Chapter Five
Linnette sat at the dais next to Lord Thomas Payne later that day, not able to stomach the man since he was not only a cur, but also a pig.
He ate everything in sight and talked with his mouth full.
Every time the server put down a platter of food in front of them, he scooped all the food onto his trencher, and she had yet to even have a single bite.
“Linnette, aren’t you hungry, my dear?” asked her mother from next to her. “Or are you too nervous about the wedding tomorrow?”
“Repulsed is more the word I’d use,” she said under her breath to her mother.
“More wine! Cupbearer, bring more wine!” shouted Lord Payne.
When the young boy ran over to serve him, Lord Payne grabbed the bottle from the boy’s hands and then proceeded to push the cupbearer so hard that he stumbled and fell right off the dais.
“Get yourself some good help, Whitby,” snapped Lord Payne.
“This castle is really lacking. The food is too simple…much like my pathetic bride-to-be.” He looked from the side of his eye at Linnette.
“I assure you, once we’re wed, she’ll be wearing her hair tied up so tightly that it’ll make her eyes squint.
But then again, no one will notice since she’ll be spending most of her time in the bedchamber under me.
” He looked directly at her now. “I want six more heirs. All boys. And if you give me a single girl, you’ll be more than sorry. ”
“I don’t really think that is up to anyone but God if a baby is a girl or a boy,” she said, not even looking at him since he had food all over his face and it made her want to retch. “Or even if a man and woman have children at all.”
“God has nothing to do with it.” His greasy hand gripped the front of her bodice, the tips of his fingers purposely poking through the lacing to touch her bare skin.
His beady, lustful eyes dropped to her chest and his slimy lips turned up into a full-blown grin.
“God takes orders from me. And so do you now. I can’t wait to see what you’ve got hidden under those clothes for me to enjoy.
I am hard just thinking about plowing my seed into you until you scream out with pleasure. ”
“I think we have different ideas of what the word pleasure means. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m not feeling well.” Linnette jumped up, breaking his hold on her. She turned and ran from the dais with her mother following right behind her.
“Linnette, wait,” called out Lady Whitby.
Linnette stopped and turned around, but only out of respect to her mother. “Mother, I will not sit there another moment with that wretched man as he insults me, threatens me, and grabs me in too familiar of a manner in front of the entire castle filled with people.”
“I agree with you.”
“What? Really?”
“Yes.”
“Mother, that is not what you said before.”
“I know. But I see how upset you are, and I heard everything that man said to you. You are my only daughter, and I want you to be happy and to have a good life. You deserve it.”
“So, I can marry whomever I want? Because I assure you, it won’t be that pig sitting up at the dais.” She looked up and glared as the man reached out to pinch a serving girl on the ass, no doubt thinking nothing of it. The poor girl almost dropped the entire tray of food.
“I wish I could say yes, but unfortunately, it’s too late to break the betrothal. If so, there will be war between Lord Payne and your father.”
“Oh, Mother, please speak to Father for me. I cannot marry that evil man. How can Father hate me so much that he would do this to me?”
“Your father loves you, darling, I assure you. But he is not good with confrontation. And once he’s given his word, he’ll never go back on it. It is a trait on which he prides himself.”
“But I can’t marry Lord Payne. I am in love with someone else.”
“You are?” Her mother’s brows arched.
“Yes. And come morning, I won’t be here to marry Lord Payne. Instead, I will be with the man I love.”
“Who is this man, Linnette? Is he a lord here at the castle?”
“I think it is better that I don’t tell you, Mother. I don’t want you to pay for what I am about to do.”
Linnette continued walking, but her mother was instantly at her side.
“Your father cannot break the betrothal. However, if for some reason Lord Payne decides he doesn’t want you, then you could marry whomever you want.
I promise I will speak with your father and convince him.
That is, if Lord Payne somehow changes his mind. ”
“Thank you, Mother. But how is that ever going to happen?” Linnette kept walking as she talked. “You saw just now the way the man is, and he is never going to change his mind. I’m afraid no one can scare him off.”
“What about this man whom you want to marry? Mayhap he can do something to help?”
“Oh, Mother, I wish it were that easy. But he’s a Highlander and is at risk of being killed just by stepping foot inside the castle walls.”
“‘A…Highlander’?” Her mother gasped, looking suddenly pale.
“Yes, Mother. Duncan MacKeefe has arrived from Scotland to take me away with him. I will miss you, but once I leave, I am certain there is no way I’ll be able to return. If I do, I will risk my life as well as Duncan’s.”
“Linnette, if you run off to marry a Highlander, it’ll infuriate your father and break his heart.” Linnette’s mother slowly shook her head.
“And if I stay here and marry Lord Payne, I’ll most likely be dead within a month.”
“Don’t say that! I’m sure Lord Payne wouldn’t kill you.”
“Mayhap not, but if I have to be married to him, then I am going to take my own life, I swear.” Linnette walked away, leaving her mother speechless and unable to move. Linnette hurried off to her chamber to pack a bag and to prepare for her return to the moors as soon as the castle slept.
*
“I dinna like this,” grumbled Duncan as soon as they’d made their way back to the moors. “Linnette needs my help and we never should have left her.”
“If we would have stayed, her father would have had our heads. She’ll be here tonight, so just be patient,” North told him as they approached the cottage.
“Did ye hear that?” Duncan was sure he heard a woman wailing.
“The only thing I hear is ye.” North dismounted and tied up the reins of his horse in front of the cottage.
“Nay, I swear I heard a lassie cryin’.”
“Nope.”
“Dinna pretend ye didna hear it. It is the lassie searchin’ for her lover.”
“‘Her lover’? Oh, you mean the man who lost his head?”
“That’s the one. He tried to do what I am about to do, but he didna succeed.” Duncan rubbed his neck as he spoke. He didn’t want to believe in legends like this one. Not now. Not when he was about to secretly run away with Linnette to be married.
“Stop thinking of ye and Linnette,” North told him. “Come on inside and let’s try to find somethin’ to eat instead.”
“We’ll have to hunt. We’re out of food,” Duncan informed his good friend.
North groaned. “Now I wish we had stayed at the castle, after all. At least then, we’d have bread and water in the dungeon if nothin’ else.”
“I’ll go hunt us up a rabbit or somethin’.”
“Good. I’ll take a nap on the pallet since I didna get much rest sleepin’ in that damned chair.” North stretched his neck to inspect the pallet on the floor.
“You do that,” mumbled Duncan, preparing his bow and arrows and getting atop his horse to head out to the moors to hunt down some food.
He hadn’t gone far before the fog rolled in once again and the sun overhead quickly disappeared.
This place seemed so sullen. So sad. It wasn’t anywhere he really wanted to meet his lover.
Even if the legends were naught but silly tales to scare off lovers looking to run off together, he knew what he had seen and heard.
The wailing lassie was real. And that headless horseman was downright frightening.
He had never believed in ghosts before. Until now.
This whole place sent a shiver up his spine.
Duncan couldn’t wait to collect Linnette and get the hell out of here.
But then again, he didn’t feel right about that, either.
Not because of breaking the betrothal, but because of the problems his actions would cause regarding not only Linnette’s family, but the MacKeefes too.
He couldn’t in good conscience steal her away without first having her ill-fated betrothal diminished and also gaining the blessings of her father.
Then again, thinking any of those things was actually going to happen was like saying the headless rider and his lover were going to rise from the dead and once again be reunited.