The Highlander’s Demand

by Wine, Mary

  Innis withdrew her hand. “If that is all ye are about, I will send Orla in.”

  Hamish shifted in the tub. “Think yerself too good for me?”

  Innis meet his stare. “I’m clever, and I will have the place I want for meself. No’ simply a moment of yer lust. I will be the laird’s mistress. To do that, I need the Lindsey girl out of the way before the laird’s pity turns to something stronger.”

  Hamish didn’t finish rising from the tub. He sat back down and held her gaze. One side of his mouth twitched when she didn’t look away.

  “He would do something like that.” He finally stood, then walked over and picked up a length of linen to dry himself with. He reached for a shirt once he was finished and put it on. “The thought of that bitch as lady of this stronghold sickens me.”

  “So, we must make certain it does no’ happen.” Innis looked up from where she’d been pleating his kilt on the floor. “We can be of use to one another. I can get near her. Ye cannot.”

  She was being bold, for a man such as Hamish didn’t see women as anything but a vessel for release of their lust. But she was clever and saw the effect her words had on him as he contemplated her.

  Hamish came closer. He stopped and looked her in the eyes. “Ye have a spine woman. That’s a fine thing for the laird to have in any offspring ye give him. Get the Lindsey bitch out to the stables tonight, and I will make sure she never returns to tempt the laird away from ye.”

  Innis nodded. She paused at the door, looking both ways before leaving the bathhouse. The deal was struck. She smiled on her way back to the kitchens. Even Fenella’s glare wasn’t enough to dispel the pleasure speeding through her body. Soon, the Head-of-House would mind how she spoke to Innis. That wasn’t to say Fenella wouldn’t have her uses. Innis minded her eyes, keeping them downcast, because the path to her success wasn’t something to take lightly.

  Chapter Four

  “Mistress.”

  Rhedyn looked up as a maid appeared in the doorway after a light rap on the door.

  “Yes?” Rhedyn asked. Perhaps she spoke too quickly, but the truth was, she’d walked endless circles inside the chamber. Could she go where she pleased? Would it be a risk, or was she simply hiding like a coward?

  Both were valid questions that had kept her contained to her room as the afternoon stretched on.

  “The laird mentioned ye might enjoy a ride. There are plenty of horses if ye care to take a bit of air,” the maid offered.

  An invitation.

  But why?

  Did Buchanan plan to make a public display of treating her well?

  Was he planning to court her?

  Rhedyn bit her lip as her thoughts flew like a flock of startled birds.

  Did she want to be courted?

  Buchanan’s kiss had pleased her. The idea of returning to Lindsey land and waiting for Rolfe to return left her cold.

  Stop being ridiculous. Buchanan is simply making it clear ye have his protection.

  And such was for Cora’s sake more than Rhedyn’s. Buchanan was intent on seeing his sister’s fears soothed.

  Well, it was an invitation.

  “I am coming,” Rhedyn told the maid. She was halfway to the door when she thought to turn and pick up her arisaid. The length of Lindsey cloth was neatly folded and placed on a table.

  She stopped short, wondering if it might be better not to announce her clan affiliation. Her temper flickered in response. Buchanan should never have brought her to a place where she was placed in a position of choosing to hide her father’s colors.

  “Mistress?” the maid inquired.

  “Yes, I am coming.”

  In the end, Rhedyn left her arisaid on the table. Temper aside, she didn’t need to go looking for a fight. The Mackenzies had lost the laird’s brother, after all. Until the matter was settled, keeping quiet wouldn’t hurt.

  Besides, what mattered was making sure peace remained between Cora and her brother.

  Ye’re excited about seeing him again….

  Rhedyn didn’t bother to chastise herself over her thoughts. Later, she might, but for the moment, she would enjoy her time away from her chamber.

  Her heart hummed as she nearly danced down the steps. The maid walked quickly, but Rhedyn was happy to follow. Once outside, she drew in a deep breath.

  Fresh air. It nearly made her dizzy.

  The maid kept going through a yard. Rhedyn heard the chickens which roosted near the kitchens. Most of the birds were still in the grass, hunting worms and insects. The chill of evening hadn’t sent them inside their nesting boxes.

