The Rogue’s Redemption

by Mecca, Cecelia

  “There is no need.”

  They’d not bothered to close the door, and the very man Allie fretted for stood in the entryway, looking directly at her. Allie could not glean anything from his expression, nor when he entered the chamber.

  “Since I am already standing . . .” Juliette made for the door.

  “And since we are still discussing final wedding arrangements,” Gillian added, leaping out of her chair and following Juliette.

  As Gillian walked past Reid, who smiled congenially at her, Allie held her breath.

  “I am glad to finally see you,” Gillian said. “She’s been quite worried.”

  “All is well,” he said to her sister, though he looked directly at her. “Graeme just returned from the training yard,” he added. “And is on his way here.”

  Gillian picked up the hem of her gown. “Thank you,” she said, brushing past him. The words held no malice, and when they were finally alone, she told her husband so.

  “She is beginning to like you.”

  Reid closed the door behind him.

  “Though I am glad for it”—he reached her before Allie could discern his intent—“there is only one woman whose favor I crave above all others. One”—he slipped his hand behind her back—“I think of day and night.”

  When he pulled her toward him and touched his lips ever so gently to hers, Allie responded by not allowing him to pull away. Though she very much wanted to know the outcome of the meeting, the feel of Reid’s lips was too tempting to deny. When he slipped his tongue inside her mouth, their kiss quickly spiraled into something more. Only when Reid groaned against her and pulled back did she remember they had much to discuss.

  “Well?”

  She assumed he wanted to tell her something, but instead he simply stared at her.

  “What happened?”

  He blinked. “I love you,” he said, and Allie’s stomach sank. It was bad.

  “I love you too,” she said, resisting the urge to close her eyes against the sting of the words that were to come. “But?”

  “Hmmm.” He kissed her nose and stepped back, running his hands through his hair. “You assume I bring a bad report?”

  The ever-so-slight upturn at the corners of his mouth was Allie’s first indication that Reid was actually pleased. She had been so concerned about the outcome.

  “Douglas.” She shuddered. “He is . . .”

  “Intimidating. Aye, lass, he can be quite so.”

  And then she noticed it. He was not simply pleased, he was overjoyed. Reid’s step was lighter. His shoulders, relaxed. “Tell me!”

  “I am Toren’s second.”

  Her heart skipped a beat. “But—”

  “Douglas reached an accord with King Alexander. He is to meet with your king to discuss the recent turmoil including Lord Caxton.”

  Although this was good news indeed, Allie still did not—

  “He praised the clan for holding strong, for attending the Day of Truce in the face of ‘Caxton’s treachery.’”

  “Did Toren tell him what happened?”

  “He did. Which is when Douglas asked when I had become the reasonable one.”

  “Did someone correct him?” she teased.

  “Aye, my brother was glad to do so. But he welcomed the elders into the meeting at the same time and demanded, in front of Douglas, for them to reconsider their decision. And they did.”

  The lump that formed in Allie’s throat had nothing to do with the new promise for peace at the border. Mayhap she was a terrible person, but she could think only of Reid. The pride in his expression . . . in his very stance. How could she have missed it when he first entered the room?

  Allie’s eyes welled with tears as she went to him. Throwing her arms around his neck, she let those tears flow and was not even a bit surprised when she pulled back and saw a tear track down her husband’s cheek. She wiped it away and kissed the spot where it had been. She kissed his lips next, a joy she’d never before known burgeoning in her belly.

  “I am so proud of you.” And she was. Of the man he had become, the one she knew had been there all along. The one who would serve his brother, and his clan, who would be lucky to have him. “You deserve it.”

  She expected his denial.

  Instead, Reid simply smiled.

  Epilogue

  It had been a long day.

  They would normally have found lodgings for the night, the ride from Bristol Manor long enough to warrant it, but Reid pushed for the men to keep going. And as they rode up the final incline to Brockburg Castle, he marveled at the fact that he was returning home to his wife.

