a signature,” Dow said, giving her a look.

  “So it will,” she agreed, noting that the red wax seal revealed only a small, narrow thumbprint. Stepping away from the two men, she broke the seal and unrolled the brief message:

  My dearest,

  Since Easter service, he has been most melancholy and restless, so if you had doubts of him, you may dismiss them. Know that I shall do all I can to aid you if you seek what, in a more accepting world, you both so clearly would seek. He will not long allow himself to feel so haunted without seeking action. Know, too, that Archie the Grim is even now gathering an army for his latest purpose and will order that all men of Galloway follow him when he sets forth. —AK

  Striving to suppress suddenly roiling emotions, and wondering if Lady Kelso could possibly have known when she wrote the message that her elder grandson meant to seize Dunwythie Mains and her other estates, Mairi rolled the message up again and said, “Tell our lads to hurry, but be sure they have all they will need, Jopson. We can still reach the Hall before sundown, I believe.”

  “Aye, mistress, easily. Moreover, I should think the Maxwells canna ha’ set foot yet in Annandale, or we’d have had word of it.”

  She nodded, seeing no reason to mention that, just weeks before, several of the sheriff’s men had come into Annandale without warning. If the sheriff headed a large force, as she expected he would, many would notice. In any case, Jopson would send messengers out straightaway to warn as many as they could.

  Without sparing another thought for the men’s preparations, knowing that Jopson and Gerrard would see to them and that she could trust both men implicitly, she went in to order the food and tackle Phaeline.

  Gibby was piling wood in a basket by the hall fire with one hand and dangling a string with the other for Tiggie, so she sent him to issue her orders for food. “Tell them to pack what the men will need and send it outside,” she ordered.

  “Aye, mistress, I’ll see to it,” the boy said as he ran toward the kitchen.

  Next, she found her stepmother still in the solar. Relating the news Parland Dow had brought, Mairi said, “Hugh is on his way, madam, and I shall go with our men, of course. But we will leave enough men-at-arms here to keep you safe.”

  “Godamercy, no Maxwell has the right to seize our estates,” Phaeline protested. “Doubtless the sheriff thinks he can do so only because you are a woman. So ’tis just as I warned you it would be. Faith, but I suspect he thinks it is his duty to take them, if only to run them properly. But we will just see what my cousin Archie thinks of such impudence.”

  “Doubtless Sir Hugh has already sent word to the Lord of Galloway,” Mairi said. “However, I cannot dally here. I don’t want to delay the men.”

  “Sakes, you will delay them simply by insisting on riding with them,” Phaeline said. “What do you think you can do to aid them?”

  “My father, for all his peaceful ways, never let his men ride into danger without leading them. Nor shall I. I shan’t wield a sword, but I will be nearby.”

  “Utter stupidity,” Phaeline said with an unladylike snort. “But you will have your way, I expect.”

  “In this matter, I certainly will,” Mairi said.

  “Then it is no less than my bounden duty to go with you,” Phaeline declared.

  “Nay, then, you need not!” Mairi exclaimed in dismay.

  “My dearling child, no unmarried female should be riding with an army of rough men, no matter where their loyalties may lie. Moreover, I am still your mother, so do not argue with me.”

  Mairi had no time to argue. Furthermore, she suspected that Phaeline was more concerned about Fiona than she had yet let anyone see. They had heard not a word from her, or about her, since their return from Thornhill.

  Therefore, saying only that Phaeline would have to make haste, as they would not wait for her, Mairi hurried to her own room and summoned Sadie. Dressing quickly, she snatched up the bundle of clothing that Sadie packed hastily for her and rushed back to the yard to find all in train for their departure.

  As Jopson strapped her bundle to her horse, he reported that he had sent word to every baron for twenty miles around that the Maxwells were coming.

  “The lad I sent on to Lord Johnstone will learn if his lordship had already sent out word himself, mistress. If not, the lad will ask him to warn all north o’ him,” he added. “Ye’ll ha’ a good-sized Annandale army a-joining ours soon.”

  “Good,” Mairi said. “The more help we can gather the better. By the bye, Jopson, the lady Phaeline will be riding with us.” Anticipating his dismay, she added, “I hope you do not think I ought to have stopped her—”

  “Nay, mistress, I think nowt o’ the sort. In sooth, it be a load off me mind, that ye’ll ha’ her ladyship wi’ ye, though it do take me aback that she be willing to go.”

  To Mairi’s surprise, for she had expected her to keep them waiting just to prove she could, Phaeline hurried out a few minutes later. It occurred to Mairi only then that, as Applegarth lay south of Dunwythie Mains, Phaeline might be thinking that they could seek shelter there. If so, she would learn her error.

  Mairi’s place was with her own people at Dunwythie Mains.

