Chapter 15

Brian eased the bedcovers down and looked at a soundly sleeping Arianna from head to toe. She was beautiful but he knew it might be a long time before she believed anyone who told her so. Passion eased her shyness and stilled the worry in her mind that her body was flawed, but he wanted her to revel in the fact that she was a passionate woman. He wanted her completely free of the chains of doubt Claud had wrapped her in. The sudden thought that he would be freeing that passionate woman only to send her to another man was one he ruthlessly banished.

From her plump breasts crested with pink nipples to her tiny waist, rounded hips, and long, slender legs, she was a delight to his eyes. He almost grinned for he truly did find her small feet attractive with those long toes. The tidy patch of red curls between her slim thighs drew his attention and he slid down her body to kiss her there.

Arianna woke to hear herself panting, her stomach knotted tight with desire. Brian was kissing her down there again, she thought, but passion had already banished her shock over such intimacy. Instead, she reached down to curl her fingers in his thick, black hair and a heartbeat later cried out his name as that knot of desire broke, sending pure fire through her body. She was still reeling from the force of her release when he joined their bodies with one hard thrust. Arianna clung to him as he sent her soaring again and, this time, shattered with her.

The pleasant lethargy of satiation was just beginning to fade when Brian eased out of her arms. “Ah, time to leave?”

“Aye, love, I fear so.” He brushed a kiss over her lips, slipped out of bed, and disappeared behind the privacy screen.

The moment Brian came back out from behind the screen, Arianna tugged the bedcovers up over her breasts and sat up to watch him dress with a swift efficiency she could only envy. “We could try riding hard to begin with so that we make better time on the journey.”

He glanced over his shoulder at her as he laced on his boots. “I am nay sure ye are healed enough for that.”

“I promise to tell ye the verra moment I suffer any discomfort from the pace we set.”

“Fair enough.” He stood up and kissed her again before striding to the door. “I will see that ye have some hot water to wash with. Dinnae linger too long, love, or Sigimor will eat all the food.”

Arianna laughed softly as she got out of bed, desperate to relieve herself. Sigimor was a blunt-speaking rough man, and a little odd, but one could not doubt his love for his wife, his children, or his family. She could only hope that the MacFingals were the same.

“Are ye certain ye dinnae want me to send any of my men with ye this time?”

“Verra certain,” said Brian as he grabbed the plate of oatcakes before Sigimor could eat them all. “We talked this to death yestereve. ’Tis still true that two people can slip about unseen a lot easier than six or more nay matter how skilled they are at sneaking about.”

“Aye, and the whole lot of ye MacFingals are verra skilled at creeping about.”

Brian grinned at the note of respect in Sigimor’s voice. His cousin was one of the few who would find the MacFingals’ skill at stealth one to admire. Sigimor and his brothers were very good at it as well.

For a moment he wondered if he was letting foolish pride lead him. After what had happened the last time he had ridden away from Dubheidland with no escort, he feared he could be risking Arianna’s life. Then he inwardly shook his head. He would leave Sigimor and his men to keep an eye on their backs until they were out of Cameron territory. After having been beaten twice he was certain that Amiel and what few men he had left had headed for Scarglas and the others, needing the aid of the other men now more than ever. He would work to get Arianna to Scarglas and her boys as quickly as he could and this time he would never let her out of his sight.

“We are verra good at it, aye,” he agreed, and laughed softly when Sigimor tossed a piece of bread at him. “Arianna begins to show a true skill at it as weel.” He poured himself some cider. “We will leave as soon as she packs the things your wife gave her. Every instinct I have tells me the DeVeaux ken exactly where the lads are and that is where this will end.”

“So ye really do think they will all gather at Scarglas?”

“From what Arianna heard while that bastard held her, aye, that is their plan. He was headed there when he stumbled across her. She is certain that Lucette’s plan was still to try and use her to bargain for the boys, despite what the DeVeaux want to do with her. Unfortunately she was nay fully conscious when he and his men argued over what the DeVeaux had planned.”

He took a deep drink of cider to try and cool the rage that still burned hot in him when he thought of what had been done to Arianna. Brian doubted he would ever forget how she had looked, bruised and bloody as she struggled to rise up off the ground. It galled him that Lucette had escaped punishment for the blows he had struck, a punishment that would have had the man dangling from the end of Brian’s sword.

“We will do our best to keep them running for their lives and hiding from us as ye get that lass to Scarglas,” Sigimor said. “My lads are eager for the work.”

