Page 27 of A Scot for Bethan (The Welsh Rebels #6)

Chapter Eleven

T he contrast between Crois Dhubh and Cameron’s home was glaring.

As much as she had felt ill at ease in the draughty, grim castle buried at the bottom of the valley, she could actually see herself living here.

Situated at the edge of a tranquil loch , surrounded by rolling hills carpeted with purple blooms that scented the air with their subtle sweetness, Nead an Diabhail was an idyllic place, despite the fearsome name.

Indeed, the Devil had never set foot or even glanced this way, she was certain of it.

But it would seem that she would not be allowed to spend more than a few days here.

Soon, they would have to leave and get to a place of safety.

The day after their arrival, Murdo had ridden through the gate, his face like thunder, his horse half-dead from exhaustion. Cameron and Bethan, who happened to be in the bailey, hurried over to him.

“You were right to take her ladyship away,” he said without preamble—and in English. Bethan was grateful to see he seemed to think she had the right to hear what he had to say.

“What happened?” Cameron snapped, running a soothing hand over the stallion’s rump. The poor beast was panting hard, betraying the haste of his rider. Bethan placed her hand on his soft muzzle, trying to calm the beatings of her own heart. This would not be good, she could sense it.

“Moments after you left yesterday, Malcolm McDonald came, enquiring after his brother. Bold as you please, he said he knew something must have gone wrong because Donald didn’t turn up at the meeting point with his Welsh bride during the night.”

“Did he now?”

“Aye.” The word was little more than a growl. Dear, oh, dear, the man was truly a grizzled bear when he wanted to be. “We…erm, asked him some questions, and he revealed the plan the McDonald brothers had hatched between themselves.”

Murdo explained that the young laird, incensed at her refusal to marry him, and more determined than ever to replenish his clan’s coffers by a match with a rich woman, had decided to force her hand by abducting her, a practice that was unfortunately not uncommon.

Bethan had heard of many a rich and well-born woman being taken away and raped by men who wanted their fortunes for themselves.

In her country, there was the famous case of Nest ferch Rhys, the daughter of the last king of Deheubarth, of course, but she was not the only one.

Now it seemed that Dougal’s generosity had placed her in danger of being the next victim of such a heinous plot.

“Aye. We already suspected that was what the bastard’s intent had been,” Cameron said, his hand going to the hilt of his sword, and she knew that he was remembering how the man had tried to grab her from her bed, naked and helpless.

What he didn’t know was that there had been another attempt at rape before that, in the solar.

Murdo glanced at her, clearly of the opinion that she should speak now.

Bethan shook her head. Cameron was already on the verge of an outburst. She could not risk making things worse than they already were.

In a few days she would be out of here, it was not worth the Campbells starting a feud with the McDonalds, or anyone, on her account.

“There’s more,” Murdo carried on. “I’m afraid the McDonald died from his injuries while we were talking with his brother. Only one of the three men was able to leave Crois Dhubh with Malcolm’s retinue.”

Bethan gasped in horror. Despite what he had done, she hadn’t wanted the man dead. But the blow to the head he had received for grabbing her ankle seemed to have been fatal.

“He’s dead you say?” Cameron didn’t seem to share her consternation.

“Aye.” Murdo didn’t sound sorry either. “Malcolm swore revenge against you for killing him and has vowed he would marry the lady himself instead. They must really be desperate for coin. I’m certain he has no intention of wooing her ladyship, but rather do like his brother, and simply abduct her.

Nevertheless, we had no choice but to let him go. Thus far he has done nothing wrong.”

“Bloody hell, this is a right mess.” Cameron snarled. “We had better leave for Wales without delay, and place Bethan out of reach of the people who know about her new fortune, which will be most of the Highlands by now.”

“Aye,” Murdo agreed. “We have to take her to safety, especially as we still don’t know who let the bastards in the castle.”

