Page 12 of To Tame a Wolf

Alexandra woke in the morning to find herself naked and alone in the big bed. She saw the late morning sun high in the sky through the window. The past night seemed like a dream, and what a dream it had been. She’d had no idea how magical or wondrous things could be between a man and a woman. Her face flushed with embarrassment at the thought of the things they’d done during the night. How was she going to face Ian this morning? She reluctantly left the comfort of the warm bed and made her way across the cold floor to the basin of water left by the hearth. She hadn’t heard anyone knock this morning. Hopefully, the furs had covered her naked body.

She was surprised by how stiff and tender she was. She hadn’t noticed any pain after the first time they’d made love. Cleaning herself up, she dressed for the day in her usual working garb. What were her responsibilities as the laird’s wife? No guards awaited her outside the door. Walking down to the main hall, she passed several servants who stopped to smile and ask how she was. Alexandra blushed each time she was asked, and managed to stutter out an answer. It was as if the entire clan knew exactly what had happened in the bedroom last night.

The main hall was empty. Everyone had already eaten and gone about their business. She hated to bother Cook, but she was really hungry this morning since she’d not eaten much the night before. As she made her way into the kitchen area, the staff stopped talking and looked up in surprise. She asked if there was any left-over porridge from the morning’s meal. Everyone answered at once and jumped up to serve her. Cook ushered her into a seat at the utility table. What had gotten into everybody? Was this how a laird’s wife was always treated? Alexandra was grateful, but embarrassed to be fussed over. She was no different from any of them.

After she ate her breakfast, she decided to check in with Silas as usual. Walking briskly, she set a vigorous pace. The sun was brightly shining, but the air was colder than during the last few days. She saw no sign of young Jamie and Happy, and she prayed that they stayed out of danger. The McGregor was training with his men as usual. She slowed her pace to watch. Since he stood a head taller than most of his men, he was always easy to spot. Watching him, Alexandra once again felt her face overheating as she remembered their lovemaking. Would she ever be able to stop blushing?

Alexandra didn’t find Silas in his hut, so she walked toward the other end of the village asking everyone she encountered if they’d seen him. As before, she was surprised when the people she met stopped what they were doing to inquire how she was, and if they could get her anything. Finally, she ran into someone who told her where Silas could be found.

As she approached the designated hut, she spotted Silas talking with one of her favorite guards. The guardsman, whose name she knew only as Mac, usually laughed and joked with all, but today he frowned and paced before Silas. She heard the old man explaining to him that first-time babies often took longer to get birthed. She heard Mac reply, “But it’s not her time yet, and she’s been laboring for over a day.”

She walked up next to him and touched Mac’s elbow. “I didn’t know your wife was expecting. May I go in and see her?”

Mac, barely holding his composure, nodded.

Alexandra had never witnessed the birthing of a babe before. She stood back and watched with the other women. The girl’s face was contorted in pain as she attempted to push with each contraction. The woman standing next to Alexandra whispered to her that the baby was in a breech position, and they had tried to get it to turn by moving Mary, the mother, into different angles. Time came and went, and the poor woman was losing her strength to push.

Alexandra moved up and sat beside the girl and held her hand, encouraging her as best she could. Silas had already said there was nothing he knew to do. The birthing of babes was strictly women’s business.

She watched as the will to live drained from Mary. The other women gave each other knowing, sorrowful looks. Alexandra, sensing with panic that there was not much time left, decided she had to at least try to do something more. After washing her hands in hot soapy water, she approached the woman and explained she was going to reach inside her to turn the baby. Mary did not have the strength to answer but nodded her understanding and closed her eyes.

Thankfully, Alexandra had small hands, but the poor girl still cried out as she inserted her right hand. She could feel the babe’s tiny feet. Pushing the babe back up the birthing canal was not easy. She worked with just her fingertips until she was able to turn the babe around and she could feel the softness of its hair. Alexandra pulled her hand free and each woman in the room loudly encouraged and cajoled the girl into pushing one last time.

The babe came out in a gush, and Alexandra caught the slippery little body in her hands. It was a boy, and he was unmoving. The umbilical cord was wrapped about his tiny neck. She quickly unwound it, and the babe’s little chest began to rise and fall. He let out a pathetic cry, and his scrawny fists waved in the air. Alexandra turned and handed him to the nearest woman while she cut the cord that attached him to his mother.

As the women took care of the babe, Alexandra turned her attention back to the young mother. Mary had passed out, and she was bleeding heavily. Alexandra quickly packed clean rags into her womb. She turned to the other women for help, but they had no further ideas. She called Silas to the doorway and urgently asked his advice. He shook his head and sent in Mac. With tears streaming down his face, Mac gathered his young wife to his chest. Wretched sobs shook his body as she died in his arms.

Alexandra could not hold back her own tears as she watched. If only she knew more about birthing, she might have been able to save the woman. She turned to Silas, who’d entered the hut and was cleaning out the babe’s mouth and nostrils.

“Will he live?” she whispered.

“Only time will tell if he is old enough to survive. His breathing is rapid, but his color is good.”

“Is there someone who can nurse him?” she asked.

“Mary was Maddie’s cousin. She comes from a big family. I’ve no doubt someone will volunteer to take the child until he is old enough for Mac to care for.”

On hearing the news, Alexandra’s eyes filled with tears again. She was sorry for the pain Maddie would feel.

She hated death, and she hated her own inadequacy to prevent it.

Stepping out of the hut, she was surprised to see the sun was setting. The hours had passed in a blur. She headed back to the keep at a fast pace, knowing the McGregor would be expecting her for dinner, though she had no appetite whatsoever. As she walked back, she recognized in the distance the McGregor’s large form headed toward her. Her heart leapt at the sight of him.