“That is what I am hoping for, that they will be more concerned about ye and yours and nay take time to try and find us. Although, they may have already reached Scarglas. They have certainly had enough time. But, if ye do happen to stumble upon them because they stopped to lick their wounds, or have been so busy trying to avoid ye and your men they have done naught but run around in circles, I would appreciate if ye gave me the courtesy of leaving Amiel alive. I dearly want to be the one to end that bastard’s life.”

“Aye, that is how it should be. And, I ask again ere ye leave for ye may have given my words of wisdom a wee bit of thought by now. What do ye plan to do with the lass when ye have ended the threat to her life?”

That was not really a question Brian wanted to answer. He attempted to keep his attention firmly on the simple chore of finishing his morning meal. It was a ridiculous ploy to ignore his cousin. Brian often wondered if Sigimor ever noticed when someone ignored him and then sighed. His cousin had a too sharp wit so of course he noticed. Sigimor just refused to be ignored.

“I can wait longer than ye can pretend ye dinnae hear me.”

Brian glared at his cousin, but Sigimor just crossed his arms over his chest and cocked one ruddy brow. “I dinnae ken yet what I will do save to reunite her with her family, which has been what she has sought from the verra beginning.”

“It pains me to have to lay claim to such an idiot of a cousin.”

“I begin to think ’tis ye who doesnae listen. Why cannae ye see that she is better born than I am?”

“Because I didnae ken that the Murrays had their bairns differently than we do. Do they use special herbs? Mayhap only birth their bairns on a particular sort of linen. Mayhap the women dinnae sweat or groan or curse the mon who set them on the birthing bed.”

“I often wonder how it is that ye have lived so long. There must be hundreds who have dreamt of killing you.”

“Nay, I dinnae ken that many people.”

It annoyed Brian that he wanted to laugh. “Sigimor, ye cannae ignore the simple truth that she is higher born, richer, and from a clan that continues to gain power and honors. I am a MacFingal, a son of Fingal MacFingal who, whilst apart from his clan because he had a feud with his brother, decided to breed his verra own clan. He bred so many bastards it makes even the greatest of lecherous goats gasp in shock.”

“Might be envy.”

Brian ignored him. “He thinks an argument is polite conversation, says whate’er is in his mind without one thought to the consequences, and he paints himself blue and dances naked round a stone circle when the moon is full.” He narrowed his eyes when Sigimor chuckled. “Aye, laugh. Ye dinnae have to claim the old fool as your fither. Ye also dinnae have to have people looking at ye as if they fear the madness they are certain inflicts the old mon might be running in your veins.”

“Nay, I just have to claim him as my uncle, something I worked verra hard to do despite his refusals, if ye recall. So, if your wee lass doesnae grab those lads and run screaming from the place once she kens whose seed ye sprung from, I ask again—what will ye do?”

Brian dragged his hands through his hair. “Cousin, talking to ye is much akin to slamming my head into a wall. I repeat, no land, no house, and little coin. A bonnie Murray lass such as she is can do far better than me.”

“As could the daughter of an English earl do far better than a laird with more kin depending on him than most would tolerate, but that didnae stop me. I won her.”

“Naught can stop ye. Ye are like some thick-horned bullock,” Brian muttered.

“And it should nay stop ye, either. She already wed as her family bid her to once, didnae she? And just where has that gotten the poor lass? A puling coward of a husband who wasnae really her husband, who betrayed her and scorned her, and now a hard run to save her life and her husband’s sons from the greed of the bastard’s brother. The family that should have welcomed her as a new bride, as a new daughter, that spat on her and still took all her dowry. Are ye telling me that, even with that old fool we must both claim as blood, ye cannae give her better than that?”

“Oh, aye, I could, but I doubt her clan would want a mon like me to have her. If naught else, once they met my fither, they would fear madness ran in the blood.”

“Ye mean that clan that let a daughter marry an Armstrong? Another marry that mad MacEnroy? And another wed your brother Gregor? And let us nay forget that some fool of a Murray let one of their lasses wed my cousin Liam. That clan?”

“All those lasses didnae have much choice as they were maids who spent far too long alone with an unwed mon. It doesnae matter that they wanted to marry the men. E’en if they hadnae someone would have demanded it. Arianna is a widow. We both ken that the rules are a wee bit different for such women.”

“I believe Liam’s wife Keira was a widow.”

“Sigimor ...” Brian struggled to think of what else he could possibly say to shut the man up.

Sigimor cocked his head to the side and studied Brian for a moment before saying, “I think ’tis your own pride choking ye, cousin. Ye just dinnae want to wed a lass who might have more than ye do. I was mistaken. I had thought that ye cared for her.”

