The Clan MacDougall Series (99 page)

There was no doubt as to Nora’s sincerity or her intentions. Even if they were a bit naive and ill planned.

“Lass, we canna let ye go with no shoes. And we canna let ye go retrieve yer family without so much as a
sgian dubh
!”

Nora blinked and cocked her head to one side. “What is a-a-” she tried to pronounce the word but fell quite short of it. “Whatever that is you said.”

“A
sgian dubh.
A dirk or a knife,” he explained. “Ye’ve no weapons and no shoes. In case ye haven’t noticed, it be winter. Ye’ll freeze to death before ye even make it to the castle.”

Nora shook her head. “I’m well aware of the fact that I’ve no shoes. I’m also well aware of the time of year.”

Daniel and David came to stand nearer Wee William and Nora. With arms crossed over their broad chests and the smiles on their faces, they seemed to be enjoying the conversation that was taking place before them.

“Then ye’ll agree, lass, that ye canna go,” Wee William smiled.

“I agree to no such thing, William. I
must
go. I told you, I have a promise to keep.”

“Yer feet will fall off before yer out of sight of this cottage.” He shook his head, bewildered by her obstinacy.

Nora rolled her eyes. “Nay, I plan on taking Benny. I’m sure I’ll be quite fine.” She started to leave the cottage again, only to have Wee William pull her back in.

He realized she was not going to change her mind. “At least let me saddle yer horse fer ye.”

“There isn’t a saddle.”

His eyes opened wide with surprise. “No saddle?”

Nora shook her head. “Nay. Benny isn’t actually a horse.”

Daniel and David looked at one another. The young woman was quite perplexing. “Then what is he?” David asked.

Nora cleared her throat and straightened her shoulders. “Benny is the ox Horace uses to plow the fields.” It didn’t really matter to Nora
what kind
of transportation she had, as long as she could get to Firth before dawn broke. It didn’t matter there was no saddle; a blanket would suffice.

“Ye intend to ride an ox?” Daniel asked for clarity’s sake.

“Aye, I do,” Nora answered tersely.

Wee William took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. “So ye plan to go out in winter’s night, with no shoes, no weapons, no provisions, and atop an ox to sneak yer way into a castle to retrieve yer wee brother and sister?”

When he put it that way, it did sound a bit imperfect. Nonetheless, she
had
to get to her brother and sister. She was a widow now, thanks to these fierce Highlanders. She was now free to go wherever she wished and not worry about a husband whose favorite hobby of late seemed to be making her life miserable.

Free though she was, she wasn’t about to go anywhere without her family. Nora thrust her chin upward. “Aye, I do.”

Broad smiles came to Daniel and David’s faces as Wee William looked at them. Nora noticed an exchange of some sort taking place between the three men. ’Twas as if they could read one another’s minds.

“I do no’ think the lass be a Sassenach, Wee William,” Daniel said in English, his eyes sparkling in the candlelight. Nora thought he looked quite mischievous.

Nora knew the term Sassenach was not a compliment but a derogatory term the Scots used in reference to the English. She supposed he meant to compliment her and decided to take it as such. “Why thank you,” she paused. “What is your name, sir?”

“I be Daniel,” he said with a slight bow at his waist. “This be me brother, David,” he said, nodding toward his brother.

Nora could see the family resemblance. Both men were quite tall, though not nearly as tall as Wee William. They looked very imposing in their dark furs. They were quite similar in appearance. Both men had blonde hair that fell past their shoulders. But where David’s eyes were green, Daniel’s were a very dark blue.

“’Tis my pleasure,” Nora said with a curtsey.

Wee William grumbled. He didn’t like the way she smiled at his men. For some inexplicable reason he felt jealous. He let out a frustrated grunt. “If yer quite done with the social niceties, may we get back to the issue at hand?”

Nora smiled at Wee William. “Yes, m’lord,” she said with a short curtsey. “Again, I thank you for your concern. Now, if you’ll please excuse me, I must hurry.”

Wee William grabbed her arm again and let loose with a frustrated sigh. “Again, I be no laird, lass, just a man. And, I canna let ye do this alone.” He stopped her before she could begin another round of protests. “Ye canna go without shoes, horse, weapons, nor help. Me and me men will be honored to help ye get yer wee ones from Firth, lass.”

Nora looked confounded by his offer of assistance. “Why would you do such a thing?”

“Ye kept Aishlinn’s things safe, lass. Helpin’ ye is the least we could do.”

Nora studied each of the men for several long moments. They looked sincere, almost eager to help, and for the life of her, she could not begin to understand why. Nor could she grasp why it was she felt she could trust them.

They were savage looking men. Men who had burst into her home in the middle of the night and taken her husband and brothers-in-law, presumably to their deaths. Why did she feel more comfortable and safe with these men than with her own husband?

How many stories had she heard growing up that told of the savage and barbaric ways of the Scots? Aye they did appear that way, with their long hair, braids, beards, and massive fur-covered bodies. She had been taught that Scots beat their wives and children—and just how
that
differed from the way Englishmen behaved, she had no idea. Yet these men had shown her nothing but a gentle hand and were now offering their help.

Her father had been a good, honorable man who was always one to help those in need. Mayhap she caught a glimpse of him in the eyes of the men standing before her. He had died two years past and not a day went by that she didn’t think of him or her mum who passed away in her childbed giving birth to Elise. Her parents had always been her strongest allies. Her heart ached with missing them.

It was the kindness she found in the eyes of these strangers that gave her hope. Hope she thought lost this past year.

Their help
was
needed. Dawn would be breaking across the horizon in a few short hours. She would allow them to help her get John and Elise out of Castle Firth. She could hitch the cart to the ox and use it as a means to get as far away from Firth as possible.

