His Secret Highland Bride

Chapter Twenty

Something had been bothering Shane all evening, and even in the desperation of his lovemaking she felt his unease. She looked at him now, hoping he would trust her enough to share his burden. Even if she couldn’t help, talking about one’s burdens made them easier to bear. “Tell me what has you worried,” she said calmly.

He let out a breath. “Tomorrow, someone from the MacPhersons will leave to deliver a message to the MacColl laird. If they don’t return Deirdre and what she’s stolen, the MacPhersons plan to take the matter to the king.”

Lindsay nodded. “While I hope you are not the one sent to deliver the message for the laird, I do see it is the best first step.”

“Is it?” he asked.

“Aye. First, it’s the best way to determine if she is even there, which I imagine she is. Second, it gives the MacColls the opportunity to do the right thing. If they refuse to turn her over, they will be in the wrong. If the MacPhersons attacked first without giving this option, they would be in the wrong. If the matter catches the attention of the king, the MacPhersons will want to be on the side of right.”

He nodded again. “I am quite impressed by your strategy, wife. If ever you bore of spoiling me with your body, you would make a fine laird.”

She swallowed, unwilling to tell him how close he was to being correct. She may never be laird, but she was raised to be the wife of one. Her father had never sent her away while discussing matters with his guard, and she had enjoyed thinking through the issues herself and deciding what she would have done and why. But never had so much been on the line before.

“I know you worry about me. But I made it through five years of battles. I will be fine.”

She nodded but pressed her lips together. “I’ve seen the MacPherson guard, and I’m not impressed. Do they even have proper weapons?”

Shane frowned. “We’ll hope it doesn’t come to war.”

She nodded but still worried. The MacColls’ answer to any challenge was war. Hopefully, this time would be different.

…

As soon as Shane arrived at the castle the next morning, he sent for his brother as he pulled out a clean piece of parchment and ink.

“Have your senses returned as you slept?” Alec asked when he arrived.

Shane wasn’t sure how to answer that question honestly, so he moved on.

“I need you to assign one of our guards to deliver my message to the MacColl laird. Do not send one of the smaller lads—we need a show of strength.”

“You want to go through with this plan?” Alec asked with a wince.

“It may seem mad, but we must try to recover what was taken.”

“You might as well declare war on the MacColls, for that is how they’ll see it.”

“Or they may do as requested. They just lost a battle with the MacKays; they’ll not want trouble so soon.”

“Ye think they will just hand over the money Deirdre stole from us?”

Shane paused and lifted his hand. “Don’t forget the candlesticks.” He’d meant it to be a joke, but it only enraged his brother further.

“Candlesticks? Bloody hell, brother. Did your brain get sloshed around while you were in France? You’re not making sense.”

“Actually, I am making perfect sense. It’s time I took back what is ours so I can see the clan through the winter.”

“You’re going to see the clan fall to the hands of the MacColls if you don’t stop this madness.”

“Better a quick death than to starve and freeze to death.” Once again, he attempted to shock his brother into seeing the matter from his perspective.

“And you think the MacColls offer a quick death? You’ve heard the stories. There is no greater evil than the MacColls. Besides, you’re not even certain Deirdre went to them. She may not even be there.”

“Aye. You’re right. Which is why this tactic will allow us to know for sure.” He held out the letter he’d written to the MacColl laird. Shane had toiled over the wording of the letter all night as he slept. After his discussion with Lindsay, he was all the more determined to see this through. “We will give them the chance to do the right thing.”

“Go to Ronan. Tell him what has happened. He will help.”

“But at what cost to his own clan? Would we empty his coffers as well? I said I would go to Ronan as a last resort. If there is no other way forward.”

“Why are you really doing this?” Alec asked, crossing his arms over his massive chest. His eyes flared as he took a step back. “You are too much like Father if you are willing to put the clan at risk over the happiness of a woman.”