Before Brian could respond to that Arianna and Jolene joined them. Arianna smiled at him as she took the seat beside him and Brian felt his heart clench. Perhaps Sigimor was right, although it galled him to even consider the possibility. Maybe it was his own cursed pride holding him back from just grabbing hold of what he wanted and not letting go.

He wanted to soundly deny that but was unable to. Brian also knew that it was not as simple as Sigimor thought it was. Arianna had already suffered through a bad marriage, one that had hurt her in ways many would never see or truly understand. She had earned the right to have all any woman could want from a husband who cherished her with rich gowns and fine jewels. He could give her the former but the comforts she deserved would be beyond his reach for a long time yet. Yet, he began to think he needed to try and find out what she wanted. His own opinions of what needed to be done began to taste a little too much like a condescending male deciding what was best for a poor, weak woman.

“Will we need to worry about Amiel as we journey to Scarglas?” Arianna asked as she helped herself to some porridge and sweetened it with honey and cream, struggling not to let the fear she felt reveal itself.

“Nay, I dinnae believe we will and I willnae leave ye alone again,” he replied, glad of the diversion from his increasingly confused thoughts. “Two days, three at the most, and we will be safe behind the walls of Scarglas.”

“And then I shall see Michel and Adelar again. I hope they are nay causing trouble for your kin.”

“Nay, and e’en if they do get into mischief, there are plenty about to get them out of it. They cannae do anything worse than what we have all done at least once.”

Arianna smiled and ate her food with as much delicacy as she could when what she really wanted to do was shovel it into her mouth as fast as possible. She was eager to begin the journey to Scarglas. She felt a pang of guilt for being so eager to leave the Camerons for they had been kind to her, welcoming her into their keep despite the trouble she had brought to their door. Her need to see Michel and Adelar could not be subdued, however. Not even her fear of riding away from the safety of Dubheidland could dim it. It had been much too long and she needed to see that Adelar and Michel were safe with her own eyes.

It troubled her that fear crept into her heart and mind every time she thought of continuing their journey. She did not like to think she was such a coward. Reminding herself that Amiel had lost another two men and was wounded only helped to ease her fear a little. If she did not have such a need to see her boys again she doubted she would get back on a horse and ride away from the safety of these walls.

“I will get ye safely to Scarglas,” Brian said quietly, and patted her hand. “Ye dinnae need to be afraid.”

“I ken it. That fear ye glimpse has no logic to it.” She shrugged. “It willnae stop me, either.”

“Aye, I ken it. ’Tis why I decided it would be a waste of time to chain you to that fine bed we have been sharing.” He patted her on the back when she choked on the cider she had been drinking. “There is something I should warn ye about. My fither is a wee bit odd.” He ignored Sigimor’s laughter.

“Ye already warned me some. Dinnae worry. A wee bit touch of oddness doesnae frighten me.”

Brian prayed that was the truth. His family, especially his father, was a little more than odd. He said nothing, however. He did not wish to worry her too much about what she might find at Scarglas. Telling her any more might have her wanting to grab the boys and flee before they even rode through the gates of his home.

His mind was still fixed on how much to tell her about his family and Scarglas when they stopped to camp for the night. They had traveled a lot farther than he had thought they would be able to and with no sign of trouble. If they did as well the next day they could reach Scarglas before nightfall. Arianna looked a little pale but did not move as if she was in a lot of pain.

After she had walked around for a few minutes to ease any stiffness from the long ride, he made her sit down and tended to the horses himself. Brian then brought the blankets to her, urging her to sit on them to keep away the chill of the ground. He watched her closely as he unpacked some of the food they had brought with them from Dubheidland.

“Ye are coddling me,” she said with a smile as he handed her some bread, cheese, and cold venison.

“A wee bit,” he admitted as he built a fire to warm them. “We traveled a goodly number of miles today.”

“Aye, we did, but I dinnae ache much. Weel, nay much more than I would have anyway after such a long day in the saddle.”

“Good. If we can do as weel on the morrow, we should be riding into Scarglas ere night falls or early the verra next morning at the latest.”

She nodded, fixing her attention on her food to hide how relieved she was to hear that. Her body was one huge throb of pain, not so severe that she could not hide it, but bad enough that she wished she could soak in a hot bath for a few hours and then curl up in a soft bed. Arianna was not looking forward to sleeping on the ground and then spending another full day riding.

“There has been no sign of Amiel and his men,” she said, hoping that talking would keep her mind off her own misery.

“Sigimor and his men will keep them too busy to trouble us. May e’en cull their number a wee bit more.”

