She shook her head at him like a doddering old maid chastising a child. “Have you no shame at all?”
There was no mistaking the hurt in her gaze. Braden frowned at what he saw, unable to place the source of her emotion. “Now, why would she be telling you that?”
“For the same reason you’d be telling it to your brothers, I’m thinking. For some unholy reason, she’s proud of the fact. So proud, she was bragging of the event just yesterday.”
Maggie gathered her skirts, then started past him. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have duties to be about that don’t include being tupped by the likes of you.”
Braden’s jaw dropped in shock of her words, and he uttered the same phrase he had been uttering at her for as long as he could remember. “Great saints, woman, where have you been that you picked up such language? What does Anghus have to say about that mouth of yours?”
She stopped, her hands clenched tightly in the folds of her skirt, and turned to face him again. A terrible sadness darkened her eyes. He saw the tears an instant before she blinked them back and swallowed hard.
When Maggie spoke, her voice was hoarse. “He hasn’t much to say about anything since a MacDouglas sword silenced him eternally two months ago.”
The unexpected news sliced through his heart and settled painfully in his stomach. For a moment, he could scarce breathe from the sensation.
“Anghus is dead?” he asked.
She nodded, her eyes bright.
“Nay,” Braden breathed, his tone betraying his grief. “How could it be? How could a warrior and man so fine be gone?”
A single tear fell down her right cheek. Licking her lips, she quickly wiped it away. “The same way the others perished. Over a senseless feud that should never have been started!”
His heart heavy, Braden tried to come to terms with her news.
After the death of their father when Anghus was but ten-and-six, he had been the sole support for Maggie and her brothers. All the members of the clan had helped the family as best they could, but the ever-prideful Anghus had turned aside the offers: ’Tis my family, and I’ll be the one taking care of them. It’s my responsibility and my pleasure to watch over them.
His old friend had been one of the finest warriors he’d ever known. They’d trained together more times than he could count. Had drank and wenched even more.
From as far back as Braden could remember, Anghus MacBlar had been like another brother to him.
“How?” Braden asked.
She spoke, her voice unsteady. “He fell guarding Ian’s back.”
Braden took a deep breath to stave off the agony he felt. Ian was Maggie’s twin brother. The two of them had been complete terrors as small children.
He remembered Anghus tossing Ian over his shoulder as the scamp ran after Maggie intending to torment her.
Lad, if you don’t learn to respect your wee sister, I’ll be tearing the hide from your bones. How many times had he heard Anghus threaten his baby brother? And how many more times had he seen Anghus wrap his arms around both Maggie and Ian and give them the love they needed?
I’ll always be here for you, little Mag-pie. I’ll not let anyone e’er harm you. So long as there’s breath in my body, I’ll keep you safe. Those were the only other words he’d heard Anghus utter more times than the threat.
“What of Kate?” Braden asked, thinking of Anghus’s wife and two small children.
“She’s surviving. Barely. Her mother took her in to live with them for a while. And now she alternates between cursing Anghus and begging God to let all this be a bad dream.”
Braden shook his head at the agony he heard in her voice. Dear Lord, the pain Maggie must be feeling now. Anghus had been her one true protector, the one person Maggie had always relied on.
What would become of her now?
Most women would have collapsed from the weight of such grief. For that matter, most men would have as well. And he wondered how she was making do. How she had found the strength to devise such a plan to end the feud that had cost her brother his life?
He saw her in a new light, and a profound respect for her welled up inside him. “And Ian?”
“He survived, just barely.” The sadness left her eyes and in its place her rage burned bright. “Now the fool wants to head out to avenge our brother.”
Braden could well understand that. Nothing would give him greater pleasure than killing whichever MacDouglas follower had claimed his friend’s life.
And in that instant he understood why Maggie had done what she had. “So, that’s the reason for all this. You’re here to protect Ian.”
“I’m here to protect all the men who are still living. If you men had your way, we’d end up like the MacNachtans, with nothing left save small boys and old men.”
He reached out for her. “Maggie—”
“Don’t you be touching me,” she said, stepping away from his hand. “I’m not about to let you have your way with me so your brother can lead another party out to its death. I’m sick of all this killing. I have four brothers left alive, and by the saints above, I’ll keep them safe or die in that effort.”
Now, that got his dander up. She acted as if it were Lochlan’s fault.
“If you recall,” he said, “we didn’t start this feud. The MacDouglas did when he led a raid into Ken Hollow. Do you not remember the women and children who were slain?”
“Aye, of course I do. If you remember, my brother Aidan was one of the ones who fell that night. Do you think I could ever forget such a thing?”
“Nay, of course you couldn’t.”
Braden cupped her face in his hands to offer her comfort. He half expected her to pull away or stiffen. Instead, she just stared up at him, her amber eyes large.
In that instant, he saw the vulnerability inside her. The uncertainty. And he ached to soothe her in some way. Not just with physical closeness. Nay, he wanted to make her feel better from the inside out.
“I am sorry about Anghus and Aidan, Maggie, truly I am.”
She placed her hand over his and looked up at him with tears brimming in her eyes. “Then stand with us, Braden, and do what is right. You know the feud canna go on. Help us to end it.”
