Dawn Annis

by Highlander's Ransom

  “Well, there I was with my share but no way back to England. I was fairly certain I would not have made it home had I tried to board the SeaStar,” Smithers said with a chuckle.

  “I have no doubt.” Though the time was long past, Kate worried what had happened to him.

  “After Goucher left, Captain Powell took in the size of me and offered another position. I readily agreed.

  “He told me where to find his ship and he gave the name of his officer in charge. No questions about my skill or past. We were to sail with the tide.”

  Smithers paused to finish his meal, crossed his legs, and leaned onto the back of the chair. Impatient, Kate waited. She couldn’t deny Smithers his meal. Learning more about the man she had grown so close to through the years, he aroused her interest.

  Smithers continued. “We were on our way, and I’ll tell you, I worked hard for James Powell. As did all his crew. He was fair, and I had the pleasure to know him. I don’t believe I ever heard him raise his voice in anger. His crew was loyal and dedicated to him. So was I.

  “Trouble came during the voyage with a run-in of another merchant ship off the coast of France on our way back to England. She wasn’t running a banner. Once they were close enough for her guns to fire upon us, we realized it was an English ship. We managed to escape into safe port in London.”

  Eyes big, Kate took a sip of wine.

  “Once we were on land, I talked with Captain Powell about the attack.

  “He confided in me his suspicion the ships and crew belonged to the Earl of Westmoreland, Jacob Randall.”

  Smithers paused briefly at Kate’s small cry of surprise. Her father? A part of such treachery? She started to speak. Smithers held his finger to his lips and continued his story.

  “There had been a strange series of unexplainable accidents in the year. His warehouse had caught on fire and a carriage tried to run him down just outside his townhouse. I didn’t believe the incidents to be accidental. He gave me a small smile and with his calm manner, said he no longer believed they were accidents either.

  “I made it my business after that night to protect the captain.” Smithers paused. “He asked me to reside in his home. In a brief time, James and I became good friends.”

  Smithers stopped for a moment, his voice breaking.

  Kate put her hand over his and said softly, “Mister Powell meant a great deal to you.”

  Smithers cleared his throat. “I was pleased to meet the lovely young woman James had hoped would soon be his bride. She was beautiful, and James adored her. This was quite fine, because her tender feelings for him were just as obvious. The only reason they had not been married right away, James had confided, was her family. You see, James’s family was very wealthy, but he was the second son. His older brother would inherit all. The lady’s family had tried to interest her in his older brother but once she caught sight of James and he of her, their fate was sealed and no amount of persuasion or threat would make either change their mind. Her father loved her and wanted her happy and so conceded James would be the one she would marry.

  “He had made a condition of giving his daughter in marriage. He made it clear her intended must be able to provide a home and future for his daughter. So James borrowed money from his father and started a shipping business. He became very successful with it. He was fast approaching his financial goals and would soon be able to take his bride.

  “Winter set in quickly that particular year, so James decided not to make a fall run and to wait until the following spring before setting sail. Then the unthinkable happened.”

  Smithers paused and his eyes filled with tears.

  Kate patted his arm, and he continued.

  “James had gone to his warehouses one evening to get something. I know not what. It seems so trivial now. I will never forgive myself for not accompanying him.”

  Smithers’ fist ground into the table.

  “I often wonder what would have happened if I had. One of the warehouse men beat on the door and informed me there had been an accident. I quickly followed him to an alley behind the warehouses. Once there, I saw James’ carriage overturned and James lying on the wet cobbles, his driver dead.

  “The men working in the warehouse raced to his aid after the accident. No one dared to move him. I knew something was dreadfully wrong. The angle of his neck told me it was broken. I could see the depression on the right half of his chest. His breathing was labored and shallow.”

  Kate put her hand to her mouth in horror.

  “The men told me they were working inside and heard shouting. Then a horse screamed. They ran outside. His carriage was overturned and James was lying underneath. They said they unhitched the horses and were able to slide the carriage off of him. The odd angle of his body and neck stopped them from going any further, electing instead to send men for me and a doctor.”

  Smithers’ voice hitched. “I knelt down beside him, telling him to hold on, the doctor was coming. He tried to talk but I quieted him. He spoke again, this time urgently. Finally I relented to listen to him. He whispered what he had seen, telling me who had done this. Then he exacted the promise from me. He asked that I would care for his fiancée. I promised him. A promise I have never regretted,” Smithers added, tears running down his face. “I sat beside him on the cold hard ground and held his hand while he died.”

  Smithers stopped for a moment, wiped his face, and said, “There are things in all men’s lives that haunt them. That moment is one of mine.”

