by D. K. Combs
“Aye, my lord. Here, let me help you with that,” she said hurriedly, rushing forward to aid him. “She knows—she knows that Charles is was the one to kidnap her.”
“Good. And you told her not to tell that bastard Alec?”
She nodded, then bit her lip, giving him a damp cloth to dab at the open wound he’d just drained. “I… I do not understand that part, though, my lord. If she told him, Lord Alec would—”
“It’s not your job to understand,” he snapped, tossing the cloth aside.
Her head bowed and she ducked away from him.
Burned man sighed in aggravation. Simpletons, he thought. They were all simpletons.
“Blayne Shaw would have only snuck off had we given her that information. She has put her family above her in the past, and now would be no different. If we give her a piece of ‘forbidden’ information, it would have the reverse outcome—she will tell him, eventually, and stick around for the ambush. Do you understand?”
“I…it seems so…pointless,” she muttered, then flinched away from him. “Nevermind, my lord. She knows that Charles was the one that kidnapped her, and that he’s coming after her for his land and her hand in marriage, so—”
“What?”
Green eyes went wide with terror. “I—you said to tell her—”
“Only who had kidnapped her! Only to give that bastard Alec a lead as to who would be coming for her—not that he was coming for her lands, you daft bitch!”
“I—my lord, I am sorry—I did not mean to!”
He surged to his feet, sense leaving him.
“She was not supposed to know that,” he snarled, lunging for her arm. He tripped from his own strength, but the red head was strong enough to hold the two of them up. She knew that by falling, the consequence would only be worse. He dragged himself up by grabbing hold of her throat, squeezing.
“I had a meticulous plan set in place, you fool. She was not to know that Charles was after her land, or that he wished to marry her. Do you know how she will react to this?”
“What?” the serving wench whimpered, grabbing his wrist when he tightened his grip.
“She will leave—and our ambush will be ruined.”
“I—”
He threw himself away from her, retreating back to his chair. His grip had been so tight around her throat and jaw that the red was already turning a soft shade of gray.
Good.
It served her right for ruining a carefully thought out plan. Now, things were different. Rushed. There was no longer time. He had to send a missive to Charles and let him know that he would have his bride sooner rather than later.
“You are worthless to me,” he hissed. “Leave here—and do not breathe a word of this. I have no use for you any longer.”
And he didn’t. The plan had been to wait several days before making the final move. Take the girl, reclaim her lands, slaughter her family for daring to cross Charles, and wage war on any man who came near them—that was the grand scheme, Charles’ ultimate goal.
While Burned man did not necessarily agree with his power-hungry plot, Burned man was in his debt. Charles had commissioned him to do a job, a commission that had helped save his brother from traitorous hands, and for that, Burned man would do whatever necessary.
Even if that meant laying siege to the McGregors in not just a few days, but tomorrow.
Blayne woke in the morning with a groggy sigh. Sleep had not come well to her the night before, but that was partly from fear, and partly from excitement.
Love making…was pleasurable. That was the excitement. She now knew why maids were sometimes caught moaning in the storage rooms—because coupling was enjoyable; not a horrendous, painful act as her husband had made it out to be.
The first emotion—the fear, came from the threat Alec had given her.
He wanted to marry her.
She had made a promise to herself to never marry again.
She had no romantic inclinations to a take-charge, overbearing man such as Alec McGregor. Aye, she might have fornicated with the brute, but that did not mean she was ready to tie the knot with him!
She sat up, pushing the covers off of her—to find herself naked. Oh, aye, she thought, rubbing her forehead. She hadn’t put her shift back on when she’d climbed into bed for the night. She stared down at herself, at a body only one other person had seen—Alec.
Her lips pressed.
How dare he demand they be married! She was not pregnant—not so soon and definitely not after one try. It just did not make sense to her. And how Alec, a self-proclaimed genius, thought that it made sense… Well, that was beyond her.
As she started getting ready for the day, sticking to her trews and white linen shirt, she mentally prepared herself to confront him and to warn him that should he go through with a wedding, she would not be liable to which part of the keep she built a pond in next. Lord, she thought, feeling her cheeks heat. She might even turn the kitchen into an aviary if he thought to press onward with this!
She would not stand for it, not so much as even tolerate one second of—
There was a knock on the door.
“If your name does not start with Alec and end with McGregor, you may enter,” she snapped, jerking the leather belt around her waist.
She was greeted to the redhead, to the woman from the night before.
At the sight of her, Blayne’s motions slowed.
“My lady, I—“
“I hope your morning is well,” Blayne said, forcing happiness into her voice. She finished tying the belt, hoping that would do away with her frustration over Alec, but alas… There was no such relief.
“Aye, my lady, I need to have a word with you—“
“I am quite busy this morning.” She hated to be short, but stopping Alec was of the utmost importance. He was not a man who let things sit. No, he was the kind of man that could have the moon at the foot of his bed by nightfall should he so wish it—meaning he took care of things quickly.
