His good-brother, the more mild-mannered Sir Marmaduke, also wore a grim expression.
Whatever their purpose, they weren’t on their way to bring victuals or peat to Dunwynde.
Both men swung down from their saddles and strode forward. Their companions stayed mounted, their faces also unreadable.
Ill ease spread inside Mairi. She pressed a hand to her breast, her heart knocking against her ribs.
She slid a glance at Gare, lowering her voice. “Something is wrong.”
“So it seems.” He reached for her hand, squeezing. “I have heard MacKenzie is a man of reason – if you speak plainly with him. I shall do so.”
Mairi bit her lip, struggling to control her emotions.
She knew what that truth would be.
And hearing him voice his plans would break her.
“Laird MacKenzie! Strongbow! I greet you!” Gare called as they drew up before them. “I am Sir Gare MacTaggert of Blackrock Castle. I came to your lands in peace and leave them now as a friend,” he went on, proving her right.
He flashed a glance at her and she hoped he didn’t see the wetness burning her eyes. “Your kinswoman, Mairi, is in need of safekeeping. We were on our way to Eilean Creag Castle, where my horse, Rune is stabled. I would ask a night’s lodging, and-”
“You carry a sword, Blackrock.” Duncan didn’t let him finish, his gaze snapping to the blade Gare had thrust into the ground. “All men know your sword is broken – or is it now bloodied?”
“The sword you see was reddened, aye. Yestere’en.” Gare didn’t flinch, meeting the older man’s gaze easily. “My rent blade rests beneath a cairn in the Glen of Winds for I’ve no longer any use for it. This brand” – he indicated Brude’s weapon – “is borrowed until I return to my home and can have a new sword made.
“Borrowed or nae, it served me well last night,” he added, then reached again for Mairi’s hand, lacing their fingers as he told her chief of Sorcha’s attack and how he slew their assailant. He left out no detail except what happened later, in the shadowy confines of Mairi’s broch, on her fine bed of furs.
“Sir…” Mairi wished Duncan’s scowl would ease. He looked so fierce when he frowned. “If Gare hadn’t been with me in the glen, I would be dead now. He was taking me to you, trusting it is best for me to leave Dunwynde and stay at Eilean Creag, under your protection.”
“Is that what you want?” Sir Marmaduke stepped closer and looked down at her, his gaze probing. “To remain at Eilean Creag?”
“It is surely best.” She glanced aside, not wanting him to see into her heart.
Stinging heat pricked her eyes and a hot, thick lump was rising in her throat. Worse, she felt so cold inside, empty and hollowed. She feared she’d never be whole again.
She loved Duncan and his family. But she wanted her own. Unfortunately, she desired a life with the one man she couldn’t have. And arriving at the Black Stag’s lair only meant impending doom.
Sanctuary for her or nae, Eilean Creag Castle represented the hour of reckoning. The agonizing moment when she’d have to watch Gare ride off into the mist.
It was not for the best.
But her pride wouldn’t let her say so.
She did see Duncan and Sir Marmaduke exchange a glance. It was the kind she’d seen before, usually when Lady Linnet had been after the two of them about something.
Just now, she suspected that something was her.
“And you, laddie?” Duncan strode up to Gare, clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Are you for agreeing that Mairi would be best served in my care?”
Gare didn’t hesitate. “She would be safe with you, I know.”
“But that’s no’ what you’re wanting, is it?” Duncan’s gaze flicked to where Gare clutched Mairi’s hand. When he looked back at Gare, his scowl was gone, replaced by an almost smile that tugged at the corner of his mouth.
“My lady wife, Linnet, has the sight, see you?” He stepped closer still, placed his other hand on Mairi’s shoulder, forming a connection to them both. “My lady is why we were riding so hard for the glen, armed for war. She had one of her spells last night, claimed she saw your broken sword run whole and then turn red with blood.
“She had other tales as well, though I’ll no’ be sharing those!” He threw a glance at Sir Marmaduke, who had the good grace to look embarrassed.
