Chapter 22 #2
“Jeane Forrest is mine, and I am hers,” Fergus said calmly, staying right where he was, not so much as taking a step. “Ye’d do well to let me have her.”
Bennet snorted. “I willnae just hand her over.”
“I think ye will,” Fergus said, glancing at Jeane, and she acted without thinking any further about it.
She had winked at him because she had a plan, but she had not thought more than a few seconds ahead.
With all her weight and strength, just as Lottie had done earlier, she stomped down hard on her father’s foot. Startled, Bennet released her. Jeane rushed to Fergus, who pushed her unceremoniously behind him, picking up his sword.
“Ye get back here, Jeane Elizabeth Forrest,” Bennet ordered, and Jeane felt something in her seem to pull her toward him. Some leftover instinct from her childhood to listen to her father, to do as he bade her.
But she did not. She stood behind Fergus, cowering, not wanting to see what came next. She had imagined her father’s death a hundred times, even fantasized about it, but that did not mean she wanted to witness it.
“Ye were supposed to be me ticket to greatness. Ye were supposed to marry well and make me proud,” Bennet babbled, and Jeane stared at him, wondering how she could have ever thought her father loved her. He was insane. He loved nothing but money and power.
“Ye only wanted me for that?” Jeane asked incredulously. “I’m yer daughter, nae some steppin’ stone.”
“Ye’re nothin’,” Bennet hissed, and Fergus roared.
He stepped toward Bennet with his sword raised, and Bennet stepped back.
“Let me go,” Bennet begged, looking up at Fergus with wide blue eyes. “Please. I will leave her be.”
“Nay,” Fergus said flatly. “I daenae think ye will.”
Jeane squeezed her eyes shut when Fergus swung his sword a final time. She heard her father cry out, heard him crumple to the ground.
She started to shake.
Fergus took Jeane in his arms, crushing her to his chest, uncaring that he was dirty and sweaty and bloody from battle.
“Are ye all right?” he asked softly, stroking her cheekbone with his thumb as he cupped her face. He looked down at her with deep brown eyes.
“Aye, thanks to ye and Aiden.” She paused, looking around. “Is Aiden all right?”
Aiden stood, a cut above his eyebrow leaking blood. He gave Jeane a slight smile. “I’m all right.”
“Ye’re hurt.”
Fergus watched grimly as she rushed to Aiden, fussing over his minor wound.
He held up his arms and then dropped them in frustration. “I could be injured for all ye ken,” he said sourly.
Jeane was rubbing dirt and herbs into Aiden’s cut when she glanced over at Fergus, her brown eyes bright.
“Ye’re nae hurt. That isnae yer blood.”
Fergus huffed out a breath. “Still, I’m the one who saved ye.”
“Aiden helped,” she said, turning to Fergus with a smile, and then, when Aiden was taken care of, she rushed back into his arms, jumping up into them.
Fergus barked out a laugh, stumbling backward as he caught her around the arse and thighs.
“I’m sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused ye,” she said with a pout, and Fergus could not help but kiss her, right there in front of Aiden and the dead bodies littering the forest floor.
She whimpered into his mouth when he stuck his tongue past her lips, pulling away, her face flushed as she wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her forehead to his.
“For ye, I’d happily go to war, little mouse. Will ye marry me now?”
Jeane froze, pulling away slightly to look at him as he continued to hold her in his arms.
“What did ye ask me?”
Fergus groaned. “I asked ye would marry me. If ye daenae still think I’m cruel.”
“Of course, I daenae think ye’re cruel. Ye saved me life.”
“And I’d do it again. And again. So tell me, mouse. Will ye do me the kindness of makin’ me yer husband?”
“Aye,” she breathed. “I will marry ye.”
Fergus’s heart flipped over in his chest. It suddenly felt hard to breathe as he crushed Jeane into his arms, whirling her around in a circle before slowly lowering her to the ground.
She squealed like the little mouse she was, and he chuckled, kissing her cheekbones one after the other before kissing the tip of her nose.
“I love ye, Jeane,” he murmured.
“I love ye, too, Fergus,” she answered, and this time, wonder of wonders, she kissed him, her small tongue tracing his lips.
He kissed her back, and then Aiden cleared his throat.
“Do ye think maybe we should get back to the castle?” he asked awkwardly, and Jeane started to giggle.
Jeane rode with Fergus, just like she had when he had first found her, and this time he kept an arm tight around her waist as he rode. She leaned back against him, comfortable where before it had been awkward, and she felt like she would come full circle.
This forest she had escaped to had led her to another world, one in which Fergus and Lottie existed, where she had friends, a lover, a family.
She had been treated with such cruelty and coldness by her father for her whole life; it felt foreign to her at first. But now, she could not imagine life without Castle McCloud and its handsome laird.
It was nearing dusk before they made it back to the castle, and Lottie stood at the gates, waiting anxiously.
Jeane jumped down off the horse when she saw her, even though Fergus protested. She rushed to the girl, hugging her tightly, tears pricking at the backs of her eyes.
“Are ye all right? They didnae hurt ye, did they?”
“Nay,” Lottie assured her. “What about ye? Are ye all right?”
“I’m fine,” Jeane assured her, smiling. “And betrothed.”
“Ye’re what?” Lottie screeched and then started to cough.
Jeane ushered her back into the castle as the men put up the horses, sitting her down in the foyer on a small couch.
Lottie drew in ragged breaths. “I guess… I guess ye were right. I’m nae ready for regular activities just yet.”
“Nae quite. But ye will be,” Jeane assured her, smiling.
“Tell me more about this betrothal. When did me brother ask ye?”
“Well, he actually asked me when I first arrived, but I wasnae sure he was serious.”
“Ye mean he already asked ye to marry him, and ye said nay?” Lottie asked incredulously. “I cannae believe it.”
Jeane flushed, but she could not stop grinning.
“He asked me again after he saved me, and I couldnae say nay this time.”
“Of course nae. He saved yer life!”
“Aiden, too,” Jeane said, giving a glance over at Aiden as he walked into the foyer.
“Me hero!” Lottie gushed, standing and rushing to him, seemingly unfazed by her coughing fit. “Ye’re hurt.”
As Lottie fussed over Aiden, Jeane looked at them fondly. Then an arm snaked around her waist, and Jeane leaned back against Fergus comfortably.
He did not speak, only kissed her shoulder then her temple.
“I will need to stitch up that wound,” Jeane said, looking over at Aiden and Lottie.
“Aye, it’s good to have a healer in the castle,” Lottie said, peering at Aiden’s injury.
“It’s nae bad,” he assured Lottie. “Makes me look rugged, wouldnae ye say?”
He raised his eyebrow and winced from the pain. Lottie giggled.
“I’m so glad ye’re safe and sound, Liliana.”
“Aye, me too,” Jeane agreed. “It’s all thanks to ye. If ye hadnae gone to get Aiden and Fergus, I’d be well on me way to marryin’ a monster right now.”
Jeane walked over to Lottie, taking her hands in hers as she led her upstairs to her room. Lottie leaned on Jeane, the day’s stressful events having taken a toll on her ailing body.
Jeane gave Lottie her supper draught and then took her hands in her own.
“Me name is Jeane Forrest,” she said quietly. “I’m finally safe.”