Knight Protector (Knight Chronicles) (12 page)

“I imagine most mothers have ambitions for their babes.”

Color flared in Sorcha’s cheeks.

Colin grinned.

“Let us continue with your report, Sir Fitzsimmons. What of the guard and the stronghold defenses? Have you made improvements there? I hear rumors that some of the guards neglect their posts at night.”

“’Tis the first I’ve heard of it. If ’tis true, I will put a stop to that immediately. As for improving the defenses, I’ve made very few, my lord. Your father was a superb strategist, and other than to increase the number of knights, I would not presume to change his orders. However, the additional men allow us to send out patrols more often and to cover more ground.”

Colin settled back into his pillows. The man was lying through his teeth about the old earl’s strategic abilities. Colin’s father had believed in the dominance of numbers over guile. Violence, not strategy, had been the only form of attack Colin had ever known him to use. So why would an apparently smart steward say differently when Brice must have known better? To curry favor? To appear less intelligent than he was? To direct attention away from the truly worrisome information that Marr guards neglected their duties even after the number of available men had increased beyond what his father had kept—which was already twice as many as the stronghold needed?

“That was very wise of you.” Colin nodded, to give the impression he’d been duped. “Are the additional guardsmen all of Clan Marr?”

Sir Fitzsimmons acquired a sheepish expression. “I regret that all the available clansmen were already serving at Strathnaver. I was forced to seek far and wide for mercenaries to supplement our numbers. I even went so far as to hire a few Welshmen.”

Far and wide nae doubt meant England and any country not friendly to France or Scotland. Nae English sympathizer trying to build a force in Scotland would seek men from those two countries. The hiring of Welshmen was interesting. Few of them had any fondness for the king who had conquered their country and given their lands to his nobles as reward for their help in subjecting Wales to English rule. Seeking out those men and questioning them without the steward’s knowledge seemed prudent.

“No doubt the increases in income from the breeding enterprise helped to pay for these additional men,” Colin remarked with deceptive placidness.

“Yes, indeed. I’ve acquired a master blacksmith and ironmonger, and I’ve been able to provide our sheep and cow herders with better dogs.”

“Scottish herding dogs?”

“Certainly,” Fitzsimmons agreed. “The English and French dogs are less capable, and while the Irish might be almost as skilled, they are notoriously difficult to train.”

The conversation continued for quite some time before they had covered all aspects of the steward’s work. When Colin finally dismissed him, Sorcha rose, saying, “I’ll leave as well to get your dinner, husband.”

Colin kept hold of her hand. “Nae,
muirnean
, I wish you to stay with me. Sir Fitzsimmons can request the cook to send up our meal.”

Turning her back to the steward, she tugged quietly at her hand, but Colin refused to release her. “Husband, you are only beginning to recover. You must rest, and will do better if I leave for a time.”

“Nae, wife, I need you beside me to ensure I have nae trouble finding my sleep.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “I can tell you intend to be stubborn about this. Very well, since you insist, I will ask a kindness of Sir Fitzsimmons and have him tell the cook to send up a tray with our supper on it.”

Colin loosed his grip, and she withdrew her wrist.

“I will be most happy to be of service and ask cook to send up the meal.”

“Thank you.” She extended her hand.

Sir Fitzsimmons made a show of bowing deeply and kissing her fingers. The man’s mouth lingered over long.
Does he nae stop within the next instant, I’ll knock him on his arse
.

As Colin finished the thought, Fitzsimmons dropped Sorcha’s hand then backed out through the door.

Sorcha shifted as if to return to the window bench, but Colin caught her dress in his fist, pulled her down beside him, and circled her waist with one arm, clasping her to his side.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Using his chest for leverage, she pushed against his grip but couldna break his hold.

He grinned. “I am getting you to sit with me without having to remind you that we need to talk quietly about the steward and whether or nae he could be a spy.”

She clenched her teeth and all but snarled at him.

“Did I do something to make you imagine you could touch me will you nil you?”

He blinked in feigned innocence. “Nae, but you canna blame a man for trying.”

