Vexing the Highlander

by Terry Spear

  “Aye, but I dare say she is interested in Lord Dunlap instructing her and no’ anyone else. Besides, it wouldna do to fall for a lady when I could never court her.”

  Alban knew his brother was not being mean-hearted, that he only worried about Alban’s continued interest in Aila. His brother was right, as much as Alban didn’t want to acknowledge it.

  Raleen and Mai, the ladies’ maids, suddenly joined them. “Lady Wynda told us to join you and stay with you,” Raleen said.

  “And what about my sister being without a maid?” Aila asked.

  “She is with several ladies right now. But she did want to speak with you about some news.”

  “Take me to her at once.” Not that Wynda could reveal the news to Aila when others were within hearing, unless she could tell her in a secret way. But even a shake of her head could mean…well, she wasn’t sure. No, Dunlap hadn’t been with the men on the hunt? No, he hadn’t been near the king at the time?

  They soon caught up with her sister, others scattering to hunt stag and boar.

  “Lord Farquharson was telling me how he got the first shot at the boar they took down the other day. Lord Tarleton after him. Lord Dunlap didna show up until it was too late. But then he heard Alban shouting and headed that way for a chance to take down the last of the boars needed for the meals.”

  Aila frowned. “Late, eh?”

  “Aye. I said I was surprised he was late, given his interest in hunting.”

  Ward and Alban exchanged glances.

  “Lord Dunlap said something had come up and he would join them right afterwards, to not finish off the boar until he could help. Of course, they couldna hold off. It wouldna have been humane to the boar and if the lord had other pressing matters to attend to, whoever showed up, it was their game. I had to agree with Lord Farquharson.”

  “What about the—“

  “No one has any.” Wynda gave her sister a look that said do not speak of the arrows out loud.

  “Oh. Lord Dunlap wished me to sit beside him at the meal tonight.” Aila didn’t sound happy about it.

  Alban hoped she wasn’t going to ask Lord Dunlap what important business he had to conduct, which made him miss hunting the boar with his lordly friends when he’d already said he’d gone to hunt with them.

  Alban was giving Aila pointed looks across the great hall that evening. She knew he was concerned that she would speak about what business Lord Dunlap had been dealing with that made him miss hunting with his friends. She wasn’t that naïve. If it meant he’d tried to kill the king in that time, and she let on she knew about it, she could be at real risk.

  Besides, she had other problems. Lord Comyn had mentioned to Lord Gustafson that she had been alone with a Highland commoner on the hunt, and he wanted Gustafson to tell the king.

  Thankfully, Gustafson had told the lord, and her, that the king was more concerned with other matters, and, in fact, he and a maid had been nearby.

  Which had nearly stopped her heart. Had he been nearby? Had he overheard what they’d been discussing? And seen her kissing Alban, and him running his hands over her breasts, making her hot and intrigued?

  She didn’t think so. She thought he was trying to keep the news from angering the king. Which, from what she understood, he was very good at doing—if the news wasn’t such that he felt the king needed to hear it. But she worried Ward had seen Alban and her kissing too. And the rest.

  “I am curious about some things concerning the hunt, my lady,” Lord Dunlap said, and all of a sudden, Aila felt chilled. “Your sister was talking to Lord Farquharson concerning my absence for a few minutes before I joined them on the hunt, and then there is this business with the arrow. I am certain you have something you would like for me to explain further. I would like very much to do so. I believe men and women should discuss topics that they have on their minds. No sense in trying to second guess when we can be perfectly honest with one another.”

  “I wholeheartedly agree.” But there was no way she was going to ask him what he’d been doing that had delayed him from arriving in time to hunt the boar with his friends. If he had indeed shot Sim, he wasn’t going to tell her the truth anyway. So instead, she asked, “You are so right. And I wanted to ask you why you hunt with the nockless arrow.”

  Lord Dunlap cast her a small smile. He was not witless. He knew she wanted to know more than that, but since she didn’t ask, he told her all about the Arab who had taught him about nockless arrows and the reason for them. Which she already knew.