“So-o-o!” He stepped back, hooking his thumbs in his sword belt. “I’ll ask again, laddie. Are you really for leaving the lass at my castle?”
“Nae, I’m taking her with me – whether it pleases you or no’.” Gare drew her close, wrapping an arm around her. “I haven’t asked her yet if she’ll have me, though I’m thinking she will. There are problems I intended to speak with you about before I asked you for her hand.”
“Oh, Gare!” Mairi searched his face for any hint that she’d misheard him. She saw none, only love and determination. “You know how happy this makes me. I love you, I do!”
She lifted on her toes, threw her arms around his neck, kissing his cheek. “But Lady Beatrice…” She knew it would be awful, especially if they called at Burnett Tower together. “Her family will be outraged, insulted-”
“Nae, they willnae.” He leaned down, kissed her brow. “I ne’er paid a formal call to the Burnett. His daughter was only the most suitable of the young gentlewomen suggested to me as a bride. I didn’t want to claim any woman until I’d seen you, knew that I could rid myself of my penance and make a good husband.”
“So she never knew?” Mairi’s heart thundered, her eyes filling, hot tears making it hard to see. “You weren’t betrothed to her?”
“Nae.” Gare smiled, shaking his head. “I meant to call at Burnett Tower on my journey home. Now there is no need.”
“Then what is the problem?” Sir Marmaduke still looked concerned.
Duncan glared at him. “Must you aye spoil happy endings?”
Unperturbed, the scar-faced Sassenach turned again to Gare. “Tell us what else troubles you, lad. Here in Kintail, there is little thon blowhard cannot fix.”
“Aye, right…” Gare stepped away from the little group, rubbing his neck as he started pacing. “That is the crux of it, see you?” He glanced at the two older men, not looking at Mairi. “The matter is delicate and I’d no’ hurt Mairi for all the world’s gold.”
“So?” Duncan and Sir Marmaduke spoke in unison, both men folding their arms.
“‘Twas an order from the King’s Lieutenant, Robert Stewart, commanding me to wed,” Gare explained, going on to tell them the same tale he’d already shared with Mairi. How the crown wished Scotland’s oft-times unruly northeastern corner better secured through strong alliances. For Gare, that meant marriage to a daughter of good house, a well-seen family of noble blood and one that commanded respect.
Mairi struggled to keep standing where she was. She felt a powerful urge to flee, to run all the way back to Dunwynde. It was even harder not to thrust her fingers in her ears. Gare might love her, and she was sure he did. But she was still the daughter of a nameless father, a simple village lass raised by her aunt and uncle, the onion farmers.
Nothing could change that.
So why was her chief smiling, looking almost amused?
“That is no problem, lad,” Duncan boomed then, strolling over to Gare and putting his arm around Gare’s shoulders. “See you, I have ne’er cared much for Lowland worthies, those who strut about Stirling and Edinburgh, garbed like peacocks and shrieking as loudly. I’ve no mind to obey them. No’ when it doesnae suit me.” He paused, threw a look at his men over by the trees, the lot of them still mounted.
“But I will rally to their cause if doing so helps strengthen a region my beloved Lady Mairi might soon call her home.”
“Sir?” Mairi blinked. She glanced at Gare, saw he looked equally puzzled. “Gare knows I am not a lady. I didn’t lie to him.”
Now Sir Marmaduke was also smiling. “Sweet Mairi,” he said, his dear voice gentle, “you
need to listen with your heart and not your ears.”
Mairi pushed back her hair, still confused. “I don’t understand. Sorry, I-”
“Your chief called you Lady Mairi.” Gare was suddenly beside her, his own eyes suspiciously moist. He leaned in, lowering his voice. “I believe it has something to do with his Sassenach captain saying he makes his own rules and does as he pleases here in his beloved Kintail.”
And then she understood.
“Oh, dear…” She blinked furiously, unable to stop the tears spilling down her cheeks.
