The Highlander Takes a Bride (2 page)

Chapter 1

“O
h, he's a beauty, Joan,” Saidh murmured, peering down at the baby in her arms. Glancing up, she grinned at her friend and added, “Ye’ve done a fine job here. Cam must be most pleased.”

“Aye. We both are,” Joan said, beaming, and then her smile turned wry as she added, “Although he was less pleased when I commented that mayhap we should give little Bearnard here a sister.”

“What?” Saidh asked on a disbelieving laugh. She knew Joan and Cam had been terrified of her getting with child to begin with, fearing she could die in childbirth. In truth, they’d done everything they could think of to avoid having the precious child she was holding. But now, Joan gave her a crooked smile and shrugged.

“It was not so bad. I survived it without even a hint of trouble so why not?”

Saidh shook her head with amusement and then glanced to the open shutters as a trumpet sounded from the wall.

“It sounds like we have company,” Joan murmured.

“Mayhap ’tis Edith,” Murine suggested, following when Saidh moved to the window.

“Aye,” Saidh murmured as she peered out. She’d been rather surprised that the other girl hadn’t been here with her and Murine for the birth. Saidh knew she’d planned to be when last they’d all visited. The four of them had become very close friends since meeting more than a year ago, which was just strange considering the circumstances under which they’d met. Saidh, Edith and Murine had been among more than a dozen women that Campbell Sinclair’s mother had invited to the family castle to tempt her son into marrying again. She’d been hoping for a grandchild, but after the death of his first wife in childbirth, Campbell hadn’t been the least interested in remarrying. His mother had decided that wouldn’t do, and had invited every unbetrothed female she could find to Castle Sinclair in the hopes that one would tempt him to re-enter the matrimonial state. She hadn’t warned him of her intentions though, planning for it to be a surprise. She, however, was the one who was surprised when Campbell arrived home with Joan in tow and announced they were married.

Some of the other girls had immediately hated Joan for stealing the man they’d hoped to win. But Saidh, Edith and Murine had ended up being the best of friends with her.

“Nay. It can no’ be Edith,” Joan announced, drawing Saidh’s attention back to the conversation at hand.

“Why not? Did Cam no’ invite her?” Saidh asked as she squinted her eyes to better see the traveling party some distance yet away from the castle. They were just specks in the distance at the moment.

“Does he no’ like Edith?” Murine asked, offering a finger for the baby Saidh still held to grab on to.

“Oh, aye, he likes all three of you,” Joan assured them both. “And he did invite her. But she was delayed and arrived late last night after we all retired.”

“Edith is here?” Saidh and Murine said as one, turning to glance at her with surprise.

Joan smiled widely. “Aye. Cam told me when the little one there woke me up with his fussing for a feeding in the middle of the night.”

“Well, where is she then?” Saidh asked with a frown.

“And what delayed her?” Murine asked.

“She is presently still abed. As I said, she arrived late,” Joan said. “I am sure she will wake up soon, but as for what delayed her—” She paused to glance at the door as a knock sounded. “Come in.”

The door opened at once, and Edith rushed in. Excitement coloring her cheeks and a happy smile on her pale face, she hurried to the bed to hug Joan. “Good morn! Sorry, I fear I slept late. But when I went down to break me fast, Cam said ye were awake so I came to see ye and the babe.” She straightened and raised an eyebrow expectantly. “So, where is this grand babe Cam was bragging about last night?”

Her gaze swung to the two women by the window when Joan pointed their way. Edith’s eyes widened, her smile growing with happiness as she rushed toward them now. “Oh! Saidh! Murine. I am so pleased to see ye both.”

She hugged Murine first, but paused when she turned to Saidh and saw the bundle she held in her arms. In the end, she gave her a half hug from the side as she peered down at the baby.

“Oh,” Edith breathed, reaching out to take one tiny hand in hers. “He is perfect.”

“Do you want to hold him?” Saidh offered.

“Oh. Aye,” Edith said eagerly and quickly scooped him from Saidh’s arms. She settled him in the crook of her arm and smiled down at the babe, then glanced to Joan and said, “I’m so sorry I missed the birth. I wanted to be here for ye, and I would ha’e been were it no’ for Laird MacDonnell.”

Saidh raised an eyebrow in question. “What did he do to delay yer journey here?”

Edith grimaced. “He died.”

