“I have a traitor in my clan; do you know who it is?”
“Nay, I only did as I was told and saw no others.”
Justin believed him and at length put his sword away and got back on his horse. He nodded to Shaw and then suddenly realized he had ignored the woman who saved Paisley. Once more he got down off his horse and walked to her. “My daughter is well and sends her regards. She wishes me to thank you.”
Rona’s nerves were still a bit on edge, but she managed to curtsy and when Justin walked away, both knew the nightmare MacAlister created was finally over. Pleased, Rona turned around and looked at the new wall decorations in the great hall. Already the place was looking better and letting in the fresh air did wonders to rid it of the smell of mold. Tomorrow or the next day, she intended to visit the soothsayers to see if they had a remedy for such a thing as mold.
She might not always live there, especially after the clan chose a new laird, but while she did, she intended to make it a happy place for herself, the old man and her nephew.
BLANKA WENT BACK INSIDE the MacGreagor great hall and up the stairs to bed just before Justin and the men rode their horses into the courtyard. She was a married woman, but spending the night with her husband would have to wait until they had time to explain things.
Downstairs, the great hall was still full of people. Justin’s sisters greeted their husbands while Paisley hugged her father. “Blathan?” she asked.
“Safe. He killed Keith and I believe he will be the new laird.”
“Good.” Paisley turned and stared up the stairs.
“Wait, have you nothing to tell your father?” Moan went to the bottom of the stairs and looked up at her.
Slowly, Paisley came back down. “What?”
“You know what,” said Moan.
Justin frowned, “I cannot wait, what have you done, daughter?”
She lowered her eyes. “Nothing so awful as all that. I merely went for a ride.”
“To see Laird Graham,” Sawney put in. “I went with her as did her guards and she was safe, father.”
Justin turned to Moan, “You let her go?”
“Let her, how was I to stop her?”
“Father, you did not say I could not go riding,” Paisley reminded.
Justin looked at Ginnion and then at Shaw, both of whom still had their arms around their wives. “I do not recall, did I?”
“I recall,” said Shaw. “You did not forbid it.”
“Aye, but who could guess she would want to?” He turned his attention back to Paisley. “Did you see Laird Graham?”
Paisley let the disgust show in her expression. “I wish never to hear that name again!” With that, she hurried up the stairs to bed.
AT THE NOON MEAL THE next day, everyone was excited to talk about the coming feast and the decision—who deserved the golden chalice?
“Paisley, you decide,” Justin said, filling his spoon with tasty morsels of beef and cabbage.
“I cannot. Rona helped me get away, Blathan refused to kill me and...”
When she paused, Sawney added, “Laird Graham found you. Why do you think he searched for you?”
Paisley glared at her brother while everyone else laughed. “I said not to say that name!”
“Aye, but...” Just then, the whistles sounded and Sawney jumped up to run up the stairs. He hoped it was Laird Graham, but from his sister’s window, he saw the army of men and knew exactly who it was. “Monro!” With much less excitement, he walked back down the stairs. “Tis your father, Blanka.”
Blanka tried not to react, but this was the moment she feared most. She looked pleadingly at Sawney and as if he understood, watched him walk out the door. Hopefully, Sawney would bring Thomas back.
Next she looked at Justin and he appeared just as tormented as she felt. She stood up and began to ring her hands. “What will you tell him?”
Justin stood up too, as did the other men and prepared himself to meet her father. “I will say I have no want of a wife.” He watched her reaction and discovered she was not as pleased as he expected. What was she so upset about?
In his usual flare, Laird Monro burst into the room, neglected the pleasantries and walked straight to Justin. This time both Shaw and Ginnion moved closer to protect their laird.
“Well,” roared Monro, “have you bed her yet?”
Justin nodded for his eldest sister to take the other women and children out and waited until they were gone.
“I did not, nor will I marry her!”
“You know very well you may not refuse to marry her, MacGreagor. She has been under your roof and ‘tis not proper for an unmarried lad and an unmarried lass to share the same roof.”
“It was you who put her under my roof, not me.” Justin quickly glanced at Blanka and noticed she had moved even further away. “What is her crime? Why do you try so hard to be shed of her?
Monro was not used to having anyone stand up to him, let alone ask such personal questions and this particular question took him by surprise. Even more surprising were his daughter’s words.
“Aye, father what is my crime?”
Monro gritted his teeth, “I do not answer to you!”
“Then you will answer to me,” Thomas said coming in the door with Sawney right behind him.
Monro slowly turned around to see who dared talk to him that way. “Who are you?”
“I am your daughter’s husband.”
Blanka caught her breath, Justin’s jaw dropped and Shaw and Ginnion rushed forward to keep Monro from striking Thomas. Thomas was a much stronger man, would not take kindly to it and Monro had left his guard outside.
Again Monro gritted his teeth, “Say a prayer lad, you are about to die.”
Blanka ran to him and grabbed her father’s arm. “You would kill the lad I love?”
“Blanka, you are the daughter of a laird and I wished you to marry a laird.”
