Monroe looked at her blankly, then turned to Sean once more. Chloe dared a peek at Sean, as well. She couldn’t help but notice that he didn’t look especially pleased at her inventiveness in rescuing him from a shotgun wedding.
"I’ll take orders from no man in my own keep!" Sean growled at Lord Monroe.
Monroe studied him a long moment and finally turned, stalking out the way he’d come. After a moment, the other men followed him.
A little surprised by their abrupt departure, Chloe felt a swell of relief nevertheless. "Well," she said with determined cheerfulness, "that went better than I expected."
Chapter Fourteen
There was something about the way Sean was looking at her that made Chloe distinctly uneasy. "I did something wrong?" she ventured.
Without a word, Sean grasped her by one elbow, led her from the hall and up the stairs to his room. She was almost sorry he didn’t decide to toss her over his shoulder this time because the corset made it very hard to keep up with his angry stride. She managed to make it all the way to the top of the stairs before blackness closed in on her completely. When she came to, she was lying on the bed in Sean’s room.
His face swam into view. "Are ya with child?"
"Am I?" she asked, wondering if he knew something she didn’t.
He frowned. "Ya fainted, lass."
"Oh! Really? That’s only the second time in my life that I ever fainted."
His eyes narrowed. "When was the first time?"
"The fairy ring?" she prompted.
His lips thinned. To her surprise, he pressed a strip of cloth over her mouth. When she opened her mouth to protest, he slipped it between her teeth, then, lifting her head, tied it in back.
She stared at him blankly.
"You’ve a dangerous mouth, lass, and tha’s fact. It’s for certain we’ve a war on our hands now an’ I’m thinkin’ you’ll be a sight less likely to cause more trouble if I leave ya here."
It wasn’t until he’d gotten up that she realized he’d tied her to the bed as well as gagged her. She stared at him in consternation. "I was trying to keep you from having to marry me!" she muttered around the gag. Unfortunately, either the gag garbled it beyond recognition or he was in no mood to listen to her explanations. He strode from the room without a backward glance and slammed and bolted the door.
She struggled with the bonds around her wrists for a while, but finally had to concede that the effort was a waste of energy.
She couldn’t help but notice that there seemed to be an awful lot of activity around the castle. She kept hearing feet running up and down the corridor, usually several pairs at once. Dimly, through the window, she heard a lot of clanging and marching and the sound of whinnying horses.
He hadn’t seriously meant she’d started a war? Over her virginity?
The sounds didn’t dissipate, but rather escalated, and after a while she dozed from pure nervous exhaustion.
The sudden crash of the door opening jerked her awake some time later. Her eyes widened in fear, she lifted her head and stared at the opening. There seemed to be several dozen men trying to squeeze through the doorway all at once. Before Chloe’s imagination could provide her with a really horrific explanation, however, she caught sight of Sean’s grim face among them.
"Untie the lass," Lord Monroe growled.
Two men, her ‘uncles’ Brett and Shamus, pushed forward with drawn knives and began sawing at the bindings on her wrists and ankles. Within moments, they had her freed and pulled the gag from her mouth.
"Did he harm ya, lass?"
"Who?" she hedged.
"Frazier," Lord Monroe growled.
"No!"
He looked vaguely disappointed, but after favoring Sean with a threatening look, he turned without a word and left. She noticed then that Sean was being ‘escorted’ by two men in Monroe plaid. Confused and more than a little scared by now, Chloe wanted desperately to ask a dozen questions, but she decided, maybe, it would be better to wait and see if things became clearer before she tried something that had already gotten her into more trouble than she could handle.
Assisted to her feet by her ‘uncles’, Chloe was escorted from the room much as Sean had been and marched down the stairs. When they reached the great hall, she saw that it was filled almost to overflowing, but the Monroe tartan by far dominated the color scheme of the day. Standing near the head table where Sean always sat was a man wearing dark robes instead of a tartan. She was led to the group standing around him.