  That meant there was time for a long ride.

  The maid continued down a slope to where the stables were. Built of stone, the scent of animals reached her nose. It wasn’t unpleasant, which meant the stables were well attended to. Off to one side, she spied two wagons. They were empty now, but the inside of the beds bore the marks of having been used to haul away manure.

  “This way,” the maid said. She stopped outside a doorway. Her apron and linen cap spoke of kitchen duty.

  “Thank ye for showing me the way.” Rhedyn walked inside.

  It was dark. For a moment, she couldn’t see anything. But the place was filled with the snorting of horses and the stamping of their feet.

  A hard hand clamped over her mouth as she was drug into the shadowed corners of the stalls. She tried to scream, but all that escaped the hold on her mouth were muffled sounds.

  “Iain was my friend,” Hamish grunted next to her ear. “I will have vengeance for his blood.”

  Rhedyn remembered Hamish’s voice well.

  It was a sound she didn’t think she would ever forget, even if she lived a hundred years. He was pulling her deeper into a stall. His hold impossible to break.

  A perfect place to kill her.

  She suddenly fought with strength she didn’t realize she had. There was no method to her struggle, just a blind, panicked need to escape. She tasted blood as she sunk her teeth into the fingers sealing her mouth.

  “Ye bitch!” Hamish exclaimed as he pulled away from her.

  “Ye will no’ kill me so easily!” Her words sounded pathetic. Hamish was huge and blocking the only escape.

  At least it looked that way. Tipping her head back, Rhedyn saw the beams of the ceiling and a faint trickle of sunlight where it came through a spot in the thatching piled on the roof. The cold winter had worn the roof down. She climbed onto a beam that formed the stall, and reached for the wood above her.

  “Ye won’t escape,” he promised menacingly.

  But she’d gained a good grip on the beams and pushed off the rail to send herself up into the thick layer of thatch. Hamish caught her legs, pulling her down. She refused to go without a fight. The thatch was dry and full of dirt as her head popped through it.

  “Help!” she screamed.

  If anyone was in the yard to hear her, she didn’t get a glimpse of them. Hamish yanked her back down violently.

  She fell in a heap on the floor of the stall. A horse pawed and snorted nearby as Hamish reached down for her.

  “No!” she snarled at him, then rolled onto her back and kicked at him.

  For a moment, it felt like his weight was too great. But she flattened her hands against the floor and shoved with her legs. What felt immovable, suddenly gave way. Hamish went stumbling back, giving her the chance to get onto her feet.

  “Ye will no’ leave my body in a dark corner of this stable!” Rhedyn yelled at him.

  “I will no’ face Iain in the afterlife without being able to tell him I exacted the revenge due him!”

  His hands were up, his fingers looking like talons as he started toward her again.

  “Ye might just meet Iain sooner than ye think, cousin!”

  Hamish was suddenly skidding back. The entrance to the stall was clear. Rhedyn bolted through it, but had to stop because Buchanan stood in her path. He reached out and closed his fingers around her wrist. With one swift jerk, sh
e was stumbling toward him. He shifted out of her way so she could get behind him.

  “Ye are a sorry excuse of a laird,” Hamish accused Buchanan. “Weakness might be suffered in a damned English noble, but no’ here in the Highlands!”

  “And yer plan is what precisely?” Buchanan demanded. “To kill a lass in a dark stable and take pleasure in knowing ye did such a thing?”

  “Colum must pay for what he did!” Hamish snarled.

  Hamish launched himself at Buchanan. Rhedyn should have run, but she was frozen in place as the two men collided. Buchanan twisted and sent a hard fist into Hamish’s midsection. There was a grunt as the blow landed, followed by Buchanan recoiling from a similar hit. They fell toward the railing on the other side of the walkway. Horses let out startled sounds, but neither man stopped. They fully intended to kill one another.

  “Stop!” Rhedyn insisted.

  Hamish had stumbled back and blood trickled from the corner of one of his eyes. “Listen to the way the bitch begs!” he sneered. “Weakling Lindsey!”