  Rob and Sir Hugh Douglas, between them, led a party of eighty-five men, but Rob was certain they would need more. As they crested the long ridge that divided Nithsdale from Annandale, he half expected to see Alex’s army filling the landscape below them.

  Aware of Hugh’s gaze, he met it and saw a twinkle in the older man’s eyes.

  “What?” Rob demanded curtly.

  “Here now,
lad, don’t be snapping at me,” Hugh warned. But the twinkle deepened. “I cannot help it if I still feel amazed at receiving a warning from a Maxwell about a Maxwell attack on Annandale.”

  “Sakes, not all of Annandale, only the Dunwythie estates,” Rob said.

  “Even so,” Hugh said. “Maxwells rarely turn against Maxwells.”

  “Nor have I,” Rob said. “As I told you, I want only to protect the lady Mairi’s estates by keeping Alex from seizing them. I don’t want anyone killed.”

  “That may happen, though, if battle comes of this, as I believe it may.”

  “I could not allow the seizure, Hugh. You know Dunwythie attended to the Crown’s business in Annandale just as seneschals of old did. That fact alone should satisfy everyone with a stake in the matter.”

  “So one would think.”

  “But Alex thirsts to expand his powers as Sheriff of Dumfries. He would see the Maxwells, under his guidance, control as much of southwest Scotland as he can lay hands on, your cousin Archie notwithstanding.”

  “He has sadly underestimated the Douglases then,” Hugh said.

  “I ken that fine. But Alex sees nowt save his own ambition, and so far, Archie has not found reason to thrust his power in Alex’s face.”

  “So far, Archie has but dipped a toe in Nithsdale water to test its sheriff’s intent,” Hugh said. “If your brother were wiser, he’d see that.”

  “Archie is not now in Nithsdale,” Rob pointed out.

  “Art so sure of that?”

  A chill tickled Rob’s spine much like the one that had struck when he realized Alex meant to take Mairi’s lands. He had no idea where Archie was.

  “Has he returned to these parts, then?” he asked.

  “Archie hears more than any other commander and moves faster. Those are facts that most men know about him, facts that your brother has clearly forgotten.”

  “But Alex keeps ears out, too,” Rob protested. “Surely, he would know if the Douglases had entered Nithsdale, and that’s the most likely route to Annandale.”

  “Archie is like the wind—gone and then back again when one least expects it,” Hugh said. “He has certainly visited Annandale, for he wants badly to get the English occupiers of Lochmaben out of this country.”

  “Aye, we must.”

  “Meantime, your brother is seizing what he thinks is a grand opportunity. Has he not wit enough to see how Archie will perceive a move against one of his own?”

  Rob knew that Alex had discounted all risk, but he could see no reason to tell Hugh so. Alex was, after all, still Rob’s brother. He said, “I’d hoped that you and I could stop him before it came to that.”

  In a gentle voice that did not fool Rob in the least, Hugh said, “Before you came to me at Thornhill, you must have guessed I would send to advise Archie of what was going forward. Did you not count on Douglas strength, in the end, to foil the sheriff’s plan?”

  “Aye, sure,” Rob said. “But I counted on the threat alone to dissuade him. I thought Douglas was back in Galloway, at Threave, not anywhere near at hand.”

  “Aye, well, in future you should be minded of two facts about Archie. If you need him, he will come, and if you don’t want him, he’ll come all the faster.”

  Deciding to change the subject since it was far too late to change Archie, who might be needed, Rob said, “Do you trust Dow to warn them at Annan House without terrifying them or stirring the lady Mairi to ride straight to the Hall?”

  “Mairi is always sensible,” Hugh said in a tone that Rob thought he meant to be reassuring. “I told Dow to say the message came from me, and not just because you asked me to do so. I thought it wiser not to confuse her by telling her you would be with me. She will trust me to deal with any number of Maxwells.”

  As Rob had not told Hugh about his feelings for Mairi or hers for him, Hugh’s confidence did not reassure him at all. He feared that Mairi might put herself in harm’s way, hoping she could stop the sheriff—stop the Maxwells, in fact—or intervene some other way, before anyone got hurt.

  “She will think I ride with Alex,” he said.

  Hugh looked narrowly at him. “What if she does?”

  Rob grimaced. “She will either hope I can keep him from harming anyone else or will think I agree that we Maxwells should control Annandale. Sithee, she has accused me more than once of trying to control all.”

  To his surprise, Hugh chuckled. “Women frequently make such accusations,” he said, “particularly when a man issues an order he expects them to obey.”

  “You speak from experience, I expect.”

  “Aye, sure, I do—experience with another baroness in her own right, come to that. Such women have little trouble making decisions, so doubtless most of them take umbrage when a man tells them what to do. I did therefore have the sense not to issue anything resembling a command in that message I sent with Dow.”

