CHAPTER 10
Margaret ought to be relieved she would not have to fight off her captor’s amorous advances. Instead, his lack of interest made her feel wooden inside, as if she was lacking something other women had. William told her so often enough.
You’re cold as a fish. Would she never get his voice out of her head? She had more important concerns now. She had a daughter to worry about. She lay down with her hand resting on Ella’s basket and watched the Highlander, who had moved farther away and leaned against a tree wrapped in his plaid.
He was brooding and drunk tonight. One would think a man so deep in his cups would not still be attractive.
But he was as handsome as ever with the firelight playing across his face, broad chest, and long, outstretched legs.
With looks like that, she imagined he had no trouble finding willing bed partners.
No doubt he took advantage of that and had carnal relations with an abundance of women.
She had let down her guard earlier, drawn in by his humor, his easy conversation, and how good he was with Ella.
But she must remember he was not her friend, and she could not rely on him.
He would protect her and Ella only because it was in his interest to deliver his hostage unharmed.
If that changed, he would leave them to the wolves.
The next morning, Finn was his charming and cheerful self again, and she found it hard to hang on to her resolve of the night before. He made them breakfast, letting Ella help again, and then they walked down to the harbor.
“Good morning to ye!” Finn called out to the men who were on the beach loading barrels onto the boat.
The sailors did not look any less rough and dirty to Margaret than they had the day before in the tavern. Finn walked with one arm around her while carrying Ella in the other.
“Try to look like you’re my wife,” he said in a low voice.
“How would your wife look?” she asked.
“Satisfied.”
She couldn’t help laughing, he was such a rogue. When they got to the boat, which was pulled partway onto the shore, he lifted Margaret into it and handed Ella up.
“Sit in the bow, where you’ll be out of the way of the oarsmen,” he said. “I’ll join ye shortly.”
Finn spoke with an older man she remembered from the tavern who was giving orders to the others, then he joined the men as they lined up on either side of the boat.
On the older man’s signal, they heaved and pushed the boat into the sea, and then hoisted themselves over the sides.
Finn joined the others at the oars, and the men rowed hard until the boat cleared the point at the north end of the bay.
Once they reached deep water, they unfurled the sail and pulled up their oars.
The sailors, who had been fully occupied with their efforts until now, suddenly seemed to have nothing to do but stare at her.
Her heart lurched, and she held Ella tighter as a huge man with the arms of a blacksmith and a jagged scar across his cheek took a step toward her.
“I wouldn’t mind a bit of that,” he said.
The next thing she knew, the man flew over the side of the boat. It took her a moment to realize Finn had come up behind him and flung him over. He was holding the man over the waves with an arm around his neck.
Good heavens, how did Finn do that? As the sailor cursed and kicked, he started to reach for something at his belt.
“Looking for this?” Finn said, holding out a dirk with a long, wicked blade.
“I can’t swim,” the man pleaded. “Let me up!”
“Are ye prepared to treat my wife with respect?” Finn asked. “Otherwise, the fish can have ye.”
“Aye!”
“What’s that?” Finn said, turning his head. “I’m not sure I heard ye.”
“Aye, damn it!” the man shouted. “Aye!”
Finn hauled the man back into the boat and dumped him on the bottom. Then he turned toward the other men with a smile on his face and a blade in each hand. “Can I count on the rest of ye to behave as well?”
The men turned their gazes away and settled onto the benches.
“Good,” Finn said and took his seat beside Margaret and Ella.
“I thought ye said we’d have no trouble with these men, so long as they believed I belonged to you,” she whispered.
“We won’t have any trouble.” Finn turned and winked at her. “Sometimes men just need a reminder to be courteous.”
“You enjoyed that, didn’t you?”
He leaned back and folded his arms. “It was rather satisfying.”
Margaret shook her head, but she could not help smiling at his cockiness. “Can ye tell me now where you’re taking us?” she asked.
“We sail to Aberdeen, which will take two days,” Finn said. “From there, we’re headed to Huntly Castle.”
“Huntly?” she asked. “The Gordons are behind this kidnapping scheme?”
“Aye. Your brother took over the guardianship of the young Earl of Huntly from the queen,” he said. “The Gordons want their chieftain back.”
“I saw young Huntly often at Holyrood,” she said. “He seemed happy to be there.”
“There are some who mistrust your brother’s intentions,” he said. “They fear he’ll misuse his position—and Gordon lands.”
“No doubt he will,” she said.
Finn laughed. “I didn’t expect such an honest assessment of your own brother.”