  “It is no’ a weakness to not want to see murder done!” Rhedyn insisted. She grabbed a pitch fork from where it was leaning against the wall, pointing the sharp ends at Hamish.

  “Get out the door, woman,” Buchanan ordered. He turned his head and shot her a hard look. “Now.”

  His words were laced with unshakeable authority. She should have obeyed.

  But she was rooted in place as firmly as a hundred-year-old tree.

  Hamish took advantage of Buchanan’s inattention by attacking first. Buchanan twisted and turned, locking his arm around the other man’s neck. Both were covered in sweat as they strained to best the other. There wasn’t a hint of mercy in either one.

  “Ye heard the laird, lass.” Graham was suddenly there. He grabbed two handfuls of her skirt and yanked her out of the way.

  She tried to see what was happening to Buchanan, but a stream of Retainers flooded in. Someone yanked her further from the stables. Graham looked back from the doorway at whoever held her arm.

  “Get her inside, and do nae leave her for a moment,” the captain issued his order before he disappeared inside the building.

  Rhedyn tried to get to Buchanan again.

  “Mistress!”

  The young man holding onto her arm wasn’t happy about his duty. His tone was edged with impatience and irritation, but he wouldn’t release her until he was standing in front of her. He stretched his arms out wide to block her path when she started to go around him.

  “Do no’ make this difficult for me.”

  When she still looked around him, he let out a whistle. The sound brought two more Retainers to his aid. They formed a wall that was impossible to breach.

  “But…”

  “The captain said ye are to go inside,” the first man told her. “So, ye may walk or make me carry ye.”

  “But ye are going,” another man added.

  They weren’t going to allow her much time to contemplate the matter. It seemed the words were barely out of their mouths when the Retainers began to move toward her.

  Rhedyn jumped back. “All right!” The idea of them touching her was too horrible to endure. She was suddenly chilled to the bone and trembling.

  But she still didn’t want to go inside. No, she wanted to get back to Buchanan’s side.

  To do what, precisely?

  Rhedyn sighed and headed toward the hall. Not because she was being made to by her escort, but because her own thoughts held her captive as she tried to understand just why she was drawn to Buchanan.

  Clearly, her mind was breaking.

  *

  Hamish spat on the floor at Buchanan’s feet. “Ye are a bastard, and no mistake! How can ye protect that Lindsey bitch?”

  “Bastard?” Buchanan asked as he slowly circled him. “I’ve lost me temper with ye over the matter. We’re Mackenzies, no savages.”

  “I’ve lost faith in ye!” Hamish exclaimed. “Ye have made the Mackenzies the laughing stock of the Highlands! And I am no’ alone in me thinking!”

  “Is that a fact?” Buchanan straightened. He took his attention off Hamish and aimed it at the men crowding behind him.

  “Who among ye agrees with murdering a lass in the stable?” Buchanan demanded. He turned and sent a glare toward the men clustered behind him. “Speak up, for I am no’ afraid to tell all of ye that such an idea turns me stomach.”

  “As it should, Laird.”

  It was Graham who spoke. “Murder is no’ the Mackenzie way.”

  “She is Colum Lindsey’s daughter!” Hamish argued. “She is here in retribution.”

  “Aye, she is Colum’s daughter,” Buchanan agreed. “And I find meself no’ so happy to admit I took a her from her father, no matter the reasoning. How many of ye have daughters?” He looked around again. “Would ye have them treated in such a way?”

  There was muttering among the men. Buchanan gritted his teeth as he strove for patience, allowing them to think the matter through.

  “Taking the lass was a punishment toward her father,” Graham spoke. “This business in the stable…” He shook his head. “It’s altogether different, and I’ll say it plainly, it is no’ to me liking.”

  “An old man speaks up for ye,” Hamish mocked Graham. “Will it be the chambermaids next?”

  “It will be me,” a new voice came from the back of the group.

  “Yer actions are wrong,” Fenella raised her voice so it was heard throughout the stable.

  Hamish glared at her. “Yer son was cut down along with Iain.”

