“How awful for him and all of you,” Hannah said, her heart going out to her husband and his clan.
“We thought for sure the clan would not survive, especially when Slain left two days after his return, though he assured us he would return soon and all would be well. And he did, with an army of men. They helped us repair the village, filled our storehouses with more food than we needed, plowed our fields, and planted them with fresh seeds they had brought with them and stayed until harvest was done, then left. Two of our women wed two of the men and left with them. All was good, except for our chief. He took to the keep after that and was rarely seen.”
“The keep was not repaired along with the village?” Hannah asked.
Blair shook her head. “We all figured that our chief spent what wealth he had returned with to see that the clan was taken care of and there was nothing left to repair the keep.”
“Then perhaps now would be a good time for the clan to help restore life to the keep and who knows, one day it may be filled with songs, tales, and dance once again.”
“It is a hope the whole clan has for it,” Blair said, wiping a tear from her eye. “There are plenty of us who would gladly help.”
Hannah was thrilled with the news and even more thrilled when twenty men followed her back to the keep with axes and sickles and got busy chopping away the thickets. Her delight grew when Blair arrived with several women, Kate one of them, to help with the kitchen garden that lay in poor neglect, almost to the point where a garden could not be distinguished from the surrounding area.
Helice stepped out of the kitchen and walked over to Hannah who was busy helping the women clear the garden of dead weeds and debris.
“A moment please,” Helice said stiffly.
Hannah brushed the dirt from her hands and walked a distance away where they could not be heard.
“He will not be happy about this,” Helice warned.
“He is not happy now. There is no happiness in this keep. It is empty, devoid of any life. So what difference could it possibly make to return a small spark to it?” Hannah asked, though she did not give Helice a chance to answer. “Join us. We will have a thriving garden this summer and fall if we get the seeds in the ground soon.”
Helice wrinkled her nose as if in disdain, though said, “It could be made larger. There are some seeds I have saved and have been wanting to plant.”
“Kate thought the same and offered us some seeds she has as well. Come and let me introduce you,” Hannah said before Helice could refuse her.
The men made quick work of the thickets, carting them off to a section in the village where a pile of debris was set to burn. Some of the men took shovels to the garden and extended it according to Helice’s instructions.
By late afternoon all was done and everyone gone, leaving Helice and Hannah to admire the work that had been accomplished.
“It will be a fine garden,” Helice said, a slight smile actually breaking through her stern expression.
“It will,” Hannah agreed, looking over the large swath of land that had been thoroughly weeded and the soil turned, leaving worms to crawl here and there throughout the rich earth.
The two women were about to walk around to the front of the house when Hannah stopped at the sound of a cart approaching not far off. A quick glance at the man in the seat had Hannah tossing up the hood of her cloak to pull down around her face as she told Helice, “Get rid of him. Send him away. There is nothing we need from him.”
Helice appeared ready to question her when Hannah gave a sudden, commanding nod and turned the corner.
Hannah hurried toward the kitchen, keeping her head down when she suddenly collided with a hard body, a strong arm rushing around her to steady her feet and keep her close.
“What goes on here?” her husband asked curtly.
Slain had returned and not at a good time. Hannah needed to get inside, away from the man driving the cart.
“You are trembling. What is wrong?” Slain demanded, feeling her quivers run along his body. Something had frightened her.
“I speak to the chief, not a servant,” a gruff voice could be heard from the front of the keep.
Slain kept his arm firm around Hannah, leaving her no choice but to walk along with him as he went to confront the demanding man.
Hannah tucked at her hood, making certain not a strand of her red hair showed and kept her face turned against her husband’s chest so that her face was not visible as they turned the corner of the keep.
“Aye, there he is,” the man called out and jumped down off the seat of his cart.
Hannah did not need to look at him to see his features. He was a thick man, not hard muscle, but not soft either. She knew well the strength to his thick hands, having felt them on her. They could do harm with one squeeze. She would never forget him. He was the man her step-brother had handed her over to that fateful night and told him to make sure she suffered well before she died.
“I have two women I thought you might be interested in, but I see that you already have one. My two will join in if you like.”
“I never accepted your offerings before, Muir, why would you think I would take them now?”
“Heard you were all alone here and knowing your endless appetite for women, I thought you might be interested. And that one you got there tight in your arm does not seem so willing. My lass’ can help tame her for you.”
Her husband would not do such a thing, would he? Hannah’s body turned rigid at the thought and she felt Slain’s muscles grow taut against her as his arm tightened around her.
“Get on your cart, Muir, and leave my land and never return or I will cut that ignorant tongue from your mouth and stuff it down your throat.”
Muir took a quick step back, raising his hands as he did. “I mean no harm and want none in return. I will do as you say, but the day grows late. I would be grateful if I could camp on the outskirts of the village for the night. The lassies could use a rest.”