“Oh.” Murine looked uncertain as she tried to sort out how the man’s death had delayed the other woman’s arrival.

“Allen, Laird MacDonnell, is a cousin through our mothers,” Edith said on a sigh. “But I think it was only the second or third time I’d seen him in me life and in the normal course o’ events I would no’ even have heard that he’d died were we not there at MacDonnell when it happened.”

Noting the surprised expressions on the women around her, Edith moved to sit on the edge of the bed with Bearnard still in her arms as she explained, “We stopped there to rest on the way here. We only planned to stay the night and leave in the morning to continue our journey, but we woke to the news that he was dead and . . .” She shrugged helplessly. “We could no’ simply say ‘sorry to hear that’ and then mount up and continue on.”

“Nay, of course not,” Joan patted her arm reassuringly, letting her know she understood. “How did he die, Edith? Was he an old man?”

“Oh, nay,” Edith assured her solemnly. “Allen was only four years older than I.”

Saidh’s eyebrows rose at this news. She knew Edith was twenty, the same age as herself, which made Allen twenty-four. Definitely not an old man. “Well, then what happened?”

“He drowned,” Edith announced with a shake of the head. “Apparently, he liked to go fer a swim in the loch in the morn ere breaking his fast, and that morn . . .” She shrugged helplessly. “He drowned. They do no’ ken why. He was by all accounts a fine swimmer, but that morning he just . . .

She grimaced and then explained, “I gather that his first became worried when he had no’ returned by the time his lady wife was up to break her fast. Apparently, Allen made it a point always to join her at the table, but that morning he had no’ yet returned. When I joined the table, Lady MacDonnell was asking after her husband, wondering why he had not yet arrived and whether she should no’ wait fer him ere breaking her fast. His first sent someone to check to see if he was still swimming. The man returned with the laird’s body over his horse.” She sighed. “It was quite distressing. Aunt Tilda and Allen’s lady wife were terribly upset.” She shrugged unhappily. “So, as I say, we could no’ simply mount up and ride on.”

“Nay, and I would not expect you to,” Joan said with understanding.

“We decided we should stay fer the funeral, expecting to be delayed a couple days or a week at most, but Aunt Tilda— Well, he was her only son. She decided he should lie in state in the village church fer two weeks so that his villeins and friends could pay their proper respects.”

“Two weeks?” Saidh with dismay. “Bloody hell, he must ha’e stunk to high heaven by the time they put him in the ground.”

“Oh, they did no’ put him in the ground,” Edith assured her. “He went in the family vault, and he did no’ smell either.” She paused briefly and then almost whispered, “They embalmed him.”

“What?” Murine asked with amazement. “But the church frowns on that. They say ’tis pagan.”

“Oh, aye, but they’ll allow it for a fee,” Saidh said dryly.

Edith nodded. “Me aunt got special permission to do it.”

“Hmmm,” Saidh muttered. “So ye stayed fer the funeral?”

“Aye.” Edith grimaced. “Although I really wish we hadn’t. Lady MacDonnell was inconsolable, but Aunt Tilda was worse. She kept saying that Allen was such a strong swimmer and how could this happen, and then she began looking at Lady MacDonnell as she said it. By the time of the funeral, she was treating Allen’s wife most coldly and reminding anyone who would listen that Lady MacDonnell’s previous husbands died unnaturally too.”

“Did they?” Murine asked with interest and Saidh nearly grinned at her expression. There was nothing that could put color into the woman’s cheeks like the possibility of good gossip.

“Apparently,” Edith said. “They say her last husband, Laird MacIver, died just a month after they married when he was thrown from his horse. Broke his neck, he did.”

“Oh dear,” Murine and Joan said together.

“So two husbands dying in accidents,” Saidh said dryly. “It does sound a bit suspicious.”

“Hmm,” Edith murmured in agreement. “But four dead husbands in as many years sounds even worse.”

“What?” Murine asked with amazement. “Surely not?”

“Aye. She has been married and widowed four times.”

“Well, what happened to the other two husbands?” Saidh asked, her interest now captured. There was nothing like a good murder mystery to pass the day.

“Well, the one before Laird MacIver was his uncle, Laird Connell MacIver. He died in his bed on the wedding night. He was old though,” she added quickly. “They said he could no’ handle the excitement o’ such a young bride.”

