Chapter Five
“Callen?”
He heard his father’s worried voice. It was the same tone he’d used when Callen was six and wandered away from camp during a trip to visit their Sinclair family.
He’d found a trail he was certain belonged to the fae.
Instead, it was a partly smeared boar’s trail, and he followed a baby toward a protective mother.
“Sutherland!” Angus sounded like the irate boar Callen nearly stumbled upon as a child. He didn’t sound concerned for Callen’s wellbeing. He sounded like he wished to gore him like the beast would’ve.
Callen tucked Elspeth behind him until he was certain Angus’s sword didn’t lead the charge. When the two older men came into view, he eased his wife to his side.
“Suther—” Angus swallowed the rest of the word when he spied his daughter with her arms wrapped around Callen’s waist. “Elspeth?”
“Da!” She let go of Callen and dashed toward her father.
“Elspeth.” The border laird engulfed his daughter in his embrace and lifted her off her feet. “Lass, I’ve been beside myself. Thank all the saints and angels.”
“Da, I’m so happy to see you. Callen rescued me.”
Angus lowered her to her feet with a growl. He squinted as Lachlan walked past and stood with his son. They whispered as they watched father and daughter reunite. Elspeth pulled away, and despite how her father reached for her, she returned to Callen’s side.
“Da, there’s much to tell you all. But there’s something Callen and I wish to tell you and Lachlan before we go to your camp.” She beamed up at Callen, and despite the moon’s dim light, anyone could see her radiant smile.
“Laird Elliot, Da, Elspeth and I are married.”
“What?” Both older men demanded, both barely able to keep their voices down.
“We handfasted,” Callen and Elspeth answered together. His arm around her waist tightened, and she leaned into him. After three years of secret feelings and stolen moments, they could finally stop pretending they were merely friends.
“Get your bluidy hands off my daughter, Sutherland. You’ve corrupted the lass and compromised her.”
Elspeth stepped forward, and before Callen knew what she would say, she blurted, “I compromised him, Da.”
Callen was certain that was the moment he’d die.
Angus’s and Lachlan’s expressions mirrored their shock as their gazes slowly shifted from Elspeth to Callen, then back to the young woman.
Angus appeared like his head would explode, and Lachlan looked like he would laugh.
His gaze met his son’s, and he ruefully shook his head.
He’d faced an irate father once upon a time when he courted Arabella.
They’d handfasted and run off together. At least his son had returned to camp with his bride.
“Elspeth, you don’t know what you’re saying.”
She released an unladylike snort. “Da, I’ve seen enough animals ma—”
“Elsie,” Callen hissed. He feared he’d be the one having apoplexy.
He wanted to live long enough to experience what his young bride was about to describe.
He wouldn’t if she kept going. Much like the other afternoon, Angus reached back and drew his sword.
There weren’t guards and other warriors to deter Angus this time.
Callen pushed Elspeth toward his father as gently as he could, but he was determined to get her out of striking distance.
“You defiled my daughter!” Angus lifted his sword with both hands, ready to cleave Callen’s head from his shoulders.
“Why do ye loathe me so much? Canna ye see I’ll make Elsie a better husband than anyone else?
I love yer daughter. Ye ken I do if for nay other reason than nay one in ma family marries unless it’s for love.
Ye ken nay mon strays from his vows. Even if I didna love Elsie, which I do, I’d never dishonor ma family by being unfaithful.
Ye ken I can defend her and will without hesitation.
I’ve been champing at the bit to get to her.
Ye ken I can provide for her aught she wants.
Ye ken she’s moving to a fortified keep that hasnae had anyone breach its defenses in generations.
Ye ken ma family will love her like she’s always been a member.
And ye ken war’s unlikely to reach as far north as where we’ll live.
Ye canna say that aboot yer home along the border.
So why do ye disapprove of me so readily? ”
“You presumptuous whelp. You took without asking. You assume I want my daughter to move so far away. You assume I want an alliance with your family when you live on the other side of the country. You assume her mother and I are ready to let her go. You assume far too much.”
“Da—”
“Elsie, stay with ma father. Ye dinna get between two men with swords.”