  Fenella’s eyes glistened with unshed tears, but there was strong disapproval on her face. She had her apron gripped in her hands so tightly, her knuckles were white. “Aye, me son is gone.” She gazed at Hamish. “And I’m ashamed to say I behaved poorly toward the girl….but this….” The Head-of-House looked toward the stall where Hamish had taken Rhedyn. “Seeing that girl’s head poke up from the thatch…a woman should no’ ever look so frightened.”

  The men at Hamish’s back began to shift away from him. Only a few stood steadfast in their positions.

  “Seems we need to find a solution to the lass’s problem.” It was Graham who spoke again.

  The stable was packed with people now, not a single foot of space unoccupied. There were mutters of agreement.

  “Her father’s guilt is no’ proven conclusively,” Buchanan stated. “He was no’ the only man in the Sow’s Troth that night. I took the lass so that tempers could cool. Before we started a feud with the wrong clan.”

  It was a risky thing to say out loud. Buchanan understood that while his father’s men were following him, it didn’t mean they didn’t have private opinions that differed from his own. But when it came to Rhedyn, he seemed to have no reservations about making his own position crystal clear.

  “I will no’ stand for having the girl harmed.” He pointed at Hamish. “Ye said clearly ye meant to kill the lass. There are witnesses. Ye are stripped of yer rank and banished from the castle. Murder will not be done on Mackenzie land while I am laird.”

  There was muttering among the men.

  Buchanan let his harsh stare sweep over them. “Go with him if ye think the same, for the next man who tries to commit murder on this land will be hanged.”

  *

  Buchanan stood on the steps of the largest tower in the Mackenzie stronghold. The yard was unusually quiet. Only the sounds of saddles being secured and horses stamping at the ground could be heard.

  Fortunately, Hamish only had a few followers.

  Fenella stood just behind Buchanan. She wasn’t just there to lend her weight to the matter, she had two of her maids standing behind her, their arms laden with lengths of wool in a greenish-brown color.

  “Ye’ll leave the Mackenzie colors before ye go, Hamish,” Buchanan declared.

  It was the harshest sentence he’d ever had to deliver. Even in the last couple of years as age had taken more and more of a toll on his fathe
r, there had never been an incident worthy of banishment.

  Hamish came close and opened his belt. The Mackenzie kilt he wore puddled in the dirt at his feet. “I will no’ wear them again until ye are no longer laird.”

  Hamish and his men didn’t stop to pleat up the lengths of material waiting for them. Instead, they slung them over the saddles and mounted. Then they were gone. The wind blew through the yard, hitting their backs as they rode out of the main gate.

  “’Tis for the best,” Fenella muttered.

  Buchanan heard the lament in her tone, but she drew in a deep breath before making eye contact with him.

  The eldest captain of the clan had taken up a position on the other side of Buchanan. Several other men with gray hair, stood near him, too. They nodded in support of Graham.

  Buchanan turned to face them. He’d been raised to shoulder the weight of the clan on his own, but today, he felt like it was heavier than ever.

  Rhedyn’s fate hung in the balance.

  “The lass is a hostage,” Buchanan stated.

  “Even if Colum is proven guilty,” Graham said, “it’s been made clear ye will no’ stand to see the girl harmed.”

  “Correct.” Buchanan wasn’t really listening. His focus was on Hamish as he rode down the road and out of sight.

  One matter finished. Which left something he considered very important left to do.

  He turned and left his captains on the landing. If they turned to look at him, he didn’t notice. He marched into the great hall; his men had Rhedyn there. They’d lined up between her and the doorway—barring her from leaving. She stood with a frustrated look on her face. But what caught his attention more was the way she was still attempting to think of a way around them.

  “Ye’re dismissed,” Buchanan growled as he broke through the line his men had made. He caught Rhedyn by the upper arm and turned her around.

  “What are ye doing?” she demanded under her breath.

  *

  Buchanan didn’t answer her.

  Instead, he pulled her along beside him. She had to nearly run to keep pace with his longer stride. The great hall passed by in a blur before they were in the passageway and past the opening to the kitchens. They didn’t go unnoticed. There were two gasps as maids spied them.