  “You will dance with me this eve, will you no’?” he asked.

  “Aye, of course.” She smiled sweetly at him. Could he be the devil himself?

  “I did want to mention I have heard the most alarming news concerning you and Alban, however.”

  She tried not to stiffen at hearing his words. “Oh?”

  “You know how gossip is. Lady Felicia tells a group of women, Lord Comyn overhears, he mentions it to the king’s steward…”

  “Alban has been helpful to my sister and me when we needed someone’s assistance in rousing the healer from her pallet to take care of our sick maids. He was very kind in doing so. As to the dances”—she lifted her chin—“no one asked me to dance and he was being nice to offer.”

  “Both heroic endeavors, I agree. People will say what they wish because it makes them feel more important. But when I choose a wife, I want to know that she doesna have feelings for some other man. Nor has she acted on those emotions.”

  She wanted to tell him she had kissed Alban, and if that ruined her chances with him or any other lord here, so be it. She would take the way she felt about him to the grave, but she would never have wished to have done anything differently.

  She smiled. “Lady Felicia wants you to marry her. She is upset with me for any attentions you cast my way. If we are being perfectly honest with one another, I have never lain with a man, any man. Just so you know.” Normally, she wouldn’t have told any man that, but she respected Lord Dunlap—if he was not an attempted murderer—for bringing the gossip to her attention. He could have just kept it to himself and thought the worst of her.

  Although if he’d seen the way Alban had kissed her and she had wantonly kissed him back, he might have believed Felicia’s claim.

  “Lord Comyn is always looking for a way to garner some favor from the king, so he feels if he passes the gossip along, no matter whether any of it is true or not, that will earn him some favor,” Lord Dunlap said. “Thankfully, Lord Gustafson is good about not giving into the gossip unless he learns ‘tis completely factual and can be substantiated.”

  She was glad for that, though she imagined Gustafson suspected plenty where she and Alban were concerned. After they concluded the meal, Lord Dunlap wanted to walk with her, and so she was unable to speak with Alban, or her sister, before the dance began. But she was afraid that either he was keeping her close because she knew too much and he wanted to learn just how much, or he was really interested in her as a marriage prospect. After the way she had seen him treat Alban in the hunt, nearly knocking him from his horse, she wasn’t interested in the earl in the least bit. But she wasn’t sure she’d have any say in the matter anyhow. Still, she could always tell him she’d lost her heart to Alban, if Dunlap truly wanted to wed her, and that would be the end of that.

  When she retired to bed that night, her sister said, “The gossip all over court is that Lord Dunlap is planning to marry you.” But Wynda didn’t look happy for her. More concerned instead.

  “I still dinna know if he wanted to do anything bad to anyone,” Aila said, as the maids helped them out of their clothes.

  “But you love another.”

  Aila took a deep breath and nodded.

  “What will you do if he asks the king for your hand in marriage?”

  “I will tell him I love another. And hope that he will understand. Tomorrow the boat races commence. I was so hoping we could go with Alban and Ward.”

  “Aye, I know. W
e willna know until tomorrow as to who will be with whom. Though I have it on good authority that you and I will be in the same boat with whoever the gentlemen are.”

  Aila smiled. “At least that will be good.” She told her about Lord Dunlap’s comments concerning the hunt.

  Wynda didn’t say anything as they slipped under the covers. “So he believes you suspect something then.”

  “Aye.”

  “If I could, I would say something to hurt Felicia’s reputation for casting disparaging remarks about your character,” Wynda said.

  “We are above being gossips.” But then she smiled at Wynda. “Unless of course we can learn something that is true.”

  9

  Alban and his brother watched as the last of the boats disappeared around the peninsula of the loch. “Come on. Let us go take care of this business, and then come back to see who wins, but I canna say I like that Lord Comyn was one of the men in the boat, not after he was so condescending concerning Aila.”

