Page 28 of Claimed Highland Brides

6

DANCING AND SINGING

D aividh emerged from Aifric’s hut, his heart pounding with anxiety.

Danger .

That’s all she would tell him. Danger surrounded them. There was no way to escape it. The only way to the other side was through.

I wish I did not believe her .

He walked unseeing towards the town square, eager to find his family. It was long past time to go home. If it was not already dark, he would have packed them up already and been on his way. He quickened his steps as he heard the singing begin, the huge bonfires already alight, filling the sky with an eerie rosy glow and added to the fell atmosphere of the ceremony.

It felt like a night in which anything could happen. So it came as no surprise to him when he heard a sharp ululation—a war cry for sure—followed by the sight of running figures, armed with swords. He caught sight of his sisters-in-law standing together near the front of the crowd, surrounded by his men. Ever alert, they drew their swords in readiness to meet the threat.

Daividh began to run, drawing his own sword even as he did so.

The clash of steel on steel as well as surprised screams narrowed his focus down to the battle in front of him and he pushed, shoved, and fought his way to his family. Simon was engaged with a man wielding a large cleaver, his sword singing as he fought fiercely back. Jamesina crouched down near a wall, cradling ùna beneath her, one hand on Fenella, the other on Maisie. The three of them formed a shield over their youngest.

Daividh noticed a strange man had planted himself in front of them, fighting off the attackers.

Daividh had no time to wonder who he was.

Delwyn was aware of the large man who had joined in protecting the girls. He was too busy using his broadsword to good effect however, slashing and stabbing anyone who dared to come close to the women.

When three of their companions lay prone on the ground the rest of the brigands ran off. Delwyn turned around, searching the girls for any injuries.

“Are ye alrigh’?” he asked as he stared into Jamesina’s eyes..

Jamesina unfurled herself, allowing him to help her to her feet. She reached down and pulled her sisters up to her. “We are fine. Thank ye,” she said with a trembling smile to Delwyn. She turned to her brother in law. “Who were those men?”

Daividh sighed, shaking his head to indicate his own confusion. He walked to one of the prone bodies on the ground and turned it around. The man groaned and Daividh was glad he was not dead. “Who sent ye?” he demanded.

One of the man’s eyes was swollen shut; his lip was puffy as well. He groaned again, trying to turn his head away.

“Tell me, who sent ye?” Daividh demanded.

The man said nothing.

Simon crouched down and flicked at his plaid. “Hunter,” he said shortly.

Daividh gave him a sharp glance. “Ye’re certain?”

Simon nodded. “Aye.”

Daividh bit his lip, Aifric’s words echoing in his mind. A shadow in his peripheral vision had him whipping around to see the stranger that had fought alongside them. By his dress, Daividh could see he was no local merchant or sellsword.

“Who are ye ?” Daividh growled, feeling out of patience.

The man bowed to him. “Lord Delwyn Barton is my name.”

Daividh nodded, digging into his purse and emerging with a gold coin. He stretched his hand out to the man. “Yer help is appreciated.”

Delwyn looked down at his hand with evident reluctance. He shook his head. “Keep your money...” He hesitated, glancing at Daividh assessingly.

“Speak,” Daividh said impatiently.

“I would ask a different boon if I may…I find myself at…a bit of a crossroads and would very much appreciate the chance at employment.” He looked at Daividh and then at the men around them. “You look like a man of means. Perhaps you can use a steward? I assure you that I can be very useful.”

Daividh snorted. “Why would an English lord want to work for a Scottish laird?”

The man had the grace to look uncomfortable. “Well, to be frank, I am faced with few choices at the moment. My father put me out to seek my own way, and having found myself adrift in the Highlands, I thought to come to this festival in the hopes of hearing something to my advantage. By happy accident, I came upon your family on the road to the festival and have struck up a friendship.”

Daividh looked to Simon with narrowed questioning eyes. His cousin shrugged. “He walked wi’ us from the inn and he helped us tae fight.”

Daividh looked skeptically back at the man. “What can ye do?”

“I am able to read and write. I speak and write three languages—English, French, and Latin. I am also quite adept at doing the accounts.”

“So ye want tae be a steward?”

“I think I would make you a very good steward if you are in need of one.”

Daividh exchanged glances with Jamesina. Her eyes were wide and glassy, as if she was in shock. “Are ye alrigh’?” he asked with concern.

She nodded jerkily. “I am fine.” She cut her eyes to the Englishman. “Perhaps ye should gi’ him a chance. He really did help us.”

Daividh sighed. “I shall think on it.”

To his credit, the man simply bowed and stepped back. He walked over to ùna and picked her up. She was shaking the slightest bit. “Are you alright little one? Too much excitement for you?”

She leaned her chin against his shoulder and nodded.

“Well, perhaps tis best if you return to the Inn,” he said with a nod to Daividh. “The men will watch over you all night.”

Daividh added, “In the morn we shall return home.”

She laid her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes as she clung to him.

Jamesina sighed as he watched how gentle Delwyn was with his sister. She looked to the others. “Let us go.”

Delwyn kept his dirk in one hand even as he walked with the little girl in his other arm. Jamesina stayed at his side, glancing at him now and then.