The moment she stopped, the man began muttering something in a language completely foreign to her. Sean, urged by his escorts, knelt. Encouraged by her own escorts, Chloe knelt, as well. She’d begun to get a very bad feeling in the pit of her stomach, however.
Her suspicions were confirmed when the robed man looked at her and asked her ‘the question’. She gaped at him for several moments, glanced at Sean’s impassive face, and then twisted to look at her father. "But…."
To her stunned surprise, her uncle gagged her, tying it securely behind her head. "She says yes."
The priest seemed to take it completely in stride, to her consternation, and turned to Sean. Rather than suffer the same indignity as she had, Sean repeated his vows without prompting.
When it was over, Sean sealed the vows with a light kiss on her gag, a shout of triumph went up from all of the witnesses and Sean and Chloe were allowed to stand.
As her gag was removed, Chloe looked around, feeling like she’d stepped into a rerun of the old TV show, the Twilight Zone. Everyone was congratulating everyone else and pounding backs as if they hadn’t just witnessed a shotgun wedding, but rather one planned and much anticipated by all concerned.
An impromptu feast followed. Chloe felt certain the Monroes had brought most of it with them--apparently they’d been in no doubt about the outcome. She still didn’t know how they’d gone from preparing for war to preparing for a wedding, but, despite Sean’s natural reluctance to marry her, she supposed once Lord Monroe had brought his entire army with him and suggested they have a wedding instead of a war, he’d considered the former preferable to the latter.
She shuddered to think what Sean would have to say about the situation once they were alone. Under the circumstances, she was quite satisfied by the lengthy feast and celebration that followed, despite the numbness in her backside from sitting on the bench so long.
She found, though, that everything wasn’t entirely settled. After several hours of celebrating, Lord Monroe requested a private audience with the newlyweds and she, Sean and Lord Monroe retired to a smaller room off the great hall. Papers were presented and signed all around and Lord Monroe attached his seal.
Lord Monroe gave them both a hard look. "I’ve given the lands under dispute as my Chloe’s dower. I assume this is satisfactory ta ya?"
Sean flushed, but nodded.
A thin smile curled Lord Monroe’s lips. "Good. As ya can see, there’s better ways ta settle some things." He paused for several moments, frowning. "I’d as soon ya ken we’d nothin’ ta do with the dastardly attack on yer men. Kincaid seemed ta think I’d be pleased with the dirty deed, but I was tha’ disgusted I’d already given my word ta give him my daughter’s hand. Truth is, I was more than a little happy ta hear ye’d decided my daughter was agreeable ta ya after all."
Sean reddened, but held his tongue.
Confused by the comment, Chloe looked at Sean questioningly, but he refused to allow her to catch his eye. She forgot it in the next moment as she was seized in a bear hug by Lord Monroe and kissed soundly. Startled at first, she was a little surprised when a sense of warmth and affection seemed to blossom inside of her. Impulsively, she hugged him back.
His eyes were suspiciously glassy when he pulled away at last. He glared at Sean threateningly. "There’ll be nae more trouble between us, Sean Frazier, so long as ya keep in mind my daughter’s happiness is powerfully important ta me."
"For once we’re in agreement, Monroe. Yer
daughter’s happiness is important ta me, as well."
Lord Monroe nodded, apparently satisfied and took his leave. They followed him into the great hall, watching as the Monroes rose and filed out, following Lord Monroe. For some reason Chloe couldn’t quite fathom, her heart seemed to swell with pride as she watched them, and a sense of loss followed as the last of them disappeared.
Sean turned to look at her for a long moment. "Ya’ll await me in our room, wife."
Chloe stared at him wide eyed, feeling her uneasiness of before flood over her in a cold tide. She was suddenly certain she didn’t want to wait for him in the room. There seemed no escape, however, and finally, she merely nodded mutely, unable to force a single word from her throat and hurried upstairs.