  “Mayhap Gustafson planned it that way, to allow her a say in the situation.”

  Alban snorted. “Even if the lady did have her say, I doubt Lord Comyn will believe anything but what he wants to believe. Which is the worst in people.”

  “Have you ever noticed that people like that can sometimes be the least trustworthy because they have something to hide?”

  “Aye, true enough.” Alban knew Aila would be miserable. At least she had her sister as a companion.

  He and his brother were headed back to their camp to speak with their men. They’d had word that some of their clansmen’s discussions with other clansmen might have given them a lead. Often when men wouldn’t talk to the brothers, they would feel freer to talk to their guardsmen about issues. Women, duties, battles they fought in, and more—like who might have been interested in the arrow that had wounded Sim.

  But Alban was surprised to see Sim speaking to their men, gesticulating wildly, motioning to another man that Alban’s clansmen were holding in place. He was a short, tawny-haired fellow, with shifty eyes, and he did indeed look guilty about something, though he was shaking his head and clearly denying whatever it was.

  Everyone turned to see Alban and his brother riding into camp and Sim pointed to the man. “He is the one! He is Lord Comyn’s man. He wanted the arrow that shot me. Indeed, he was the one who shot it!”

  “You are sure? You said naught about this before,” Alban reminded him.

  “Aye. Before I was attempting to keep away from the boar, I had been trying to recall who all was there. If someone had been trying to kill the king, then you needed to know. Lord Comyn was there and his man. This man. He was holding a bow for Lord Comyn and so was the lord himself. I thought it odd that he was ready to shoot two bows. But something glinted off the one Lord Comyn was holding. A ring, the sunlight shining on it for a moment. That was what had distracted me when the boar came after me, I realized. My friend shouted for me to run. I turned quickly and saw the king on foot near me. We were both in the path of the angry boar. Then I was shot. I didn’t think anything of it until later when I began running the whole scene through my mind.

  “I asked Lord Comyn’s man when he started to use nockless arrows. He said he never had and was all growly about it. Said I had better mind my own business or else. Well, then I knew Lord Comyn had shot me and this bastard was lying about it. One of my friends was told to carry water to Lord Comyn’s chamber. He wasna there, and she brought the bow with the ring on it to me.”

  “I told him Lord Comyn doesna use such a bow,” the man said. “Someone must have planted it there. Lord Dunlap’s man. The lord is the only one who uses such a bow.”

  “Except Lord Dunlap’s bows, the three he has in his chamber, have a carving of a stag’s head. Why would he have that on three of his bows and not the fourth? And why would he frame Lord Comyn when the baron doesna even use such a weapon?”

  One of Alban’s clansmen showed the bow to Alban, then he passed it on to Ward.

  “The servant said ‘tis made in the same wood, has the same grain, and the symbol of a falcon on each. Lord Comyn’s symbol. She found six nockless arrows hidden beneath the bed in Lord Comyn’s chamber.”

  “’Tis all we needed to know. Bring the men, the bows, and the arrows,” Ward said to their men. “We must take this information to the king at once.”

  “Lady Aila and Wynda,” Alban said, and rode off, his heart thundering.

  “Gustafson is with them.” Ward galloped after Alban.

  “Aye, and what if Gustafson was behind all of this?” Alban had never figured the king’s steward would be in on any of this.

  “They wouldna do any harm to the women.”

  “Why would they plan to take them out in the boat? Those two men? Who always scheduled everything? Gustafson. He knew where everyone would be. He was the one who used the king’s name to order everyone about.” Alban didn’t think this was just by chance.

  “But he didna tell the king the ugly rumors Lady Felicia and Lord Comyn were spreading concerning Lady Aila.”

  “Mayhap because he didna want the king to be aware of it. The more he told him about her, the more the king would be thinking about what to do with her. If she was of no consequence, just another lady amidst a castle of courtiers, if she died, he wouldna think on it for long. We must hurry and stop their boat if we can.” Alban didn’t want to believe the women could be in harm’s way when he couldn’t reach them easily to rescue them.

