The Clan MacDougall Series (141 page)

“Mayhap you were just overly hot from the afternoon sun. Mayhap it was just someone who looked like Horace,” Wee William said. He was trying to convince both of them.

“Nay! I know what I saw, William!” Nora argued. To her very core she knew it was him, the man who had hurt her in so many possible ways. What she could not figure out was
how.
How had he lived? Rowan and Black Richard and the others had taken Horace and his brothers away, to kill them, to make her a widow. Wee William had told her as much.

It was Duncan’s voice that Wee William heard next.

“Nora speaks the truth,” Duncan said as he stepped into the room. “Aishlinn saw him as well.”

Wee William spun and looked at Duncan. Wee William felt as though his entire world was falling apart. He would have to be honest with his wife now. He could only pray that she would understand that he had done all that he had done because he loved her.

“Is Aishlinn well?” Isobel asked as she came to Duncan’s side.

“Aye, she’s in your room with the babe and Angus,” Duncan answered. His eyes were glued to Wee William.

“How could they still be alive?” Nora asked worriedly as she looked to her husband for answers.

Wee William stood then and let go of his wife’s hand. His heart felt lodged in his throat.

“William,” Nora said softly as she carefully sat up. “What is it that you’re not telling me?”

Wee William walked to the window. He did not see the crowds, the banners, or the children playing. He did not hear the sounds of laughter and music that floated up and into the room. All he saw in his mind was the image of a very angry and hurt Nora packing her things and leaving him.

“Lass,” Duncan began quietly. “Ye must ken that what we did, we did fer ye and Aishlinn.”

Nora turned her gaze to Duncan. “What do you mean?”

Duncan continued to look at Wee William’s back as he answered Nora’s query. “The men were under strict orders no’ to kill anyone. Rowan and Black Richard, they took Horace and his brothers far away from the farm. With no clothes or furs to keep the three of them warm, Rowan assumed the bastards would freeze to death. No one thought they’d find their way home let alone survive the night.”

The wave of nausea returned and Nora felt dizzy again. Her mind was a jumbled mess of thoughts. Why would Wee William have lied about killing Horace?

Wee William turned away from the window and looked at his wife.

“Why did you lie?” Nora asked him. “Why did you ask me if I wanted to be a widow? Why did you let me believe Horace and his brothers were dead?”

“I saw the fear in yer eyes that night, Nora. I saw what the bastard had done to yer face. I canna explain to ye why I even asked ye that question. I just kent that I could no’ allow such a wee, bonny lass as ye to remain with a man who treated women with such contempt and hatred.”

Nora’s head continued to spin and race. She was still married to Horace. She had never been a widow.
I’m married to two men at once!
The thought made her feel all the more like throwing up.

“Ye made me an adulteress!” she yelled at Wee William. “Ye made me a whore, a bigamist, and adulteress!”

Wee William rushed to her side and tried to hold her hands. She refused him, could not look at him.

“Nay, Nora! Ye must believe me. Ye be none of those things!”

“How can you say that? I was not a widow when I married you!”

“Nay, ye weren’t,” Wee William said.

“You lied, William.” Nora’s voice had turned to ice. Her heart was shattering inside and the pieces felt like tiny knives cutting at her soul.

Wee William stood upright. Deep down he knew the day would come when he’d have to tell her the truth. He had hoped it would not have been for another thirty or forty years.

“Yes, I lied to ye then. I lied to protect ye.”

“Protect me from what? From Horace?” Nora spat at him.

“Aye! From Horace and from the fear that man had put into ye! To help ye gain a new life, to help ye to be rid of him and all the bad memories! I did it fer ye, Nora.”

She shook her head. “Nay, you did it for your own selfish reasons! You could have told me, from the beginning or every time after when I thanked you for making me a widow. You could have told me the truth. I’m not a weak woman, William. I could have dealt with the truth.”

“Nay, ye be no weak woman, I ken that. But yer
my
woman.”

Nora wished that she could have stood up to slap him, but the dizziness and nausea prohibited it.

“I’m your woman no longer,” she seethed. “Get out. Get out and do not come back!”

She could not have hurt him more had she run a sword through his heart. “If ye’ll let me explain,”

Nora cut him off. “I do not wish to hear more of your lies, William. Please, leave me now.”
Leave me now before I change my mind.

Nora did not doubt that Wee William loved her. She would never question that. But she did not know if she had the strength or courage to stay with him, knowing he often lied or at the least, skirted the truth. It mattered not at the moment that he proclaimed that he had lied to protect her. The reasons why he lied were not as important as the fact he had lied. Had she not just told Bree the very same thing? And if he would lie about something as important as this, what else would he lie about? She doubted if she could trust him again.

“Nora,” Wee William said as he lowered his voice. He had to get her to see reason, to understand why he had done all that he had done. “I am sorry. Ye must ken the why of it.”

“No, I don’t William. I don’t need to know the why of it. I only know that I cannot trust you. You married me knowing full well that I was still married to Horace.”

Wee William let loose a frustrated breath. “Nay, ye were no’ still married to him. I had yer marriage to Horace annulled.”

Nora’s brow furrowed with confusion. “How on earth could you have gotten my marriage to Horace annulled without my knowledge or consent?”

The initiation ceremony had seemed like such a good idea at the time. It had been the only way to assuage his guilt over not telling her the truth. At the time, he felt rather proud of his plan. Now, when he looked into his wife’s eyes and saw the pain and sorrow he had caused, he no longer felt so proud.

“Do ye remember the initiation ceremony?” he asked.

It took only a moment for her to replay that day in her mind and another moment for her to figure it out. All the questions about Horace. All that she had said about what she would have done if she could have done it. It all made perfectly good sense now.