Blanka returned his glare and put her hands on her hips. “What is done is done and even you cannot change it. I will live here with my husband and that is an end to it!”
Justin noticed when Sawney came to stand beside him. “Is it true?” he whispered.
“Aye, the priest was at the Graham hold.”
“Remind me to thank you later.”
At last Monro relented and accepted his daughter’s fate. He stayed for all of an hour more before he finally hugged his Blanka and wished her well. Then he mounted his horse and led his army away.
It was over and both were happy when Thomas walked his wife to one of the older cottages, which had just become her new home.
IT WAS TWO NIGHTS OF badly needed glorious sleep for the MacGreagor clan before the day of the feast arrived. This time, a wild boar cooked in the pit and filled the air with the mouth-watering aroma of ham. The women again tended the cooking while the men hauled out the tables and set up the games.
In the late morning, Chisholm Graham rode up the glen with his guard and the MacDuff brothers. They were the clans only invited guests and with no others to wait for, soon the games would begin.
Paisley watched from her window until they were half way there and then spotted the dog. “Uh oh.” She grabbed a sack and made it down the stairs and out the door, before the deerhound decided he’d had enough of his good behavior and began to race toward all those new faces he aimed to lick.
“Mutton!” She called his name just in time to keep him from mowing down two little girls. With leaps and bounds, Mutton reached her in the blink of an eye, jumped up and let her rub the back of his ears.
“I have saved a bone for you, but you must sit.” The dog obeyed, but not so happily so, glancing at a man he hoped to greet and then at a woman before Paisley managed to pull a large bone out of the sack. With sheer delight in his eyes, he grabbed the bone, raced back into the glen and laid down. Paisley smiled, but when she saw Chisholm coming closer, she set the sack down against the wall, turned away, walked through the crowd and went to talk to her brot
her. She could hardly avoid the man for hours, but she was determined to try.
Chisholm noticed her reaction to him and guessed she had not forgiven him for whatever it was he did wrong. After hours of replaying it in his mind, he still did not understand. At one point, he decided if she was so quick to anger, perhaps she was the wrong woman for him after all. Then he remembered what it was like to hold her in his arms. Now he was where he wanted to be - in the same glen, the same village and the same courtyard she was in.
A boy took his horse away after Chisholm dismounted, his men drifted off to talk to the MacGreagor men and the MacDuff brothers shyly got off their horses and stood outside the courtyard taking it all in. Chisholm ignored Paisley and went into the Keep to greet Justin.
Adair watched to his left while Ross MacDuff watched to his right. The only time they had been in the glen was once when they snuck in late at night. Suddenly Paisley was standing before them smiling and it was the first time they had seen of her up close.
“I have changed my mind,” Adair whispered, staring at her uncovered hair and her sparkling blue eyes. “I will have her for my wife.”
“As will I,” Ross mumbled.
Paisley had never met a man the same height as she and it made her want to giggle. Still she composed herself and curtsied. “I have heard you helped Laird Graham find me and I wish to thank you for it.” She couldn’t help but notice both brothers blush. “You are welcome here and may come anytime. You are also welcome to all you can eat and if I am not mistaken, the meal is almost ready. Do you like ham?”
INSIDE THE KEEP, CHISHOLM accepted the goblet of wine Justin handed him and downed half. He needed it, he thought, now that he feared Paisley was no longer his.
The only two still inside the Keep, Justin asked, “What have you done?”
The question surprised Chisholm and he wrinkled his brow. “In what regard?”
“My daughter refuses to let us speak your name. Have you offended her?”
“Apparently so.” He rubbed the back of his neck for a moment. “I do not know what I said.”
Justin sat down in his usual place at the head of the table and nursed his drink. “When you take a wife, you will soon learn what a lad says is not always what a lass hears.”
“You must be right. One moment she was admiring my tapestries and the next she was gone.”
“Do you still love my daughter?”
“Very much,” Chisholm admitted.
“Did you manage to tell her so?”
“I wanted to, but her guards and Sawney would not allow the possibility.”
Justin playfully slapped Chisholm on the back. “Should she let you near her again, which I doubt, you might try saying that first.”
Chisholm nodded and then downed the rest of his drink. “If she lets me near her again.”
Outside, Justin was enjoying himself to the fullest. Wherever Chisholm was, Paisley managed to be somewhere else. The games began and Chisholm cheered when a Graham won the log contest, but Paisley decided to watch the archers instead. Chisholm moved to the archers just as Paisley drifted off to see about the horseshoe toss, and it was at that point Chisholm gave up.
Justin was about to lose his daughter again, but to the man who found her and if he loved her that much, Chisholm deserved Paisley. All fathers had to let go of their daughters and the Graham village was not that far away, he reasoned. According to Leslie, he was about to welcome his first grandchild too, which made him both proud and feeling his age.
IT WAS NEARLY TIME to eat and the MacDuff brothers, as well as their dog, went to watch the men lift the meat of the wild boar out of the pit in the ground. The warriors cut the meat and placed large chunks of it on wooden platters to be carried to the table. Mutton could not help himself and although he sat as he was told, he licked his lips repeatedly.