  “As much time as has gone by, they should nearly be to the halfway point by now,” Ward warned.

  “Then we shall ride like the wind.”

  The afternoon was sunny and warmer than the past week and today, just perfect for the boat races. Two gentlemen and two ladies were in each of the boats. Supposedly, the ladies’ suitors were to be paired up with them. Aila knew she didn’t have a suitor and the couple of lords who had appeared interested in Wynda hadn’t joined them at their boat either. Rather, Lord Comyn and the king’s steward did.

  Lord Comyn must have been told he had to go with them. Aila imagined Lord Gustafson took it upon himself to make the correct number of pairings before someone like Alban interceded.

  Aila so wished he could have come with them instead. They would have had so much more fun. Both brothers were watching from the shore, along with a number of guests and staff. The whole point of the exercise was to have the courting couples participate together. So though she had looked forward to doing this with her sister, she had not looked forward to who might boat with them. Especially when Lord Comyn was the one who had helped to spread the rumors about her and Alban, this was going to be even more uncomfortable for her. Her sister gave a knowing look like she would rather push him overboard for what he’d said about Aila, than ride with him in the boat.

  Lord Comyn looked sour, probably because he hadn’t wanted to be with them any more than they wanted him to be here. Gustafson was chatting more than usual, talking about the weather and tomorrow’s feast, about another hunt where the woman could take their falcons.

  But when they reached the middle of the loch, Lord Comyn stopped rowing. It was supposed to be a race. Aila felt uneasy. She couldn’t say why exactly, except she knew Comyn didn’t like her. And Gustafson had not been really happy with her either.

  “We will lose the race,” she cheerfully said. “Mayhap you are tired and Wynda and I can row for a while.” She’d noted all the boats had gotten so far ahead of them, they were no longer visible and she couldn’t imagine as good a shape as Comyn was in, that he couldn’t row any faster than this.

  “We have a rather unusual problem,” Gustafson said.

  Aila feared the worst. Were these the two men she and Alban had heard talking in the woods that day, plotting a murder? This was so not good. And her sister was right in the middle of it when she shouldn’t have been.

  “We are curious about your interest in the man who was shot accidentally during the hunt,” Gustafson said.

/>   “Oh, aye, well, I do believe the lord who shot him should have apologized to the poor man. I dinna believe ‘tis good manners to treat a servant thusly, and act as though it was his fault for getting in the way of the boar.” She prayed the lords believed her.

  Her sister was sitting like a statue, though Aila noticed Wynda glance behind them. Others who were not looking for marriages would be rowing boats later. She hoped some of them would show up and save them if they needed their aid. She realized Gustafson must have planned this all along as they were right in the middle of the loch, too far from any shore to swim to easily, unable to see anyone because of the way two peninsulas jutted out, one hiding the shore they’d come from and one hiding the one ahead, so they were quite out of sight.

  She was afraid Gustafson had already made up his mind that she knew they were the ones behind the assassination attempt. How she wished they had known and could have let the king know! But without substantial proof, she also realized neither she nor Alban would have been able to sway the king’s opinion concerning two of his most loyal subjects.

  “So that is why you asked Lady Umberton about who had shot the servant.”

  “Aye.”

  “And you learned?” Gustafson asked as the boat sat idly in the water, a breeze stirring, causing the boat to rock a little.

  If she could grab one of the oars and hit Gustafson with it, she would. She wished she could tell her sister to grab the other oar and whack Comyn on the head. Except Aila feared neither might be successful, and they might have a better chance to just jump overboard before the lords used the oars on them.

  “Well, only Lord Dunlap had the kind of arrow that shot Sim. So naturally, I knew it had to be him.”

  “And you told him he should apologize to the servant.”

  “Aye. And you know what he said? Well, he said he wasna even there. Which couldna have been the truth. So I asked him if he had witnesses to say he was somewhere else at the time. And do you know what he said?” Aila folded her arms, looking as indignant as she could.