“Not a woman, Alec. My wife. I’ll be damned if I’ll see her regret her life with me. I am not like Father. I don’t wish to waste away every farthing on baubles and silks, but I will bloody well make sure she doesn’t go hungry.”

“If someone must go to the MacColls, it will be me,” Alec said.

Shane was already shaking his head, but Alec stubbornly pointed at him.

“If this is what you want, I’ll not risk one of my men. I’ll go.”

“Very well,” Shane said, hoping this was the right thing. “You’ll leave at first light.”

…

With Shane up at the castle on this important day, Lindsay tried to go about her daily chores as if everything was normal. She gathered berries to use to tidy up the lettering on Maria’s stone. She checked the traps, finding a plump rabbit in each. She cleaned them and strung them over her shoulder so she could go to the village to trade. All the while, she heard rather than saw the men who’d been sent to watch over her. She knew if she came into trouble they would be there quickly.

Which made her wonder what authority her husband had to order such a thing. He was likely a formidable warrior. Mayhap he would become war chief. She recalled the man acting as war chief now and found him much more terrifying than Shane. Nay, Shane must be a respected soldier. She could see how the laird must be grateful to have him.

She went about her business. Usually, when she visited the village, she would have gone to find a few vegetables or maybe even a tart because her husband enjoyed them. But as she passed the smithy, she stopped. Her cousins were gathered around the large man as he showed them something near the forge. He must have made a jest, for all three boys laughed.

She’d never seen them so happy. And despite working for the blacksmith, they were cleaner than she’d ever seen them, too. She imagined what would happen to them if the MacColls attacked, and her stomach clenched.

“What can I do for ye, miss?” the older man asked.

Lindsay should have continued on as planned, but she couldn’t pretend she didn’t know the danger they faced. She was worried for her husband and this clan she had never wanted to claim. “I wonder if you could melt down different metal items to make arrowheads?”

The man showed his surprise at her question. “What need do ye have to make arrowheads?”

She came closer. She knew the warriors did not have proper weapons. She wanted to do whatever she could to ensure Shane and the other warriors could not only protect themselves but defend the rest of the clan as well.

“My husband is a MacPherson warrior. He has told me the old laird has left the finances in a bad way. As such, they don’t have proper weapons to protect us. I thought perhaps if I brought some things from home, you might be able to melt them down to help. I’d rather not send my husband off to battle the MacColls with sticks and stones.”

The man’s brows lifted, and he leaned closer.

“Do you think there’s a chance we could go to war against the MacColls?”

She bit her lip, not wanting to worry the man. But while she didn’t want to set the village to panic, it might not hurt for them to know what they were facing if they didn’t find a way to help. Preferably before it was too late. Fortunately, she didn’t need to say anything. Her silence must have told him what he wanted to know.

“We must do something straightaway.” He went to the corner of his open shop and clanged two large pieces of metal together.

Lindsay didn’t know what making such a racket would do until the villagers began to gather.

“What is it, Munro?” one of the older men asked.

“We’re being called on to help the warriors in the castle. Bring me any metal you don’t have a use for so it can be melted down to make weapons.”

A murmuring went through the crowd.

“What business is it of ours? We don’t have enough ourselves, and the castle takes and takes.”

“And ye know none of us will even have the chance to carry the name MacColl if it comes to that. You’ve heard the tales. They don’t just kill the warriors when they take over a clan.”

The group nodded, and a round of “ayes” went about.

She had only asked this Munro about making arrowheads, but the man took it upon himself to delegate other tasks as well.

“You with children, take to the woods and look for straight sticks and branches, no thicker than your finger. Take them to these men, Roddy and Samuel, and my boys.”

Her heart warmed at the way this man claimed her cousins.

“What are we gonna do with a bunch of sticks?” one of the older men asked.

Munro smiled, making him look younger than she’d originally thought.

“Ye men spend your days whittling anyway. You’re going to shave them down to arrow shafts.” The men frowned but nodded, though Munro wouldn’t have seen because he’d turned to a plump couple at the other side of the crowd.