  With his sister’s babe due in the winter, Catrina had been unable to attend the wedding. He’d wanted to take Allie with him, but his visit to Bristol Manor had not been a social one. He’d apprised his brother-in-law of the ever-changing situation.

  Though the latest news was good, Bryce privately agreed that war was as likely as peace.

  “A meal and a bed,” one of the men yelled as they approached.

  “Or a woman to replace both,” another said, the others laughing as they dismounted.

  Once, he would have made a similarly bawdy comment, but now he only wanted Allie. He’d thought of her every moment he was away. Allie had saved him, believed in him, loved him like none other.

  Ignoring the laughter of his men, Reid handed his reins to the groom and ran toward the keep. Darkness had long since fallen, and the courtyard was mostly quiet.

  “Where do you run to, my lord?”

  The voice was so unexpected that Reid did not believe his ears until he got close enough to the keep to see her clearly. Standing next to the entranceway, looking very much as if she were its lady, his wife smiled. His heart lurched at the sight of her.

  “What are you doing out here?” He went to her, wrapping his arms around her and vowing not to let go. Not, at least, until he knew why she stood outside the keep.

  “I saw you coming.” She pushed against his chest and looked up at him. “Juliette had the babe this morn.”

  He looked up, in the direction of the master bedchamber. “Is she—”

  “Well,” Allie said, standing on her toes. “As is their son.”

  He would ask more, including the babe’s name, but when Allie pressed her lips to his, he lost himself in the scent and softness that was his wife. He needed her just as he needed air to breathe. Cupping her cheeks in his hands, he took all that was offered, and more. But as the kiss deepened, she pulled away.

  “Your men . . .”

  Indeed, the men made their way toward him, no doubt in search of food. They’d not stopped all day except to feed and rest the horses.

  “Come,” she said, tugging on his hand. “You will have to wait until the morrow to see the babe. He and his mother are sleeping.”

  Which explained what Allie was doing in the great keep at this time of night.

  “Walk with me.”

  Reid wound his fingers through hers and looked up to the sky.

  “I could see the stars that night,” he said. “When you agreed to marry me.”

  It was as rash a decision as he’d ever made, but the best one of his life. He had known that he wanted all of her and could never leave Highgate End and not see her again. He squeezed her hand.

  “You vowed to charm my sister.”

  “As I’ve done.”

  She looked at him sideways. “Aye, you have.”

  They walked along in silence, Reid impatient to get his wife alone but also content simply to be with her here.

  “She knew,” he said, reminded of what Gillian had told him just before he left for Bristol. She’d known somehow that he and Allie had secretly said the vows that bound them.

  “She wasn’t the only one.”

  Reid stopped. “Who else?”

  “The morning of the wedding, I overheard Aidan and Juliette. Somehow, they’d already guessed we were married.”

  “And from the note your
father sent, I wonder if he did not surmise the same.”

  He had expressed his regret at not being able to travel to Brockburg, and had given Allie his blessing that she claimed not to need.

  “Oh, and Aidan told me of your gift.”

  Reid thought of the dirk, of the alliance between Clan Scott and Clan Kerr, one that would be much needed in what promised to be troubled times ahead. “He is a good man.”

  Allie’s grip, gentle just a moment earlier, loosened. And when her thumb pressed against his palm, the circular motion slow and very deliberate, Reid no longer wished to speak of his brother-in-law or anything that did not involve taking off every bit of clothing on Allie’s body and feeling her under him.

  “As are you, husband.”

  “Let me show you how good,” he responded, remembering his promise to initiate her to a world of pleasure each and every day.

  A promise he would fulfill, starting this very moment.

  * * *

  Thank you for reading THE ROGUE’S REDEMPTION! I hope you enjoyed Reid and Allie’s story.

  Aidan helps bring Reid and Allie together, but will he get his own second chance at love? Turn the page for a sample or get a new release notice for THE GUARDIAN’S FAVOR coming in December.

