The Black Wolf's Captive (The Highland Wolf Series Book 1)

by Tessa Murran

  ‘Duncan, those women over there, they obviously hate me. Who are they to you?’

  ‘Nothing.’

  ‘I don’t believe that.’

  Duncan had no desire to speak of his past associations with her and felt she had no right to ask him. Several of the women of whom she spoke had entertained him in the past but they had been a momentary distraction. They meant nothing to him and never would, a chapter of his life he wished to forget. His deepening mood made him cruel. ‘Do you think I lived as a monk before I wed you? They are nothing to do with us. Do not ask questions when you won’t like the answer,’ he hissed at her.

  ‘I have a right to ask you, Duncan, as your wife,’ she replied bitterly.

  ‘As you play that role rather reluctantly my love, I think not and your show of jealousy doesn’t suit you, nor is it convincing.’

  Duncan was in turmoil. Here in this castle, where he had been dragged up through a miserable childhood, unhappy memories pressed in on him. The darkness which had been held at bay at Cailleach had returned, for it hurt him to see Ailsa so downcast. She had not wanted to come and he should not have brought her. They were becoming closer to each other and he was starting to gain her trust but here at Dunslair, she was at the heart of the Campbells, her defeat thrown in her face. His insistence on bringing her along had merely served to rip open their truce to reveal all the differences between them.

  His pride at showing her off had gone. Instead, shame twisted his heart into a knot. He had forced Ailsa to marry him, taken her home and paraded her in front of the women of Dunslair to despise and insult. How could she ever want to be with him? He had been deluding himself, distracted by her beautiful body and the joy of making it his when in reality, she still hated everything he stood for and it was plain to see. Not expecting such disappointment when he had been so happy just days before, he was now set on a spiral of misery which he could not break out of.

  Duncan could hardly bring himself to look at Ailsa but saw that many of the men in the hall could not take their eyes off her. They envied him such a lovely bride. And he should have rejoiced in all he had achieved, land, wealth, an advantageous marriage to a beautiful woman, all earned through courage and perseverance. He should have thrown it all in the faces of the people he had been brought up with who had once thought him less than nothing, a poor relation, reliant on the laird’s charity. Now having risen higher than any of them, there was no feeling of triumph for he wanted Ailsa to be impressed with Dunslair and the man he was here but she was not.

  Duncan spotted Hugh coming towards them. ‘I have business with my uncle. You will be well looked after and Ailsa, it will do you good to make some new acquaintances.’ He beckoned to a middle-aged woman who was talking to her companion nearby.

  ‘Mistress Mairi, may I beg a favour of you? Could you watch over my wife while I am gone? Ailsa is a stranger to our ways and would benefit from some guidance and an introduction to some kinder company.’

  ‘Of course,’ the woman replied enthusiastically. ‘If you must abandon your lovely bride for your uncle, which is shamefully ungallant, then it will be my pleasure to entertain her on your behalf. Off you go now and leave us be,’ she said already clutching onto Ailsa’s arm with a vice-like grip.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Duncan stared bleakly into the fire as his uncle interrogated him.

  ‘Is she with pup yet?’ said Hugh bluntly.

  ‘No, shouldn’t you be welcoming your guests?’

  ‘They can wait. If Ailsa doesn’t prove fertile take another.’

  ‘I don’t want another,’ he snarled angrily kicking at a log which sent sparks hissing upwards into the chimney.’

  ‘Oh it’s like that is it?’ said his uncle dismissively. This seemed to kill all conversation as Duncan took a slug of whisky to calm his irritation. He was in a dark mood and his uncle wasn’t helping.

  ‘I trust you are persistent in your marriage duties. I know the girl wasn’t willing and you were squeamish about….’

  ‘Enough, uncle! I agreed to your damned marriage and how I consummate it is my affair. You need have no worries about my ability to produce an heir and your schemes will bear fruit no matter who you hurt in the process.’

  ‘Take no offence, nephew,’ said Hugh. ‘I watched you in the hall. You two seemed at odds tonight and I simply meant to point out that if you find your marriage bed cold then you know there are many who would happily warm it for you.’

