Chapter Three
Callen’s jaw ached from how he kept it clamped shut whenever Angus and the other older men spoke.
He disagreed with all of them. He’d kept quiet for the past two hours as they rode south across the border with England.
They’d found the other riders’ trails and caught up to the Armstrong siblings and their Elliot friends.
The two parties discussed what happened, but the abduction passed in such a blur that there was little to share.
Tavin remained, along with the second oldest Armstrong brother, but the rest of the riders turned back to Mangerton Tower.
It seemed the English took pity on the Elliot brothers who were well-trained but not battle-tested.
“Laird Elliot, ye can go to yer keep, but ye willna find Lady Elspeth there. I promise ye, they didna take her to yer home to ransom her. They must ken ye and Lady Elliot were at the Armstrong keep along with Lady Elspeth and her brothers. They dinna have any reason to go west to the Johnstones. They’re taking her farther into England. ”
“We aren’t that far from Redheugh. We can gather more men.”
“Callen, they may have gone west, knowing Lady Elspeth’s home lies to the east. Mayhap they’re avoiding the men Laird Elliot could call upon.” Laird Henry Johnstone suggested. He was Callen’s mother’s cousin. He’d inherited the position after Arabella’s father died having sired no sons.
“Ye can ride toward yer home just as the Elliots can ride toward theirs. I ride south.” Callen knew he sounded sullen along with stubborn, but his frustration grew by the minute.
He understood that the Elliot brothers were inexperienced and that the Armstrongs felt they had to help them. But time wasn’t on their side.
It still surprised him that they hadn’t caught up to the Englishmen and Elspeth. Someone in the group knew how to cover their tracks better than most.
“Callen, the lairds ken this area better than us,” Lachlan attempted to mediate, not wanting to rebuke his son in public.
“Da, Lily said they sounded English. That means they’re from at least two days’ ride south of the border.
If they were from near the border, Lily would’ve said they sounded like her, but nae quite right.
These men arenae wasting time this close to the Elliots’ or Armstrongs’ keeps.
They have nay reason to go anywhere near the Johnstones.
They’re putting as much distance between them and the border as they can.
Ye ken I’m right. Let me track them.” Callen’s gaze didn’t waver when it met his father’s.
Lachlan knew the young man would dig his heels in and ride out alone if he felt he had no choice.
He didn’t want to wind up searching for his son and the young woman. He looked toward Angus.
“Ye ken ma lad’s right. Fetch more men if ye think we need them, then meet us by morning. We’ll continue south.” Lachlan spoke to Angus, but Alex and Henry understood he meant them too.
“Fine. We ride south until nightfall. If we find naught, then we break off in the morning and ride toward our own keeps.”
Callen grunted and wheeled his horse around before spurring the animal into a canter.
He knew the others would follow, but he needed to get ahead of them.
He needed the space to survey their surroundings.
While Ridire Dubh’s pounding hooves were loud, they didn’t drown out all sound around them.
But having the other riders near him did.
He strained to catch anything in front of him.
His gaze dropped to Ridire Dubh’s ears to see if they twitched, but his horse heard nothing unusual.
He observed his mount’s nostrils, but they flared no more than normal while the horse ran.
He knew his steed smelled nothing strange either.
Callen prayed Elspeth knew he was searching for her.
His gaze swept left to right, right to left until he spotted something out of the corner of his left eye.
He slowed Ridire Dubh as he turned off the path.
He held up his right fist, telling the other riders to stop.
When he heard Henry order the party to halt, he dismounted.
He dropped the reins, certain his steed would go nowhere without his command.
He inched forward, his gaze sweeping over everything.
He forced himself to sniff even though his nose rebelled as he squatted closer to the ground.
“This isnae from an animal.” Callen rose and pointed toward the vomit he’d spotted where several bushes appeared disturbed.
He stepped away before picking up a stick.
He used it to poke the pile, then lift some leaves.
He spied partial hoofprints someone brushed away and covered with leaves purposely dropped to disguise the marks.
“Do you think Lady Elspeth’s fallen ill?” Henry’s brow furrowed as he looked to where the odor originated.
Callen snorted. “The only thing that fell was the other half of that vomit on some bastard’s breeks. Lady Elspeth could hang upside down from her saddle while drinking a dram of whisky, then be right as rain the moment she stood.”