  Want more than a new release notice? Subscribe to become a CM Insider for your free Border Series prequel novella.

  Love the Border Series and getting inside scoop? Join the Border Ambassadors, a private reader group on Facebook, for even more Clan Kerr goodness.

  ~Cecelia

  Sneak Peek: The Guardian’s Favor

  Border Series Book 9

  Chapter 1

  Highgate End, Scotland 1274

  “Are you going to be ill?” Aidan asked his sister-in-law.

  Gillian sat clutching a chamber pot as tenderly as if it were a newborn babe. Her fondness for that pot had been growing of late.

  He rushed to her side, pulled her hair behind her back and waited. Aidan had come to the solar looking for his brother. Instead, he’d found Gillian, alone with her chamber pot, looking much as she had every day this past sennight.

  “I don’t believe so.”

  Aidan wasn’t quite sure he agreed, so he decided to stay put for now. Peering around Gillian’s shoulder to see her face, he said, “You don’t look good, lass.”

  “Why thank you. ’Tis kind of you to say, brother.”

  He should not taunt her, but Aidan could not resist. “The bairn is a wee lassie, no doubt. Another Lyndwood girl come to save the de Sowlis men.”

  Even as he said it, he could see the color return to Gillian’s face. He allowed her hair to fall back against her gown and pulled up a wooden chair to sit beside her. Poor Gillian was often forced to sit, the babe growing bigger inside her every day, and Aidan did not wish to make her feel uncomfortable by towering over her.

  “Your brother is convinced otherwise. He believes the babe is a boy.”

  “His son would be lucky to have such a father.”

  “Kind words from my brother? To what do I owe the pleasure?” Graeme de Sowlis, clan chief and Aidan’s only remaining family member, by blood, walked into the room and strode straight to his wife.

  “I’d not have said them had I seen you standing there preening.”

  Both men knew that statement was not true. Aidan revered his older brother.

  “Were you ill?” Graeme knelt beside his wife.

  “Nay.” She looked into the pot. “Not this time, thank the heavens.”

  Graeme placed the chamber pot on the floor. When he laid his hand on her slightly rounded stomach, a familiar pang of fear tore through Aidan. This babe, whether it be a nephew or a niece, would not be harmed. If the border descended into chaos, an event some claimed had already happened, they would forsake their family home before they put Gillian and the wee one in danger.

  Highgate End may have been the seat of Clan Scott for four generations, but it was nothing more than dirt and stone. If not for the people under their protection, he’d have begged Graeme to take Gillian away. In fact, he’d suggested it once, but his brother had refused to listen.

  “You’ve heard about Douglas?” his brother asked.

  “Aye. According to his messenger, the Lord Warden is only a half day’s ride from Highgate.”

  Graeme merely nodded, still crouched beside Gillian.

  The look on his face was enough to convince Aidan his brother shared his concerns.

  Graeme had never hidden his emotions well, his only failing as clan chief. His brother’s strength and skill with the sword was unmatched, yet even the most undiscerning adversaries could read his every mood from afar. If he were angry, his foe knew immediately. Now, his worries were written across his face. Worry over the increasing number of raids, the possibility of the first outright battle at the border in years, and the impending arrival of the Lord Warden.

  “What do you think he wants?” Graeme stood and began to pace the room.

  With more sunlight than most chambers at Highgate Castle, courtesy of an outside wall and two windows whose shutters were currently thrown wide open to usher in the unusually warm April day, the solar had always been the brothers’ favored meeting place. Gillian could oft be found in here as well. She liked to imagine the darkness of the long winter was finally behind them, but Aidan feared just the opposite was true.

  He shook his head. “I neither know nor want to know. A visit from the Lord Warden now can mean only one thing.”

  Graeme stopped pacing long enough to stare at him, prompting Gillian to speak up.