“Aye, my lady, but I—“
Blayne ducked her head, moving past her.
The woman’s hand shot out, latching onto her wrist.
“My lady—“
“Take your hand off me—“
It wasn’t until Blayne fully looked at her that some of the astonishment fled, replaced by concern. The bruise that had been on her cheek had either spread to her jaw and neck, or someone had harmed her again.
“What happened to you?” she hissed, taking her jaw in her hand.
“Milady, I need you to come with me. We—we have to leave here, urgently.”
“What?” Blay glanced past the woman’s shoulder, scanning the hallway. No one was coming, and she didn’t know if that was a bad thing, or a good one. She retreated into the room, drawing the door closed behind her. “What happened that makes us leaving so urgent?”
“They will be advancing soon—sooner than planned. He’s coming for you—“
“Well, then I’ll just send for my father,” she said, nodding her head. That was a sound solution—The Lion was a force not to be reckoned with. While she knew that after last night Alec would probably take the same stance, she wasn’t going to put him in that position. It would only give him one more reason to marry her, she thought angrily.
The woman shook her head.
“We don’t have time for that. He’s coming—he’s coming for you. We have to leave immediately, before he steals you. Milady, he’s out for blood. You won’t last a day with him!”
Blay didn’t get a word in through her urgent talking until she was finished.
She gingerly touched her shoulder, scared that there were more bruises hiding, but needing to get through to her.
“I know you mean well, I do. I truly do. However, only a fool would come after me. I’m the daughter of the most powerful man in the highlands, save the king himself. Anyone who came near me would be facing a fate worse than death. There is nothing to worry about—“
; “Charles has the Callahan’s as an ally in this war,” the woman murmured.
“Callahan’s? Do not they neighbor this clan?”
“Aye. And they are seeking revenge for the burning of their forest. Milady, if we stay here, we are as doomed as the rest of the people here.”
Blay shook her head. “Not if we warn Alec. He can prepare his men. They would fight back, not cower or run. I will not do so either.” She put her hand on the door, pulling the door open.
“My lady, I was here before. Before you came. Alec is not as you seem. He is not the gentle, caring man--”
“Now you are reaching,” Blay said, starting to become frustrated. There was a simple solution to all of this. Send for her father and warn Alec. For whatever reason, the nameless woman did not want her to stay, or to warn Alec of it, and for the live of her…she couldn’t come up with a conclusion as to why.
Why would this stranger, this woman who had never met her before in her life, be so adamant to make her leave?
“What’s really going on here?” Blay asked, putting her hands on her hips. “There’s something you’re not telling me. Something that I feel like I should know.”
The woman’s head shook again, this time quickly, desperately. “No, no—milady, this is all for your safety. We must leave immediately, before Charles and Harold come for you.”
“But they coming for me either way, aye? They’ll just hunt me down until he has me?”
Hands worrying together, the woman looked down, glancing way. “Aye, they will…”
“So why not let them come for me, where I’ll be protected—“
“Milady, please, I only want to—“
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “No, there is something else going on here. You are incredibly desperate to have me leave, as if you wanted to stow me away, hide me—but not for my own safety.” Blay lifted a finger to her chin, tapping it, considering.
“I—“
“You do not call the lord by his first name,” she noted, raising a brow. Alec was definitely starting to affect her if she was turning into a “deducing” prick. “That, to me, would imply a close relation to him. Or even, infatuation?”
Their eyes widened at the same time. Blay’s out of realization, the woman’s out of astonishment.
“You care for this lord, don’t you? You care for this Charles.”
The woman scoffed, face turning red. “I do not—“
“What other reason would you have? You do not want me to tell Alec for reasons you did not share, which can only mean you wish to protect him against an attack.”
Silence.
“Be honest with me,” Blay said quietly. “Is that why you want me to run? So that their attack won’t lead to here, where you know he will perish?”
The woman was silent for so long, that Blay thought she would not speak again. However, after a moment, her lips opened and the soft words spilled from her like they were ripped from the bottom of her heart.
“He and I, we were friends once. As children. Soon after we came of marriageable age, he seduced me with promises of marriage and children. He was a bastard, you know, but I did not care—I loved him. I still do.”
Blay drew her to the bed, sitting beside her. She did not know this woman’s name, but the sorrow in her face held her captive. For the first time, there was a look of a terrified, grieving woman; not a desperate, urgent one.
“Before we…we coupled, the two of us were inseparable. I was a maid for the lord, your ex-husband, and I guess Charles loathed that part of me. I cannot think of any other reason for him to use me, only to…to discard me.” Her face contorted for only a brief moment, and then the pain was wiped away with a sigh.
“I was ruined for marriage by then. Charles had moved on, away from the town his father refused to acknowledge him in. I do not know where he went off to, but when he came back, he wasn’t the same boy he had been before.
“He was…different. More solemn. He spoke in a way, acted in a way, that I never expected to see from him. He was a…warrior. Not some simple lord who followed after his father like a lost puppy.”