“Ohhhh,” both women crooned with interest.

“And the first husband?” Saidh asked.

“That was Laird Kennedy. He was killed the day after the wedding. Attacked by bandits on their way from her parents’ hold, where they’d held the wedding, to the Kennedy stronghold.”

Saidh stiffened. “Lady MacDonnell was not born Lady Fenella Fraser?”

“Aye,” Edith said with relief, and then smiled wryly and admitted, “For the life o’ me I could no’ remember her first name once I started to tell ye all what had happened. But that is it: Fenella.” She nodded and then grimaced and added, “They are starting to call her the widowmaker though. Which is completely unfair really,” she added firmly. “Fenella was with her first husband and injured in the attack that took his life. They found her unconscious and bloodied next to his body. As fer her second husband, the elder Laird MacIver was an ancient old man and everyone said the excitement of the wedding night with such a young bride had surely killed him.”

“What of the younger MacIver laird?” Murine asked. “Was there any suspicion that it was no’ an accident?”

“O’ course there was, but the King sent men to investigate and they determined it was nothing more than an accident. Lady Fenella was entertaining his mother and aunt in the great hall when he left for his ride and the three women were still there when news came that his horse had returned without him. Lady Fenella herself went out with the riding party to find him, pulling his horse behind her own in hopes he could ride back. Of course, he couldn’t. He was dead when they found him, his neck broken.”

“Still . . .” Joan frowned and pointed out, “My horse threw me as well and that was not an accident. ’Twas a pin in my saddle, puncturing the horse’s back so it would throw me.”

“Aye, but yer horse went wild and ran madly through the woods the moment ye put yer weight on the beast,” Edith pointed out. “By all accounts, Laird MacIver mounted in the bailey and rode out without any difficulties. The horse threw him when he was well into the woods. It could no’ have been a pin in the saddle as was done with you.”

“Nay, I suppose not,” Joan agreed slowly and then shrugged and glanced at Saidh. Her mouth opened as if she meant to say something, but then she paused, her eyebrows rising abruptly. “Is all well, Saidh? You look . . .” She hesitated, apparently unsure how to describe how she looked.

Saidh couldn’t blame her, since she wasn’t quite sure how she felt. There was a knot in her stomach made up of a combination of emotions. The few she could pick out of that nauseating miasma were dread, fear, and anxiety. Swallowing the bile that seemed lodged in her throat, she forced a smile that failed miserably, shook her head and admitted, “Fenella is me cousin.”

“Really?” Edith asked with interest and then grinned. “That means me cousin married yer cousin. We’re related.”

“Did ye no’ ken she was married to the MacDonnell?” Murine asked with a frown.

“Nay,” Saidh admitted and then sighed. “In fact, I did no’ ken she’d married again at all after Kennedy.”

“Not even the Laird MacIver?” Murine asked with amazement.

Saidh shook her head. “We attended her first wedding. In fact, we all traveled together on the way home. Buchanan is on the way to Kennedy land. They left with us the morning after the wedding.”

“Ye were with them when Laird Kennedy was killed?” Murine asked almost breathlessly.

Saidh nodded silently.

“But if ye went to her first wedding, surely, ye were invited to the others?” Edith said.

“Nay,” Saidh assured her, and then frowned thoughtfully and added, “Well, actually, we may ha’e been. But mother died shortly after Fenella’s first wedding, and me eldest brother, Aulay, is laird now and does no’ care for large celebrations. He may ha’e just sent a wedding gift with his regrets and neglected to tell the rest o’ us about the weddings.”

“That is probably it, then,” Edith said on a sigh.

Saidh nodded, but her mind was back in a clearing where the Kennedy lay dead and her cousin confessed,
I killed him
.

“Damn.”

Saidh glanced around with surprise at that curse from Murine. The woman never cursed. Spotting her by the open shutters, Saidh became aware of the sounds coming from outside. Shouts of greeting were joined by the
clop clop
of what sounded like at least a dozen horses. Curious, she walked over to stand beside Murine and look down at the busy scene below as well. There were not a dozen horses, but at least three dozen, and Joan’s husband Cam was greeting a man who was dismounting. If she were to guess by his posture, Cam didn’t like the man, which was a concern when the visitor had brought such a large contingent of men with him.

“I do no’ recognize the banner,” Saidh said with a frown.