Once she’d reached the room, she slammed the door and bolted it. She’d already dragged everything she could move in front of the door when she realized that she was only putting off the inevitable. She couldn’t stay holed up in the room forever unless she was prepared to starve herself to death.
It seemed more than likely that Sean was going to be even more pissed off if he came up and discovered she’d barricaded the door against him.
Finally, with a great deal of reluctance, she shoved everything back into place and sat down to wait for him. She’d barely settled when Maggie came in, followed by a virtual army of other servants carrying buckets. The empty tub was refilled a bucket at the time, one steaming the next cold.
Chloe merely watched them, uncertain of whether to be pleased that a bath was being prepared for her or further unnerved. Halfway through the process, another procession of servants appeared at the door, this group bearing trunks. Maggie broke off from the group preparing the bath and began to examine the contents of each trunk, directing some to be carried out again and placed in storage, while others were stacked in one corner.
Curious despite her uneasiness, Chloe finally got up and went to check the contents of the trunks as Maggie uttered a triumphant, "Ah!"
"What is it?"
"Yer dower chest," Maggie replied in satisfaction, pulling sheer, lacy undergarments from the chest one by one and looking them over. Finally, she settled on a voluminous white confection Chloe decided must be a nightgown. With care, Maggie spread it across the bed and smoothed it with her hands.
"Will there be anythin’ else, my lady?"
Chloe stared at her as if she’d grown another head. "Like what?" she asked suspiciously.
"I could help ya off with the gown before I go. I’m thinkin’ ya’ll nae get it off without help … unless ya’d rather the Laird helped?"
Chloe swallowed with some difficulty. "I think I’d rather you helped me with it."
Maggie nodded, looking pleased, and shooed the gang of servants out the door. Once she’d closed it, she loosened the lacings of the dress and helped Chloe out of it. It wasn’t until she’d laid the dress carefully on the bed that it hit Chloe that she’d just gotten married in a red dress.
She frowned. Nobody had seemed to think anything about it. Was that because they knew she’d been sleeping with Sean and shouldn’t be wearing a white dress? Or were the customs different in this time? Dimly, she remembered her Gram saying something about times changing and people hadn’t always worn the white to symbolize purity.
She dismissed the wayward thoughts as Maggie helped her out of the corset. Her ribs, which had been constrained for hours, ached horribly. Without surprise, she saw that her skin was creased and reddened from the torture device.
If she stayed, she realized suddenly, she was going to be subjected to this kind of torture daily.
She shuddered.
Sending Maggie off, she climbed into the tub. It was still hot and the hot water went a long way toward relaxing her. She lay stiffly in the tub at first, more than half expecting Sean to appear. When he didn’t, she did her best to put the coming confrontation from her mind and enjoy her bath.
The water grew cold and the sounds in the castle quieted and still Sean did not appear. Finally, she got out, dried off and put the nightgown on.
It seemed ridiculously old fashioned but she rather liked the way it floated around her. She paced the floor for a while, but as time passed it finally sank in upon her that Sean had no intention of coming at all.
A wave of depression hit her with that realization. She hadn’t realized until that moment that she was actually looking forward to Sean’s coming. True, she was very uneasy about the confrontation she knew was inevitable, but she hadn’t suffered a single moment’s concern that he would be the least bit threatening. They would almost certainly argue, but they’d make up afterwards and he’d make love to her, just as he had all the times before.
It hadn’t occurred to her at all that he might be so mad he didn’t even want to talk about it.
The full magnitude of what she’d done finally settled upon her. She’d lied about Sean taking her virginity and he’d been too much of a gentleman to call her a liar, and because of it, he’d been forced to marry her.
It was all very well to tell herself that she hadn’t actually intended what had happened, and that she hadn’t actually accused Sean of taking her virginity. She’d known when she said it that they’d jump to that conclusion. She’d also known that she was taking a big gamble that she could talk her way out of the most likely consequences of such a claim.
She felt like crying. Instead, she climbed into the bed and pulled the covers up, staring at the door, hoping Sean would come after all.