  Her own troubles forgotten for now, Kate questioned Smithers, knowing in her heart the answer. “Who did he believe responsible for the accident?”

  Smithers said quietly, “Jacob Randall. The Earl of Westmoreland.”

  Stricken, Kate wanted to ask more. Smithers refused to be stopped. He held up his hand and continued.

  “I was filled with grief. I vowed revenge for this kind, decent soul. I declared never to rest until my friend’s murderer was hung at the gallows. My feelings changed quickly in the face of what was to come next.”

  “What came next?” Kate could hardly imagine there was more to this terrible tale.

  “A few weeks after James died there was a knock on the door. It was his bride-to-be. I had seen her briefly at the funeral. She was at the door looking pale, her face puffy from her obvious tears and grief. As soon as I opened the door, she fell into the doorstep. I picked her up and carried her inside.”

  “When she awoke, she announced through her tears that Jacob Randall had gone to her father and asked for her hand in marriage.”

  Smithers paused and leaned slightly forward as she gasped.

  “Now keep in mind barely four weeks had passed since James’s death. Thinking he was doing his grieving daughter a favor, her father agreed to the marriage, not realizing the sort of man to whom he was marrying his daughter. I was stunned and outraged for her.

  “Apparently Randall wanted this girl for his own. He had even courted her briefly until James came along. James started his business, competing again with Randall. He was obsessed with James. What had come only after hard work to Randall, James took, easily it seemed.”

  Smithers paused again, as if trying to find the words. “She told me her secret. She was pregnant with James’s child.”

  Kate took in a sharp breath, holding her hand to her mouth. She then chastised herself for being a hypocrite. Didn’t she know what love could do? Hadn’t she experienced the rush of emotion herself? She, too, had loved a man. She lowered her head ashamed of herself and her judgment against a lonely and frightened woman. Mightn’t she be pregnant herself? Was she any different?

  Smithers reached across the table. He held her chin in his hand and gently brought up her head. He gave her a kind look, as if reading her mind. Then he winked at her and continued his story.

/>   “Now, I spent the past weeks taking care of James’s business and personal affairs. I had been in his study trying to sort through it all. I had lost my friend and I was grief-stricken. As I was attending his desk shortly after his death, I came upon a letter addressed to me with instructions in case of his death. He had given most of his estate and business to his fiancée.”

  Smithers signaled the maiden for more wine. Kate was glad of it. She could use another drink.

  “So, of course, I told her of what James had left for her. I told her what I knew about Jacob Randall’s involvement in James’ death. She was horrified and devastated she would marry the very man who had killed her beloved.

  “After a great deal of discussion, she made the agonizing decision to go ahead with her marriage to Randall. Pregnant, she could not afford to wait any longer to obtain another suitor in time before it would be too late to believably convince a husband the child was his.”

  “We agreed she could not use the money or run the shipping business, now that she was again engaged, without the risk of losing it to Randall. Because of the official engagement, all that was hers would now be his even before the actual ceremony took place. For him to make use of James’s money and business through her, after what he had done, was too much to bear. James had been his competition, both in the business as well as in his personal life. Randall would not have one pence of James’s money.

  Smithers pounded his fist on the table firmly, emphasizing his point. Kate found herself nodding in agreement.

  “We decided to put the money in a trust so Randall would never have access to or even know about it. We could not sell the shipping business out right because once again it would be brought out who owned it. So we agreed to continue to run the business, although we changed the name and brought it up again slowly making it appear James’ business ended with his death. We also made it a point not to compete with Randall directly. If we had been a thorn in his side, it would not have taken him long to investigate us and bring us to heel as he had done with James. We could not afford the luxury of trying to ruin him.

  “We decided to stay with Edwards, the man who had been running the shipping business for James. It added more responsibility for him. He was paid well and he has managed it successfully all these years. No one knew what we had done. Not even her family. We engaged a trusted lawyer and friend who loved James as much as we did. He handled the business affairs and never breathed a word of it. He died several years ago now. I was sad to hear of it. He was a good man. And he did, indeed, keep our secret all those years.”

  Smithers paused briefly. Kate waited, knowing his mind had traveled back in time.

  “She confided in me once more that terrible afternoon. She was hurt and afraid. Alone. She said she had certain knowledge of herbs and had seriously considered aborting the child. She realized she was not able do it, regardless of what it would cost her. This was James’s child and she couldn’t let him go.”

  “I, then, told her of the promise I had made to him and my intention to honor it. I would protect her and James’s child from Jacob Randall. She readily agreed and I believe she was quite relieved she would not be facing the ordeal alone.