“Be gone at first light and be warned about bringing any trouble down on my clan. I have gutted bigger men than you.”
Hannah shivered at the picture his words painted in her mind. A savage did live inside her husband, something she kept forgetting.
“As you say, Slain,” Muir said with a bob of his head and climbed back up on the cart.
Hannah dared take a peek after she heard the cart turn around. Her heart broke for the young lass, whose dirty face and large eyes seemed to beg for help, looked out at her from the back of the cart.
Memories rushed over her of being bound hand and foot and a dirty cloth stuffed into her mouth until she thought she would choke. Then she had been lifted and thrown, dumped like garbage, into Muir’s cart.
The fear and anguish of that night settled around her again and tears rushed to her eyes for the young lass left without an ounce of hope.
Hannah found herself suddenly pushed away from the comfort of Slain’s strong body.
“Now you will tell me—” Several oaths flew from his mouth when he saw tears running down her cheeks.
Hannah never expected him to scoop her up in his arms and carry her into the keep, Helice hurrying forward to open the front door for him and leaving them alone once inside the Great Hall.
Slain did not know his wife well, but what he had surmised was that she did not shed tears lightly. Something was troubling her and it had to do with Muir.
He sat at one of the tables nearest the hearth, since her trembles had yet to cease along with her tears. He settled her in his lap and when her head dropped to rest against his chest, he exploded inside with a mixture of anger that something had disturbed her so badly it had brought her to tears and an overwhelming need to do whatever was necessary to chase those tears away and ease whatever burden she carried.
“You will tell me why you cry,” he ordered, though kept the sternness from his tone and tried unsuccessfully to calm his thundering heart, not wanting her to feel his anger and concern.
>
Hannah could not tell him that it was Muir who she had been given to, for she had no doubt he would go after the man. If that happened there would be a good chance that Muir would find out that she was here and Slain would learn that she was not a peasant… but the daughter of a clan chief.
“I was carted off like those women, full of fright and despair.”
“Your family sold you?” Slain asked with a sharp edge to his voice that bordered on fury.
“Aye,” she said, recalling the jangle of the coins in the pouch that exchanged hands, though it was her step-brother who paid to have her taken away. Fearful she would reveal too much to her husband, Hannah turned the conversation away from her. “I could not help but shed tears for those poor lass’ and what they go through.”
“You were given to men to pleasure?” he asked, fighting to contain his anger.
“No, some of the women were saved for particular men. I was lucky enough to escape before I met that fate.” She had been more than lucky, since Muir had kept certain women from being touched so that he got even more coin for the virgins he delivered to the prison leader. He in turn would sell them to any warrior or prison guard who wanted an untouched woman, then the other guards could have at her once the man was done with her. Her luck had come in the form of the healer and she was thankful every day that the woman had saved her from suffering such a horrible fate.
She raised her head and sniffled back her tears. “If you wonder… I am a virgin. I have known no man.”
Damn, if that did not make him want to protect her even more, though it should be himself he saved her from.
Slain wiped at her wet cheeks, grateful her tears had stopped, but then they had helped her purge the horrid memories Muir’s appearance had caused. “You are my wife and will remain my wife until the end of our days. You will always be safe with me. I will always protect you, that I promise you.”
Hannah felt a strange pull at her heart and without thought, she pressed her damp cheek to his and whispered, “I am forever grateful to have such a good husband.”
Her warm breath tickled at his ear and sent a shiver rumbling through him straight to his manhood, which grew hard instead of simply aroused. He wanted her so badly that he could almost taste her sweet flavor on his tongue, feel her soft flesh against his, and imagine the intense shudder when he brought her to climax.
He stood quickly, lowering her to her feet and pushing her away from him. “Good is something I am not and something I will never be, but I will keep you safe and protected…”
Hannah watched him storm off and the last of his words drifted in a whisper to her ear.
“Especially from me.”
Hannah waited again that night for her husband to come to her, but when the hour grew later and later, she knew he would not come.
Before she lost her courage, she changed from her nightdress to her shift and tunic, pinned her hair up as best she could, a few stands falling loose to brush the sides of her face, slipped on her shoes, tossed her cloak over her shoulders, and pulled up her hood.
She went to the door and eased it open, cringing when a faint creak sounded more like an echo through the entire keep. She waited a few moments to see if her husband had heard it and when she heard nothing from his room, she stepped out of hers, closing the door ever so slowly to avoid another creak.
With light steps, she hurried cautiously down the stairs and through the keep to the kitchen, grabbing a knife as she passed through and out the door.