She looked at him, eyelids narrowed, as if she very much wanted to accuse him of some trickery.

“I would prefer you keep your hands to yourself.”“

“I’ll nae argue with you,
muirnean
, but simply remind you that you canna deny what is between us.”

She stared at him, clearly wanting to deny it.

“Hmph,” was all she could manage. She folded her arms across her chest. “Let us speak of the steward now, so we may be done with this foolishness all the sooner.”

At least she didna try to reject the truth of their mutual passion.

“He lied about my father’s strategic plans.”

“I would agree. I would never have said your father was a strategist. He was over fond of blunt force and large numbers.”

Though she’d stopped trying to push out of his clasp, she held herself stiffly away from him.

“And he has to be lying about the breeding herds, true?” Colin asked.

Sorcha turned her face away. Her body went even more tense than he’d thought possible. Why did every mention of those horses upset her?

“You did well by replying that the horses were a gift.”

The words were stilted, and her shoulders hunched. He wanted to see her face.

“How did Clan Marr come to acquire MacKai breeding stock?” He kept his tone gentle, all the while rubbing his hand up and down her arm.

“I willna tell you.”

“You must, Sorcha. Whatever happened was no secret to all at Strathnaver, including Brice. ’Twill ruin our plans if I am ignorant of what he knew well.”

“You canna understand.”

“Then help me understand. Tell me what happened. How did my father get those horses? Your family would nae have simply given away a breeding pair, let alone the entire herd.”

She lifted her head, shaking it, and turned toward him. Unshed tears gleamed in her eyes. “’Twas indeed the entire herd. He stole them.”

Colin’s body jerked. “Certes my father was capable of such a theft, but surely your parents guarded their livelihood well enough to prevent it.”

A single tear did fall then. “They were nae there.”

“Where were they? Why take nae precautions, if they were to be away?”

“They could nae take precautions because they were dead. Your father, with Brice’s help, murdered them.”

He snatched his arm from around her. “Nae!” Then more quietly, “Nae.” Nae wonder Sorcha had such difficulty accepting her desire for him. His family murdered hers.

They couldna
. But he knew they could.
They wouldna
. Or would they? His father, yes. When madness overtook him in a temper—and sometimes that madness had lasted for days—he had been capable of killing. But Brice? Would Brice have murdered Sorcha’s parents just to keep their father’s approval?

Once, a long time ago, Brice and he had been close, the best of friends. But then their mother had died, and gradually Brice had changed. Daily he’d become more like their father. More selfish, more autocratic, more mercurial in his moods. He’d burned brighter, and that brightness attracted Sorcha’s attention.

What horrors had happened at Strathnaver after I left
?

Colin reached for Sorcha, but she pulled away. He let his arms fall to his sides. “Tell me everything.”

“When you fled without any explanation, my parents broke the betrothal. I was left to tell everyone that kiss I gave you meant nothing.”

He closed his eyes against the pain of her words. With so many years passed, the words shouldna matter, but incredibly they did. “Go on.”

“Mother and Father would nae see me wed to a man whose temper would allow him to strike me or attack his brother nae matter the offense. They felt Brice should never have tried to hit me and that he should have talked with you before assuming we had betrayed him together.”

Colin nodded. “Aye, they would see it that way.”

“Your father was furious. He cursed all MacKais as we took to our mounts and departed. We were only a few leagues away, climbing into the mountains at the far north end of Strathnaver’s valley, when we heard the sounds of pursuit. The old earl, Brice, and more than twenty clansmen galloped after us.”

Colin kept silent, but his bones were screaming. Everything he believed in as a knight was about to be destroyed more violently than if Brice had slit his throat all those years ago.

“At first my father thought Brice and the old earl had come to apologize with witnesses to their sincerity. Still, he said my mother and I should go on. He would stay and speak with your father, if he wished to talk reasonably. Mother and I had topped the first rise when we heard swords clashing. I watched as Brice disarmed my father then stood back as the old earl and five men stabbed my father to death.

