Terri Brisbin Highlander Bundle

by TERRI BRISBIN

  ‘But she told me you had need of her here last night when I asked her to stay,’ Ciara said.

  ‘Come, Ciara,’ her father said, squeezing her hand to reassure her. ‘Once we get to the chapel, I will send men out to look for her. She may even be there waiting for you now and we will have no cause for worry. Mayhap in the excitement of the day, your plans were confused.’

  Ciara nodded. His advice seemed sound. Elizabeth would indeed be at the church waiting. Once they were standing next to each other, it would all be good and Elizabeth would stand witness to her vows to James and travel with her to their home.

  As they got closer to the gates, others gathered to watch them walk by, calling out greetings and good wishes and then following them along. By the time they entered the yard and made their way to the small church, a large crowd was behind her. Though not her family by birth, they had accepted her and treated her as one of them. They were not loud and unruly, but a sense of joy ran through the crowd as little girls handed her flowers and touched her dress and hair.

  Ciara allowed herself only one final moment of weakness as she walked, peering off down the path that would lead to Tavis’s cottage. If either of her parents noticed, neither indicated it. They made their way to the chapel without pause then.

  And they arrived at the church doors just as the rains came.

  ‘’Tis good luck for the bride when it rains on her wedding day,’ someone called out. Laughter followed since everyone knew someone would have said the same thing if the sun shone.

  ‘Go inside,’ her mother directed. ‘We can wait out the shower there.’

  Ciara followed and let most of the crowd pass to get inside. Waiting at the doorway, she looked for Elizabeth again, but did not see her there or in the yard.

  ‘Father, she is not here,’ she said, as her father searched the faces in the crowd for her friend.

  ‘I will ask Father Micheil if she has been here and send someone to the hall to seek her out.’

  A concerned glance shared between her parents made her worried. Elizabeth would not miss her wedding. She would not. Not if she could help it.

  Had she taken ill somewhere? Was she safe?

  Her mother took her hand and squeezed it. ‘He will find her. All will be well,’ she said. ‘After all, it is my beloved daughter’s wedding day. Rain or no, Elizabeth or no, this is a special day and one not to be marred for you.’ Smoothing her hair from her face, her mother cupped her cheek in her palm and smiled. ‘No worries allowed this day for you, sweetling.’

  The rains worsened as Ciara stood waiting for James. He would be dressed in his finest garments and would look handsome as he walked with her down the aisle. They would say the words binding their lives. He would care for her as her father had her mother. They would work together in their endeavours. All would be well.

  So why did she have the terrible urge to do something embarrassing right now? Why did she want to scream and run from this church and from all the arrangements and agreements? To do the one thing that James had asked her not to do this day?

  ‘A momentary panic,’ her mother said, as though reading her thoughts. ‘Take a deep breath and it will pass.’

  ‘Did it happen to you, Mother?’ she asked, doing as her mother suggested.

  ‘Aye,’ she said, smiling. ‘Your father had no idea of what he’d walked into with my family. He was forced to marry me, not knowing the half of it.’

  ‘Forced? I cannot imagine him forced to anything.’

  ‘Ah, he was tied by the words and contracts he so enjoys writing. No choice but to marry me and take us both away.’

  ‘And look how it turned out for you two,’ she said, knowing that there were not two people who loved each other more than her parents did.

  ‘Aye, Ciara,’ she said. ‘Look how we turned out.’

  It was her mother’s way of soothing her without making it obvious. Things would work out for her and James. Things could be good between them. She focused on those thoughts over the next minutes as they waited.

  Those minutes flowed by with no sign of Elizabeth, her father, the Murrays or an end to the rain, either. Now she was getting worried. The people waiting inside the church grew restless as well as they noticed that something was not right. Questions and whispers echoed through the stone building and she heard some of them. Then, when she looked out the door once more, she discovered the one man she never thought to see here.

  The one man who told her he could not attend, even for her.

  Tavis.