Her courage amazed him. The cunning and determination it had taken her to achieve this standoff. The woman was truly brilliant.
“Tell me, how did you do this?” he asked. “How did you get the MacDouglas lairdess to agree with your plans?”
The right corner of her lips turned up into a beguiling half smile. “I snuck myself over to their lands. Since I was just a woman alone, no man thought to stop me. When I reached the MacDouglas castle, I pretended to be a servant and went to the Lady MacDouglas’s solar to wait for her. Once she heard me out, she agreed to help stop this.”
He paused in thought, but what played across his mind was not to his liking. Maggie’s tale had all the ingredients of a planned betrayal. “And how do you know she’s not lying to you? Even now they could be planning a raid on us while Lochlan is occupied with worries over you.”
“Nay,” she said. “I believe her. She’s a good lady and all she wants is her husband to see reason. She wants peace as much as I do.”
How Braden wished it were that simple. But he knew it would take more than a few days without sex or food to make Robby MacDouglas back down. The man was out for blood. And not just any blood.
In truth, nothing short of the impossible would cow the man. “Unfortunately, little blossom, it’ll never happen.”
Maggie frowned at him. “How do you mean?”
Braden dropped his hand from her cheek. It was time he explained the facts of the feud to the lass. Still, he didn’t want to see her discouraged. He so enjoyed her spirit that he almost hated to see her give up. But he had no choice.
And a looming deadline.
“Do you know what started this feud?” he asked.
“You said it yourself, the MacDouglas raided Ken Hollow.”
Braden nodded.
“And do you ken why he did that?”
She shook her head.
“Do you remember the MacRae’s daughter, Isobail?”
Her frown deepened as she searched her mind. “The lass your bothers fought over?”
Braden winced at her reminder. If ever the devil wore the face of an angel, it was in the guise of Isobail ingen Kaid. Beautiful beyond description, the woman had ruined the life of every man she had touched.
“Aye,” he said past the tightness in his throat, past the haunting memories that burned him through and through. “She was originally promised to Robby MacDouglas, but she couldn’t stand the man and threatened to kill herself if her father forced her to marry him. My brother Kieran brought her here to escape her father’s wrath.”
Braden’s stomach knotted as he recalled that day. Isobail had stepped into the hall, taken one look at Ewan, and in that instant decided he would make a better protector than Kieran.
“Didn’t Isobail run away with Ewan?” Maggie asked.
“Aye, she did,” he said, his voice thick.
The day after Ewan and Isobail had left, Kieran had killed himself.
It was less than six months later Ewan had returned home with the news that Isobail had left him in the middle of the night to be with a rich Sassenach.
The news of what had happened to Kieran had destroyed Ewan.
To this day, Braden would like nothing better than to cross paths with Isobail and send her unmerciful soul back to hell where it belonged.
But now was not the time to dwell on what Isobail had done. Now he had to rectify the lasting damage her actions had wrought.
He steeled himself for Maggie’s reaction as he explained the matter to her. “And that is the reason the MacDouglas continues to attack us. He wants Lochlan to hand Ewan over to him for punishment. The MacDouglas will not see reason until he has Ewan’s blood for taking Isobail from him, even though the bastard ought to be grateful Ewan spared him the lifetime of misery I’m sure she would have given him.”
Instead of being deflated by his words, Maggie seemed to take comfort. She nodded grimly. “Then it’s a good thing I took these matters into my hands, isn’t it? Otherwise this would never end.”
Braden stared at her in disbelief and fought a sudden urge to place his finger in his ear to clean it out. Surely he hadn’t heard her correctly.
“It won’t end, Maggie. Eventually one clan or the other will attack its women and drag them back into their homes. Do you not understand that your plan can never work?”
She lifted her chin stubbornly. Her resolve shone brightly in her eyes. “It has to succeed. Sooner or later one of the lairds is bound to listen to reason.”
“Sooner or later one of the lairds is bound to attack.”
“They wouldn’t dare attack their mothers, wives and daughters.”
“What of Bridget?”
“’Tis different.”
Braden took a deep, calming breath before he said something he would regret. How could such an intelligent woman be so foolish?
This was going to be a long two days if she persisted in her nonsense. It would serve her right if he left her to fend for herself. In truth, he’d love to see her and Fergus square off and battle each other.
But he couldn’t do that. Any more than he could let her face Lochlan’s wrath alone.
“Then it is a good thing I’m here to protect you,” he said at last, “since you’re bound to be hanged for your unreasonableness.”
She looked at him suspiciously. “Don’t pretend to be here as a protector. I know what you came here for. You’re here to seduce one of us so that the women will no longer listen to me and will return home.”
Braden smiled to cover the prick of his conscience. “Now, what would make you think that?”
“Because I know you for the randy scoundrel you are.”
“You’ve always suspected the worst of me, little blossom, haven’t you?”
An odd look came into her eyes as she regarded him. If Braden didn’t know better, he’d swear it was a look of disappointment.