“Here, lass.” Sir Marmaduke was beside her then, pressing a small, linen cloth into her hand. “Dry your tears, for you’ve no need to cry.”
“For sure, she doesnae!” Duncan took her hand, holding it between both of his. “Nae more, and ne’er again, something’s telling me.”
He looked down at her and she almost laughed because his eyes were glistening, too. Then he turned again to his guards and lifted his voice, “Ho, men! We’re away for home. We’ll have guests in the hall this e’en. My lady niece and her husband-to-be will join us for a fine feasting! We’ll have warmed mead and venison, and my best musicians for dancing.”
A great cheer rose from the men and they rode forward, circling the little group as they whooped and brandished their swords, some blowing horns.
All beamed and shouted hoorahs, their excitement catching.
Not a one questioned that the onion farmer’s niece was now the much-loved and privileged niece to one of the greatest Highland chieftains Scotland had ever seen.
Indeed, no one would dare raise a question or objection.
Not if they valued their neck.
And so it came to be that, on a cold and mist-drenched morning, the Glen of Winds banshee ceased to exist.
Even so, it was a bit hard saying farewell to her. Without the banshee, or the wonder healer, Gare would never have journeyed to Dunwynde.
“Then we would have met elsewhere, my love.” He stepped up behind her, sliding his arms around her and pulling her back against him.
They needed to wait while Duncan’s men argued who would have the honor of giving up their mount so the laird’s lady niece could return to Eilean Creag in style.
“I can’t speak – I am so overcome,” she managed, leaning into him, hoping her knees wouldn’t buckle. “What if you’d never sought the banshee, the caster of miracles?”
“I’d have found you if I’d had to search all broad Scotland and beyond.” He dropped a kiss on her nape, his warm breath tickling her ear. “I knew you were out there, waiting for me.”
His words made her heart flutter. “For such a great warrior, you are a romantic, Sir Gare.”
“Only for you, Lady Mairi.” He kissed her shoulder then, nipped the soft skin beneath her ear. “I would fight any dragon, challenge the devil, if it pleased you.”
“You please me,” she vowed, turning to face him.
“I have only one regret.” He lifted her chin and kissed her. “That I waited so long to find you.” He would’ve said more, but Troll was pushing between them, pressing into their legs, seeking attention.
The reason was apparent – they had an audience.
Duncan, Sir Marmaduke, and the guardsmen, stood in a circle around them. All of the men had tellingly bright eyes and red noses. They no longer looked fierce, but rather comical. And they were still smiling. One patiently held the horse chosen for Mairi.
It was time to go.
Even so, she grabbed Gare’s sleeve when he started forward. “I have a regret, too.” She spoke low, not wanting anyone else to hear. “I should have liked to have kept my bed of furs.”
“You willnae need it, sweetness.” He took her hand, leading her to the horse. “I will warm you every night.” He brought her hand to his lips, kissing her fingertips. “I’ll make sure you’re so well heated you willnae want any covers.”
“I know.” She did.
“But?” The concern in Gare’s eyes made her heart turn over. “Something still troubles you.”
“Oh, nae.” She placed a finger to his lips, silencing him before he could say suchlike again. “I have never been happier. It’s just that I would’ve enjoyed having the pelts as a keepsake. Because it was there, on my bed of furs, that we first-”
“I will send someone to fetch them.” He touched her face, smoothed the dampness from her cheek. “It will be my first task upon reaching Blackrock. Would that please you?”
“Oh, aye!” Mairi smiled. Her joy was now complete.
More than she’d ever dreamed.
Except…
She tugged on his hand again, lifting on her toes to speak in his ear. “There’s one more thing,” she said, only half teasing. “I wish my chief wasn’t throwing a feast for us tonight. Free flowing mead and pipers and fiddlers could make for a long evening.”
Gare arched a brow, a wicked gleam in his eyes. “Shall we slip away early?”