  ‘Let us discuss the more pressing matter at hand and the reason I am here,’ snapped Duncan, sick of his uncle probing into his love life and his disrespect for Ailsa.

  ‘You know the answer to that. I wished to unite my allies and this is a chance to display our power and bind the subordinate clans to our cause. Some have yet to come within the fold so they must be made to see the advantages of pledging their fealty to me. ‘

  ‘So you bid me leave Cailleach in a dangerous time so that you can throw a banquet to toady up to some new friends.’

  ‘I assume you weren’t foolish enough to leave the castle undefended.’

  ‘Of course not, my best men are there with Rory overseeing them. Cailleach itself has good defences but the surrounding villages, well, they are vulnerable to attack.

  ‘Your best men are left behind eh? That worries me for I have just received alarming news from an informant in the Sinclairs’ camp. They know of your visit here and when you return home there will be an ambush on the road. They mean to kill you, thereby weakening Clan Campbell by removing its best fighter.’

  Duncan gave his uncle a sharp look. ‘You trust this informant?’

  ‘As much as I trust any turncoat; he seems reliable. After all, his life depends on it. You know what happens to people who abuse my trust.’

  ‘Aye, I do. Why would the Sinclairs risk such a strategy? Even if they kill me no one could ever think of you as weak, it would not be the end of us and you would seek revenge.

  ‘Robert MacLeod rides with them and they seek to reinstate him as laird. If they succeed Cailleach will be as good as in their hands, a great stronghold from which to wage war on us.’

  ‘But an ambush? Are they aware that I am travelling with Ailsa? Surely Robert would not risk his sister getting hurt?’

  ‘The fool will stop at nothing to gain his land back and we both know he is easily led. Alex Sinclair will have given him assurances as to her safety that he probably has no intention of honouring. But no doubt, if Ailsa survives, she will be married off to one of his clan, if not Alex himself, to legitimise their alliance.’

  Duncan felt an implacable hatred rise up in him at the thought of it. Hugh continued, all the while watching his nephew’s face intently.

  ‘Now listen, the Sinclairs have already dispatched their best men to cut you down. They will be lurking somewhere on the road back to Cailleach, armed to the teeth and ready to fight.’

  ‘Then we must not disappoint them. I need time to gather some good men and then I will leave in a day or two and when the Sinclairs attack they will be met with a far greater force than they were expecting and one that is prepared for them. The trap will be sprung.’ Duncan was quiet for a moment, adjusting to this new reality. ‘So…spies in the Sinclair camp eh. You are a wily old goat uncle.’

  ‘Yes, I am. There’s little that escapes me.’ Hugh paused to pour another drink for each of them. ‘Remember when you returned from Cailleach Duncan after you had caused all that trouble with the Sinclairs?’

  ‘As you knew I probably would.’ Duncan felt the warm bite of the whisky in the back of his throat and stared thoughtfully into the fire his mind already focussed forwards on how he was going to win this fight.

  ‘Aye, the Sinclairs had been nipping at my heels long enough,’ Hugh continued, ‘and old MacLeod was beginning to lose his grip. Matters had to be brought to a head and I know I can always rely on your fondness for starting a fight.’

  ‘Aye, and your damned plan for me to spark a quarrel
with Sinclair almost cost me my life. What of it?’

  ‘Remember how you raved about the beauty of his daughter, the lovely Ailsa. Lord how you sang her praises, you wouldn’t shut up about her though you knew she could never be yours.

  ‘The lass saved my life.’

  ‘Saved your life! Bah, that is not the reason you acted like a love-sick fool for weeks upon your return, pacing the castle at night, drinking to all hours, picking fights and rutting all over the place. Don’t play the reluctant suitor to me, laddie. That slip of a girl had your balls in a vice from the minute you saw her and that hasn’t changed has it?’ Hugh suddenly became more serious. ‘You know you are as a son to me Duncan. You would be even if Angus hadn’t passed.’

  ‘Yes, I know. He was as a brother to me and I miss him still.’

  ‘Aye, ‘tis a terrible blow to lose one’s child, one’s heir. Now you are all that’s left of my blood and you must continue our line. If the girl gives you trouble deal with her or cast her aside.’