“There was a time, once, when I expected only the very best of you.” The haunting quality of her voice tugged at Braden’s heart. And when Maggie finished her sentence, it felt as though she had thrust a dagger through his gut. “Unfortunately, you grew into manhood.”
“What do you mean?”
She shook her head. “Never mind. Tell me how long you intend to continue this farce of being our protector.”
Braden decided to be honest with her. She had a right to know exactly what would happen should she persist. “Lochlan has given me two days. If I can’t compel you from your sanctuary by then, he’s going to tear down the walls and let the men have at the lot of you.”
“He wouldn’t dare!”
Braden nodded solemnly. “Aye, he would. You have to understand the position you’ve put him in. Right now the men are starting to doubt his ability to lead. If he can’t bring you women under heel soon, then he will be forced to drastic measures.”
Maggie felt her heart sink with his words. What would she do if they forced her hand? She had counted on the men’s reluctance to harm them, but with each attack, her resolve had wavered.
Maybe she should just throw open the gates and go home.
This was just too much for a girl of two-and-twenty to deal with. ’Twas too much for a woman of eighty to deal with, for that matter.
Rubbing her hands over her eyes, she tried to think of some alternative. Some way to end this.
Whatever was she to do?
You’re a good lass, little Mag-pie, with a kind heart, she heard Anghus’s voice in her head. I know I can trust you to always do what’s right.
If only she had the strength to see it through. Weary from the struggle, from the constant complaints of the women, and from the uncertainty of her own mind, she looked up at Braden.
The sunlight cast dark reddish highlights in his sable hair, and his eyes glowed with that same compelling warmth that had once soothed her when she was just a wee bairn and he a boy. Even now she remembered the inner feeling of peace his youthful hugs had once given her.
How she wished she could trust him. She needed to trust someone. Even if it was a scandalous rogue with wenching on his mind.
“Tell me,” she said, “why are you here, and not helping Lochlan to plan his attack against us?”
A deep emotion burned in his eyes, something she couldn’t name. “I’m here to make sure no one kills you in retaliation for your actions.”
Her breath caught at his words, at words she had waited a lifetime to hear. Could it be that after all this time, he might actually have feelings for her?
Dare she even hope for it?
“And why would you do that?” she asked.
“You were always Anghus’s pride. I couldn’t live with myself if I let something happen to you. ’Tis the least I owe him.”
His words stung her heart even more deeply than she had thought possible.
What were you expecting, an avowal of love? You know better than that, Maggie. You’re far too plain and simple to turn his head.
Her heart broken once again by him, she nodded.
Two days. She had two days left to think of something.
And she would.
Somehow.
Or you’ll pay a dear price.
“Thank you,” she whispered, patting him lightly on the arm. “I’m sure in two days I’ll be needing a guardian.”
“So, you’re going to carry this all the way to Lochlan’s deadline?”
She nodded, wishing she could think of an alternative. But there wasn’t one. No matter how hard it was, she must see it through.
“I have no choice. If I open the doors and let everyone leave, I will be a laughingstock for the rest of my life. Look, there goes that crazy Maggie ingen Blar who thought she was some great chieftain to lead the women. She led them, all right. Right back into their homes where they could be s
laughtered and raped in the middle of the night by the MacDouglas and his men.”
He reached for her. “Maggie—”
“Nay, Braden,” she said, stepping away from him. “Both of us have the same goal—to save the life of our brothers.”
She looked up at him, allowing him to see the turmoil in her heart. “But tell me this. If I give in to you and Lochlan and lead the women home, who’s to say that in the next battle it isn’t you or Ewan who dies? Will Lochlan still feel victorious then? Or you, if it is he or Ewan who is cut down? Where will your precious manhood be when you’re standing over the grave of your brothers?”
Before he could stop her, she left him standing in the middle of the yard, mulling over her words.
Braden watched her as she entered the refectory.
Damn the wench if she wasn’t right. He already knew the pain of losing a brother, and the last thing he wanted was to bury another.
There had to be some other solution to this madness. Something that would allow both Lochlan and Maggie to save face.
Clenching his teeth, Braden crossed the yard to slip through the back door of the kirk and return to the castle. He would go talk to Lochlan. Surely his brother would be more reasonable than Maggie.
If nothing else, he could try and bully Lochlan into a surrender.
After all, he was Braden MacAllister, the unparalleled, sanctified peacekeeper of the family. He’d dealt with his pigheaded brothers all his life. If he could maintain peace between the lot of them, then surely he could settle this petty squabble.
I mean, how hard could it be to bring peace between people who want it?
What of Kieran?
His gut tightened at the memory. Neither Kieran nor Ewan had wanted the fight that Isobail had caused. They had even tried to work it out peacefully between them before she delivered her ultimatum.
Closing his eyes, Braden tried to blot out the lonely image of the green and black plaid, impaled by Kieran’s family sword, lying on the cliff above the rocks where his brother had jumped into the sea.
He had tried so hard to keep his brothers from fighting. Tried to tell Kieran that there would be another lady he would love as much.
You know nothing of it, Braden. Hearts don’t just stop loving, and when a man finds the woman he needs, he’ll do anything to keep her. Anything!
Claiming the Highlander Page 5