Chapter 13
Hannah could not live with the thought of what those two young women would suffer if she did not at least try to help them escape. If someone could do it for her, then it was her turn to do it for someone else. She had planned it out in her head. She would free them and have them hide in the woods until Muir left, then they could seek a permanent home with the clan, since she doubted they had anywhere to go.
The biggest threat to her was Muir catching and recognizing her, but she could not let the fear of discovery stop her.
She made her way to the village, keeping to the shadows. The night and its strange sounds had once run a chill through her, but having been forced to travel in the darkness when she had escaped the dungeon, she had soon made friends with the night and all it offered her, just as it did now.
She had to enter the woods once she neared the edge of the village, since there was an open swath of land between it and where Muir had settled his cart, that would provide no cover. She kept to the trees, using the thick trunks to slip behind and conceal her presence. It helped having a half moon that filtered through the tree branches, but then that could also prove a hindrance.
Once close enough, though safely hidden, Hannah heard the familiar noise before she cast a look to the cart.
Muir was snoring as he had done when she had been his captive. Oddly enough, she had been glad to hear it, for it meant she was free of torment for the night. He would take great pleasure in pinching her hard or grabbing the flesh of her arm or leg between two fingers and twisting it so viciously that she could not help but cry out in pain. He also loved to yank her hair until she thought he would rip it from her head.
The awful memories only strengthened her resolve to free the two women.
Hannah saw what she had expected. The two women, their hands tied at the wrists and raised above their heads and secured to the wheels of the cart. It was a terrible position to be kept in all night, for the arms were left aching and weak in the morning, but then that had been the purpose to begin with, leaving them weak and more vulnerable.
Hannah listened to Muir continue to snore where he lay not far from the two women but not close enough so that they might do him any harm. She would have to be cautious and as quiet as possible so as not to wake him.
She stepped slowly out of the woods and took light steps toward the cart. When the one young woman’s eyes fluttered open and caught sight of her, Hannah was quick to rush a finger to her own mouth, cautioning the woman to remain quiet. She held up the knife to her wrist, showing the woman that she intended to free her.
The woman’s eyes turned wide and she nodded vigorously. She turned to the other woman, her eyes closed in sleep, and gently nudged her foot until her eyes fluttered open, then she gave a nod of her head toward Hannah.
The other woman’s eyes opened fully and filled with tears as she nodded.
Hannah made her way toward them as silently as possible and squatted down before the one woman who had seen Hannah first. She cut through the rope, fearing the noise would wake Muir. After some effort, she broke through the rope that held the woman’s hands to the wheel and was about to turn and do her feet so that she was at least free to run, when the woman’s eyes suddenly filled with fright.
Hannah turned and saw Muir staring at her. He jumped to his feet and headed toward her, his meaty hands clenched in fists. She dropped the knife to the woman, knowing if she kept it, Muir would use it on her.
“Free yourself,” she warned and did what she knew would draw Muir away from the two women. She pushed back her hood off her head, several strands of her bright red hair springing free of the combs, and turned to face him.
Muir glared at her, then suddenly stopped in his tracks, recognizing her. Fear suddenly spread across his face.
Hannah was well aware of the man’s thoughts. He was frightened to think what her step-brother would do to him when he discovered that he had not done what he had been paid to do… see Hannah dead.
She rushed for the woods, knowing he would follow, the two women no longer important to him. His life now depended on him catching her, making certain she died.
Hannah hoisted her cloak and shift, then ran with all the strength she could muster, darting around trees, dropping her head to avoid low hanging branches, jumping over large rocks, ever so grateful that she had learned to maneuver the night so easily.
His heavy footfalls followed much too close behind. The man could run. She had seen him catch a y
ounger man half his size. She needed to get to the village and scream as loud as she could in hopes that someone heard and came to help her.
Her legs burned with pain, she ran so fast, twisting and turning to remain out of his reach. She spied the village through the trees and turned, headed for it, and realized her mistake too late. Muir had figured out her intention and had turned before her.
She had to turn quickly to stop herself from running into him and her foot caught on something, sending her stumbling. Though she managed to stay on her feet and right herself, Muir was quicker and her head snapped back as he grabbed the back of her hair and yanked hard.
The pain had her screaming out and her scream was her last chance at surviving… if only someone heard her.
Muir tossed her to the ground, knocking the breath and scream out of her and dropped down on top of her, stealing even more of her breath.
“I am going to have my fun with you before I slit your throat.”
Still fighting for breath, Hannah was too helpless to do anything, though she swatted at him with what little strength she had.
Muir was suddenly ripped off her and sent flying through the air, his big body smashing against a tree and dropping to the ground. A dark figure descended on Muir and hoisted him in the air once more, throwing him with such strength against another tree that he bounced off it and crashed to the ground again.
Embraced by a Highlander Page 10