She would find employment with a manor house as a maid or servant of some kind. Mayhap she’d meet a kind man who would want more in a wife than just someone to punish. A man who’d allow her to keep John and Elise.

Her mind made up, she smiled at the men and gave them an approving nod. “I’ll accept your kind offer, William. I’ll never be able to repay you the kindness you’ve shown me this night.”

Wee William let go the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. He was glad she came to her senses. A wee lass such as the one before him did not stand a chance against castle guards, shoes or no. With a broad smile, he scooped her up and headed toward his horse.

When she began to protest that she was quite capable of walking of her own accord, his smile broadened. “I canna let yer feet freeze, lass,” he said by way of an explanation for carrying her. His heart thrummed happily as he quietly carried her through the soft snow.

Nora had no way of knowing that at that moment, as the giant Highlander carried her through the cold winter’s night, she had just been claimed as Wee William’s woman. He had decided at some point in the last few minutes that he would do anything to keep her, even if it meant breaking into an English castle in the middle of the night.

W
ee William hoisted Nora onto his horse and made sure she was safely seated before unraveling a fur blanket from the back of his saddle. Using his dirk, he cut two strips from the fur then grabbed leather ties from his saddlebags. In short order, he had makeshift-boots wrapped around her feet.

“How do those feel, lass?” Wee William asked as he looked to see that his men were mounted and ready. Though each man held the reins to spare horses, Wee William had a strong desire to keep Nora close to him.

“They’re quite warm!” she smiled down at him as she wriggled her toes. “I thank you, kindly.”

Wee William pulled himself up to sit behind her and wrapped the remaining fur around her shoulders. As he leaned forward to grab the reins, he caught the faint smell of lilac and for a moment, he thought he might swoon and fall from his horse. Blue-eyed women who smelled of lilacs were dangerous.

Nora gasped as he tapped the flanks of his horse. “Wait!” she exclaimed as the horse moved forward. Wee William quickly pulled rein.

“What?” he asked impatiently.

Nora wriggled around to look at him. “The ox and cart! I’ll need them after we get John and Elise. I cannot walk to southern England in this weather.”

Wee William smiled and urged his horse forward. “Have ye family in the south?”

“Nay,” Nora began.

“Have ye someone there waitin’ fer ye?” he asked.

“Nay, but I hope to gain a position in a manner house or a castle, as a scullery maid, or a servant of some other fashion.”

“Have ye ever been to southern England lass?”

Nora let out a heavy sigh. “Nay, I haven’t.” She’d never been more than a few miles from Penrith her entire life. But it mattered not at the moment. Soon she’d be reunited with her brother and sister and they’d be starting their lives over, somewhere far away from the horrible memories of the past year.

“Och! ’Tis a terrible place to raise children. ’Tis filled with all manner of evil, wicked men who’d think nothin’ of taking advantage of an innocent young woman such as yerself.”

Nora swallowed hard. What did William know of southern England, she wondered aloud.

Wee William chuckled. “I’ve been there. Only once mind ye, fer it was a den of sin and corruption and evil!” He feigned horror and added a shudder of disgust for good measure. “’Tis a place I wish never to step foot upon again.”

Truth be told, Wee William had never been farther south than Northallerton. He preferred keeping his big Scottish feet safely on Scottish soil where the good Lord meant them to be.

He wouldn’t be in England now were it not for his chief, Angus McKenna. Retrieving these small treasures was Angus’ way of making up for all the years stolen from him and his daughter, Aishlinn. Wee William had taken this mission only as a favor to Angus and to bring a smile to the face of Aishlinn who was now heavy with her first child. Of course Aishlinn had no idea they were here, very few people did.

Nora was so lost in her own worries that she was paying very little attention to Wee William or his men. Could she put much stock in what he was telling her or was his vision of England jaded from all the years their two countries had been at war?

Daniel and David, who now rode on either side of Wee William and Nora, nodded their heads in agreement with Wee William’s description of southern England. Of course as far as either of them was concerned,
all
of England was filled with deviants, thieves, and men of ill repute. It could be said that neither man held a good opinion of any Englishmen. Mayhap save for the wee lass that now rode atop Wee William’s lap.

“And the woods ye’d travel through along the way?” Wee William said before shaking his head in dismay. “They be filled with highwaymen and reivers, and men who’d think nothin’ of harmin’ a wee lass such as ye.”

She had given no thought to what she might encounter either on her travels south or once she’d arrived at a seemingly safe haven. More than a hint of trepidation began to creep into her heart. How could she not have thought of such things as highwaymen and ne’er-do-wells?

She shook her head at her lack of thinking. In the past year she’d met more men of questionable character than she would have previously thought existed, thanks to Horace. How could she have been so naive as to not give consideration to such things?

Being alone on the roads with her younger siblings, without so much as a knife for protection was something she had not considered. Her only concern these many months had been to get her brother and sister out of Firth and all of them as far away from Horace as possible. The bountiful hope she had felt only moments ago began to dwindle quickly.

“Aye,” Daniel interjected. “The
Sassenach
to the south be heartless and cruel, lass. And the highwaymen are notorious for killin’ innocents fer the sheer pleasure of it!”

“I heard tell of a band of reivers who killed a man, his wife and their five bairns, just fer the two pigs the family traveled with,” David added.

Neither man had known that Wee William’s intent was not to terrify the young woman. He only meant to place a few seeds of doubt in her mind so that she’d agree to what he intended to propose. When he saw her fingertips brush away what he assumed were tears, he was quite tempted to knock both men from their horses.

“Daniel! David!” Wee William boomed. “Yer scarin’ the lass!”