Captured by a Laird (25 page)

She had initially accepted the marriage because she had no choice. Now that her uncle and prior threatened to take it away, she realized just how important the marriage—and David—had become to her. Though she had known him but a short time, images of him flooded her mind.
David, stern and formidable as he pledged to protect her with his life…at ease on the floor amidst her squealing daughters and wood shavings…impossibly handsome as he lay naked beside her with his hand on her cheek and his eyes dark with desire…

Nay, she did not want to give him up. Though she wished he cared as much for her as she did for him, that did not change her resolve.

“I’ve had the petition to Rome prepared,” her uncle said to the prior. “We needn’t wait for it to be formally granted to move ahead with our plans.”

Panic rose in her chest as the two churchmen discussed her future as if she were not in the room.

“I cannot agree to this,” she said, raising her voice.

The two men abruptly turned toward her.

“I have shared a bed with my new husband, and I’ll not lie about it.” She was shaking. It was not easy to stand up to her uncle, but she would not let him do this. “I am David Hume’s wife, and I shall remain so.”

“The matter has been decided,” her uncle said in a firm tone. “The Douglases and the Blackadders have come to an agreement. This false marriage shall be dissolved, and you shall marry a Blackadder.”

“That is not possible,” she said. “I could already be carrying Wedderburn’s child.”

“All the more reason to act quickly,” the prior said. “My brother will not be happy about claiming the Beast’s spawn, but he’ll do it.”

“As will my niece,” her uncle said, glaring at her.

“I will not.” Alison took a step backward, in the direction of the door.

She had made a grave mistake in coming. Worse, no one at the castle knew where she was.

CHAPTER 32

Relief coursed through David’s veins when he crested the last hill and saw the solid stone walls of Blackadder Castle. After finding Leana, his unease over the Blackadders’ motive for the attack grew into a pulsing urgency to return home and see that his family was safe. Though he had left enough men at the castle to defend it, a warrior survived by trusting his instincts. He had set out at once.

He saw no sign of trouble as they approached the castle. Hume men stood on the wall and waved. All was well. Still, he did not regret pushing his men to ride hard. He was glad to be home.

Odd that he thought of the castle that had belonged to his enemy such a short time ago as his home. That was because of Alison. She filled an emptiness inside him.

He regretted the harsh words between them before he left. On the ride back, he’d given a good deal of thought to her and their argument. Trust was hard for him, but she deserved better.

Anticipation swept through him as he led his men up to the open gate. He imagined Alison and the girls running out of the keep to greet them. One night away, and he missed her.

He needed to talk to her about Leana. He had left Brian with Leana, but suggested he bring her to Blackadder Castle when she was well enough to ride. Alison had a big heart and would know what to do to help the poor lass.

The household was gathering in the courtyard. David scanned their faces, looking for his wife. Was she still so upset with him that she would not show him the courtesy of greeting him upon his return? It seemed unlike her.

He dismounted and tossed his reins to a stable lad, then climbed the steps of the keep. Inside, the servants were clearing the remains of breakfast from the tables.

Alison was not in the hall, but Will ran up to him with the girls’ pup on his heels.

“I’ve been teaching Jasper tricks,” Will said. “I wanted to surprise Bea and Margaret.”

“Where are they and Lady Alison?”

“I was just looking for them,” Will said.

“They must be upstairs,” David said, and started for the stairs.

He took them three at a time, with Will and the pup behind him.

“I’ll check the Tower Room,” Will said, and continued up the stairs while David pushed open the door to his and Alison’s bedchamber.

He stood in the empty room. “Damn it, where is she?”

Moments later, Will appeared in the doorway. “They aren’t in the Tower Room, either.”

“When did ye see them last?”

Will scrunched up his face in thought, then said, “Last night.”

“What about breakfast?”

“I was working on the tricks with Jasper and forgot to eat.”

Just then, Robbie came running up the stairs, shouting, “David!”

“What is it?”

“Everyone’s saying Lady Alison and her daughters are gone.”

