Chapter 25
“Margaret?” Izzy said from the doorway of Margaret’s chambers. Her voice was gentle, soft like she was trying to keep from startling Margaret. “What are you doing in here?”
As Margaret turned around, she was careful not to smear the paint on her canvas. Her new friend was standing under the archway into her room with a grin on her face. In the few days since the incident with Duke Cunningham, Izzy had quickly made Margaret her confidante.
“I was just taking a step away from how lively it is in the castle,” Margaret said apologetically. She hadn’t meant to hide from her guests, but she’d been fairly easily overwhelmed since getting back home. “It seems that the staff love having you and Aaron around.”
“They’re probably just glad that you’re safe. Aaron and I aren’t all that exciting to them,” Izzy said as she stepped into the room, her eyes scanning Margaret’s artwork. “This is quite nice. I didn’t know you were a painter.”
“You think it’s good?” Margaret asked as she looked at the landscape she’d been working on with an eyebrow raised. It was better than it had looked when Ryan had approached her a few days ago, but she wouldn’t consider it impressive. “Truly?”
“Well, I don’t think I could do something like that,” Izzy said, pointing at a particularly well-shaded tree. “This is magnificent. Is it a tree from back home?”
Margaret couldn’t help but giggle as she said, “It’s supposed to be the view from out this window.”
Izzy covered her mouth as her shoulder shook with laughter. She attempted to get control of herself, but when she said, “Oh, I see it now,” each word was punctuated by a giggle. “It’s quite nice, actually.”
“Perhaps I should take a break,” Margaret said good-naturedly as she put her paintbrush and palette down. “Would you like to take a walk with me? Some fresh air would do me good.”
Izzy straightened out with a smile, finally regaining herself. “That’s exactly what I was coming to ask of you. It’s a beautiful day. The gardens of Castle McGhee are so much more enjoyable when you’re walking with someone else.”
“You’re right,” Margaret said, wiping her hands on a flannel before hooking her arm with Izzy’s and leading her through the corridor. “It’s become a favorite pastime of mine. My family’s garden in England isn’t anywhere near as nice as the garden here.”
When they reached the garden, Izzy quietly said, “I don’t mean to pry, but how have you been doing? I haven’t heard you talking about it with anyone. Not even the maids have anything to say on the matter. Aside from being glad that you’re safe of course.”
“You’ve been asking the maids for information?” Margaret joked, earning herself a half-smile from her friend.
“They do like to gossip, don’t they? I don’t even have to ask; they offer the information freely,” Izzy countered. Then, more seriously, she said, “But you are doing all right, aren’t you? Ryan’s been looking after you?”
Margaret smiled, remembering how gentle Ryan had been with her since her ordeal.
It wasn’t a large deviation from his standard behavior, but she could tell that he watched his words and cut down on his teasing a bit.
She didn’t think that it was completely necessary though she wasn’t going to stop him.
It’s quite nice to see him in that way. And I like knowing that I’m the only one who gets to see him in that way.
“I’m all right,” Margaret assured Izzy as they passed by a rosebush.
She glanced at Izzy, debating whether she should share everything.
After a moment, she decided it would be nice to have someone else who knew what was going through her mind.
“Well, as all right as I can be, but I have had some nightmares about it. Ryan’s been quite sweet about being woken up by me. ”
“They go away,” Izzy said sympathetically, patting Margaret’s arm gently.
She was quiet for a beat, considering. “You know, I was kidnapped, too. I wasn’t as lucky as you were.
The man behind my brother’s death knocked me out and dragged me through the forest. I sustained a few injuries that took some time to heal.
Aaron got to me before anything worse could happen to me, and Ryan helped, too. He’s a good man.”
The sense of kinship Margaret felt with Izzy deepened with her friend’s confession.
Not only were they both Englishwomen married to Highlanders, but they’d both experienced something quite traumatic as well.
She felt as though the two of them were meant to meet and that she’d made a lifelong friend in Izzy.
The more I think about it, the more sure I am that this is where I was always supposed to be.
“I’m sorry that happened to you,” Margaret said, leading Izzy to a bench on the edge of the garden, the same that she and Ryan had settled on several days ago. “But I’m glad that Aaron was there for you. Ryan, too.”
“I feel the same way,” Izzy said as they settled down. With overwhelming gentleness, she added, “I’ll always be here if you ever need to talk about anything. The memories… they get easier to deal with, but there are some days that they’re heavier than others. I’m only a letter away.”