Taking pity on the dog, one of the men gave him a hock bone, meat and all, and there was no happier dog in Scotland. At last it was time for the people to eat, and about this, the MacDuff brothers were not bashful. They tasted it all, decided what they liked and went back for more.
Chisholm sat beside Justin, ate his fill and watched Paisley ignore him. He was wondering if he would have to go home without even a smile from her when Justin stood up and called for the crowd to quiet.
Justin cleared his throat and began, “It was not an easy decision for there were many who helped recover Paisley. I have decided Chisholm Graham deserves the golden chalice.” Justin picked it up off the table, and handed it to Chisholm.
Laird Graham stood up, admired it for a moment and when he looked, Paisley was actually watching him. “I am greatly pleased, but I would not have found her without the help of the MacDuff brothers and their dog. I have no need of wealth; therefore, I give it over to the two lads who deserve it.” He walked to Adair, handed the chalice to him and then walked back to stand beside Justin.
It was as though the brothers were alone in the glen for they ignored the cheers of the crowd completely. “Five beef and a golden chalice? With so much wealth we can start our own clan,” said Adair.
Ross took it out of his brother’s hands, looked it over and then started down the glen for their swaybacked horses. “Without wives?”
“We will have wives once I am laird.”
“You? I am the strong one and a laird must be strong.”
Adair rolled his eyes. “Aye, but I am the handsome one and a laird must be...”
Their voices faded, the people laughed and the dog scrambled to catch up. Mutton abruptly stopped, briefly looked back and once more decided to go with the brothers.
Chisholm was so distracted by the MacDuffs, he did not notice when Paisley walked to him. “You do not want the chalice?”
He was afraid of saying the wrong thing again and merely said, “Nay.”
“Then what reward do you require?”
“Come with me and I will tell you.” He reached for her hand and when she did not pull away, he led the way around the corner of the Keep and down the path toward the river. Then he let go and just walked beside her. “I want children, a wife that loves me and most of all, I want to marry the lass I love.”
She took a few more steps toward the river before she asked, “Who do you love?”
“Do you not know?”
Paisley puffed her cheeks, “‘Tis still not good enough.”
She started to walk back the way they came and he grabbed her hand just in time. “I love you. I have loved you for quite a long time, though I did not realize it until lately.”
At last, she turned to look at him. “I have loved you less than a fortnight. Is it enough to make a happy marriage?”
“It is for me, but if you tell me to wait until you are certain, I will.”
For days she wanted to put her hand on the side of his face and now she could. “I long for you when you are not with me. Is that love?”
“It must be, I long for you too.” He let go of her hand, put his arms around her and pulled her to him. Then he watched her lift her face and close her eyes. At first, he only brushed his lips against hers. Then he felt her begin to lean heavily against him, knew she was ready and kissed her with as much passion as he dared.
Watching from up the path, Sawney rushed back to his father. “He is kissing her.”
Justin grinned. “Perhaps we should find the priest.”
THE WEDDING THE FOLLOWING week was a grand affair with all the MacGreagors watching as well as several of the Graham men and their wives. Chisholm stood next to his first and second in command, while Paisley was attended by members of her vast family. Once the ceremony was ended and a kiss sealed their commitment, Paisley went inside the Keep, up the stairs and to her bedchamber with her sister.
She was so excited, she had trouble standing still enough to let Leslie help her change from the colors of her father into the colors of her husband. Then she went back and enjoyed the merriment until it was time. Sitting her horse beside a happy Chisholm
’s, she waved one last time to her family and then rode off to become mistress of the Grahams.
THERE WAS BUT ONE THING still on Justin’s mind and after the young couple rode away and most everyone else went to bed, he put his arm around Carley. “I wish to have a word with you.”
Carley was next to the youngest of Justin’s sisters and knew what was coming. The clan had a traitor and there was no doubt in her mind who it was—it was the son of her best friend.
Justin took a candle off the table in the great hall, led Carley up the two flights of stairs where no one could hear and opened the door to his bedchamber.
Just then, Sawney stuck his head out of the second-floor bedchamber he shared with Hew, “May I have Paisley’s room, father?”
Justin looked down the stairs at his son and thought of something. “Come with me.” He waited for his son to enter, closed the door behind him and waited until both sat down at the table before he seated himself. Then he took Carley’s hands in his, “You know what I must do.”
“Must you?”
“Sister, there is little doubt. Neasan is our traitor and I must not let him live.”
“Brother, his mother is unwell and the death of her son will surely kill her too. Is there no other way?”
“I could banish him, but as my father said, a banished man waits behind every tree to seek his revenge.”
A tear began to roll down Carley’s cheek. “There must be something other to do.”
“Sister, if I let him live, I will only have to fight him on another day. I could never trust him, nor rely on him to safely guard us.”
“He knows you suspect him, father.”
“I know and I am surprised he does not run off,” said Justin.
Carley wiped a tear off her cheek. Whatever else he is, he does not leave his mother to face the shame of his running off. She believes it was not him and truly, we have no witness.”
“True,” Sawney agreed.
Abducted, Book 8 Page 15