Blay nodded. He had most likely gone off to make his own riches, to gain his own experience in a world where the weak did not survive—and as a bastard, he understood that he was at the bottom of the chain of command until he changed that for himself.
It would have been admirable, if he hadn’t had her kidnapped.
“And…you came about this knowledge as a serving wench. He did not try to reconnect with you in any way?”
The woman shook her head. “Nay, milady. I approached him, of course, but was intercepted by a man of his. Told me that I could have all I wanted if I carried out a simple task—find you, and feed you information that would deflect Alec from the real threat.”
“That seems…mundane, though. Would it not have been easier for them if they had simply ambushed us?”
“Oh, milady, that was the plan. But it seems I revealed too much information last night. They…they believe you are on your way to fleeing the keep, now. They had hoped that by trying to keep the plot a secret from him, it would give them a better chance at an ambush.”
“Well, of course it would,” Blay said, pursing her lips. “But what was the point of telling me, and asking me not to tell him? That’s what I can’t wrap my head around.”
“Harold is…not sound of mind right now.”
“Harold? You mentioned the name earlier.”
“One of Charles’ men. The one who is coming for you, the one who survived,” the woman said quietly, looking at her lap. “Milady, in my honest belief, you could stop all of this. Alec and Charles would not come to war, at least not now.”
“Oh? How is that?” Blay asked, raising a brow. She was all ears, but from what she understood from the woman, all of this was a jumbled mess and honestly, she was having a hard time following along. There was one thing she knew, though.
Alec was in danger.
She was in danger.
And even if she didn’t want to marry the damn bastard, she had better make a move to let all of this come to a rest.
It seemed almost too good to be true, but it seemed the woman sitting before her had that very idea already concocted. Now it was only a matter of sneaking away from Alec long enough to get the job done.
Alec was not prepared for the bonny lass that came bouncing down the steps.
Almost immediately, he frowned. Something wasn’t right. After their conversation last night, she should not be so chipper—unless she had a change of heart. In which case, something was doubly wrong—because she never changed her mind about anything.
And he would know.
His keep was a wreck because of it.
“What has ye’ in such a good mood, lass?” he said, grunting when she walked behind him, her finger darting along his shoulders. Damn him if his body didn’t harden right there.
No, he thought. He had to remain strong. The lass was a sly one, full of tricks to use against him. What would it be today? Frustration? Drive him to the brink of madness to slip some mud past him to taint his keep some more?
He thought not!
Standing quickly, he brought himself to his full height to tower over her. The only people milling about were maids, and he knew their loyalty would keep them silent from whatever conversation they happened to hear.
“Ye’ did not answer me, lass,” he said lowly, catching her by the arm. He tried to be firm, but his grip automatically softened. Her arm was so thin, so delicate. He felt as if the smallest squeeze would have her snapping like a twig.
“I was not aware that I couldn’t be joyful,” she said, a quick smile darting across her lips. “You know, after the night we had. Wouldn’t anyone be happy?”
His cheeks went dark before he could think of a proper way to react. The hall was silent, with close to no activity, but that did not mean he expected her to speak so brazenly.
“Lass,” he said, his voice s
erving as a low warning. “Ye’ best watch what ye’ say. Our coupling will not be made public knowledge. We are to be—“
“We are not to be,” she broke in quickly, that same easy demeanor shielding her from his retort. He pressed his lips, jaw clenching. It was hard to be angry with her when she was so…beautiful. And strong-willed.
Alec dragged a hand down his face. He was to be married to a woman as stubborn as he—which could only mean one thing—constant warring, constant power plays. He tried to see the downside to it. Before, he had never wanted to marry, for the simple fact that he did not want a woman worrying over him, bothering him, or controlling him. Nor did he want a meek woman, one who would let things slide past her, or one who would not pull as much as he.
He tried to see how this coupling between them would be doomed, but alas, he could not find a single reason. He realized, that despite how mad this woman made him, there was a fire inside of her that he wanted—needed. She woke up parts of him that had been long dead, since the death of his mother, since he had joined the kings war.
She woke him.
With her banter, her laughter; with her deviousness, her innocence. Staring down at her, watching that spark in her eye, he found himself…softening toward her.
In a way that he never had before.
His jaw clenched. The urge to take her into his arms and kiss that spark into a raging, burning fire was overwhelming.
“Lass, you seem to forget something,” he murmured, touching the inside of her wrist. Some of her smile disappeared, and she stilled. He wrapped his hand around that delicate wrist, then slid his arm up, until he was taking her by the shoulder and dragging her close to him.
She went without a fight.
Bodies flush, he thought back to last night. How her breasts had been so full and beautiful in the moonlight, how she’d been so desperate for him… It all hit him like a boulder, and he was instantly hard—and he let her know it, too.
When their hips came together with the grip on her waist, she gasped, eyes widening.
“All it takes is one word to your father, and he will be demanding marriage.”