“Mother would have gone back to aid him, but it was over before she could recover her astonishment. I grabbed her bridle and forced her to ride away. Once we were galloping up the next slope—you know the one that shears off to a cliff side track halfway up—she’d regained her senses and, to protect me, dropped back to ride behind.

“It didna take long for your father and his men to catch up with us. Arrows flew about us. Mother took three in her body before she fell from her horse, shouting at me to flee as she died. I urged my mount to as much speed as possible. I only turned to look behind for a moment, but in that instant my horse reared and screamed with an arrow in its flank. I held on as best I could, but we were too close to the cliff. We both went over the edge.

“I remember being thrown from my mount and tumbling over rocks for what seemed an age. As I fell I caught glimpses of the men gathered at the cliff side. I saw Brice gesture and your father hit him with a fist. Then as I came to a stop against a large stone at the bottom of the gorge, all the men mounted and rode off but nae down the slope toward Strathnaver. They rode toward Dungarob. I was badly injured, and I lost consciousness then. ’Twas a blessing, for my last thought was at least I would die before I had to see my entire family murdered.”

She wore a dazed expression on a face gone pale with remembered terror. Colin took her fingers in his. They were frigid. He clasped his hands over hers and tried to stroke heat into her. “I’m sorry.”

She shrugged and finally her hands began to warm. “I was lucky, I guess. No wolf or other beast accosted me. I discovered when I woke that my leg was broken near the ankle. My horse was dead. I braced the leg as best I could and made my way toward Dungarob. After a few days, I encountered some of my clansmen out searching for me and my parents. They made a transom and carried me the rest of the way. Raeb had been sent for but was still in England with his foster family when I got home. I was ill for a long time, and only when I began to recover was I told that Clan Marr had stolen our breeding stock. That was also when I discovered my injury would be permanent. I had no time to mourn my parents or my lameness. Raeb and I had to act as parents to our sisters and find ways to eke a living from the sea until we could regain or replace the MacKai herd.”

Her voice trailed off, and she withdrew her hands from his clasp, turning away to stare out the window.

Colin struggled with shock, guilt, and the longing to comfort her, but he knew she would nae accept it from him now, perhaps never. She clearly believed he’d run away, leaving his father and brother to rampage, thieve, and kill unchecked. He’d lost his family that same day, but they’d nae been murdered before his eyes. He could only imagine the grief she suffered and the extreme struggle she’d had in order to give her sisters as normal a life as possible.

One question remained unanswered.

He rose to stand behind her, placing a hand on each shoulder. Silently, she shrugged him off. “Why did you wed Brice?”

She gave another shrug. “He turned up at the selkie’s grave more than a month ago when I was alone there. I did my best to kill him with my knife, but he still had some strength though he’d begun to sicken. He took my knife away, and said I must listen to him or he would see Dungarob razed to the ground and the MacKai clan wiped from the face of the earth.

“I wanted to scream loudly enough to bring every MacKai running. But fear that he might somehow be able to fulfill his threat kept me silent long enough to hear him out. I’d nae wish for Raeb and our sisters to suffer more pain and anguish. Brice claimed he still loved me and would leave my family in peace if I would marry him. If I didna cooperate and willingly say my vows, he would make good the destruction of all I loved. Then, after I had none left to fight for me, he would take me to Strathnaver as his leman and eventually share me with all his men.”

“My God.” Colin stumbled backward to sit on the bed. “Did he say why he wished to marry you?”

She shook her head. “Other than to claim he still loved me, nae much. He mumbled something about getting an heir and making amends.”

“Did you believe him?”

She clenched her fists at her sides and whirled on him. “What matter if I believed him or nae? I couldna put my family, my clan, at risk. But then you are probably too concerned with spies and kings to worry about family.” With that, she ran from the room.

Colin stared after her. What had he done? His decisions had forced her into this pretense of a marriage. Then he’d urged her to act on her physical desire for him when she was so conflicted. Clearly she despised Brice and his father. ’Twas surprising that she had any empathy for the other folk of Clan Marr. He’d nae have expected such courage and strength in the face of danger from the laughing, flirtatious beauty she’d been at sixteen.