This time when the two men started to plan the trip to Wales Bethan did not utter a word of protest. She did need to leave; it was not safe for her to stay in those conditions. Too many people had died already. It was time it all came to an end.

That night, Morag, the serving girl Cameron had assigned to her because she spoke English, found her weeping in her bedchamber.

“Oh, my lady!” she cried out. Just like everyone else, she simply refused to accept that Bethan did not have a claim to the title. Acting with surprising familiarity, she dropped the clothes she was carrying on the bed and drew nearer, concern etched on her face. “What on earth is the matter?”

What could Bethan say?

My life is a mess. I have no idea what to do or where to go. Men are ready to commit unspeakable crimes because I suddenly became a rich woman. Two people have died because of it. And I’m falling in love with a man I will likely never see again once this madness is all over.

In the end she focused on the least personal of the problems. What harm would it do to confide in the girl? She sensed she would find a sympathetic ear.

“I have to flee Scotland before I’m abducted by Malcolm McDonald. Though he doesn’t know me, hasn’t even seen me, he’s intent on marrying me by force to replenish his family’s coffers. His brother tried to do the same thing only the other day and ended up dead because of it.”

“A man is so eager to marry you that he is ready to abduct you to have you?”

The girl’s eyes were wide with awe. It seemed she thought this terribly romantic, which it most decidedly was not. He had no interest in her, but in her newly found fortune, and he was not even considering wooing her, which would have been the honorable thing to do, but raping her.

“You know…” Morag carried on when she stayed silent. “You could do a lot worse than Malcolm McDonald, if I may say so. With his brother dead, he will likely be the next laird, a most enviable position. I saw him once, two years ago, at a gathering. He’s young, strong, and easy on the eye.”

So what if he was? Bethan blinked. “Did you hear me, Morag? He’s a scoundrel who is not above forcing his attentions on unwilling women in order to trap them into marriage. I think I could do a lot better than that.”

“Yes, of course, you’re so beautiful! And now that you are a lady of means, you could have anyone.

” Still, the light in the girl’s eyes remained bright.

Apparently, young Malcolm had made quite an impression on her.

“You are certain you won’t regret your decision?

The woman who becomes Laird McDonald’s wife will have a good life. ”

“Very certain.” She would not marry another man who had been imposed on her, one who used rape and abduction as means of coercion.

“In any case, I shall leave soon. Laird Campbell and his men are this moment deciding on the best way forward. I wouldn’t be surprised if Malcolm McDonald was lying in ambush somewhere.

The more we wait, the more time he will have to get organized. ”

What would the Campbells decide? Would they try to slip unnoticed under his nose, or brazen it out, and travel with such a retinue that her enemy would have no chance of getting near her?

Probably the first option. She doubted Cameron would want to take so many men away from his land at the same time, especially when he was leaving himself.

“I will accompany you to Wales,” Morag suddenly announced.

“’Tis not right that you should travel in the company of rough men without even a maid to help you.

And look, your clothes have just arrived from Crois Dhubh.

We can take the most precious ones along with us.

” She nodded toward the dresses she had deposited on the bed earlier.

Bethan barely repressed a scowl. What was the woman thinking?

They would be riding hard to escape capture, not going on a pleasure outing.

The precious dresses would have to be sent later on.

In any case, what happened to her clothes was the least of her worries.

“This will be dangerous. We’ll be fleeing for our lives.

I cannot in all conscience ask you to place yourself at risk. ”

“Begging your pardon, my lady, but this will be an adventure like no other for me. I have never been anywhere other than Nead an Diabhail or done anything other than toil in the kitchen. I would like a chance to better myself, see the world, and this might be it.”

There was such hope in the girl’s eyes that Bethan felt her irritation melt away.

How could she refuse her this chance to live a little?

But it was not her decision to make. She would not be the one responsible for the safety of not one, but two women while on the road.

Wouldn’t having Morag with them complicate matters further for Cameron?