“And how would you know that aboot my daughter? Have you been giving her spirits?”
Nay, but she’s smuggled some to me.
Callen wouldn’t reveal that secret.
“Angus, I ken ye fear for yer lass. So does ma son. Ye both want the same thing. Lady Elspeth’s safe return.
Dinna seek trouble where there is none. I dinna care for ye accusing him when ye ken he’s done naught wrong.
The lad would rather bathe in scalding tallow than do aught to hurt Lady Elspeth.
We all ken there’s naught he wouldnae do to protect her.
If that’s the case, there’s naught he’d do to harm her either.
Besmirching her reputation would do her irreparable damage.
He simply wouldnae. I’ve seen how yer lass rides.
It gives yer wife and ye kittens. She’s sturdier than half the men we ken.
Callen didna say aught none of us didna already ken.
” Lachlan kept his tone conversational, but no one missed the warning in his gaze as he stared at Angus, who nodded.
“There’s naught else here.” Callen fought to keep the frustration from his tone, not wanting to admit how defeated he felt.
*
“We’re nearly in Yorkshire by now.” Angus ran his hand through his hair, making it stand on end. The man had barely slept more than two hours each night, and his appearance reflected that.
“You know who’s gathered here.” Alex’s wary expression matched everyone else’s.
“Aye. Those bluidy treasonous arses,” Henry practically spat his response.
Even the Highlanders knew to whom Alex and Henry referred.
The “Disinherited” were Scottish nobles who lost their titles and lands.
They’d backed three consecutive English King Edwards.
They’d turned their backs on King Robert the Bruce, then the man’s son, King David.
Consequently, they all lived in England now.
Whispers suggested a meeting in Yorkshire to strategize an attack on Scotland, possibly igniting another independence war.
“The Earl of Atholl and the Earl of Angus will find their heads on pikes far too soon,” Angus mused. “Eustace de Maxwell and Alexander de Mowbray will hang beside them.”
“Such a waste of an illustrious name,” Alex muttered.
“Richard Talbot, Thomas Wake, and Henry Ferrers come to mind too. Another waste of a good name.” Henry smirked at Alex, both knowing how common their names were.
They’d spoken of it before, and both agreed their names were better than the never-ending list of Johns, Thomases, and Williams the English produced.
“Ma money is on David de Strathbogie or Eustace de Maxwell. Pretentious eejits. They think adding ‘de’ before their surname makes them sound more French and less Scottish. Strathbogie is the Earl of Atholl and doesnae even live in Scotland, and Maxwell is little more than a knight prancing around in his metal buckets.” Callen held no respect for any man who’d trade allegiance to Scotland for anywhere else.
While he understood God couldn’t make every man a Highlander, He at least blessed some to be Scottish.
It was sacrilege to turn away God’s blessings.
“If it’s Maxwell, then I hope he’s the one wearing the vomit.” Disdain dripped from every word Alex uttered.
“The other men might think to ransom Lady Elspeth, but Strathbogie and Maxwell both need wives.” Callen knew his declaration would suck the air from the group before fanning the flames, but he believed what he said.
“You think one of them will force my daughter to marry him?” Angus demanded.
“Aye. We wouldnae be chasing them this far if they planned to demand money or land for her freedom. They ken ye’ll search for her, so they likely plan to kill ye.
But one of them will try to force her to the altar.
With only sons younger than Lady Elspeth, whoever it is believes he’ll seize yer land or at least use it for free passage farther into Scotland.
To strengthen their claim for the return of their ancestral lands, both men require Scottish territory.
They believe it their rightful inheritance as Scotsmen.
Ma only consolation is Lady Elspeth will kill either mon before sun sets on whatever day they’re to wed. ”
“How can ye be so sure?” Angus squinted at Callen as they stood near the campfire as dusk approached.
“Because she wears nearly as many dirks as we Highlanders.”
“And how the bluidy hell would you know that?” Angus’s voice rose with each word, making Callen raise his defiant chin so high it nearly jutted toward the sky.
“Because I gave her each of them.”
“You armed my daughter? And just where did you tell her to carry these knives?”
“Wherever she can without carving a lump out of herself. She’s got them in her boots, under her kirtle, and in pockets she’s sewn into her gowns along with the sgian dubh that looks like an eating knife when it’s in its sheath on her girdle. She keeps at least two in her saddle.”