  ‘I have no wish to cast her aside, she is a good wife.’

  ‘I’m sure she is in some respects,’ said Hugh lasciviously. ‘But think on this. Her brother still fights against us with the Sinclairs. Perhaps this is what she has been waiting for, a chance to get rid of you and win back her birthright. She is her father’s daughter, strong and cunning like him and make no mistake, she will never relinquish her old loyalties for your pretty face Duncan.

  ‘She hates the Sinclairs almost as much as we do.’

  ‘But that does not mean she can be trusted.’

  ‘Only a fool would trust a MacLeod…or any woman for that matter and I’m no fool. When I go to face our enemies Ailsa must stay here and I must trust you to keep her safe uncle. Promise me this.’

  ‘Don’t worry yourself, laddie. Your little dove will be safe with me.’

  As the hours wore on and Duncan did not return Ailsa, stranded in the great hall, was left at the mercy of the formidable Mairi Campbell. Fortunately, she turned out to be warm-hearted and friendly, eager to take a younger woman under her wing and Ailsa soon made an ally of her. Big-boned and turning to fat and, Ailsa suspected, slightly in her cups, she had declared that she was already upon her third husband and constantly scoured the room as if trying to sniff out a fourth.

  She was also shockingly indiscreet, a self-appointed authority on Campbell history, and set about telling Ailsa everything about everyone in the room. Her comments about the various shortcomings of her clan were sometimes unkind.

  ‘There’s Donald over there with his young wife Coira. He’s ugly as all hell and impotent I hear, lucky for her some would say, but he’s rich of course which makes up for it.’

  ‘Does it?’ asked Ailsa appalled at the thought of such a match.

  ‘No, not really but it was her choice to marry for love or marry money so she chose him. If she’s lucky he won’t last much longer and then she can marry where she likes. Probably that one,’ said Mairi pointing to a huge blonde fellow who was staring with naked longing at the girl.

  ‘Just look at him mooning over her like a love-sick calf. Bedded half the castle he has since she wed Donald. There’s not a servant girl in this room who hasn’t had to run from his eager little cock.’

  Ailsa stared at Mairi with her mouth open.

  ‘Och, now I’ve gone and shocked you, poor pet. An innocent are you, though I’d wager not for long if you’re wed to Duncan Campbell? He won’t leave you alone, looking like you do. A fine husband to be sure, you are lucky to be bedded by a man like that instead of one like that,’ she scoffed, pointing at the unfortunate Donald.

  ‘Mine was a marriage of convenience,’ Ailsa blurted out.

  ‘Convenience you say? Not judging by the way he looks at you. I saw it here tonight. There’s many a girl here who would happily lift her skirts for such a look.’

  ‘Well, I do not want him to look at me.’

  Mairi seemed to relent then. ‘I mean no disrespect Ailsa. I should guard my tongue ignorant silly woman that I am. Tell me he does not mistreat you lass.’

  ‘He is not cruel, I can be thankful for that and he is kind to my mother; she has been ill.’ Ailsa’s voice trailed off. She didn’t want to talk about her family to a stranger.

  ‘Ah well, Duncan has always been kind to women and children. Never got a cross word from him and I’ve known him since he was a boy; a good lad then and an honourable man now.’

  ‘Tell me about those women over there,’ Ailsa asked, gesturing towards Agnes and her cronies and desperate to change the subject.

  ‘You’ll get no welcome from them, sour-faced baggages.’

  ‘They seem to hate me for being a MacLeod.’

  ‘Not for being a MacLeod, for being beautiful. They set their cap at your husband long ago. Fat chance they ever had of catching him and no chance at all now they have seen you and you are so much lovelier than them. You have cheated them of their prize, my dear, no matter that you did it unwittingly and rather unwillingly. Let me introduce you to some better company.’

  With that she dragged Ailsa into a series of introductions, singing her praises to all who would listen as if she herself was personally responsible for having landed Duncan such a worthy bride and should be congratulated on her achievement.

