Chapter Two

CHAPTER TWO

H annah Winbury could not forget how she had just returned to her home from having visited her best friend, when she stumbled onto that insufferable man who thought it was a good idea to tell her how to train her own pup. The nerve of that man!

She had no idea who he was, nor did she have any desire to find out. He was probably yet another one of those lairds who thought they could say or do anything, without any repercussions. Their home had been flooded with those ever since their father died and her brother had taken over the clan, in an effort to keep it afloat with the little financial means they had left.

She hesitated when she raised a curled fist to knock on the door to her brother's study. A moment later, she was allowed to come inside. She approached his writing table, standing on the other end.

"Are ye busy?" she asked, eyeing the papers in front of him, although couldn't make any sense of them. They were mostly official papers, bearing the seals of clans she didn't recognize. However, one clan seal she had come to familiarize herself with, mostly because it would soon become her own.

"Never for me own dear sister," he smiled, removing himself from his desk. He looked satisfied, as if the burden he had been given to carry had just diminished slightly in size and he could at least take a deep breath, if nothing else.

"Ye seem content, dear brother," she noticed, with a smile.

His eyebrow raised, then he smiled back at her. "Ye always ken how to read me, better than Mother and Olivia ever could."

"Did somethin' happen to put ye in such a good mood?" she wondered curiously.

"In fact, it did," he admitted. "But first, do tell how yer dear friend, Elspeth is? Ye two have been friends ever since ye were wee lasses."

"Aye," Hannah nodded with an even wider smile. "She sends her regards," Hannah said, touching the polished surface of Hunter's writing desk with the tips of her fingers.

"How are her parents?" he asked.

"Very well," Hannah replied.

"Ye ken, their support has meant a great deal to us, ever since Faither died," Hunter reminded her of something Hannah could only nod to. "However, I'm afraid even their help isnae enough to relieve our financial strain."

"I ken," Hannah nodded again. "Elspeth plans on coming for a visit in a fortnight or so. I was hopin' she could stay wee longer this time. I so love havin' her here."

Upon hearing this, she noticed Hunter raised an eyebrow. That meant he knew something she did not.

"I fear that cannae happen," he told her, inhaling deeply and walking over to the open window, which overlooked their entire garden. Lush, green hills extended in the distance, merging with the skyline. This was the place where Hannah had spent so many untroubled days of her childhood, thinking about the future and how it would be. Never could she imagine that her future would be motherless and fatherless, with the prospects of marrying someone she might not care about whatsoever.

"Why nay?" she wondered. "Are we to journey?"

"Aye," he confirmed. He hesitated, as if the words got stuck somewhere inside his throat and he was having trouble finding an outlet for them.

"Where?" she inquired further, curiously.

"To McCann Castle," he said simply.

Hannah felt like someone had punched her in the guts. She resisted the urge to bent forward, as if in physical pain at the words. She understood everything. Despite this understanding, she felt an onslaught of tears, which she fought hard to hold back.

Hunter bowed his head, refusing to look at her. "I wouldnae ask this of ye unless it was a dire necessity," he told her.

"I believe ye," she said softly, biting down on her lower lip. Then, she looked up. "As the older daughter of a laird, I ken what me obligations are and I'm nae tryin' to escape them."

"Ye have always been a good lass," Hunter smiled. "Laird McCann isnae a bad man, despite what we may have heard," Hunter immediately continued, lifting his gaze and locking it with his sister's, as if there was newfound courage in his mind regarding the whole affair.

"Laird McCann is a hardened warrior," she seemed to think out loud. "Selfish and cruel. This is the reputation that precedes him, but that is one side of the story of his life. Perhaps, there is another one. Also, I ken ye wouldnae put me in harm's way, dear brother," she said tenderly, meaning every word.

"Nay, never," Hunter assured her, with a sigh, as he raked his fingers through his dark curls, only to place both his hands on his hips. "Ye ken how hard I've tried to resurrect our clan. I cannae do this on me own. I need yer help, Hannah."

She immediately walked over to him and took his hands. They were cold. She rubbed his palms with her fingers, as she always did during cold nights, when he stayed up late with her and their youngest sister, reading them bedtime stories well into the night. He had always been an ideal brother, who would do everything for his sisters. Hannah knew that she and Olivia could not ask for a better one.

"Ye ken that Olivia would be of no help here," he reminded her, and Hannah immediately nodded. "She is far too na?ve and young to be burdened by these affairs. If our clan is to be saved, it all rests on our backs, dear Hannah. We need to do this together."

"I am with ye, Hunter, always," Hannah assured him tenderly.

"This will not only help our clan, but it will also make peace," Hunter reminded her. "Laird McCann doesnae trust anyone. He has been betrayed many times, and hopefully, this will show that our two clans can become families, united in need."

There was something about the manner in which he said it that told her there was more to this agreement, more than he was letting on, but she decided not to question it. Hunter was, just like her, preoccupied with the future.

"If I could have it any other way, Hannah, I would, ye ken this," Hunter assured her. "But the situation is dire."

She smiled. It was the smile of a sealed fate, much like the seals the lairds were putting on their official letters and notes. Her brother had just put his on her life, and Laird McCann would soon put his there as well. She was not nervous… yet.

"When are we to journey?" she inquired, trying to sound dignified and slightly disinterested. That helped a little to keep her emotions under control.

"In a week," he informed her.

A week. This is how much ye've got left of yer old life, Hannah. Enjoy it, lass.

She sighed complacently. "Aye."

That was all she could say. She tried to smile again, but it was much harder this time, with this knowledge pressing heavily upon her.

"I am goin' for a ride," she told Hunter. "I shall take Haggis for a run with me."