  He stood in the rain, halfway between the church and the gates, arguing with her father.

  In the rain.

  She shook her head and would have gone to see what they fought over, when her mother grabbed her and pulled her back.

  ‘You are to marry James, Ciara. Let your father see to whatever business Tavis has.’

  But she could not tear her eyes from the scene. Her mother, sensing trouble, took her by her hand and led her further inside the church, away from the doors and from the spot where she could watch Tavis. ‘Here, now, Father Micheil has brought a chair for your use while we wait out the storm.’

  Ciara had no choice unless she pushed out of her mother’s grasp and ran out of the church. And what good would that do her or James? He did not want to be embarrassed here today. Had he known this would happen? She shook her head, clearing her thoughts and reminding herself that she had chosen this path, She had given her word. So, she told herself now as her stomach tightened with worry, she would just be patient.

  Except that she was not a patient person.

  ‘What is keeping James? His parents should be here by now.’

  ‘I do not know, sweetling,’ her mother said. Mayhap sensing that Ciara was nigh to doing something less patient than sitting here among the MacLeries waiting for her groom to arrive, her mother made an offer. ‘I will go to your father and see what is happening.’

  After calling her other daughter, Beitris, over to sit with Ciara, her mother walked away, speaking in low tones to this one and that one who all asked the same questions of her. Murmuring some replies she could not hear, Ciara watched as it took some minutes for her mother to make it to the door of the church. No sooner had she left than the crowd all began chattering and looking at the doorway.

  Believing that James and his parents had arrived, she stood and waited for her parents to come back. Tavis stood in the back, outlined in the doorway, half in and half out, still arguing with her father. Everyone there wanted to hear the conversation and quieted so they did not miss any details or interesting bits.

  ‘Tavis, do not do this,’ Duncan warned. ‘There is too much at stake. For Ciara and for the clan.’

  ‘I will leave it in her hands, Duncan,’ he said, loudly enough for everyone to hear.

  Her hands? What was he doing?

  Tavis pushed his way through the crowd towards her with her parents close behind him. Though everyone began to shift to let him through, they stayed close. Good gossip was good for years and none in the MacLerie clan would ever miss a chance to witness whatever this was.

  ‘The papers are signed, she is as good as married to him,’ Duncan argued as they strode towards her. He caught Tavis by the arm and pulled him away. Or tried to. ‘You will break her heart doing this, Tavis,’ he said.

  ‘Doing what, Father?’ she asked, standing now to meet him, them. Her mother tried to whisper to her father, but he shook her off and stood between her and Tavis.

  ‘The laird stands behind this marriage. Will you break from the clan over her?’

  He...he...wanted what?

  ‘If she will have me.’

  Confused, she looked at him and saw the love in his gaze once more. But now, there was no guilt and no pain sharing the place in his heart and she was glad of it.

  ‘Tavis, what is this about?’ she asked, as silence reigned inside the stone church.

  Clasping her hands tightly, trying to prepare for whatever admiss
ion he would make before he walked from her life forever, she crushed the flowers she forgot were in her grasp.

  ‘You were right, lass,’ he said. ‘About so many things.’

  ‘A woman does like to hear that, lad!’ someone called out from the crowd. Everyone laughed, but his green eyes darkened and his expression never changed from deadly serious.

  ‘You are the right woman for me,’ he said, pausing as though trying to remember what he wanted to say. Instead, his next words shocked her as he said them.

  ‘You are an educated woman, one who can read and write in five languages and one who can understand contracts and negotiating. You are accomplished in skills and knowledge that most men knew not of. You are intelligent, quick-witted and any man would be glad to have you as wife.’

  They were the words she’d spoken to him when asking him to marry her that night. The night that ended in pain and humiliation for her. But he continued now and added something not said between them yet.

  ‘And you love me, Ciara. I know you do, lass. As I love you,’ he said, smiling then.

  ‘Tavis, there is more to this than love,’ her father warned.

