Chapter Fifteen
R upert was amazed how easy it had been to get so close to Carl’s niece, Christine. Everyone in the village had been friendly and talkative. It appeared the young woman was well-liked and apparently nothing like her uncle, who was trying to marry the young woman off to one of his sleazy friends to get his hands on her money. If he had a conscience, which he lost years ago when he’d worked as a mudlark at no more than five years of age, it would trouble him. But a man had to eat. Now he knocked at the door to the kitchen, ready to put his plan into place.
A young man with hands coated in flour opened the kitchen door. Appearing casual and as if he’d belonged had always worked for him in the past, so he relaxed his body and smiled at the young man.
“I heard in the village that the castle is looking for workers.”
The boy nodded. “Aye. We are still needing people. Lady Lindsay has many projects going on. What kind of work do ye do?”
“Anything you need done. I’ve worked for years doing both inside and outside jobs.”
The young man’s jaw dropped. “Yer English!”
Rupert smiled and stuck out his hand. “Yes, I am. I hear your lady is English, also. They talk a lot about her in the village. My name is Rupert Sanders.”
“I am Edward Lindsay.” He waved in the direction of a long table where several girls sat chopping vegetables. “If ye’re looking for work, ye need to speak with Lady Lindsay. She was here a few minutes ago, but she just left to break her fast in the great hall. Ye can wait here, and I’ll send word that ye wish to speak with her when she finishes.”
Rupert nodded and took a seat, smiling at the young girls.
He still could not believe how easy access to the woman he’d been paid to bundle off to Edinburgh had been. It was obvious from his experience so far that neither the laird or his wife expected any trouble, so people came and went to the castle and even now, the young man he just spoke with didn’t look suspiciously at him at all.
Good. He liked the jobs that were not messy. Just gain the woman’s trust, ask her to accompany him wherever it is he was assigned a job to answer a question. The little bit of laudanum he carried would go far to silence her as he rode away. This was definitely one of the easiest jobs he’d ever done.
His only concern was getting the second half of his money off Allenby. He’d hate to have to hold a knife to the man’s throat to receive the agreed upon amount.
Edward returned to the kitchen. “My lady said she will see ye as soon as she is finished. She offered a meal and drink to ye if ye want it.”
“Yes, that would be nice.” Anything that would prevent him from having to spend the travel expense money Allenby gave him was a grand idea.
He enjoyed bannocks with butter and honey, a bowl of porridge, a slice of warm bread and a chunk of cheese, enough food to hold him all day. He sat back and sipped on the cup of tea Edward had given him.
A young woman hurried into the kitchen. She was a beautiful woman, but from the clothing she wore and her hair, which was already in disarray, she was obviously not Lady Lindsay. Most likely the woman had sent her personal maid to deal with him.
“Mr. Sanders?”
He stood, even though he doubted a maid deserved such treatment, but it might be a good idea to get on the good side of this woman. She might be helpful. “Yes, I am Mr. Sanders.”
“You are English!” The maid smiled and stuck her hand out. “I am Lady Lindsay and English as well. I understand you are seeking work?”
He was dumbstruck. This beautiful woman, dressed like a maid, was Lady of the Manor? This was the woman he was to kidnap and bring to Allenby to turn over to the slobbering, short, rotund man Allenby had indicated was the man he wanted her to marry?
He mentally shrugged. It wasn’t his problem. He needed to keep his opinions to himself, get the job done, and get money in his pocket.
He took her hand and said, “Yes, I have done all sorts of outside and inside work.”
“Excellent. We are trying to get the castle up to snuff and then keep into shape. It has been neglected for some time now. Presently, I could use someone to help my husband, Laird Lindsay, fix some of the cottages that are in dire need of repair.”
He stared at her like he was in a dream. Perhaps he was. “Your husband, the laird, is repairing cottages?”
“Yes. And he could use all the help he can get.” She smiled at him, and he found himself smiling back. What the devil was wrong with him? She was his target, the woman to snatch from her home and return to her uncle to do with her as he pleased. He took a deep breath. “Yes, my lady, I would like to help the laird out.”
“Did you get the chance to eat?”
Another surprise. The woman actually cared if an unknown man who walked into the castle looking for work had received food. “Yes, I had a wonderful meal.”
“You may sleep in the stables where we recently added a few rooms for the male employees we needed to hire. Eventually, there will be a separate building, but I’m afraid for now you will have to make do with that.” She chattered away, waving her arms around. “If you bring your things with you, I will show you to a cot you may use and then direct you to where my husband is working.”
He trooped alongside her as she went on and on about how she came from London to marry Laird Lindsay and how she’d found things in such poor condition.