"Be careful," Hunter smiled back somewhat sadly.

She turned on her heels and left her brother's study silently. So, she had seven days left to enjoy the soothing currents of her own home. Then, she would be tossed into the ocean, in the middle of the most dangerous torment she had ever endured.

Ye shall survive, she told herself. Ye shall survive.

"Marry the lass!?" Saoirse Peterson, Lady McCann exclaimed loudly as soon as they all heard the news.

Alistair had been rather matter-of-fact about it, as he was about everything in life. It was a done deal, after all. There was no point in dilly-dallying.

"But… ye daenae even ken the lass," Alistair's mother added.

"Bah!" Ryder Peterson, Alistair's grandfather, was seated opposite his daughter, and as always, his exclamation was followed by a loud thumping noise, which was the result of his cane hitting the ground beneath his feet. As an old man whose voice wasn't what it used to be, he relished adding this action to make his points more valid or at least, more audible. "What better manner ye can get to ken the lass than to marry her?" the old man added knowledgeably.

Alistair pressed the tip of his nose, partly because he was annoyed with the direction in which this conversation was headed, but also partly because he wanted to conceal a snort that would give away how amused he was by his grandfather's usual banter.

"Faither, it is customary to court the lass before marryin' her," Alistair's mother shook her head.

"An' the lad is gonna do exactly that," the old man acknowledged Alistair, as if he had just come into the room, with a nod of the head and another click of his cane against the hardwood floor.

"She is a good lass, Mother. Her reputation is impeccable and from what I've been told, she is rather bonnie," Alistair figured that this would be a good moment to retake the conversation and prove to everyone that he had everything under control.

The fact that it wasn't nearly so was irrelevant. They didn't need to know that he had a dangerous secret which he wanted to keep hidden at all costs, even at the cost of marrying a young woman he didn't know and would never love.

"When is she to come?" Alistair's mother asked, slowly coming to terms that her son had chosen a bride without even asking for her opinion, which she was more than willing to give, even under these circumstances.

"In a week," Alistair informed them officially. "She is to be brought here, so that the courtin' process can commence as customs dictate."

Nothing about this business has been as customs dictate, a little voice reminded him, but Alistair tried to banish it from his mind.

"In that case, a wee party is in order!" Alistair's younger brother, Felix seemed highly amused with the development of this situation. "With some good food, liquor and of course, dancin'!"

"This is no time to be gettin' pished, lad," Alistair's grandfather spoke, and the moment his words left his lips, his daughter turned to him with a derisive gaze of a shocked governess.

"Faither!" she exclaimed, her brows raising almost to her very hairline.

Both Alistair and his brother could not help but chuckle at the sight. As if their mother did not know who she had as a father. Being shocked by his openly vulgar vocabulary as well as his need to always be heard was something they had all grown accustomed to a long time ago, not paying too much attention to it. Only this time, his mother's focus was solely on the fact that she was to have a daughter-in-law very soon.

"What?" the old man shrugged his shoulders, feeling like a scorned school boy who had been mischievous for the fifth time, after his governess had already warned him four times. "It isnae," he added for clarification. "Ye want to leave a good impression on yer future sister-in-law, as we all do."

His daughter kept shaking her head disapprovingly, although there was much tenderness in this seemingly annoyed action. Alistair's family had always been slightly dysfunctional, mostly in the sense that they all had their own manners of thinking and thought their way was the best way. This, however, never clashed with how they felt about one another. A family always loved one another. A family always supported one another. There were no ands, ifs or buts there.

"Ye shall all get the chance to meet Hannah shortly," Alistair finally addressed them all. He wanted to continue by recounting all her good traits, then he remembered he would not be able to do so without lying. The truth was, he had not even seen the lass.

The only lass he had seen was the one who barked at him worse than that dog of hers. Instead of getting annoyed, Alistair was strangely titillated. He could not stop thinking about her curvaceous body that seemed to fill her gown in all the right places, even spilling over in some. That was good. Alistair liked where it was spilling.

But it wasn't only her body. It was her mesmerizing smile that would not let him be, even long after he had left O'Neill castle. He wondered who she was. In a way, it did not matter. It wasn't as if he was free to court her, even if he wanted to. He would soon be a married man, a choice that was imposed on him.

"Darlin', are ye all right?" he suddenly heard his mother's tender voice. It seemed that the time for friendly jokes and bantering had come to an end, leaving room for something deeper.

"Aye," he nodded with a smile. "Why wouldnae I be?"

She tilted her head a little, putting down the fork which was still in her hand, as she was the only one who hadn't finished her dinner yet. "Ye seem preoccupied with something… or someone?"

That second one, he thought to himself, but he managed to bite his tongue before he said anything aloud.

"Aye, there is much to take care of, as ye all ken," he reminded them. "Now, this marriage business… lots of obligation."

"If ye need any help, ye ken I am here for ye," Felix smiled at his brother, as they tended to do when they were little boys, who always fell into mischief together, and it was always the older brother who would take the blame for them both. However, as they grew older, Alistair came to realize that he had a true ally in his younger brother, someone he could always rely on, no matter what. This meant the world to him. In fact, his entire family meant the world to him.

That was exactly why he was so furious that someone had managed to worm their way into his family. While it was true that Hannah Winbury had no part in this blackmail, Alistair could not detach her from the identity of her brother. In his mind, the two were the same person he had vowed to hate for the rest of his life.

"I am countin' on ye, Felix," Alistair smiled back at his brother, raising a glass in a toast. Everyone else followed.

To be quite honest, Alistair had no idea what he was toasting to, but he wanted them all to think that this was his choice. His. No one else's. The longer they believed this, the better it would be for everyone.