Page 8 of Bride Takes a Charmer (Highland Vows & Vengeance #3)

“Gracious me, I should be curtseying before you, shouldn’t I, Your Grace?” Sorsha pulled back and dipped her knee to genuflect before the queen.

“Cease that. In private, you are my dearest friend. I shall have none of that when we are alone.” Margaret motioned her farther into the chamber and walked in front of her.

“I am pleased and grateful that you sent for me. Now I must form a plan.”

Margaret gestured for her to sit in a seating area near the small hearth in the chamber.

“Come and get warm from your travel and tell me why you must form a plan. You mentioned that you were in peril. I understand that you now must find a way to protect yourself since your husband is gone…” The queen poured her a cup of mead and handed it to her.

“Drink, for you will find a little bit of solace in the cup whilst you tell me what happened.”

Who knew how far Geoff’s friendships reached?

Although, Sorsha wasn’t certain if he had befriended the king.

She wanted to be truthful with Margaret but it might be better to keep from speaking Geoff’s name.

“I feared for myself and… some… one murdered poor Rodick.” As much as she wished to name the murderer, she decided not to for her daughter’s safety.

“I find myself without protection and must somehow get Gillian from the Chattans.”

Margaret sat and pressed her hands over the material of her gown. “Why did you not bring your daughter with you? I so wanted to meet her.”

Sorsha couldn’t reveal the whys and drew an uneasy breath. “I…I could not take her from her clan, at least not right now.” She feared that if she revealed the truth to the queen, Margaret would have the Chattans besieged, leaving her daughter in a more dire situation.

“Do not despair because I have, at least, remedied the issue of protection for you.”

She sat on the edge of the chair that faced the queen in awe of her friend’s support. “You have? How?”

“The king has decreed that four women are to be married to Highlanders that he favors. The lairds are on their way here and shall choose a bride from amongst the women. I suggested to Alexander that he should add your name to those who will wed these men and he has agreed. Rest assured the Highlanders are more than capable of protecting you.”

Sorsha tensed at hearing her speak of brides.

That she added her name to the brides being offered almost sent her to a good swoon.

She didn’t want to marry anyone but reasoned that the only way to protect her from Geoff was if she married another.

Hadn’t he suggested that she marry him to keep her from revealing what he’d done?

She would never have entertained the thought of marrying her husband’s brother even though many women were forced to accept such an outcome.

Often when a woman’s husband died, to continue the line of succession, they married their husband’s younger brother.

But Sorsha immensely disliked Geoff, not only because he’d murdered her husband but also because he used children in nefarious ways to gain his will.

With Margaret’s offer, Sorsha considered the plan and how it might serve her.

“Before you reject the king’s command, know that you have no choice in the matter. Alexander has added your name to the selection of brides and I’m afraid there is no way to remove yourself from his list. But I promise you, my dear, that you will be gladdened.”

Sorsha could only nod at the queen. Decorum dictated that she obey the king and she wasn’t dimwitted enough to put herself in a worse situation. “Who are these grooms?”

Margaret grinned at her acceptance. “Do you recall when I was despairing with having to stay in Edinburgh after my marriage to Alexander and your father brought you for a visitation? We had a lavish feast and I caught you looking at Laird Mackintosh.”

She felt the heat of her blush rise to her face. “We need not speak of that. I was young and impressionable and…foolish.” She remembered the laird. He’d been very handsome to her. Was it possible he hadn’t married even now? It couldn’t be.

The queen chuckled. “Were we all not impressionable at that age? Aye, we were nothing but lassies whose hearts were worn on our sleeves at the sight of a handsome man. That was a difficult time for me as you well know. If it were not for you, I would not have accepted my husband so graciously. You kept me from being homesick and listened to my complaints about Alexander and that I was purposely kept from him.”

“You both were very young when you were betrothed. I told you in time, you would be together, and I was right.” Sorsha smiled at the memories the queen spoke of.

Although it wasn’t love at first sight betwixt the king and queen, there was devotion.

Margaret had professed to want to lie with the king and that she was forbidden to be with him. She’d been miserable.

Margaret reached out and took her hand. “If not for you, I would have been lonely here, and you know how I detested the clime and Edinburgh. To me, it was as if I had ended up at the end of the world, a barren place full of barbarians, and lacking any entertainment. I owe you, my friend, for the joyous times we had.”

She shook her head. “You owe me nothing, Your Grace. I was gladdened to help you through that difficult time and to be here with you.”

“’Tis time for me to repay you for your kindness.”

Sorsha pressed her body back into the chair. “How?”

“I mentioned Laird Mackintosh…Shaw. Do you remember how he looked at you as well? There was something betwixt you then, an attraction, and perhaps desire. I have never seen that look in a man’s eyes, except of course, for my dear husband’s when he gazes at me.

Unfortunately, you were already betrothed to Laird Chattan by then and couldn’t stray from your future.

But now is your chance to secure Mackintosh as your husband if you so wish it. He is an offered groom.”

She nearly fell out of her chair at Margaret’s suggestion. “He hasn’t married?”

“Nay, he has not. He can be yours if you want him. In a few days hence, the king is going to have a feast. All will assemble and you will cross paths with him again. The choice is yours, my friend, whether you wish to wed him or not. Of course, he is the one choosing his bride but with you in the selection, I doubt he would overlook you. I have a way of gaining his accord though if that is not so.”

“I remember him being charming.”

“Charming, handsome, and now, especially, brawny enough to protect you.”

Sorsha remembered her encounter with the man: the tone of his voice, the sultry gaze in his grey eyes, and the gentleness in his touch when she’d danced with him at the feast. Since that night, she’d seen him at a distance on the few occasions at Tor when he’d come to visit her husband.

How could such a man as Shaw be a cousin to the roguish men of the Chattan Clan?

From what she knew of him, he was unlike his abrasive relatives.

And again she asked herself: how in God’s good grace had he remained unmarried?

The answer didn’t matter. What did was that he was as available to be wed as she. It seemed as if God had stepped in to care for her. “Very well, Margaret, I shall agree to marry him if he wishes to wed me. He gave me his heart once, and sadly, I had to give it back.”

Margaret patted her hand with empathy. “Perhaps, my dear, he shall give it to you again. Now, we shall have you garbed in the finest gown and I’ll have my attendants make you ready the night of the feast. None of the brides will look as beautiful as you. You shall indeed win his favor.”

“You are too kind, Your Grace. I profess though that none should rival your loveliness at the feast. How could we, when our queen is beyond beauty?” She’d learned from experience that the way to win Margret’s adoration was through compliments.

Indeed, the queen appeared chuffed by her words.

Sorsha drew in a quick breath at the thought of seeing Shaw Mackintosh again.

The vision of him flashed in her mind, that of a handsome braw of a Highlander whose face held a friendly manner.

His hair had been long then, in waves past his shoulders, in the richest brown shade.

But it was the intensity of his gray eyes that had stayed with her through the past years.

She recalled the sensual look on his face and in his manner, and how, at the time, she wished she could have returned the regard. With all her heart, she hoped he hadn’t changed. Hopefully, he remained the charismatic man he’d been.

Sorsha didn’t look forward to marrying another man for her protection, but if she married Shaw, she wouldn’t be too dismayed by it, especially since she’d never forgotten him.