“Gone?” David asked, hoping he had heard misheard.

Robbie nodded.

“How could they be gone?” Fear clenched David’s stomach as the image of Leana face down in the mud and reeds filled his mind. “Where did they go?”

“No one knows,” Robbie said.

***

“I’ll give you a moment alone with your niece,” the prior said, casting a murderous look at Alison. “I’ll be in the chapel praying that God grants her wisdom.”

Her uncle pulled her to his side with a grip that hurt her arm. He tilted his head toward the door and pressed a finger to his lips to indicate that the prior or one of his minions could be listening.

“The Blackadders have gone to the King’s Council,” he said in a hushed voice, “and argued that your dead husband’s male relations have a higher claim to inherit his lands and castle than your daughters do.”

“Surely their blood tie is too distant?”

“Not too distant when the political winds blow against us,” he whispered. “Your marriage to the Laird of Tulliallan, however, will resolve the dispute to both families’ satisfaction.”

“Tulliallan?” she hissed. How could he think she would
ever
wed that disgusting man?

“A child of yours will still inherit the Blackadder lands,” he continued, as if it should not matter to her that he was speaking of a child she would conceive with the despicable Blackadder laird—or that Beatrix and Margaret would be disinherited.

“More importantly, this will ensure that the Blackadders support your brother Archibald as the rightful guardian of his stepson, the king.”

“David Hume would make a far stronger ally in that fight than the Blackadders,” she said, knowing that arguing for what would be best for her and her daughters would be useless.

“
If
he chose to be an ally,” her uncle said.

“Let me speak to him.”

“Wedderburn is too unpredictable,” he said with a sour expression. “He prides himself on being his own man.”

“Ye must let me try, because I refuse to pretend this marriage never happened,” she said.

“Our chieftain will be gravely displeased to learn you’ve refused to do your duty as a Douglas.”

“My brother knows of this?”

“At whose behest do you think I came here?” When she did not respond, he rolled his eyes heavenward. “I negotiated this agreement with the Blackadders at your brother’s request.”

Archie had done this to her? “Does George know?”

“Of course he does,” he said with an impatient sigh.

She was devastated to learn that her brothers had once again put their ambitions above her well-being. They expected her to submit to being used as a pawn, and they could not even be bothered to tell her to her face.

“I’ll take you and your daughters home to Tantallon now,” he said, referring to the massive Douglas fortress on the edge of the sea. “You can speak with your brothers there.”

“My home is at Blackadder Castle with my husband,” she said. “’Tis growing late. I must collect my daughters and return. When ye see my sisters, please give them my warm regards.”

Her brothers could go to hell.

“Be forewarned,” her uncle said, his face turning a blotchy red, “this is not the end of it.”

Alison had all she could stomach of the arrogance of the men in her family, starting with her uncle.

“I’m saving ye from making a grave mistake,” she said, shaking her finger at him. “I know the Blackadders better than you do, and they cannot be trusted.”

“’Tis not your place—”

“David Hume is ten times the man that any of the Blackadder are,” she said. “Tell my brothers that they’d be wise to make him their ally—and damned foolish to make him their enemy.”

With that, she whirled around and headed for the door.

***

“Surely the men who accompanied my wife left word as to where they were going,” David said, gripping Robbie’s shoulders.

“She refused an escort,” Robbie said. “She told them she was only letting the girls circle the castle with their ponies.”

David wanted to strangle the guards for not going with them. “When was this?”

“At daybreak, shortly before the guards changed,” Robbie said. “I woke up the men who were at the gate at the time, and that’s all they could tell me.”

“That was at least an hour ago,” David said.

“Do ye think they were taken, or…” Robbie’s voice faded, leaving unsaid the alternative—that she had left him of her own accord.

“I don’t know,” David said, though the timing just before the guard changed certainly suggested she had planned it. “Whether she and the lassies left on their own or were taken, they are in danger. We must find them, and quickly.”

“But we don’t know where to look,” Robbie said.

“They can’t have gotten far.” David tried to make himself think. Where would Alison go?