She sighed. “Very well. I will speak to Laird Campbell, but I can’t vouch for his answer.”

“Thank you, my lady! I promise you won’t regret it.”

Bethan went to bed more anxious than ever.

In the morning, Cameron announced that they would leave the following day at dawn.

Murdo had ridden back to Crois Dhubh to get Angus, who would ride with them to Castell y Ddraig.

The two of them would be back this evening, in time to rest before departing.

“Morag wants to come with us to Wales,” she told him, remembering her promise to the girl. “She says she wants to help.”

“Does she?”

Cameron was surprised. His men, Angus in particular, had many a time complained that the girl was lazy and selfish, and from what little he had seen, he tended to agree.

That she would want to place herself in danger to help someone she didn’t know made no sense.

His first impulse was to refuse but then he thought better of it.

Perhaps it wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

He’d been racking his brain for a way to get past McDonald’s men, who, he was certain, were waiting to intercept them on the road south.

The girl’s unexpected request had just provided him with a solution.

“That could actually work to our advantage,” he said slowly. “Malcolm McDonald has never met you.”

“No, only his brother has,” Bethan confirmed in a low voice.

For a moment he wondered what had caused her to flush, but then he remembered how the man had tried to grab her while she lay naked in bed and how she had been forced to defend herself.

Cameron pushed the disturbing image from his mind to focus on the problem at hand.

“Morag is young, she has brown hair, and so could pass for you from a distance,” he carried on.

The more he thought about it, the more this seemed like a good plan.

“We will have her ride with the two men as if she were you. The two of us will follow discreetly while they lead the way. McDonald no doubt expects me to have sent men with you, rather than go myself, so he will not be suspicious when he sees only Murdo and Angus ride past. He will stop the three of them instead of you, his true target.”

“No, ’tis too dangerous,” Bethan said immediately. Apparently, even if she understood that this might be the answer to their problem, she was loath to expose the girl. He understood her scruples, but he was certain this could work.

“There will be no real danger,” he argued, sure of himself.

“Morag will easily convince him she’s not the Welsh bride he seeks by talking to him in Gaelic.

The men will be along to defend her if anything happens.

In any case, the deception need not last long, just enough time for us to ride past unnoticed.

By the time McDonald has realized his mistake, we’ll be long gone. ”

The risk was minimal. He would not have exposed Morag or anyone else willingly, but the girl had volunteered, so he would make the most of the opportunity and be sure to reward her once they were back home safely.

She had everything to gain from helping them, and very little to lose.

At worst, McDonald would frighten her by his intensity but as Angus and Murdo would be with her, and the deception only needed to last long enough for them to slip past, she would quickly recover.

“If you say so.” Bethan still sounded dubious.

His body moved before he’d decided to draw her into his arms. “Aye, I’m sure. And worry not, I will not let anything happen to her—or you.”

This time it was his mouth which acted of its own accord.

It landed on Bethan’s lips in a soft kiss, a kiss that made his heart flutter but did not reach his groin.

Odd. Since when did he not get hard while kissing beautiful women?

Since now, apparently. And the strangest thing of all, he didn’t feel as if anything was missing.

He straightened up, keeping her tight against him.

“Why did you do that?” she asked, sounding breathless despite the innocence of the kiss.

It made him smile. She had not questioned his actions when he had pinned her against the wall behind the solar or positioned her on her hands and knees in her bed later that night, as if he had every right in acting so authoritatively with her.

And yet she was wondering about this chaste, little kiss.

It was as if she didn’t understand why he would want to kiss her in tenderness, when it would lead to nothing else.

He wasn’t sure he quite understood either, so he didn’t answer.

“If you’ll forgive me, I have a few matters to attend to before we leave.”

It was not ideal for him to leave so soon after having come back from a lengthy trip to Wales, but Cameron could not see any other way.

For better or for worse, he was now responsible for Bethan.