  “What is it? What’s wrong?”

  Aidan hated the worry in her voice, but surely she should be worried. They all should.

  “He would not,” Graeme said. His tone did not match his words.

  “Why else would he come here now?”

  “Would not what? What do you imagine he wants from you?” Gillian asked.

  Graeme attempted to explain. “At the council six month earlier, he broached the idea of involving the Earl of Theffield in our dispute with the English border lords.”

  “The earl,” Aidan said, “has property in both England and Scotland.”

  Graeme’s scowl for the man was warranted. Cruel and selfish, the Earl of Theffield tended to elicit such sentiments. Thankfully, he hardly ever visited his northern estates, which were his in name only.

  Gillian was rightly confused. “But what has that to do with us?”

  “Our father knew the man as well as any Scotsman,” Graeme said. “Even though he had no alliance with him and rarely visited Sutworth.”

  “Sutworth? Isn’t that the one that borders our land?”

  “Aye.” Graeme resumed his pacing, but not before he shot a look at Aidan. Once again, he failed to hide his emotions. The pity in his eyes was as obvious as it was unwelcome.

  “But I still don’t understand—”

  “The Earl of Theffield is Lord Caxton’s overlord,” Graeme said. “As Caxton’s overlord, the Earl of Theffield has the authority to force Caxton to step down.”

  Lord Caxton, the English Warden of the Middle March, was the reason the Scottish clans had stopped attending the monthly Day of Truce, a day of reckoning for all crimes committed on the border, arbitrated by two wardens, one from either side. Caxton had little interest in fairness, and his willingness to accept bribes and look the other way had allowed too many accused Englishmen to walk free. Until he was removed from his position, the Scottish border lords refused to uphold the tenets of the Treaty of York, which had given them thirty years of relative peace.

  The Scottish border lords had tried, and failed, to have Caxton removed from power. Even the intercession of their king had done nothing. The English sovereign had insisted his beloved Lord Caxton would not be removed as warden.

  To Gillian, the solution must have seemed inspired—Theffield had land in both Scotland and England, surely he could and would intercede. Her eyes lit up, the possibility of peace at
hand, until she looked at him. And Graeme.

  “Then why has no one spoken to him yet?”

  Aidan did not want to be the one to eradicate Gillian’s last hope for peace, so he let his brother do it. “There is a reason Theffield was dismissed as a potential path to peace.”

  “A good reason,” he added.

  Gillian studied each of them in turn. “He is that bad then?”

  Aidan could not answer. He couldn’t think of the man without his fingers itching to grab the dirk at his side and toss it into the closest target.

  “Aye, lass,” Graeme said. “He is, and worse. Perhaps Douglas has other plans,” he added, his voice unconvincing. “Perhaps there is another reason for his visit.”

  Gillian’s chin lifted. “You think he comes to ask you to treat with Theffield?”

  Dread filled Aidan’s gut. He feared exactly that.

  “He asked it once before,” Graeme said. “At the council meeting. But while our father knew the man, dealt with him when necessary, neither Aidan nor I have any love for him. But there is no other who would dare approach him. The earl and Douglas nearly killed each other once. The idea was dismissed at the meeting, when there was still hope . . .”

  “There is still one thing I do not understand.”

  He and his brother waited.

  “Why do you look at Aidan,” she asked Graeme, “as if he lost his favorite dirk? What are you not telling me?”

  Before either of them could answer, the color leached out of Gillian’s face. She leapt from her seat and grabbed the chamber pot next to her, leaving him thankful not to be forced to answer that particular question.

  #

  “Lady Clarissa! We did not expect you.”

  She tried to smile at the maid she’d known since birth, but even the sight of Eda could not comfort her this day.

  “I did not expect to be home so soon.” Her back straightened, and she asked, “Is my father in residence?”

  Eda’s frown confirmed it. The thought that her father might be away from Theffield Castle had been her only solace on the journey back home.