Or to whom?

CHAPTER 33

Alison was frantically helping her daughters into their cloaks when the prior returned.

“You’re not letting her leave, are you?” the prior asked, glaring at Alison’s uncle.

“For now,” her uncle said. “She was a pliable child. I don’t know what’s happened to her.”

Under her breath, Alison said, “I have a husband who values a lass with spirit.”

“The children are Blackadders,” the prior said. “I insist they remain with me.”

“You insist?” her uncle said in his most haughty tone. “Let me remind you that these children are my blood relation and nieces of the Earl of Angus, the king’s stepfather.”

Alison felt immediately safer with her powerful uncle taking her part, though she was well aware that he spoke in her defense not out of affection, but because the prior had insulted his pride.

“Thank you, Your Grace.” She dipped him another curtsy, then took her daughters’ hands. “Hurry, girls. We’re going home.”

She told herself that the prior would not dare cross her uncle by attempting to obstruct their departure. All the same, she did not take an easy breath until the abbey disappeared into the trees behind them. Beatrix and Margaret were unusually silent, sensing her unease, and rode at a trot without her asking.

Ominous thunderclouds darkened the sky and a strong wind whipped the trees, making the usually pleasant ride along the river seem eerie.

She tucked her chin into her cloak and revisited her meeting with the clerics, which had been a revelation in more ways than one. Chief among her discoveries was that she was hopelessly in love with her new husband.

She felt a prickle on the back of her neck and her thoughts scattered. She felt as if someone was watching them. The meeting at the abbey had made her jittery and must have fueled her imagination. But the horses seemed edgy too.

“What’s that sound?” Beatrix asked.

“A deer, perhaps,” Alison said, and signaled for the girls to stay quiet.

It sounded like a large animal moving through the trees, but it could just be the wind rustling the branches. She was anxious to get home.

Not long now.
There was a small clearing around the next bend, and a quarter-mile past that they would be in sight of the castle. They would be safe then.

They rounded the bend, and her heart went to her throat.

A dozen riders were in the clearing, and she knew at once that they were waiting for her and her daughters. She turned her horse, but more riders appeared through the woods behind them, blocking her path. In a matter of moments, they were surrounded.

“Lady Alison, ’tis always a pleasure.” The man who spoke had a pointy beard and hard gray eyes and bore a remarkable resemblance to her late husband.

Patrick Blackadder. She recognized several of the other men as well, including his brother.

“You ladies should know better than to be out riding alone,” Patrick’s brother said with a nasty smile. “It could be dangerous.”

“’Tis fortunate that we’ve come to escort ye to safety,” Patrick said.

“We’re not going anywhere with you,” Alison said, lifting her whip. “Get out of our way.”

One of their men grabbed her reins, while another snapped the whip from her hand, pulled her off her horse, and pinned her arms behind her back.

“You’ll ride with me,” Patrick said, holding his hand out to her. “After all, you’re going to be my wife.”

“Ye know very well I already have a husband,” she said through her teeth as she struggled against the man who held her.

“No need to pretend loyalty to the Beast,” Patrick said. “Wedderburn will be dead soon. They’ll find him lying in a field with crows picking at his eyes.”

The certainty with which Patrick spoke made Alison shudder. What did Patrick know that made him so confident?

“Ye can’t kill David,” Beatrix said. “He’s a hundred times stronger and more clever than any of ye.”

“Mind your mouth, lassie, if ye don’t want it bloodied,” Patrick’s brother said.

“Don’t you dare!” Alison shouted at him. Looking into her daughters’ terrified eyes, she said, “David will come for us.”

She prayed with all her heart that it was true.

“Wedderburn is many miles away, but we’ve dawdled here long enough.” Patrick held out his hand to her again. “I don’t think we need to wait for him to die to share a bed, do you?”

“I’d die first.”

“Shame to make us wait for what we both want,” Patrick said, raking his gaze over her. “But you’re not truly necessary for this. Ye may remain here if ye wish.”

This had to be a trick. The Blackadders would not give up this easily.