Chapter 8

When Madden emerged from the Lady Ella's old bedchamber, he encountered Keelin in the doorway. "I just saw Isabelle running from here. What happened?"

"She was asleep. I accidentally frightened her, and she spilled tea down the front of her dress. She is returning tae her room tae change her clothes," Madden offered in explanation.

"How is she feeling?"

"She looked well enough tae me." Madden tried to hide his true feelings on the matter. "I am certain that it helps her state of wellbeing tae improve when her husband is naewhere in sight."

Keelin nodded. "I will go and help her with her dress. I dinnae believe that she brought any of her maids with her."

"How was yer meeting with Arran?" Madden called after her.

Keelin paused in her retreat and turned back around. "It went well. I believe that me faither will be pleased."

"Good," Madden nodded in approval. "Ye would make any faither proud."

Keelin smiled at him, raised her hand in farewell, and went after Isabelle. Madden turned and made his way down the stairs and into the great hall. He did not wish to be anywhere near Isabelle's bedchamber if she chose to tell Keelin the truth about what had happened between them. Lorcan was just exiting the kitchen and headed towards the main doors when he spotted Madden coming down the stairs.

"Kinnaird, how about a spar?" he invited. "The laird and I were about tae dae some training if ye care tae join."

Madden nodded. "I would be happy tae." Grateful for the distraction, he followed Lorcan outside and around the side of the castle towards the training field.

When they arrived, they found Arran waiting. "I brought our guest tae join us. I hope that ye dinnae mind," Lorcan greeted his laird.

"Nay, I dinnae mind. It will give us an opportunity tae speak," Arran replied, nodding at Madden in greeting.

Each man drew their sword, and they began to spar. "So, how dae ye ken me sister?" Arran asked, as he brought his sword into play against Madden's. The sound of metal upon metal rang out against the stone walls of the stronghold.

Madden, caught off guard by his words, faltered under the weight of the blow. "I dinnae ken yer sister. I had never seen her afore this trip." He spoke the truth. He had only just met her at the inn on the way to the castle. In truth, he knew next to nothing about her. I ken the way she tastes, the way she feels… His mind wandered into dangerous territory. Shaking his head, he turned his attention back to Arran. "Why dae ye ask?"

"The way ye spoke tae one another, looked at one another, it was as if ye kenned one another already." Arran studied Madden's face for a reaction. Madden refused to give him one.

"I did nae ken about either ye or yer sister until this trip when Keelin decided that she wished tae visit her Uncle Arran. I had nae notion that she even had an aunt, or cousin, or whatever it is that ye are tae one another."

"In truth we are cousins, but I was significantly older in age than Keelin and I grew up with her maither. She was as a sister tae me. Isabelle and Keelin are about the same age and grew up together." Arran's eyes became lost in memory. "Isabelle was but seventeen years of age when she married Sutherland. I was nae even here tae witness it. I was away fighting in France when our parents died. Isabelle, without a man tae protect her, felt that her only recourse was tae wed our faither's friend. Sutherland and me faither were as brothers when they were young men and me faither fostered under Sutherland's faither. They even vied fer the same woman. Me maither chose me faither, but it didnae change their friendship. I have never cared fer Bain Sutherland. He is nae the man I would have chosen fer me sister."

"Theirs doesnae appear tae be a marriage of love," Madden agreed in as diplomatic a way as he could manage.

Arran shook his head. "Nay, it doesnae. Isabelle wrote me it was a love match in her letters tae me but seeing her and him together with me own eyes tells me more than her letters ever could have. He is nay good fer her." There was true regret in Arran's eyes.

"As yer faither's heir, I am surprised that he allowed ye tae be in France fer so many years," Madden observed.

Arran shrugged his shoulders. "Me faither was determined that I was tae be the greatest warrior that our clan had ever seen. He sent me tae France when I was but sixteen years of age tae study under one of his cousins. It was nae easy tae leave behind me maither and sister and everything that I had ever kenned. I hated every moment of it," he admitted without shame. "I hated it even more when I returned tae find me parents were dead and me sister married off tae a man that never let her return home tae her own people."