Since she seemed so open about her life, he decided to gain more information which might help in removing her from the castle and returning her to Lord Allenby. “How long have you been married to the laird?”
“Several weeks now.” She blushed and looked at him.
This woman had certainly broken free from her upbringing. Although never a member of the upper crust, he knew enough about it and had worked a few jobs for the nobs. Lady Lindsay was in an altogether different category. Of course, based on what her uncle had told him, she was resourceful enough to climb out her bedroom window and disappear, escaping the man’s plans. That was certainly not usual ton behavior.
Then she ended up in Scotland married to a laird. He shook his head.
They walked in the direction of the village he just came from but stopped about 200 falls short. The sound of hammers pounding away led them to a cottage where two men worked diligently while a very old man sat outside on a tree stump watching them.
“Husband, I brought you another worker.”
The man she called to turned toward her from where he squatted on the roof. Yes, the Laird of Lindsay was not sitting on his bottom and giving orders. He was working right alongside one of the other men. “Great news, wife. I could use another set of hands,” the man said, wiping sweat from his face.
“This is Mr. Rupert Sanders.”
The laird waved and jumped from the roof. He certainly was large, as her uncle had said. Brutish, however? From his friendly smile and warm demeanor, that was hard to discern.
“I will leave you here to help. The laird will direct you in what you will do. Supper is served in the great hall.” With a warm smile and a wave at her husband, she walked off, leaving him once again wondering why he should remove this happy woman from a happy husband and drag her back to her uncle for a life of misery. He had no doubt that was where she’d been headed, or she wouldn’t be in Scotland married to someone else.
Money.
He’d been paid to do a job and wouldn’t get the rest of the payment if he didn’t produce her. He had to put himself first. In all his life, he’d never had a guaranteed roof over his head or food for his belly. Since he’d been a child he’d looked out for himself. It was too late to change now.
“What do you need me to do, Laird?”
Later that evening as Christine and Kerrigan lay in bed, holding hands, still catching their breath from their lovemaking, she said, “How did that new man do today?”
“Verra well. He kenned how to do a lot of things I thought I would have to teach him. He dinna talk, just did his work. Where did ye find him?”
She shrugged. “He walked into the kitchen and said he’d heard in the village that we were looking to hire people.”
“He’s English.” Her husband said it like it was an illness.
She huffed. “Very observant, husband. Your observation abilities continue to amaze me.”
Kerrigan reached over and pulled her head next to his. “Are ye making fun of me, lass?”
She laughed. “Aye.”
He covered her mouth with his and after a heart-stopping kiss which left her a tad dizzy, he pulled back. He tapped her on her nose. “Goodnight, wife.”
It took her a moment to compose herself before she slid down, pushed her body into her husband’s warm one and, with his arm wrapped around her, settled in for a good night’s sleep.
Rupert had decided this was the day. He’d spent enough time admiring Lady Lindsay and her hard-working husband. It was time to snatch the woman and bring her to Edinburgh. If he stayed here much longer he would begin to question his life, and he didn’t want to know the answers.
He placed his hammer on the stump of a tree and walked off the job he’d been working on for the past week. Most likely the laird thought he was going off to piss somewhere. Once he left the cottage far enough away, he ran to the keep’s kitchen door. He knew this time of the day Lady Lindsay was in the kitchen helping with the nooning meal.
“Good day to you, Rupert. Can I help you with something?” She smiled brightly and he fought to push his doubts aside.
“Yes, my lady. I have an issue I would like to discuss with you, but I see you are busy.”
She never turned anyone away who needed her. Now, she wiped her hands on her apron. “No. There is enough help here. Did you want to go to the great hall?”
“I would prefer some privacy. Can we walk?”
She whipped the apron off. “Of course.”
They stepped out into the weak sunshine. He walked her toward the stable where he had his horse ready to go. “I’m having an issue with either doing the right thing or wrong thing.”
He looked around and just as before when he’d readied his horse, no one was in the stable. The area surrounding him was empty because everyone was inside awaiting the nooning meal. He took a deep breath and continued on until they reached where his horse awaited. “I am very sorry for his, Lady Lindsay.”
She frowned. “What are you sorry about?
“This.” He pulled out the cloth soaked in laudanum and pressed it to her face. She inhaled to scream and took in enough of the drug that her bones seemed to have a hard time holding her up. With a soft sigh, she collapsed against him.
He quickly placed her over the front of the saddle and hopped up behind her.
Lady Lindsay remained asleep for most of the trip since it wasn’t too long, but she was awake, and still groggy when they stopped in front of the Gooseneck Ale house. He jumped from the horse and placed his hands around her waist, lifting her off.