Mairi nodded, already tingling. “I would like that very much.”
Gare grinned. “So would I, lass, so would I.”
And so they did, stealing away as soon as they could that night, not caring if anyone noticed. Only Troll knew and he wasn’t telling.
Author’s Note from Sue-Ellen Welfonder
Dear Readers,
The Taming of Mairi MacKenzie is a Return to Kintail Romance. Other books in the series are Only for a Knight http://amzn.to/2keVRrR and Winter Fire http://amzn.to/1kO5EDL. These are stories set in the world of my award-winning debut novel Devil in a Kilt which won a Romantic Times Award for Best First Historical Romance. The Taming of Mairi MacKenzie kept the tradition by winning a Rone Award, as part of a collection. Many readers think of Devil in a Kilt and its follow-up books as my MacKenzie series. Indeed, the hero of Devil in a Kilt, Duncan MacKenzie and his friends and family play important roles in every story releasing as a Return to Kintail Romance.
Kintail is the territorial name of the actual Highland setting of these books: my original MacKenzie series and now, the Return to Kintail series.
If you loved Duncan, Lady Linnet, Sir M, Devorgilla, and other beloved MacKenzie characters, I hope you will enjoy revisiting them in these stories.
On a personal note, The Taming of Mairi MacKenzie will always be a bittersweet book for me because I lost my beloved Jack Russell terrier Em only days after finishing this story. Indeed, the stroke that eventually took him occurred late one night as I neared the book’s end. As a huge animal lover, I never let animals suffer in my books. At this writing, the closest I ever came to including anything sorrowful about a pet was a kidnapping incident that included a dog in Devil in a Kilt (the dog lived and was fine) and then, so many years later, Mairi’s heartache over the loss of her beloved dog Clyde.
Of course, Mairi’s farewell to Clyde happened off-the-page, before the story started. Readers didn’t see him go. Even so, it was hard for me to write Mairi’s grief. The heaviness in her heart when she ached for him, missing him so fiercely. Little did I know as I wrote her feelings that in a very short time, I would be in that very place myself – my heart broken and my soul crushed and bleeding as I mourned my own wee sweet Em.
As I do not believe in coincidence, I often wonder if writing a heroine who so grieved for her beloved pet wasn’t, well, a foreshadowing of the fast-approaching loss of my own oh-so-cherished Jack Russell, Em?
I will never know.
Perhaps someday I will meet my own Thor as well? So far, it is my cat Snuggles who keeps me going. He, too, mourned the loss of his best buddy, Em. And though Snuggles hasn’t said, I am sure he approves that this story is dedicated to Em.
I hope Em knows. As I believe, he surely does.
To my animal-loving readers: please give your darlings some extra loving from me (and Mairi) when you finish this story. The time with a beloved pet is so terribly short. But every moment we have with them is a precious gift, a blessing none of us would ever wish to have missed.
So
here’s to them all, every sweet darling – the pets with us now and the ones waiting for us at Rainbow Bridge. It’s surely fair to say none of us are in a hurry to get there, but man-oh-man how we’ll celebrate when the time comes.
That’s it for this one!
Wishing you Highland Magic,
Sue-Ellen Welfonder
Also writing as Allie Mackay
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About Sue-Ellen Welfonder
Sue-Ellen Welfonder brings legends and love to life.” – Fresh Fiction
USA Today bestselling author Sue-Ellen Welfonder won Romantic Times Best Historical Romance Award for her debut title, Devil in a Kilt. Many of her books have been RT Award nominees, and have received RT Top Picks and K.I.S.S. Hero Awards. She is thrilled to be a winner of InD’Tale's RONE Award. Her favorite reader compliment is that her stories transport them to medieval Scotland, the setting of most of her books. She is also known for her strong heroines, Alpha heroes, and weaving Highland magic and humor into her tales.
Sue-Ellen also writes as Allie Mackay, penning contemporary paranormals, mostly set in the Scottish Highlands.
~*~
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