  “So, in the end, she went through with the marriage to Jacob Randall and moved into his townhouse in London. Randall had never seen me and was unaware of my connection to James Powell. I accompanied her as her servant. Seven and half months later a little girl was born ‘prematurely’ with her father’s green eyes.”

  With this statement, Smithers reached over, patted Kate’s hand, and smiled at her.

  It took a moment for the truth to dawn upon Kate, she had been so absorbed with the story. Jacob Randall was not her father. She was overcome with a mixture of sadness and relief. There was a reason why he never made any sort of bond with her. He must have had some inkling she wasn’t his daughter. He may have even known out right as soon as she was born and didn’t have his features but looked like the man he considered an enemy. Of course, by that time he wouldn’t disgrace himself by announcing he was a cuckold, having an unfaithful wife. So he went along with the situation, dealing with it in his own way. After all, he believed he had obtained all he desired. He had won.

  Kate bowed her head for a moment, letting it sink in. She thought of the man who loved her mother with his whole heart. She was so very glad her mother had known such a love and so very sad it had been lost.

  Smithers continued. “When you married, your mother and I agreed I must go with you as neither one of us could bear the idea of you facing Colquhoun alone. We knew what he was but could do nothing. We were powerless to prevent the marriage. Randall, alone, had the final say with regard to your marriage.

  “We sold the business not long after. Edwards had resigned his position and with no one to run it, it seemed the right course of action. When Lord Colquhoun sent you to Dumbarton, I took your inheritance to Glasgow to prevent a gabby money lender telling him about your fortune. I knew if it were available, with Colquhoun throwing his own away, it would soon find its way into his hands or his creditors.”

  “Smithers, how much money are we discussing?” Asking the question, Kate felt herself blush.

  Smithers patted her hand again. “My darling child, we are discussing a considerable amount of money. We put it with a reputable moneylender who paid ten percent interest to your mother every year. Of course, she just added it to the profits of the shipping business, having no desire or need to withdraw. She would have had to explain to Randall. The sale of the business including the yard, warehouses and ships added a considerable amount.

  “The gentleman I placed your money with in Glasgow was equally successful until this last year when King James capped the percentage rate to eight percent. It is a tidy sum of money.”

  “Smithers, how much money are we discussing?”

  Smithers chuckled at her impatience. “We are discussing over one hundred and ten thousand pounds. The interest alone is a bit over eighty-eight hundred pounds per annum.”

  Kate felt her mouth drop open as she stared at Smithers. She would never have to worry over money again.

  Chapter 28

  The MacDonald’s wife arrived.

  She gave a slight curtsey to Shane as was his due as laird of his clan. She would not slight him. She then nodded quickly to Ewen to acknowledge his presence. The men had both stood and bowed when she entered the room.

  “’Tis truly not what I expected,” she said as Mary sat down beside her.

  “Madam, if we may have a word with ye,” Shane said as he led her to a comfortable chair by the fire.

  “Ye may, I have only a wee bit of time before my husband will be seeking me out. He will assume I’m comforting our daughter and his patience will be brief.”

  Shane took the lead and explained his reluctance to marry Mary, touching upon Kate without giving much detail. Only to say he too had another in mind to wed.

  “’Tis not that yer daughter is not a fine lass. She is, indeed,” Shane continued. “’Tis obvious to me her love belongs to another. While I am within my right to take her, I canna do it in good conscience. However, I do still need yer husband’s good will.”

  Lady MacDonald listened carefully to what Shane said. When he finished she did not reply but instead moved her gaze directly to Ewen.

  “What exactly are yer intentions in regard to my daughter? Why haven’t ye stepped up before now?”

  The man grew red in the face. He glanced at Mary.

  Ewen began slowly. “I haven’t come to yer husband before this because of Mary’s age.”

  At this, Mary started to stand up and protest.

  “My age should have nothin’—”

  Ewen quieted her. “Be quiet, my wee bird. I have not finished.”

  Ewen cleared his throat to begin again.

>   “I dinna want to see her wings clipped while she was so very young. I love her, mayhap she would decide further along she desired another. I wanted to give her time.”

  “I want no other,” Mary cut in vehemently.

  Ewen held his hand up for her silence and continued.

  “I have but a wee bit to offer the daughter of the laird of the Clan MacDonald. I have only my two hands and heart.”

  Lady MacDonald stood and walked across the room, stopping by the door.

  “This will take some thinking. I will decide by the morn what should be done.”

  She turned and left the room.

  Shane, Iain, and Ewen studied one another. Shane was left wondering what would happen next. Ewen’s eyes were on Mary, obviously deciding he wasn’t leaving the room until Shane did. Mary finally stood, shooing them all out, giving in only to Ewen long enough for him to kiss her hand before he departed.