“You gave her weapons she’s more likely to hurt herself with than defend herself.”
“She kens how to use them better than most men.”
Angus’s fists balled by his sides as his face flushed. “And how do you know that?”
“Dinna be daft. Ye ken how I do. Obviously, I taught her. Ye should’ve but didna, so I did.”
“Now you want to tell me how to raise my daughter.”
Callen’s hands balled into fists too. He lowered his voice and rocked his weight onto the balls of his feet. “Nay, but I’m telling ye how I taught ma future wife to protect herself when I canna be with her.”
“Wife?! Not a bluidy chance in hell, lad.”
Callen cocked an eyebrow. He knew his expression could be interpreted several ways, and he knew it goaded Angus.
He wouldn’t strike Elspeth’s father first, but he was tired of pretending as though he had no claim on her when she’d made her wishes clear over the years.
She wanted to marry Callen as much as he wanted to marry her.
It was just a matter of time for both of them.
“Who do ye think the English got the idea of bride stealing from? It wasna the Lowlanders,” Callen taunted as he tucked his thumbs into his belt but had to dodge the meaty fist that flew toward his right eye.
As Angus swung with his left arm, his right reached for his sword.
Callen had pushed the frazzled father too far.
The sound of Angus’s weapon sliding out of its sheath made nearly a score of other swords echo it.
“Elliot!” Lachlan drew his weapon as he rushed forward.
Callen alone didn’t reach for a weapon. He wouldn’t be the one who killed his future wife’s father.
That was the only conceivable outcome if he accepted Angus’s challenge.
It would be fight to the death, and Callen had four inches, two stones, and twenty years in his favor.
Angus swung his sword and nearly cleaved Callen’s head from his shoulders, but Callen dropped and rolled, coming to his feet a yard away.
Angus attempted to charge Callen, but Alex, Henry, and Lachlan blocked him.
Gavin and Alasdair, Callen’s younger brothers, ran to keep Callen from retaliating.
However, they did nothing since their older brother remained calm. The same couldn’t be said for Angus.
“You admit you’ve seen my daughter without my permission. You’ve given her gifts without my permission. And you speak as though you’ll marry her without my permission. What else did you do to my daughter without my permission?”
The insinuation enraged Callen whose temper had slipped but was back in place until that last question. He attempted to push past his brothers, but they were the same size as him, so he couldn’t move the mountain of men before him.
“I did naught improper, but I willna lie. Aye, I’ve spent time with Lady Elspeth and trained her to defend herself.
She lives a bluidy league from the border!
Someone needed to teach her to defend herself.
What’s happened now could’ve happened many times.
She needs to ken how to live long enough for us to rescue her. ”
“And when they find her weapons?” Angus was beside himself thinking of how Elspeth’s captors would react to finding her armed. He already feared they’d assault her.
“She’ll already be gutting someone with them. Elsie willna think twice aboot using them if she canna use her words or canna run.” It was the first time he’d let the pet name slip in public. He didn’t even realize he had.
“Elsie? What right do you have to call my daughter that? What other liberties have you taken?”
Callen roared as he surged forward. His fury made him impossible to contain, despite how Gavin and Alasdair both tugged on his arms. Angus wasn’t as successful breaking through the wall of three seasoned warriors despite how he tried. He pointed his sword between Alex’s and Lachlan’s shoulders.
“Your da can’t shield you every minute of the day.”
“Kill me, and Elsie will never speak to ye again. Do ye want to be the one to tell her what ye did? I willna strike ye, Laird Elliot, because ye’re her father.
But neither will I tolerate ye insinuating she’s done aught improper.
She’s a virtuous lady. She may ride too fast and enjoy a tipple of whisky from time to time, but she’s done naught to deserve such censure or insult. ”
“You’ve led her astray. I don’t blame her, Sutherland.
The fault is entirely yours. If you wish to keep your head on your shoulders, stay away from my lass.
” Angus backed away and sheathed his sword.
The group released a collective sigh. Most of the men who’d ridden from Mangerton Tower were married, and almost all of those men had children.
They understood how the father and the suitor felt about the missing young woman.
“Ye ken I willna do that, Laird Elliot. That’s how ye ken I’ll find her.”