“So much death.” Arianna shook her head. “For what?”

“Greed. It can drive a mon to madness, love. Unless one of our enemies decides to tell us every wee, twisted plot he has hatched in his mind ere he dies, I doubt we will e’er understand.” He took a deep drink of cider from his wineskin and then handed it to her. “Does it matter?” he asked as she drank.

“Nay.” She handed the wineskin back to him. “’Tis just curiosity. There is something I dinnae ken about it all and it picks at me. Claud’s death can be easily explained. He was the heir and Amiel wanted to be the heir. Simple. Clear. Yet why kill Marie Anne? Why kill the boys?”

“Why kill you?”

She waved aside that question with a flick of her hand. “I am fair certain that has to do with the DeVeaux’s hatred of all Murrays. Wheesht, Amiel’s own family could want me dead ere I can get home and tell my kin all they kept hidden from them. That truth could certainly cause Claud’s family more trouble than they wish to deal with.”

“There is naught I can tell ye, especially as I dinnae ken what picks at you.”

“Marie Anne.”

“Ah, your false husband’s true wife.”

Arianna nodded. “I have ignored how my thoughts kept turning to her. Feared it might be jealousy, but, nay, it isnae. It was rumored that she was the bastard get of some highborn lordling. I confess, I thought Marie Anne the one who started that rumor just to give herself some prestige, but now I begin to wonder. What if she was blood kin to someone verra highborn, mayhap verra powerful?”

“Someone who could make certain the marriage of Claud and Marie Anne stood firm.”

“Exactly. When I start wandering down that path I dinnae find so many answers but I do find more reasons for this hunt, e’en for the alliance between Amiel and the DeVeaux. Lord Ignace is no minor DeVeau lordling yet he also hunts the boys. At least the one I fear may be here isnae. There is something behind his presence here that I just cannae see, but ken ’tis important. If we could learn what that was then all our questions would be answered.”

“And that would be good but, in the end, it still doesnae matter.” Brian put his arm around her shoulders and tugged her close to his side.

“Nay, ye are right. In the end it doesnae matter at all. All that truly matters is that Michel and Adelar are nay hurt.” She rested her head against his shoulder and stared up at the night sky. “They deserve a life in which they are nay surrounded by scorn or in constant danger. It was why I was taking them home with me. I kenned that they could find that with my kin.”

“Ye will be able to give them that soon,” said Brian, hoping his reluctance to grant her wish to go home did not reveal itself in his voice.

Arianna forced herself not to wince. It hurt to hear him speak of sending her home once the threat from Amiel and the DeVeaux was gone. She had hoped he had begun to change his mind about that. Although she had little confidence in her judgments about people, especially considering what the man she had thought would make a good husband turned out to be, she had thought Brian showed a caring for her that went beyond that of just a satisfied lover. Now she was not so certain. If he did care for her as more than a woman who gave him pleasure, surely he would have begun to hint at some change in his original plan to send her home. She was not sure what else she could do to make him want to keep her.

“Did ye love him?” Brian nearly cursed as he heard himself ask the question, if only because he really did not wish to hear her talk about that thrice-cursed Claud.

“Love Claud? Nay, although I thought our marriage could become one of love.” She sighed and shook her head. “I was such a young, blind lass. Claud was handsome, charming, and always dressed so prettily. I thought he was treating me with great respect when he did nay more than gently kiss me from time to time. Now I see that what I thought was a gentlemon’s respect for a maid was really just distaste. He was doing what he had to, nay what he wanted to.”

“So when he courted ye he was weel spoken and ye thought ye could make a good marriage with him.”

“Aye. My kin tend to marry for love, ye ken. I wished to, too, but it was verra clear that many of my clan wanted there to be a marriage between Claud and me. They wanted to strengthen the old bonds between the two families. I could have refused for they ne’er would have forced me to do it, but I didnae. None of my kin who have a gift for seeing the truth of a mon were there at that time so I got no warnings to make me look closer at the mon I was to marry. I e’en saw it all as an adventure.

“It wasnae until we were wed and the marriage duly consummated that Claud began to shed his disguise. At first I tried verra hard to please him, thinking that he was but trying to turn me into a good wife. ’Twas the same with his parents. When they revealed their scorn, I tried harder to win their approval. I am nay quite certain when I ceased to try, when I began to think myself too full of faults to e’er be able to succeed in pleasing any of them.”

“Ye were nay full of faults.”