Delwyn noticed all the men kept their swords at the ready as they followed Daividh. Nevertheless, they reached the inn without further incident.

* * *

Delwyn was torn between relief and guilt. He was relieved that nobody had been hurt but also guilty that it was down to him that they’d even been attacked in the first place. It turned out that he did not have to find Neacel Hunter because the man had found him .

It had begun as they approached the village for the ceremony. He was quite enjoying his conversation with Simon Campbell. So much so that he had delayed turning it towards the goldmine as he did not want to make the soldier suspicious of him. He could feel the eyes of the girl, Jamesina, on him and he was in two minds about how he felt about that.

On the one hand, her clear interest in him would make it easy for him to institute the marriage plan should he fail to find his sister. On the other hand, he did not want her to fall in love with him as it would make his inevitable betrayal that much worse. But his sister was a priority. No doubt.

As they had met with other people coming to the square for the ceremony he had been temporarily separated from the Douglass party when a group of men jostled between them. Simon and his group were taken up with making sure they formed a wall between the sisters and the new group of men while Delwyn found himself manhandled into the midst of the men.

A strong hand closed on his arm and a voiced hissed in his ear, “ Did ye think we wouldnae ken ye? Do you have the money? Explain yersel’ or yer sister dies.”

He turned to look at the man threatening him and found that he was holding a knife to Delwyn’s kidney. He barely refrained from gasping or jerking away as the man’s hold on his arm tightened.

“Be still!”

Delwyn stiffened at once. “I came here…to get my sister. My father will not pay the ransom you asked for.”

“Aye, he wilnae. But ye will. Right? The letter was for you! So where is the money?”

Delwyn’s heart sank.

“I have no money, my Father has money. And he will not pay. He thinks my sister left on free will. ”

“Yer sister says that unlike her father, you love her. Ah’m giving ye one week and then ye will never see yer sister again. I see you will get your hands on that gold mine. The girl dowry right? That money can save yer sister’s life. ”

Delwyn figured by the way the man mentioned again and again he would kill his sister that he was measuring with how much Delwyn cared for her. He was trying to scare him, to see his reaction. He had to remain calm and win his impulses.

By coming to Scotland Delwyn showed that he cared for her so there was no way back. Maybe in the beginning the ransom was a bluff. His sister knew the man. Maybe he cared for her a bit but he decided to make the best out of it and get some ransom on top of getinge her to come with him. But now they will take it to the end - no doubt. They know about the mine and there is no way back. I have to save her. They will chase me forever or they will push it and hurt her. Her fate is on my hands now.

Delwyn took a breath. He calmed himself. All he could do now was buy time. “Don’t be ridiculous!” he began “I will get you the money but I need more time than that. They don’t even trust me. I am a stranger to them. And clearly they don’t take well to strangers.” He gestured towards the sisters who were being hustled away from the group of men—who, Delwyn realized, were Neacel Hunter’s people—and to a less crowded area.

“Och aye? Well, I can help ye wi’ that. Ye want them tae trust ye? Fight for them.”

“What does…?” Delwyn began to say before he realized that the man had disappeared. He sighed with irritation before weaving through the crowd to find the Douglasses again. They were standing at the edge of the crowd, near the front. He smiled, slipping between them once again and presenting ùna with the rose he’d hastily picked from a bush nearby. She squealed with pleasure and grinned at him and he smiled back, quite liking her lack of shyness with him.

He straightened up then, his eyes meeting her older sister’s, which held all the reserve that ùna’s lacked. Still, she gave him a tentative smile, her lips looking so warm, soft, and inviting that it was all he could do not to slip closer and taste them. The laird was right to guard these girls for they were indeed sorely tempting.

When the scream went up in the crowd just as the dancers were preparing to go on the small uplifted stage, he had almost jumped out of his skin. It was instinctive for him to reach for his sword and brandish it, backing up to stand in front of Jamesina and her sisters. Before he knew it, he was in the thick of the fight as the attackers seemed intent on getting to the girls. He didn’t really recognize any of the men and it did not occur to him at that time that they were Neacel’s. Not until Simon flicked the tartan and said “Hunter.”

Then he visibly paled, thankful that no one was watching him just then. His eyes flew to the three sisters, knowing full well that had they been less well guarded or had the guards been less skilled, one or all of them might have been hurt, kidnapped, or killed as well.

And it would have been my fault .

He felt a curious kind of horror at how quickly everything was escalating out of control. When the laird had offered him a coin in return for his help, he was almost tempted to take it and go. He might have if not for the thought of Maegan, alone and relying on him to free her.

He had an opportunity and he had to take it. When his mother had first suggested this plan to him, he had hardly spared a thought for the Douglass girls. They were merely a means to an end. And now he had met them and they were perfectly lovely young ladies. He could not simply step over them to achieve his purposes.

Could I ?

Even as he asked himself the question, he knew the answer.

Still, I’d better play along for now. Neacel will be watching .

“I would ask a different boon if I may…I find myself at…a bit of a crossroads and would very much appreciate the chance at employment.” His heart twisted with pain even as he said the words. A pain that deepened as Jamesina spoke up on his behalf.

I am going to hell , he thought with a sigh.