She was beyond angry, she was furious. “How many other lies have you told me? Wait! Do not answer that for I do not want to know!” She was shouting at him now and did not care one bit who might hear her.

She wanted nothing more than to be left alone. Nora was never one to wallow in self-pity, but this was beyond the pale. Thinking was nearly impossible with him still in the room, pleading with her, looking so forlorn and lost.
Well,
she thought to herself,
it serves him right for lying, for not believing in her enough to tell her the truth of it.

“Please, William, leave me be for now. I need time to think.”

It took every ounce of willpower he owned not the sink to his knees and beg her forgiveness. His heart screamed for the chance to have her listen to him, to allow him to explain his actions. He studied her face for several long moments. The pain, the hurt, was all too apparent. Mayhap if he gave her some time to think things through and for the anger to subside, he might stand a better chance at explaining it to her.

Duncan walked to Wee William and placed a hand on his shoulder to guide him from the room. He whispered to Wee William, “She needs some time to think, Wee William. Do not fash yourself over it much. Aishlinn is just as angry with
me
as Nora is with ye.”

He knew Duncan was trying to make him feel better, but it wasn’t working. Suddenly it dawned on Wee William that if both Nora and Aishlinn had seen Horace and his brothers, then there was a very strong chance that the two of them were in grave danger.

Casting another look at his wife, who lay in the bed with tears brimming in those beautiful eyes, Wee William relented. “I’ll leave ye now, Nora. All that I ask is that ye ken me heart. I love ye, more than I love anything else in this world.”

Nora responded by turning away from him. He could only pray that time would help to heal this chasm he’d put between them. He imagined that the one thing that could help him most now, was to find Horace Crawford and finally do what he should have done months ago. Kill the whoreson.

Wee William and Duncan stood in the hallway outside of Nora’s temporary chambers, trying to decide the best plan of action. Few people knew what Horace Crawford or his brothers looked like. Wee William was relieved to know that John and Elise were tucked safely away in Isobel’s chambers. They would stay in the keep until Horace and his brothers were found.

As they made plans, Nial and Caelen appeared, and neither of them looked very happy.

“What be the matter?” Duncan asked as the two men approached.

“Bree is missing!” Nial said. He looked positively beside himself with worry. “We’ve been looking all the afternoon fer her and she is nowhere to be found.”

Duncan and Wee William cast curious looks to one another.

“And Gillon Randolph is missing as well,” Caelen put forth.

Wee William could not think of a time in all the years that he had known both Caelen and Nial that he had ever seen the two of them this angry or worried. It left a cold feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“Have ye told Angus?” Wee William asked.

“Aye,” Nial answered. “He’s putting together a search party for them now. One of the Carruthers’ men believes he saw Gillon and Bree leaving before the noon meal, riding out on horseback together. If they went out for a leisurely ride, they should have been back by now.”

Wee William ran a hand through his hair and let out a whoosh of air. There was too much happening at once. His primary concern at the moment was the safety of his wife and her brother and sister. He had to find Horace Crawford before he worried over anything else.

“Angus wants the two of ye to join us in findin’ Bree,” Caelen told them.

Wee William needed no time to answer. “Nay,” he said harshly. “I need to be with me wife now. I canna leave her while that bastard still breathes.”

“What bastard is that?” Caelen asked.

Duncan answered for his friend. “Someone from both Aishlinn and Nora’s pasts. He’s Aishlinn’s step-brother and Nora’s former husband.”

Caelen’s brow quirked upward. “Former husband?”

“Aye,” Wee William answered gruffly. “
Former
husband. Her marriage was annulled not long ago. But he’s back and I can only imagine that he seeks revenge.”

Nial was just as confused as Caelen. “Revenge fer what?”

“Fer takin’ her out of England I suppose,” Wee William offered.

Caelen was growing frustrated. “Very well then, we can deal with that whoreson after we deal with Bree.”

Duncan nodded his head in agreement. “I agree. If Bree has run off with Gillon, we must stop them before they do anything stupid. We can keep our wives safe, here in the keep, Wee William.” Duncan turned his attention back to Wee William. “We will put Daniel and David in charge of the search for Horace. They ken what he and his brothers look like.”

Wee William thought long and hard. His wife needed him, but at the moment, she was too angry to even be in the same room with him, let alone have a thoughtful conversation. Bree was young and innocent and there was no telling why she had left with Gillon or why they had yet to return. If his instincts could be trusted, then Bree was in serious trouble. He could not imagine her leaving with Gillon voluntarily. And if she had, the foolish girl was in way over her head. He did not trust Gillon Randolph any more than the men who now stood before him did.

“They’ve got at least a four hour head start on us,” Caelen told them. “I canna believe Bree would have left on her own without tellin’ anyone. I think Gillon has taken her against her wishes.”

As much as he hated the thought of leaving his wife at the moment, Wee William knew he must do what he could to help find Bree. Nora, he reckoned, would be safely tucked away in the keep. They would put guards on her and the children as well as Aishlinn. There would be no way anyone would let Horace near any of them.

“Fine,” Wee William said, frustrated with the entire situation. “Let us get Bree and get back here so that I can deal with me wife.”

He started toward his wife’s room when Duncan stopped him. “Nay, Wee William. I’ll tell yer wife and ye’ll go tell mine. Neither of them wants much to do with us at the moment. Aishlinn is far less likely to bash ye over the head than me.”

Believing Duncan’s assessment of the situation to be more than accurate, he agreed.

“Give us a few moments lads,” Wee William said as he headed down the hallway toward Isobel’s chambers. “Tell Angus we’ll be below stairs shortly.”