  ‘Treaties,’ he growled out. ‘And I will be outlawed for interfering with the laird’s business.’ He turned and faced her parents. ‘But you faced that decision, too, Duncan. You could have walked away from Marian all those years ago. Did the threat of losing all of this...’ he motioned his hand to indicate everything MacLerie ‘...did that threat keep you from claiming her?’

  Her parents looked at each other for only a moment, but she knew they understood his argument.

  ‘You made me see the truth of my failures of my past, Ciara. But your faith in me showed that I can be a better man in the future. Ciara, I want you to be my future. You already have my heart—will you have the rest of me?’

  She smiled at his mention of his heart, telling her he knew she’d taken the wooden one as well as the true one within him. Ciara began to speak, but her father stopped her.

  ‘Ciara, think about this. If you accept him, you will lose everything you have known. If the laird chooses, he can exile you both or even execute Tavis for his actions. The Murrays could go to war over this. Is it worth the cost you will pay? Is it?’ he asked solemnly.

  All it took was one glance at her parents to understand. ‘Was it?’ she asked her mother. ‘Was it worth it?’

  Her mother’s eyes filled with tears, but she smiled through them and nodded her head. The question meant something different to her than most listening thought it did, but her mother comprehended her true meaning. ‘It was, sweetling,’ she whispered as she took her father’s hand in hers. ‘It is.’

  Love was worth whatever the cost. Whether love for a defenceless child or for a dearest friend, or for the man you had loved all your life, love was worth the cost. ’Twas that love that had allowed her to hope for a future with him, in spite of duties and honour and responsibilities. Could she now refuse all of that?

  ‘I will have you, Tavis,’ she said quietly.

  The mayhem that those words caused tore through the small building and she thought the wooden rafters above their heads shook at the noise. Then the MacLeries

  gathered there inside the church erupted into cheering and Tavis finally took her in his arms and kissed her. Not a nice kiss—she felt him possess her and felt the promise of the claim he would make on her body later in that caress of his mouth on hers.

  But when things settled down, it was her father who brought their attention back to the realities of the day.

  ‘The laird will have to make a decision, Ciara,’ he warned. ‘It will not be as simple as declaring yourself free of your betrothal.’ He would know since he’d written the contracts himself.

  ‘Then find a way, Peacemaker,’ Tavis said. ‘Come, let us go to Connor and get his decision,’ he said, wrapping his hand around hers and not letting go of it. ‘I cannot allow another man to claim my woman as his wife. Not while I yet live,’ he swore, kissing her hand and turning towards the door.

  ‘The laird!’ someone yelled from the back of the church. ‘Connor is here!’ Another and another called out his name, but Rurik was the one Ciara could see.

  Apparently they would face their fate sooner rather than later. The crowd parted, allowing Connor and Jocelyn and Rurik through. Looking behind them, Ciara noticed that the Murrays followed as well. But James was not with them.

  What had happened?

  The laird walked first to Father Micheil and spoke to him privately. All she could see was shaking heads and nodding between the two men. Glancing at the laird’s wife and at Lord and Lady Murray, she only noticed that none of them would meet her eyes. She could not imagine how horrified they must be to be treated so before the MacLeries and by this turn of events. Finally, Connor called her parents and the Murrays together and spoke to them.

  Would her father speak for her and Tavis? Would he defend their choice and barter for their future with his laird? Her hands shook, but Tavis put his arm around her, holding her close. Choosing him was the right thing and she would stand by her choice, even if it meant leaving Lairig Dubh. Finally, finally, the laird motioned for everyone to attend his words.

  They would discover their fate now.

  ‘I love you, lass,’ Tavis whispered to her. ‘I can never thank you enough for making me see the truth and realise I could not live without you before it was too late.’

  ‘What will he do, Tavis?’

  Tavis knew the laird better than she did. Would he allow this insult to his rights as laird or would he punish them both for daring it? Connor stood tall and looked over the crowd with his gaze falling on her first. As he shook his head, regret entered his gaze and it worried her.