"She has nae been back here since she wed Sutherland?"

"Nae," Arran shook his head. "She has nae returned since our faither and maither's passing."

"What kind of a man keeps his wife away from her family?" Lorcan spat on the ground in disgust.

"A bad one," Madden answered.

Both Arran and Lorcan nodded in agreement.

"I dinnae ken how ye have nae killed him yet," Madden admitted.

"It is a temptation beyond bearing, I must admit, but I have tae dae what is best fer the clan. I cannae care fer me people if I am dead as well."

Madden sighed, nodding. "Perhaps God will take care of it fer ye."

Arran and Lorcan smiled at the thought. "I would nae argue with that," Arran nodded in approval.

Cara, the maid, approached the training field. "Me laird," she called out and the men stopped what they were doing. "The council is awaiting ye fer the meeting."

Arran followed the maid back inside the castle, with Lorcan and Madden lagging along behind.

Dinner was an awkward affair.

Madden's attention was taken up by the way that Bain was treating Isabelle. Everything that she did or said he had something negative to say about. When Isabelle reached for her cup, her sleeve moved up and exposed a new ring of bruises on her wrist. Isabelle caught him looking at them and pulled her sleeve back down. Bain leaned over and hissed something in Isabelle's ear that Madden could not hear.

"Please excuse me," she murmured standing suddenly.

"Where dae ye think ye are going?" Bain demanded to know, grabbing her arm.

"Tae relieve meself," she informed him as low as she could manage so that others would not hear her. Grunting, Bain released her arm and let her go.

Madden watched as Isabelle crossed the hall. When she reached the door, she took one last look back at the dais as if to make certain that her husband was not watching her, then she turned out of the doors and into the courtyard, instead of towards the privy. Concerned, Madden excused himself and followed after her, making sure it did not seem suspicious. He found her in a dark corner of the stables. "Daes he beat ye?" Madden asked directly without easing her into the conversation.

Isabelle's head snapped up at the sound of his voice. "Me life is nae yer concern."

"I did nae fully believe ye when ye told me before. I thought that ye had used it as an excuse tae keep me from telling him about our night together." He shook his head. "I saw the bruises."

Isabelle glared at him angrily. "Ye believed me tae be a liar? Ye believed me tae play the role of an abused wife?" Her words fell hard against his heart. "Why would I tell ye anything?"

"I am sorry that I did nae fully believe ye before. I did nae care fer yer husband from the first moment that I met him, but I thought that ye were simply trying tae protect yerself from me. I did nae believe that ye could be trusted as an unfaithful wife. Is it true that I am the only man other than yer husband that ye have ever been with?"

Isabelle looked like she wanted to punch him in the face. "I told ye all of this the night that we stood right here in these very stables," her voice came out in a harsh whisper so that they would not be heard. If a person could scream and whisper at the same time, Isabelle would have had quite a talent for it. "I have nae shared me bed with other men. I have been a good, loyal, and faithful wife tae an abusive husband since I was seventeen years old. The only time I ever did something fer me, fer me own sanity, fer me own emotional survival, I was cursed tae be with a man such as ye!"

Madden, moved to his core by her angry words and the angry tears that had begun to stream down her cheeks, moved forward and reached up to brush the hair from her face. "I ken that it is nae me place tae intervene, but if ye are in need of protection come tae me and I will help ye. Nay one needs tae ken anything." He turned towards the door unable to keep his hands from her skin if he stayed. All he wanted to do was to take her into his arms and carry her away from her husband to the safety of the Hamilton lands, where he could keep her safe always.

"Why?" she whispered in question. "Why would ye help me?"

"Because ye deserve better." With that, he left her standing alone in the stables, needing to put as much distance between her and himself as he could imagine before he did something that they would both regret.