“Hal, we need goose feathers for fletching. Can ye help us with that?”

“If I butcher the geese for feathers, who will buy the meat?” the plump man asked.

“Throw them in the pot to feed us all while we work,” Munro suggested.

The man grumbled again but relented.

Lindsay stepped up next to Munro.

“I will put these rabbits in the pot as well to help feed everyone. I know we don’t have much to give, and I know in the past the laird and lady selfishly took without seeing the village taken care of.”

She received a few nods and kept going.

“But there is a new laird now.” The man she was supposed to have married. A man she didn’t know and who could turn out to be the same as his father. But she wanted these people to have hope. She wanted to have hope herself. “We have a chance to have better lives if we pull together. If we don’t, we may not have any life at all.” That got the crowd moving.

Munro continued to order people about, taking several older lads to help him and her cousins in the forge.

“You’ll learn some fine skills helping me, lads. The lasses love a blacksmith.”

The gawky boys smiled and rushed to do his bidding. Where the threat of death didn’t sway them, the possibility of female attention had. Some were sent off with wagons to collect whatever metal would be donated. Some stayed and hauled more wood for the fire.

Lindsay went to meet up with Hal and his wife as they settled a large pot over a fire that was being started. Other women were bringing water and dumped it in as soon as it was placed.

“Throw them in,” Hal’s wife said with a smile. “It’s been quite a while since we’ve made enough for the whole village.”

“Ah, do ye remember, dear Jenny? We met at such a gathering when we were but children. I thought you to be a fairy, for how beautiful you were.”

Jenny’s rosy cheeks turned darker at her husband’s romantic musings. She swatted his arm playfully.

By midday, the whole village was caught up in their duties to make arrows. Lindsay had never considered what effort was involved in such a task. Being the daughter of a rich laird meant she hadn’t needed to worry about things like how the warriors would protect the clan. It just was. Not having a set skill, she was passed around to different jobs as she was needed, from trimming down the goose feathers for fletching to affixing them to the arrow shafts with a foul-smelling glue. Occasionally, she would take her turn by the large pot, stirring and adding other ingredients. She even helped Munro by filing the new arrowheads to deadly points.

As the day grew long, she helped serve the villagers who’d come to help and was happy to see a few familiar faces.

“Thank you for helping.” She turned to her cousins. “You all look well.” She’d seen Doran when he came to watch over her, but the younger boys seemed so happy. Lindsay’s heart warmed when they all smiled at her.

“I wasn’t sure if you would want to see me, since I caused so much unrest, but if it would be all right, I would like to visit.”

Three heads nodded. Robbie came forward and wrapped his lanky arms around her waist in a tight hug. “I miss my ma, and you smell like her.”

Tears threatened. Lindsay smelled like her aunt because Lindsay’s mother often sent her sister the violet soap they made at Riccarton. To Lindsay, it smelled of home, and now she realized it did for her cousins as well. “You are my only family here. I would love to check in on you and see how you’re doing.”

“We’re not hungry all of the time,” Robbie said.

“And we’re learning our letters and how to read,” James shared.

“We’re learning how to make things and run the forge,” Doran said. “And Shane says I’ll soon be ready to join the guard.”

She swallowed down her worry about her cousin being on the battlefield. Shane surely wouldn’t allow anyone to put Doran in danger. He was not yet a man. At her youngest cousin’s giggle, she turned to see Treun licking his face.

“She likes you. Perhaps you’d like the duty of keeping her out of trouble today.”

Robbie laughed again and ran off with the little dog in tow. Her heart was lighter as she went about serving these people, learning the names of the other villagers. She’d never thought this place would be her home, but now with Shane and these people, it might be.

She glanced across the village at Castle Cluny sitting on the hill in all its glory and wondered if they were still awaiting her arrival to wed the laird. With the threat of the MacColls, she hoped they were too busy at the castle to care about the laird’s missing bride.

She had plenty of other things to worry about herself.