CHAPTER 13
Margaret started to object when Finn lifted Ella onto Alex’s horse, but Ella seemed happy to ride with him.
Though Alex was a few years older than Ella’s brother Brian, Margaret suspected she took to Alex so quickly because she missed her brother.
A wave of sadness swept over her at the thought of Brian.
She touched the bag of broken onyx tied to her belt and told herself they would see him again one day.
Finn kept a vigilant watch, scanning the hills as they rode. They spoke little and did not stop until late in the afternoon, when they reached the sea.
“Where are we?” Margaret asked, trying to get her bearings.
“This is where the North Sea meets Moray Firth, the large inlet that reaches inland to Inverness,” Finn replied.
“We’ll pass through Inverness?” Margaret asked.
“Nay, ’tis faster and safer to sail across the firth,” Finn said. “To reach Dunrobin by land, we’d have to travel all the way west to Inverness and then ride along the far shore of the firth for another forty miles or so, much of it through the lands of unfriendly clans.”
This information might be useful later. Castle Leod, the MacKenzie stronghold on the easternmost part of their clan lands, was somewhere near Inverness.
In several weeks, Margaret’s sister Sybil and her family expected to return there.
While forty or fifty miles was no small distance, particularly on these rough Highland trails and traveling alone with a small child, it was not impossible.
“How will we find a boat this time?” she asked.
“I left mine hidden here when I sailed over,” Alex said.
Alex’s boat was just large enough to hold the two horses and them.
After Finn and Alex raised the sail, Alex took the rudder, and Finn sat beside Margaret with Ella on his lap.
Despite the uncertainties ahead, she enjoyed the sail.
It was June and the days were long, so they still had a few hours of sunlight.
Ella seemed livelier, even squealing with delight when she saw seals in the water.
Watching her daughter smile and laugh made Margaret’s heart feel lighter.
She wrapped her arms around her daughter from behind and pressed her cheek to Ella’s while Ella pointed at another seal.
Margaret turned and caught Finn watching her with an unexpected tenderness that made her heart flip in her chest. His eyes quickly darkened with desire, making her wonder if she had imagined that look of tenderness.
As their gazes held, the memory of their heated kisses was like a tantalizing buzz under her skin.
“Ye truly believe Alex is in danger?” she asked, forcing her thoughts in another direction. “’Tis hard to imagine who would want to harm such a sweet lad.”
“The Gordons of Sutherland have enemies, some with good reason,” Finn said. “Ye could say our grandparents—Alex’s and mine—swindled Dunrobin Castle and the Earldom of Sutherland from the Sutherland clan.”
“Really?” she asked, leaning forward.
“Our grandmother was a Sutherland herself, daughter of the earl,” Finn said.
“After she married our Gordon grandfather, the two of them told the king her father had gone mad. They persuaded the king to declare her father incompetent, and he gave them control of all of the Sutherland lands until her younger brother came of age.”
“Was her father mad?”
“He’d ruled his clan for many years before then, but who’s to say?” Finn said.
“Ye shouldn’t be so suspicious of your grandparents,” she said with a smile.
“A few years later when our grandmother’s brother came of age”—Finn paused and waggled his eyebrows—“they had him declared incompetent as well.”
“Madness sometimes does run in families,” Margaret said.
“And sometimes people are greedy and ruthless,” Finn said with a laugh. “Despite his incompetence, her brother somehow managed to name my grandmother as his heir.”
“I suppose that does look suspicious, but ye ought not assume they were ill intentioned.”
“Her brother died rather mysteriously a month later,” Finn said with an amused smile. “And that’s how our grandmother became the Countess of Sutherland and the earldom passed to the Gordons.”
“Your grandmother had no other brothers to inherit before her?” she asked.
“She did have a half-brother, Robin, who was twenty-odd years younger and still a boy when all this came about.” Finn gave her a sideways glance and lifted one black eyebrow.
“Robin was placed in the guardianship of one of their close allies, who persuaded the lad to renounce his claim. Once he came of age, however, Robin claimed he’d been coerced and that he was the true heir to the Earldom of Sutherland. ”
“As a son, surely he had the better claim?” Margaret said.