“I don’t understand, Rupert, where are we?” Her voice was sluggish, and she shook her head as if to clear it.
“Just come along.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and practically dragged the woman into the alehouse. Lord Allenby hopped up from where he was sitting at table with a mug of ale in front of him. Another man, the slobbering portly one with red-rimmed eyes—her intended husband according to Allenby—looked Lady Lindsay up and down in a way Rupert did not like.
“It’s about time.” Allenby turned to the man sitting with him. “Look, Newton, your wife is here!”
Lady Lindsay turned to him. “What is my uncle doing here? And why is he saying Lord Newton’s wife is here?”
Rupert didn’t know a lot about Scotland, but he did know by Scottish law, a couple could be considered married if they referred as such in front of witnesses. Apparently, that was what Allenby was attempting to do even though he’d told him he had legal papers to prove the laird and his lady were not legally married.
Lady Lindsay turned to him. “Rupert, please take me home. You know I am already married.” Tears formed in her eyes, streaming down her cheeks. “I want to go home. I want my husband.”
Lord Allenby shoved banknotes at Rupert. “Here is your money, now be on your way.”
He put the money in his pocket and backed away. Lady Lindsay’s hands were reaching for him even as Lord Newton wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her toward the stairs.
“My lord, I don’t think—” Rupert started to say.
Allenby pushed him. “You are correct, you do not think. Now leave before I ask the innkeeper to have you arrested for trespassing.”
Rupert turned and left the inn. He jumped on his horse and headed toward London.
“Do ye ken where yer lady is?” Kerrigan asked for what seemed like the hundredth time since he’d returned from working on Old Matthew’s cottage. He’d planned to clean up for supper but had been unable to find his wife.
“Nay, my laird, I haven’t seen her since the nooning,” Isla said.
Kerrigan ran his fingers through his hair. ’Twas not like the lass to just disappear. Since no one in the keep had seen her, he headed to the stable to take a ride to the village. ’Twas possible she decided to do some shopping and hadn’t told anyone where she was headed. He didn’t like that, knowing traveling by herself was not a good idea.
He finished tacking Fergus up just as the thunder of horse hooves going very fast sounded in the distance, growing close to the castle. Kerrigan swung his leg over the saddle and rode toward the rider coming at him.
By the time they were a few falls apart, he recognized the man as Rupert, one of the men helping with repairing the cottages. It was then that he remembered the man had walked away earlier in the day and never returned. With Christine missing, he’d forgotten about the disappearance of the man.
“Laird!” Rupert pulled up on his horse’s reins, the animal prancing alongside him. “You must come. Lady Lindsay’s uncle has her at an ale house in Edinburgh and is planning on visiting with a magistrate to have your marriage declared illegal.”
With both Rupert and Christine missing, it didn’t take Kerrigan long to figure out how Christine ended up in Edinburgh.
Kerrigan growled. “Ye had the nerve to take my wife, yer lady, from her home and bring her to Allenby?”
The man straightened his shoulders and looked him in the eye. “Yes. And for that I am very sorry. When I first spoke with Lord Allenby about snatching your wife, I needed the money. When you’re hungry and have no roof over your head, you don’t think about the end result of what you are paid to do.”
Kerrigan nodded “Before I beat you senseless, stay right here.”
“Yes, Laird.”
Kerrigan raced to the keep, up to their bedchamber and slammed the door open. He strode to the wardrobe and grabbed the box on the floor. He pulled out the marriage certificates from both England and Scotland and shoved them into the pouch strapped around his waist.
Not sure if Sanders would be waiting for him or not, he was pleasantly surprised to see the man sitting on his horse where he’d left him. “It is not a long trip, but I have no idea when he plans to see the magistrate.”
Kerrigan waved him on. “Let’s ride.”
After Newton dragged her upstairs, making sure everyone within hearing distance assumed they were husband and wife, she kicked him as the door to the bedchamber closed, aiming for his man parts, but hitting his leg instead. “Bitch!” He slapped her in the face, the power of the blow knocking her to the floor.
She scooted backward, her face throbbing, looking around the room for something to use as a weapon. Now that the drug Rupert had given her had worn off, she was so angry she felt as though her heart would explode in her chest. There was no way she would allow this slobbering idiot anywhere near her.
“Take off your clothes. Once we ‘consummate’ our marriage, and we see the magistrate, we will return to London where you will be the subservient, obedient wife I want.”
She continued backward until she hit the wall. “You will never ‘consummate’ anything with me. I am married, bedded—many times—and am in love with my husband.”
He stalked over to her and grabbed her by her hair. “ I am your husband. Ask anyone in this inn. You know the laws of Scotland. Your uncle referred to you as my wife, and we are now upstairs in our bedchamber, alone.”