  ‘What a sad state of affairs this is,’ he began. ‘We negotiated in good faith to make the Murrays our allies and to join them to our clan and now we learn of this despicable act.’

  Ciara could not help it—she trembled at his words. She’d never heard him speak so seriously and it terrified her. Their decision, based on their own feelings and needs, now threatened to cause a war.

  ‘My lord—’ Lord Murray interrupted, stepping forwards, but Connor waved him off.

  ‘The betrothal was negotiated and a dowry paid to you so that your son would marry one of our own, Murray. That cannot be disputed.’

  This was not good. Ciara leaned against Tavis and held her breath. Where was James? He should be here in the middle of these discussions, but she did not see him at all.

  ‘Nay, my lord, I do not dispute that. But, I had no idea, my lord. We will make whatever concessions you ask if you will but allow this to be settled peacefully.’

  Ciara stared at Lord Murray and realised that he was more frightened than she was. Why did he fear the laird’s anger? Puzzled, she pulled away a bit from Tavis and looked at James’s parents.

  ‘Lord Murray?’ she asked. ‘What has happened? Lady Murray, where is James?’

  ‘We did not know, Ciara. We had no way to know what he would do, child,’ she said, her voice filled with regret.

  ‘What Tavis would do?’ she asked, thoroughly confused.

  ‘Nay, Ciara. Young James Murray has disgraced himself and his family this day,’ Connor explained.

  ‘James would not do something like that,’ she said. ‘He is honourable and stood by the betrothal. He told me so. He asked for my consent. ’Tis I who have—’ Connor held up his hand and interrupted her.

  ‘Ciara, ’tis my regrettable duty to inform you that your betrothed, their son,’ he said, nodding at James’s trembling parents, ‘that young James Murray kidnapped your friend Elizabeth last night with every intention of forcing her into an unsanctioned marriage with him. He left a note explaining his plans and breaking the contract with you.’

  Lady Murray fainted as the words that damned her only son as a dishonourable rogue echoed through the church. As she fell, Lord Murray barely caught her and laid her on the stone floor.
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  ‘My lord, I beg you to hear me out on this matter,’ he called out to Connor, passing his wife’s limp body on to her servants to see to.

  No thoughts or words would come to her mind, so she watched silently. Tavis squeezed her hand and smiled, but she did not dare think that this would be so easy.

  ‘We do not want war over this, my lord,’ Lord Murray called out again.

  Connor called for silence again.

  ‘Let us speak privately and come to some agreement. I beg you,’ Lord Murray said, bowing low.

  ‘’Twould seem young James had the courage I lacked sooner than I did,’ Tavis whispered to her. ‘And Elizabeth? Was she willing, do you think?’

  ‘I think they planned this together,’ she replied as she thought over all the small clues she’d missed until now. James loved someone else, just as she did, and faced the same future married to another. His questions about her consent and all the rest were his way of coming to a decision.

  By now, all the MacLeries watching understood how this would play out even if the Murrays did not and, as her father’s daughter, she could read it better than most could. Connor would be insulted and play that card while Murray offered a better treaty than what had been in place. To ease the insult of his son’s behaviour and to soothe the mighty temper of the Beast of the Highlands, Murray would agree to concessions that he’d balked at just days ago. Connor would be magnanimous and allow the treaty to proceed, in spite of this insult.

  But that did not tell her if Connor would allow them to marry or the cost of their actions.

  ‘Come, Lord Murray,’ Connor said. ‘We have much to discuss.’ Connor led the way out of the church towards the keep. His closest counsellors followed close behind, barely able to contain or to mask their joy at this turn of the tables.

  Lady Murray was helped up by several men, who escorted her along. Lord Murray stopped before Ciara as they passed her and shook his head.

  ‘I am so sorry, my dear. I cannot explain what got into James that he would do such a thing. Such a disgrace. And to leave you like this at the altar. Terrible. Terrible,’ he said, hurrying off to follow Connor.