Chapter 41
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Duncan took the two best horses from the four that had been left at the harbor and made his way south.
With as little sleep as he’d had, he took the extra precaution of tying himself to the saddle.
The MacCurrachs had said that a man could reach Edinburgh before a ship if he cut across the peninsula. He hoped they were right.
It was nearly ten o’clock when Jamie came to Tearloch’s chamber.
“Come,” he heard from within and opened the door, ushering in the maid who had swooned at the table.
Jamie held the girl’s hand as he pulled her forward and closed the door.
“If ye please, sir. Milady will be sore cross with me if I am no’ close to hand.” She looked scared utterly to death, and all the soothing touches Jamie gave her went unnoticed.
Tearloch feared she would swoon again if he frightened her any further, so he used his gentlest voice. “Come now. Ye may return to yer mistress after a few questions, will that do?”
She nodded.
He sat against the edge of a table in front of the hearth and gestured for her to come closer. “Ye must tell me the complete truth, or else it will go badly for another lass. Badly indeed. Do ye understand?”
“Aye, sir.” She was visibly shaking, but in no immediate threat of swooning.
“Ye remember seein’ me before?”
“Aye, sir. And how is my mistress? Does she live?” The girl’s fear was forgotten for a moment in the hopes of hearing good news.
“Aye, she lives at my home.”
“And she’s well?”
“Aye, she’s well and happy.”
“Oh thank ye, sir. I had worried so.”
“I will tell her. Tell me yer name again.”
“Fia, sir. Tell her Fia is happy to know she survived.”
If Tearloch had not been holding onto the table, he would have ended up on the floor. He chuckled at his near miss, and forced himself to continue.
“Yer the Fia she speaks so well of? Weel, of course ye are. And tell me, who is yer new mistress?” He blinked to stay focused. He could not give up the game just yet.
Fia knew she’d been found out, but she soldiered on.
“Me new mistress is an imposter, sir, that Sir Balloch brought to the king and insisted she was Kenna Carlisle. Ye see, my lady made me promise to tell everyone she had died when Gowry’s keep fell to yer hands.
She didn’t want folks back home to worry about her, but it worked out that Sir Balloch came lookin fer her just after ye had left with her.
When we told him she had died, he made us tell everyone that an imposter was buried there.
“Then he had some men take my Peter away and said he’d kill him if I didn’t agree to help this other woman pass herself off as Lady Kenna.
I told her a lot of things I knew about my lady’s childhood and such.
I tried to teach her how to hold herself like a lady, but some folks just cannae be taught. ”
Fia shrieked when an angry king pulled back the drapes around Tearloch’s bed and came forward.
“Why did he do it?” he demanded of Fia. “Why did Balloch do it?”
“Yer M…majesty,” Fia stammered and began to curtsy but Malcolm pulled her back up.
Tearloch stepped in to gain Malcolm’s attention, to keep the maid from fainting dead away.
“I assume he expected ye to reward him with her hand in marriage. He was furious when ye promised her to me, after he was the one who discovered her. And all he got was that cursed Macbeth ring. If he hasn’t killed Agatha Carlisle, I expect he will as soon as he can, to keep her from revealing that woman isnae her niece. ”
Fia turned to him with pleading eyes. “I beg ye, sir, to please help me get my Peter back safe and sound. If those two snakes hear I have turned on ‘em, they will kill us both.”
Tearloch assured the maid that he would do all that was possible to find Peter, and the woman left with Jamie a bit less nervous than when she had arrived.
“You know we must proceed with the plans for your wedding,” Malcolm said. “Balloch is invited to attend, and he would not dare decline. I foolishly gave him Agatha Carlisle’s lands as a reward for bringing this imposter to me, and to punish that woman as well. I expect she is already dead.”
Tearloch nodded. “Agreed. We must catch them together if we are to save this Peter fellow.”
“Aye, and in two days, in the middle of it all, your men should arrive with my beloved sister.”
“Enjoy a bit of peace while ye can, Malcolm. Lord knows ye’ll have none once she gets here.”
“And when it is over, you will explain to me again why you dared put Kenna—my Kenna—in your dungeon.”
Peace never had a chance, of course. As Malcolm headed for the door, a man came to announce that the Knights MacCurrach and one Sir Leland had arrived with an urgent message for Tearloch. Malcolm bid them to join them there, in Tearloch’s chambers, as there were ears everywhere.
After bowing to the king, the elder brother announced, “Duncan Keith forbids Sir Tearloch, The MacPherson, to marry anyone until he can get here.”
Tearloch huffed. “Is he bringing the lass along with him, then? I did forbid ye to leave the man alone with her.”
Leland grimaced. “We can hope.”
“I sent the key to her cell with the king’s men. They should have just arrived with it.”
“Weel,” Leland hedged, “Ye may want to sit down, sir.”
Tearloch glowered instead. “Where is she?”
“Now, dinnae fash. Duncan has gone after her. She picked the lock and slipped out in the still of the night. But Duncan was sure he could catch her before she got all the way to Carlisle Folly. He was only four or five hours behind her. And how fast can a lass travel?”
“My lass? The one who tamed Queenie with a touch? The one who stripped off her clothes whilst standing on a galloping horse in the gloamin’? Ye mean that lass?”
The king was on his feet, staring at Tearloch as if he’d lost his mind. “I fear ye’ve left much out of yer recounting, brother.”
“And I wish to heaven ye’d never taught yer wee sister all yer bloody tricks!”
The younger MacCurrach waved a hand for attention.
“If that be so, if she might have arrived home before he could stop her, we’ve more troublin’ news.
” He proceeded to relay everything that he’d seen at the Carlisle keep, including Agatha’s execution and the return of Balloch with his new title and king’s writ.
“Duncan recognized the mon’s name, Balloch it was.
He seemed to think he was up to some mischief… ”
Tearloch shook his head. “By the time we could reach the folly—”
“Duncan will already have it sorted and be on his way here. With my sister.”
“Aye, but I cannae just sit and wait for—”
“Ye must. We must. And we must remember that Duncan Keith is already there. If we had to send someone in our stead—”
“It would be him.”
“Aye. We will trust our friend, and we will wait and watch to see who comes to celebrate your wedding. Truth to tell, I cannot stomach another complication.”
Tearloch burst out laughing, as did Leland, who said, “His Majesty may not appreciate our lass, sir.”
“Poor mon. He hasnae a whiff of what’s comin’.”
Later, when he was finally alone with no one hiding in his bedcurtains, Tearloch was ill with worry.
He’d walked the battlements and done anything that might help keep his mind off what was happening across the peninsula.
With his body spent, he looked for distraction for his mind. And he thought about Duncan.
He took a moment to appreciate all his friend had done for him—he had discovered Kenna’s danger and gone after her, had sent the lads to stay Tearloch from marrying someone he did not wish to marry.
And in return, Tearloch had shown the man every shade of green possible, worried he might be alone with his lass.
Lucky for him, Duncan had ignored the insult and done well by him.
He owed his old friend an apology. Maybe even a kerchief.