“I appreciate that more than you’ll ever know. It’s… comforting knowing that I have someone who understands the experience I went through,” Margaret said, her chest swelling with affection. “You can talk to me about anything, too. I hope you know that.”
“I do,” Izzy confirmed confidently. “I think the two of us are going to be good friends, Margaret. I’m sorry that I missed your wedding, but I won’t miss anything else again.”
“There’s no need to apologize for that,” Margaret said, looking away from Izzy’s side profile to the flowers and bushes in front of them. “What matters is that you’re here now.”
“So he finally squealed,” Gerald Matheson, one of Ryan’s councilmen, the very one who’d been demanding an heir for the past six months, said.
With the help of Aaron, Ryan had cornered Gerald. It had taken a bit of force to get him to the dungeon, and as a precaution, they bound him to a chair. He seemed as though he might be inclined to attempt an escape.
Now, though, Gerald seemed to accept the position in which he found himself in. There was no more struggling, only a defiant resignation.
“Hunger is a powerful motivator,” Ryan replied evenly. “Ye should ken that. We caught him stealin’ from the inn. If ye wanted him to keep quiet, ye should have ensured he was fed so he didnae get himself caught.”
“It’s nae me fault that the dobber couldnae manage the amount he was paid,” Gerald said dismissively. “I shouldnae have hired someone like him.”
Aaron scoffed and then said, “So ye admit ye paid him to kill the previous Laird?”
Gerald spat onto the stone floor in front of him, a sneer on his face. “Ye already ken if ye have me like this. Laird McGhee is nae in the habit of throwin’ innocents in the dungeon.”
“Ach, ye’re right,” Ryan said, stepping in before Aaron could say anything else. “I daenae want me people to fear me. That doesnae mean I’ll go easy on ye now though.”
Gerald glared at him, a tactic of intimidation. It didn’t work, though. A man who’d been bound to a chair didn’t pose a threat, no matter how frightening he tried to make himself look.
“What we daenae understand,” Ryan continued, taking a step forward, “is why ye hired him in the first place. What did ye get from it?”
“He was power hungry,” Gerald said, leaning back. “He didnae care for the advice of his council.”
Ryan chuckled derisively. “I cannae say that I care for the advice of me council either. I let most of ye remain because me father installed ye. I’m realizin’ now that I should have gutted the lot of ye when ye started pressin’ me for an heir.”
“Ye may nae care for yer council’s advice, yet ye listen,” Gerald pointed out. “Yer cousin? He didnae listen at all. The man only did what he desired and stopped us from doing what was in the best interest of Clan McGhee.”
“Ye ken that it’s the Laird who decides what’s in the best interest of his clan, do ye nae?
” Aaron said, his eyes narrowing. His hand flexed at his side as though he were itching to pull his blade on Gerald.
“It doesnae matter what the council advises. The Laird is free to disregard it if he believes their advice to be useless.”
“To me,” Ryan added, reaching forward and grabbing Gerald’s chin, forcing him to maintain eye contact as he spoke, “it sounds as if ye were angry that ye couldnae do as ye pleased any longer. Ye thought that if another Laird were installed, ye would be able to do what ye wanted with him. Ye werenae expectin’ me to behave the way I do, aye? ”
Gerald didn’t respond. The fire in his eyes burned even hotter. His jaw tightened beneath Ryan’s hold.
“That’s why ye wanted me to have a bairn so badly, is it nae?
” Ryan asked, squeezing so tightly that Gerald flinched.
“As soon as me heir arrived, ye were going to have me killed as well. Ye were going to raise him to believe he could follow the council’s advice blindly.
And while he was growin’ up, the council was going to act for him in the interim. ”
The accusation hit Gerald like a physical blow. His eyes widened, his lips curling downward. Then, improbably, he laughed like a lunatic.
Ryan dropped his hold on the man, taking a step back as he glared daggers at him. With unconcealed distaste, he asked, “What the hell is so damn funny to ye?”
“Ye’re smarter than ye look, ye ken?” Gerald said when he got hold of himself. “Surprised ye figured that out so quickly. I thought ye’d have to beat it out of me.”
“Ye’re despicable,” Aaron spat. “It seems everythin’ ye’ve done has been a desperate grab for power.”
“I only want what’s best for Clan McGhee,” he said. “It’s nae me fault that the Lairds we’ve had have been incompetent. I was only doing what was best for the people livin’ here.”