****

Ian spotted Alexandra walking with her head lowered, watching the ground. He’d thought about her throughout the day, and he looked forward to their evening together. Instead of waiting at the keep, he’d set out to find her. As she drew closer and spotted him, her face lit up and her pace quickened. He was surprised when she threw herself into his arms at the last second. Lifting her face, he noted the dried tears and red eyes. He stepped back and took in her entire appearance. His eyes widened as he saw the blood on her gown. He was immediately concerned she had hurt herself. He should have kept the guards with her .

“Are you hurt?” he asked, frowning as he looked for a wound.

“No, no, I’m fine. It’s not my blood.” Her voice cracked and she started crying again as she explained about the death of Mary.

Ian said nothing but pulled her back into his arms and held her while she cried. He also mourned the loss of a fellow clan member and he thought of Mac’s grief.

****

Debra screamed in ecstasy as she faked her orgasm. She’d learned years ago the more she fed a man’s ego, the easier he was to manipulate.

Robert finally climbed off her. “I’m on the schedule for the hunting party next week. Will you miss me when I’m gone?”

“No! Not so soon,” she whined and moved to place her head on his chest. She ran her hands over his muscled chest before dipping lower to cup his manhood. “Then you better start making it up to me now.”

Always planning ahead, she’d made a pattern of sporadically staying away from the keep for a day or two at a time. So, in the event she needed to be elsewhere, her absence wouldn’t be noted. Robert was always unwittingly cooperative when she wanted to stay home at night, as she did tonight. She would say she “needed” him and compensate him with wanton sex over several days, before totally ignoring him again. He was big and dumb and predictably easy to control. Too bad he wasn’t the laird.

****

Debra rode toward the Campbell stronghold. She’d been on the road since daybreak, leaving the hut shortly after Robert had left to join the hunting party. He’d be gone for no less than three days. She had been hatching this plan since he’d first mentioned his name would be coming up on the schedule. It should take her no more than one complete day to get to and from the Campbell stronghold. She didn’t think anyone would miss her. She hadn’t any friends who would miss her presence, nor did she want any.

She’d ridden in the same direction as the hunting party so her trail mingled with theirs, and she wore a plain, nondescript brown cloak pulled up over her head so even if she were noticed, her red hair wouldn’t give her away. Once the village was out of sight, she veered north toward the Campbells’ land. She should arrive shortly before dusk if all went well. And it had to go well.

The McGregors and the Campbells had been sworn enemies for over one hundred years, but they had not fought any major battles against one another in a decade. The degree of their fighting rose and fell. Things would be relatively quiet for a while and then one side stole the other’s cows or horses, and the skirmishing broke out again, seeing which clan could best the other. It had almost turned into a game, albeit at times, a deadly one.

Debra planned to make the Campbell laird an offer he couldn’t refuse. If she could just get in to see him, she was certain she could persuade him. Hopefully, he wouldn’t be away on some stupid raid. She dug her heels into the sides of the sluggish horse to speed it up. Unfortunately, in her haste she hadn’t considered food for herself or the horse. She only realized she was on Campbell land when she was suddenly surrounded by five men on horseback, each man armed and boasting the Campbell colors.

Slowly lowering her hood so they could see she was a woman, Debra said, “I have an important message for your laird.”

“Who are you? And who is the message from?” one of the older men barked out.

“I am Debra McCaw,” she said, lifting her head high. “The message is from me. I am currently living with the McGregor clan, but I am a distant cousin of the Campbell laird. It is urgent that I speak with him. I have news he will want to hear.”

The men looked to one another until one of them nodded. The man closest to her moved in and grabbed her reins, and she was led to the Campbell stronghold. Two men stayed with her while the others entered the keep. Debra noted everything while she waited. This keep was smaller than the McGregor’s, and some of its walls were crumbling and in need of repair. Fewer merchant huts surrounded the structure, and the people she saw were not well-dressed, or well-bathed for that matter.

Beckoned, Debra slid off her horse and followed the men inside. The main hall was dark and smelled badly. She was led up to a table filled with men who paid little attention to her as they hungrily attacked their food. She decided to wait until her presence was acknowledged before speaking. Finally, an older man with long red hair and matching beard looked up from his food, long enough to glare at her.

He said loudly, “So we be cousins?”

Debra answered, “No, but I thought saying so might ensure my meeting you.”

The man laughed before taking a slug of ale and wiping his mouth across his sleeve. “You have guts, I’ll say that. Now what is this urgent message from the McGregor?”

“It’s not from the McGregor, it’s from me. I know of a way you can make a lot of money and get the best of him.” She paused to see the effect of her words.

“I’m listening.” The laird turned his attention back to his food. The other men looked on with more interest as they finished up their meal.

“The McGregor holds a woman hostage for ransom. Her cousin Niles Conrad and her husband-to-be Hugh Sullivan are willing to pay handsomely for her return.” Debra smirked and then added, “In any condition.”

The Campbell laird scowled and said, “And how does that help me?”

“Don’t you see, all you have to do is steal the woman from the McGregor and collect the ransom for yourself.”

The man slammed his mug down on the table, sloshing its contents, and yelled, “You think stealing a woman from the McGregor will be easy?” He motioned with his hand for the men to take her away.

Debra spoke quickly, “I have a plan. She trusts me. I can get her to one of the outer village houses with only two guardsmen. You can leave evidence pointing the finger at Hugh Sullivan and her cousin. The McGregor will immediately suspect them anyway.” Debra shouted this last part as a guard grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the door.

“Wait!” the Campbell laird ordered. “Bring her back.” He paused, silently considering her words before he said, “Where are our manners? Come, sit and eat. Let us discuss the merits of this plan.”