“Weel, I wouldnae be so vain as to say I had none.” She chuckled and patted his thigh, deeply touched by how angry her tale was making him. “Howbeit, I had begun to think that I was just a miserable failure, ne’er meant to be a wife any mon wanted, but I kenned that I was a verra good mother to Michel and Adelar. I kenned that deep in my heart and none could tell me different. I had also begun to think that I wasnae as bad at the running of the keep as they all implied for, if I was so abysmal a chatelaine, why did they keep giving me e’en more to do? It wasnae easy, either, for many of their people followed the lead of Claud and his family, treating me nay better than they would some unwanted guest.”

She quickly covered a yawn with her hand and cuddled closer to Brian. “When I was held by Amiel and he began to hit me, I kenned that I would ne’er have accepted such treatment from Claud, from anyone in that family. One strike and I would have left. In a strange way, I found that knowledge a comfort. I e’en wondered where that cursed spine of mine had been when accepting all those cruel words, all that utter disdain.”

“Ye were just a young lass.”

“True, but I think it was more than youth. What Claud and his kin did was, weel, insidious, subtle ...”

“Sneaky.”

“Aye. I obviously wasnae as sure of myself as I thought I was. Claud found that wee weakness and fed it until it grew strong enough to conquer me. A part of me truly believed that I was an utter failure as a wife and a woman as he so often claimed I was. Believing my kin didnae care, or didnae see what I suffered was wrong or a problem, I felt I had nowhere else to go, either. So, I stayed far, far longer than I e’er would have if Claud had just once hit me or slapped me or kicked me as Amiel did. And every day I was there Claud, his family, and e’en many of the people on their lands kept picking away at whatever pride, vanity, or confidence I had. Ye hear something said often enough and ye believe it. I should have seen what he was doing to me.”

“Love, ye were so young ...”

“Old enough to be a wife.”

“But still young and ye came from a loving family, aye?” She nodded and he continued, “Then why should ye have questioned anything the mon ye believed was your husband said to ye? And, as ye said, your family had seen naught wrong with the mon when he courted ye. As far as ye kenned, they also didnae think your complaints about what was happening to ye were even worth replying to.”

“I should have left when I thought he had a mistress.”

“Ye probably kenned that few would think that a good reason to leave your husband.”

“Aye, true enough, though I did think it verra strange that there was no outrage from my family when I wrote them about that. Of course, they didnae get that missive, did they? I ken that now.” She hastily covered her mouth as another yawn overtook her.

“Time to rest, love. We have a long day ahead of us on the morrow.”

Brian took her by the hand, stood up, and tugged her to her feet. She blushed faintly and disappeared into the shadows of the trees to tend to her personal needs. He spread out the blankets for the bed as he waited for her. It made him think of making love to her but he tamped down the desire rising inside him. She had endured the journey with far more ease than he had anticipated, but he knew she was exhausted and undoubtedly ached all over. Sleep was what she needed.

The moment she returned, he strode away to tend to his own needs. By the time he returned, Arianna was sound asleep. Brian doubted she had been prone for a moment or two before exhaustion had claimed her.

He sat down and removed his boots. There would be little sleep for him tonight. Brian trusted Sigimor’s men to keep Lucette and his men too busy to bother hunting for him and Arianna, but the memory of how badly she had been beaten by Lucette was still a stark, taunting scar on his mind. He could not leave her unguarded. There would be no sleep for him until he had her tucked safely behind the high walls of Scarglas.

Sigimor sipped his ale and studied his brothers Tait and Ranulph. “Ye didnae kill Lucette, did ye?”

“Nay, just relieved him of the burden of two more men,” said Tait. “Followed him for a wee while and he is headed to Scarglas. Nay doubt about it.”

“Also heard that a certain Lord Ignace is gathering himself an army about a day’s ride from Scarglas,” said Ranulph.

“Is he now. A big one?” asked Sigimor.

“Could be. Talk of coin being tossed about freely is drawing the attention of a lot of men who havenae seen much coin for a while.”

“We left Brice and Bronan, as weel as two other lads, to follow them just to make certain they didnae try to find Brian and the lass,” said Tait.

“Good. I am thinking I might wander to Scarglas myself with a few of ye lads for company,” said Sigimor.

“There are already six of ours following Brian and the lass.”

“Aye, but it ne’er hurts to have more. Be ready to ride in the morning.”

“Do ye really think those Frenchmen will be mad enough to try and attack Scarglas?”

“They have hunted the lass and those lads of hers since she took them from her fool husband’s keep, e’en sank a ship to try and kill them. Aye, I think they just might be mad enough.” He grinned. “We will do our old ally France a fine favor and make certain that insanity gets buried deep here.”