“I don’t care if you tell everyone in Scotland that we’re married. It’s a lie and I will not return to London with you.”
He stood up and brushed the sleeves of his jacket. “We will see. Your uncle will visit with the magistrate tomorrow and it will all be legal. Now take off your clothes.”
Kerrigan and Rupert jumped from their horses and raced into the alehouse. Kerrigan almost took the door off its hinges as he opened it. The few men and one woman sitting at the tables looked up at him.
He looked at Rupert. “Which one is the uncle? I didn’t get a verra good look at him when I broke his nose.”
He didn’t need Rupert to tell him which one the bastard was because one of the men sitting at a table with a plate of food in front of him turned a pasty white and stood, looking back and forth for an escape.
Kerrigan raced after him as he turned, heading up the stairs. Kerrigan jumped over the banister and grabbed Allenby by the neck. He shook the man like a bairn’s ragdoll. “Where is my wife?”
Allenby pointed to the second floor. Kerrigan shoved the man down the stairs and looked at Rupert. “Doona let him leave.”
He took the stairs three at a time. “Christine!”
“Kerrigan,” she screamed, the sound coming from behind the third door on the left. He found it locked, but laughed at that. No one, and no door, was going to keep him from his wife. Leaning his shoulder to the thin wood, he shoved it open, breaking it apart.
Christine was on the other side of the bed in the room, her dress torn, the side of her face bruised. She held a jug in her hand.
With a bellow as he flew through the air, Kerrigan landed on Newton, fists flying. At first the man tried to fight back, but when it became obvious he had no chance, he covered his face with his hands.
After a few minutes, Kerrigan felt the innkeeper pulling him back. “My laird, stop. Ye donna want a murder charge,” the man said.
Kerrigan leaned back on his heels, panting to catch his breath. “He hit my wife.”
Christine raced over and threw her arms around him. “Oh, husband. I knew you would come.”
He cupped her head and continued to catch his breath. “Of course, I came. I love you, wife, and I have no intention of living the rest of my life without ye.”
She laid her head against his chest and cried with what he knew was all the fear, pain, and love she felt. “I love you too, Kerrigan. I don’t want to live the rest of my life without you, either.”
The innkeeper had apparently sent for the local constable once the fight broke out because the man entered the room and looked around at the mess. “I’ll be needing statements from all of ye, so doona go anywhere.”
“We are going nowhere tonight,” Kerrigan said as he led Christine out of the room but not before he kicked Newton in his side. “Yer lucky I dinna kill ye.”
Her uncle had managed to move over to a table where he sat, holding his head, Rupert sitting alongside him, acting as guard.
“We must stay the night, my love, because I want to appear in front of the magistrate in the morning and get this nonsense settled. I brought both our marriage certificates with me.”
Uncle Carl looked up. “Both?”
“Aye. We married in both England and Scotland, so yer claim is worthless. And doona doubt that our marriage has been consummated.”
The innkeeper’s wife walked up to Christine, shaking her head. “Such nonsense. My lady, I can give ye one of my lass’s dresses to change into after cleaning up.”
“Thank you,” Christine said.
“And a wet cloth to place against your bruise.”
Kerrigan and Christine moved to the table with Allenby. “With ye niece’s permission, I will give ye enough money to leave the country. I hear things are going well in the Americas.”
Uncle Carl’s brows rose. “After all I’ve done, you would be willing to do that?”
“Aye. I doona want my wife troubled about this anymore. If ye are out of the country, she will feel safe.”
Just then Rupert stood and pulled banknotes out of his pocket. “Here is the money you paid me. I didn’t spend any of it, only the travel expenses.” He tossed it on the table. “Take your thirty pieces of silver.” With that he turned and left the inn.
“Why is Rupert here? I thought he returned to London,” Christine said.
“Rupert came to the castle and told me.” Keegan stopped for a minute and rubbed his forehead with his thumb and index finger. “I doona want to see the lad walk away with nothing.”
“He was the one who kidnapped me!”
“I know. But on our ride here, he told me about his life so far. ’Tis a sad story, wife.”
Christine chewed her lip, her basic compassion fighting with the anger at being swept away from her home and handed to Newton. Eventually, she sighed. “If ye think ye can trust him, then I have no objection to having him return to the keep and continue working with you. He did take me, but if he hadn’t returned to our home to tell you, I would be on my way to London tomorrow.” She paused. “And you’re right. He did give the money back. He has nothing.”
Kerrigan slapped the table with both hands, stood, and headed out the door.
After appearing before the magistrate the next morning, and sending Uncle Carl on his way with enough funds to start a new life, Christine, Kerrigan, and Rupert returned to the castle.