“I understand why the Gordons want a hostage to trade for Huntly,” she said. “But why were you chosen to undertake the task?”
“As I told ye before,” Finn said. “I didn’t have a choice.”
“Men always have choices,” Margaret said as she stared off at the horizon, “though they may pretend they don’t.”
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The easy camaraderie they had enjoyed earlier vanished, and Margaret turned away from him.
“Since you’re doing this for the Gordons, I assume you’re one of them,” she said, still not looking at him. “Ye needn’t worry I’ll tell my brother who ye are so he can track ye down. I never will.”
It would be utterly foolish to trust her assurance that she would not tell her brother, even if she meant it at this moment. But her sudden coolness toward him bothered him, like a burr poking through his sock.
“My full name is Finlay Sinclair Gordon,” he told her. “My mother is a Sinclair and my father a Gordon, two clans that gravely mistrust each other—and that’s on a good day.”
“If ye were caught taking me, ye might well be put to death. How did they persuade ye to do it?” she asked, turning back to face him. “Was it the reward of lands alone? Or was it escape from punishment for some wrong ye committed?”
“’Twas both,” he said.
“Ye told me there was a long tale behind your reason for kidnapping me,” she said. “We have two days on this boat, and I’d like to hear it.”
She listened attentively as he told his sorry tale of how he came to be here, starting with his decision to join the Sinclair chieftain’s fight to regain Orkney and ending with the Earl of Moray promising Finn both lands and redemption with his Gordon clan.
“So where are these lands you’ve been promised in exchange for delivering me to Moray and the Gordons?” she asked.
“On the north coast of Sutherland,” he said. “’Tis beautiful, wild country up there.”
“I can understand your wanting a home so much,” she said in a wistful voice, “that you’d take a great risk to have it.”
“What I want is the freedom that comes with owning lands.” He was not sure why her saying he wanted a home got his back up, but it did.
“I’ll owe my allegiance to my chieftain, and gladly fight for him when called.
But with lands of my own, I’ll not be dependent on another man for a bed to sleep in, a roof over my head, and food on my table. ”
He would have a place that was his. A place he belonged.
He’d only wanted to make her at ease with him again and maybe make her laugh, not spill his guts about why he wanted lands so much.
When the captain ordered the food brought out for the midday meal, Finn was relieved to have an excuse to leave her to collect their share of the bread, dried meat, cheese, and ale.
The sparse meal was a far cry from the endless courses of fancy dishes and fine wine Margaret was accustomed to at Holyrood Palace, but it was all he had to give her.
She ate delicately, holding the food with the tips of her fingers as if she was at court instead of among rough sailors.
Ella, on the other hand, shoveled it in her mouth with both hands as if she feared it would be taken away.
No sooner had they finished than a storm came out of nowhere and swallowed the boat in a swirl of wind and waves that set it bouncing like a cork.
The men dropped the sail and took the oars.
Finn was going to join them, but Margaret was shaking from the cold despite the blanket he draped around her and Ella.
“Here, let me warm ye up.” Though he knew full well this would ruin his peace of mind, he joined them under the blanket and wrapped his arms around them.
Margaret stiffened and started to pull away until the next wave crashed over the side, hitting them with an icy spray. Margaret held wee Ella on her lap and neither complained, but they had to be miserable.
“How are ye holding up?” he asked, and steeled himself for the criticism he deserved for endangering her life and Ella’s by choosing this sea journey.
“At least the sailors are too preoccupied with the storm to stare at me,” she said.
This lass was entirely too forgiving.
When another wave sprayed over the side, Margaret huddled against him and burrowed her head into chest. O shluagh! Even in the midst of a gale, her lithe body pressed against his drove him mad with desire.
This Lowland noblewoman, his captive, should not feel so good—so damned right—in his arms. She was a dangerous lass. If he had any sense, he’d be praying the storm would pass quickly so he could release her, instead of hoping it would last all the way to Aberdeen.
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Margaret was far too cold to object when Finn put his arms around her. As his warmth enveloped her, she finally stopped shaking, but she also became all too aware of his body, the hard muscles of his thigh pressed against hers, the strong arms around her, and the broad chest beneath her head.
The storm ceased to frighten her. Inside the cocoon of his embrace with Ella on her lap, she felt safe. For the first time, Margaret imagined what it would be like to share responsibility for this precious child with a man and to make a family of three, rather than just the two of them.
That was just a foolish dream left over from her childhood. Though the Highlander was willing to give them protection from this storm on their journey north, he would not be there for the other storms of life. No one would.
She would have to be strong for Ella, for they were good and truly alone in the world.