After a while it occurred to her to wonder if everything that had happened had happened for a reason. She’d assumed it was just some sort of freak accident, or, at most, she’d somehow stumbled on a touch of true magic and the fairies had warped her stupid wish.
Considering all that had happened since she’d gotten here, though, she had to suppose, in her own time, she just hadn’t been in a position to create such havoc. Obviously, she’d been born as some sort of doomsday creature and fate had transported her to the time when she could do the most harm.
Sleep was a long time in coming. By morning, however, she’d made up her mind. She was going back to the fairy ring, one way or another, and she was going home.
There was no point at all in hoping Sean would give her a chance to explain and apologize. If he’d been receptive to listening, he would’ve spent the night with her, or at least come up to talk.
Rising before it was even good daylight, she grabbed the first gown that came to hand and put it on. It didn’t matter what she was wearing. It was pretty much a certainty that she wouldn’t be wearing it when she got home.
She discovered when she’d crept downstairs that the celebration had been a wild one. There didn’t seem to be a single soul in the castle who hadn’t drunk himself into a stupor.
She might have made it out without anyone at all being the wiser, except that she tripped over Sean’s brother, Ian, on her way out.
Chapter Fifteen
"Go back to sleep, Ian. You’re dreaming," Chloe whispered.
Ian, focusing his eyes with obvious effort, smiled at her for a moment, but then frowned. "I dinna think so, lass. If I was dreamin’ I’d nae have such a poundin’ in my head."
"Never mind. I’m just going for a walk."
Ian’s frown deepened. "An’ how far are ya plannin’ ta walk? You wouldn’t be figurin’ on walkin’ all the way back ta the Monroe’s keep, would ya?"
"I’m going to the fairy ring. Come with me, or don’t, but shut up, ok?"
Ian appeared to think it over for some moments and finally stumbled to his feet. "I’m thinkin’ Sean’d nae be happy if I let ya go off on yer own."
Chloe sighed. She really didn’t want any company at all. Apparently, Ian was still drunk enough, however, that the jaunt made sense to him. Following her out of the castle, he grasped her arm and headed toward the stable. "I’m too drunk ta walk. We’ll take my horse."
"Good idea!"
Despite his condition he’d apparently
saddled a horse so many times it wasn’t something that required thought. Within a very few minutes he had the prancing creature saddled, hoisted her up and climbed up behind her.
"Which way?" he asked when they’d passed through the gates.
"Do you know where those men were killed by the Kincaids?"
The question seemed to sober him. "Aye."
"That way."
He studied her a moment and finally shrugged and kicked the horse in motion. "I canna figure why you’d want ta go there."
"I don’t. I told you I want to go to the fairy ring. It’s before you get to the place where the ambush happened."
* * * *
The first stirrings in the castle woke Sean despite the quantity of ale he’d consumed the night before. With an effort, he lifted his head and looked around. It took him several minutes to figure out where he was, and then several more minutes after that to figure out why he was where he was.
He’d wed Chloe Monroe--Chloe Frazier now.
The thought sobered him a little more than he wanted. Struggling upright, he staggered into the great hall, holding his head to keep it from falling off his shoulders. His men lay in sodden heaps about the room--on the floor, the benches and the tables. He would have bellowed at them for the lack of restraint that had left the castle completely vulnerable except that he was fairly certain one bellow would be all it took to rupture his pounding skull.
Finally, he made his way down the hall, kicking each man he came to to get them stirring and wandered outside to the well. By the time he’d sloshed the third bucket full of icy water over his head it had cleared sufficiently for regret to begin to sink in and he sat down in the puddle he’d created to consider how he was going to face Chloe.
Obviously, Chloe had inherited her thoughtless tongue from her father, he thought with some dudgeon. Nothing had gone quite the way he’d hoped, but he’d figured he could smooth things over right up to the point when Monroe had opened his mouth and told Chloe that he’d offered her to Sean before and Sean had refused to have her.
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