“Aye, but the Gordons had all the power,” Finn said. “Our grandfather’s brother was the Earl of Huntly, the so-called Cock of the North who was the king’s sheriff. Huntly was not ever going to rule for this young Robin Sutherland over his brother and sister-in-law.”
“Was that the end of the dispute?” she asked.
“Nay, this young Robin Sutherland captured Dunrobin Castle not once, but twice,” Finn said, with a grin. “According to the tales about him, he was a clever and charismatic leader, and he had the support of most of his Sutherland clansmen, who were not pleased to have a Gordon for their laird.”
“What happened to him?”
“’Twas a sad ending for both him and the Sutherlands,” he said. “Robin was eventually caught, and his head put on a spike above the gates of Dunrobin.”
“Your grandparents do sound rather ruthless,” Margaret said, attempting to keep her voice light. “Will they be at Dunrobin?”
“After their schemes secured the Sutherland lands and title for their line, they washed their hands of the far north,” Finn said. “Grandmother relinquished the title to Alex’s father, and they lived their remaining years in peace on their Gordon estates near Huntly Castle.”
“I confess I’m not sorry I won’t meet them.”
“Fair warning,” Finn said, leaning close, “like madness, ruthlessness runs in families.”
“Alex certainly isn’t ruthless,” she said with a laugh.
“That’s because he takes after his mother,” Finn said. “My Aunt Helen has a good heart.”
“And Alex’s father, the earl?” she asked.
“My uncle treated me fairly while I fostered with him, and I was lucky to have such a skilled warrior train me.” Finn paused and squinted at the horizon. “But I would not want to be between him and something he wanted.”
His uncle sounded like all the men of her family.
“There’s Dunrobin.” Finn pointed to a large fortress that came into view as they rounded the headland. “We’ll be ashore soon.”
“I forgot to tell ye,” Alex shouted over the wind as he guided the boat to shore. “Your family is here at Dunrobin as well.”
Finn narrowed his eyes at his cousin. “You forgot to tell me?”
Alex gave him an impish grin. “They all traveled north with my parents.”
“All of them?” Finn asked, his voice rising.
“Aye,” Alex said. “They’re staying several weeks for the hunting.”
His parents! Margaret’s hand went to her throat.
Finn had told her about his grandparents and Alex’s parents, but not a word about his own parents.
She did not even know if he had siblings.
She had a hundred questions, but they were nearly to the shore.
Men from the castle were already coming down to the shore to help haul their boat in.
“Who will ye say I am?” she asked.
Instead of telling her ancient family history, they should have made a plan.
###
Shite, shite, shite! Finn pulled out his whisky flask, tipped his head back, and let the burning liquid pour down his throat. How in the hell would he explain Margaret to his family? He had to think fast.
He pulled several strands of hair loose from Margaret’s neat braid. When he attempted to tug her bodice lower, she slapped his hand away.
“What are ye doing?” she hissed.
“We must make ye look like the sort of woman I would bring home,” he said, “or my mother will be suspicious.”
“No one will suspect who I really am dressed like this.” She spread out the skirt of her plain gown. “I look like a simple villager.”
“An innocent village lass is not the sort of woman who’d be traveling with me,” he said. “God’s bones, bringing a lass like that to my mother would be like throwing a puppy to the king’s lions.”
“You can tell them I’m a poor widow looking for work as a servant in the castle,” Margaret said.
“I could say that if it were just my aunt and uncle,” he said. “They would both be polite and pretend to believe I brought a stunningly beautiful lass to their home to scrub floors. But my own family won’t even pretend to believe it.”
Besides that, she would actually have to scrub floors to keep up the pretense, and he could not have Lady Margaret Douglas doing that.
“So, ye wouldn’t bring a respectable servant to your aunt and uncle’s home, but you’d bring a woman who dresses like a tavern wench?” she asked. “That would not upset your family?”
“Aye, it would upset them, but not surprise them.” Finn could not help laughing at her appalled expression. “Trust me, I’m giving my family exactly what they expect of me.