“But—”
“Elsie.” Callen was beside himself with fear that she’d accidentally get hurt.
He knew her father wouldn’t do it intentionally, but both Angus’s temper and his were boiling over.
They both were trained to kill. He took a step back, hoping distance between Angus and him would help, but the man followed him. He hadn’t lowered his sword.
“I should separate your head from your shoulders. You’ve clearly sneaked around with my daughter for years. She’s lied aboot it, and I’m sure you have too. If you both believed this was such a good idea, then why hide it?”
Callen glanced at Elspeth. Neither of them had a sound answer for that beyond they’d been fearful this very situation would happen, that one family would object.
“Would ye have given me yer blessing if I’d approached ye three years ago?”
“Mayhap, but we’ll never know, will we?” Angus took another step forward, and Callen dodged, shifting away from Elspeth and Lachlan.
“Ye’ve made it clear ye dinna think Highlanders are good enough.
Ye think us blanket-wearing heathens. Ye think us uncouth and uneducated.
Here I stand before ye in breeks and a doublet.
I can read, write, and speak five languages, and I’m better at ma sums than anyone I ken.
I’ve dined with kings and queens. I’m second in line to an earldom. What more could ye ask for?”
“It’s not I who should do the asking!” Just as Angus swung his sword, the alarm went up that men approached their camp ready to attack.
Callen bolted toward Elspeth, scooping her over his shoulder like he had earlier.
He charged toward their camp with Lachlan and Angus at his back.
The time for arguing with his father-by-marriage was over.
Now they needed to get Elspeth to the safety of the group.
“Did that bastard take his head from his shoulders?” An English voice carried to them as they ran.
“Don’t be daft.” The answering voice didn’t sound so sure.
Callen’s brow furrowed as he sprinted with Elspeth still clinging to him.
He didn’t understand what they meant until he realized Angus attempted to carry out his threat just as he started running to Elspeth.
She must have blocked his head from sight, so it would’ve looked like he ran headless once Elspeth was over his shoulder.
He couldn’t believe any of them would think that possible.
“Callen, take her to the far side of the fire. Stay out of sight.”
“Aye, Da.” He followed his father’s command, racing to the spot where he knew they’d be out of sight but would still have the Scots’ and Highlanders’ protection.
They would widen the circle around a boulder he and Elspeth could hide behind.
He drew his sword once he lowered her, and she sat.
He crouched beside her, sword in one hand and the other clasping both of hers.
“Where’s the bitch?”
“That’s the leader. I recognize his voice,” Elspeth whispered. Callen peered around the stone, trying to pinpoint where the voice came from. But the clash of swords made it impossible to hear anything else the Englishman might have said.
Screams of pain filled the air. Callen was certain they all had an English accent, if that were possible. The battle didn’t last long before the screech of metal on metal ended. Callen rose, but he placed his hand on Elspeth’s shoulder to keep her out of sight.
“Where did the headless one go? He had the lass.” The same English voice from earlier filled the air before it bellowed in pain, then gurgled.
It was the last foreign voice heard. Callen helped Elspeth rise, then pulled her against his chest as he sheathed his sword, thankful she was unharmed, to shield her from the gruesome scene.
“Mo ghaol?”
“I’m hale, my love.”
The couple embraced and shared a kiss that was far too brief because neither of them forgot the argument that ended because of the battle.
With an arm still around her upper back, Callen brought Elspeth closer to the fire but kept her back to the bodies strewn around the camp.
He surveyed the scene and spotted no Scotsmen or Highlanders among the dead.
“Lass?” Angus rushed forward but stopped short at his daughter’s glower.
“Da, did Callen hesitate for even a breath? Or did he take me to safety the moment we knew there was a threat? Did he abandon me, or did he guard me? Did my husband fail me?” Elspeth stepped away from Callen just enough to cross her arms and tap her foot.
She was impervious to the surrounding disaster.
She was beyond furious with her father, but she’d remained quiet during the men’s earlier standoff.
She hadn’t wanted to distract either of them, but now she was even more scared and exhausted than before.
She wanted nothing more than to curl up beside Callen and sleep for a sennight.
Angus lifted his chin as he studied his daughter. “You still should’ve asked.”