  A shiver shot up Rob’s spine. “Mayhap you should have,” he said. “I’m thinking we should ride faster, Hugh.”

  The fifteen-mile ride to Dunwythie Mains would take Mairi’s party at least five hours, because the men wanted to spare their horses as much as they could. So, although she had wanted to ride faster, she contented herself with persuading Phaeline that only one stop was necessary to refresh themselves and partake of a light meal. However, their party increased its number shortly after they stopped, when Gibby arrived.

  “I thought ye might need me,” he explained when Gerrard snatched him off his pony and gave him a shake.

  “I’ll show ye who needs what,” the captain of the guard said angrily. “Ye’ll be riding straight back, me lad, and riding gey sore when I’m done wi’ ye.”

  “Nay,” Mairi said quietly, remembering her ride with Gibby and Rob at Trailinghail. “It may not be safe to send him back alone, Gerrard, and he will be no more trouble to you than I am. He can stay with the lady Phaeline and me.”

  “Aye, mistress, but I trust ye’ll no deny me the pleasure o’ teaching the lad a lesson in obedience when we get home.”

  Gibby gazed at Mairi with such soulful innocence that she almost felt guilty when she said, “Nay, Gerrard, I’ll not stop you. He deserves skelping for this.”

  The boy grimaced but made no protest, and rode meekly in Mairi’s wake when they were on their way again.

  Although Rob and Hugh had picked up the pace, Rob’s thoughts had raced ahead. No matter what notions came to him, the fact was that whatever course Mairi chose, he could do naught to alter it. He could only reassure himself that Alex would not harm her. He would value her instead as a weapon with which to control Rob.

  The best thing Rob could do was to put her out of his mind, to stop feeling anything but the horse under him and the wind in his face. He could do no good by wasting energy on his rage with Alex or fear for Mairi. He must put all that aside.

  To protect Mairi, he must stop thinking about her.

  They did not know if Alex was in Annandale already or not. They had purposely stayed northeast of Dumfries until they were over the ridge and in north Annandale, to avoid word of their small force reaching the sheriff’s ears. They rode now on the ancient Roman road that would pass within a mile of Dunwythie Hall.

  Chapter 19

  Mairi’s party neared the south boundary of Jardine Mains an hour later.

  Spedlins Tower lay near the river Annan just as the Hall did, not far from the Roman road they followed. Knowing that her party was large enough that word of their approach had likely reached the Jardines, Mairi said, “We must be cautious from this point so we do not unexpectedly meet Jardines or the sheriff and his men.”

  “We must stop long enough at the tower to pay our respects,” Phaeline said. “Surely, they can tell us if there are Maxwells in the dale.”

  It was the first time she had spoken of the Jardines, but Mairi shook her head.

  “I know you want to see Fiona,” she said gently. “But not yet. The lad we sent ahead to them has not returned, so we
don’t know they got our warning. The fact is that they are likely in league with the sheriff. You know they are not our friends.”

  “Godamercy,” Phaeline said. “Will Jardine is married to our Fiona. If you think she would allow—”

  “Madam, prithee, hear your own words,” Mairi replied. “Fiona is headstrong, to be sure. But I do not believe she willfully missed our father’s burial or thought such a course to be ‘wise.’ Will is the one who decreed it so. If you think more carefully, I think you will agree that only if Will Jardine forced her obedience could he have kept her from us on such an occasion.”

  Phaeline grimaced and sighed. “You are right, of course. I have feared all along that he abducted Fiona as surely as Maxwell abducted you. Your father did not believe it, but if I had my way, both those men would hang for their crimes.”

  Mairi stared at her. “I had no idea you felt so strongly, madam. I knew, of course, that Fiona’s elopement upset you dreadfully, as it did my father, but—”

  “I do not believe she eloped,” Phaeline repeated. “That man took her.”

  Mairi realized that since Fiona had not been daft enough to reveal her feelings for Will to her mother, Phaeline knew nothing about them. Unwilling to tell her when they did not know what lay ahead, she said, “I thought you blamed me as much as you blamed Rob… Robert Maxwell for my abduction.”

  “You are my daughter, too, Mairi, but I cannot fault you for believing I had few motherly feelings for you,” Phaeline said with one of her sighs. “Until you vanished so abruptly and we had no idea what had become of you, I did not know that I did care. Recall how young I was when your father married me… a full year younger than you are now. If I showed stronger feelings for our ungrateful Fiona—”

  “Prithee, madam, say no more on that head,” Mairi interjected, touched by Phaeline’s unexpectedly honest revelation. “Fiona is dear to all of us, and you are the only mother I have known. By my troth, I have never blamed you—”