  After what seemed like an age Ailsa excused herself. Feeling tired to her bones she bid Mairi goodnight and slipped out of the hall. By the time she reached her chamber, there were tears soaking her face. She had dreaded coming here, had not wanted to leave the tentative intimacy which had blossomed between her and Duncan. Since coming to Dunslair she was beginning to feel that her desire for him had blinded her. Duncan had married her for power and position and any feelings she had started to nurture for him were wasted against his loyalty to the Campbells.

  Perhaps she had been played for a fool, no matter that he had done so kindly, the pretence of feeling affection for her allowing her to cling to her pointless pride that little bit longer. Reality bit hard. She was one woman among many he had singled out for his attention. What was she to him other than a means to consolidate his power? When he had lain with her at Cailleach it had been to satisfy a hunger and produce an heir nothing more. Ailsa could not steer his loyalty from Clan Campbell to her.

  Duncan came late to bed and Ailsa braced herself in case he reached out for her. When he did not, she was unsure whether to be relieved or furious. They had never shared a bed all night before as Duncan had kept his distance in this regard at Cailleach. Was this kindness on his part in not wanting to force his company on her or the indifference of a man who had married for convenience? Now at Dunslair, it was assumed that as newlyweds they would sleep together and so Ailsa, her mind whirling with tension, was forced to listen to Duncan’s steady breathing as he drifted easily off to sleep. She, on the other hand, lay awake until dawn feeling the warmth of his body next to her while the cold sting of rejection bit into her heart.

  The next day the unforgiving highland weather finally relented and blessed the castle’s occupants with a breezy day of sunshine. Duncan was gone by dawn and obviously wrestling with some demon or other as he seemed to be avoiding her. She was tired of feeling like someone’s prisoner and she resolved to get out of Dunslair and get some air in her lungs.

  Surprisingly it was easy to get beyond the castle walls. The Campbells were confident in their mastery of their lands and held sway over all around them. Folk came and went with ease, with no fear of violence or thievery. Ailsa passed unchallenged through the busy stream of merchants and carts bearing their wares in and out of the castle gates, farmers bringing livestock for the castle’s kitchens and those down on their luck, the impoverished who sought succour at the laird’s door. As she headed for the nearby loch and stretched her legs she felt more at ease.

  Bright sunlight flooded the valley lighting up the sweeping slopes of russet bracken and rocks as they tumbled down to the water. The dark loch was flat and still reflecting, like glass, the
brooding snow-capped mountains encircling it. Overtaken by her feelings, Ailsa kicked off her shoes and hobbled over the rocks, slippery with vivid green algae. She took delight in paddling in the icy water like a child. The chill numbed her feet in seconds but holding her skirts above her knees she could not suppress a smile. What a joy to be out of that dark, dreary castle with sunlight warming her face. She stayed like that for some time watching the silver flash of hordes of tiny fish darting as one amongst the shallows and the sweep of birds over the water.

  ‘Don’t freeze to death Ailsa,’ said a warm voice behind her. She whirled around to see Duncan standing there. Every muscle had tensed at his voice but he was smiling at her.

  ‘Why is it that each time I come upon you I find you more beautiful and less ladylike,’ he teased while reaching out his hand to guide her back over the rocks. Ailsa let her skirts fall as the wind chilled her legs.

  ‘Come and sit down,’ he said guiding her to some boulders nearby. He quickly got down on one knee and lifted her skirts up onto her knees. Ailsa dared not move. Gently he took hold of one foot and slowly rubbed it dry with his plaid. He then took up the other.

  ‘I should do that for myself,’ she said.

  ‘Why should you when you have me to do it for you. Besides you have the prettiest feet I ever saw, so small and delicate.’ Duncan retrieved her shoes and placed them gently back on and then got up and sat next to her, shoulder to shoulder. Ailsa was acutely aware of him and of the warmth from his shoulder where it touched hers. Though there was a brisk wind over the loch he wore only a shirt; he never seemed to feel the cold as she did. She glanced down at his rough hands clasped in his lap and remembered how it felt to have them roam all over her. She bit her lip and stared out at the glassy grey surface of the loch wanting so badly to mend fences with him.