Chapter 3
“T
he escort has arrived from MacTavish Castle, Meria!” Catherine was agog with the news.
Meria, who was setting the final stitch to a dress robe that was to be packed in the trunks set to follow her after she left, shook her head. “Surely there is more than one, Catherine. The other men must still be waiting in the courtyard.”
Now it was the maid’s turn to shake her head. “Nay. He’s all alone, but he’s big enough to stand in for a whole troop o’ soldiers. Make haste an’ come see! All the maids cannae stop talking about the man. He’s so braw…and as handsome as the day is long!”
Admitting to some curiosity, Meria tucked her needle and thread into the pincushion and followed her maid out of the room.
They heard Laird Calvin’s voice long before they reached the great hall.
“If ye think I’m lettin’ me daughter hie off with ye alone into the blasted wilderness, ye’re raving mad! ”
Thus, Meria was granted her first look at Laird MacTavish’s envoy while he replied to her father.
“It is as Laird MacTavish commanded. Send word to him, by all means, to criticize the number of equerries he chose to send out, but I don’ need to tell ye that Laird MacTavish has his own way of replying to those who dare criticize him. ”
Laird Calvin swallowed lots of air and went red in the face. “This is an outrage! How is me daughter going to arrive at MacTavish Castle with an unsullied reputation if she’s been cavortin’ around with ye all over the Highlands for God knows how many days!”
Again, the escort remained cool as he replied. “No man, no’ even meself, would dare lay a finger on a maiden who is promised in wedlock to the MacTavish clan.”
Meria entered the hall and curtsied to her father, ignoring the escort.
He was just a common soldier and not worthy of her notice.
“I don’ much like the thought of tramping around the woods with only one man to protect me, Faither.
I think I should stay here. It’s clear MacTavish is choosing to insult ye by sending only this man as escort. ”
Laird Calvin scoffed. “Awa’ wi’ ye, Meria.
Ye ken well I have nay choice in the matter.
Laird MacTavish’s army is so much bigger than mine.
” He turned to the escort. “What did ye say yer name was again? Kerr? What was the weather like on the way down here? The harvest is long gone, and the days grow short. Please tell me there was no hint of snow in the air?”
The man called Kerr spoke in a deliberate voice. “The sooner ye allow us to leave, Laird, the sooner the young lady an’ meself will arrive at MacTavish Castle if ye follow me meaning…”
Laird Calvin simmered. “So, I insult me future son-in-law if I don’ let me daughter leave with ye? I insult him if I send word asking for more guards? An’ I insult him if I write to him asking why he sees fit to entrust his betrothed wife to be escorted by one man?”
“That’s about the way o’ things,” the man said in an unperturbed voice. “But if ye have qualms about me ability to protect yon daughter of yers in the wilderness, maybe this will reassure ye…”
Too fast for anyone in the room to see, a weapon left the man’s hand, and the dagger stuck quivering into the high-back chair’s headrest, not two inches above Laird Calvin’s head.
Meria’s father gave such a shrill scream the sentries outside the great hall looked in to see which lass was scared out of her wits.
“Ye fools!” Laird Calvin spluttered, highly embarrassed he had been lured into a false sense of security by the tall red-haired man’s calm demeanor. “Why d’ye no’ search him for weapons? He could have killed me!”
The sentries made excuses. “The soldier comes from Laird MacTavish, Laird. Forgive us, but the clan is to be related to ye soon by way of marriage. We did nae think yer future son-in-law would be interested in sendin’ an assassin to kill ye.”
The escort, Kerr, gave a small smile. “When I have finished workin’ for Laird MacTavish, Laird, p’raps ye would like me to return here an’ train yer soldiers for ye?”
Meria chuckled and looked at the man sideways. Maybe her journey to the castle would not be so bad after all. It seemed as if this Mister Kerr had the potential to be an interesting traveling companion. She watched him as he straightened himself to address her father for the final time.
“I have no design on yer daughter’s maidenhead.
I want to get this task over so that I may go back to being a warrior, Laird.
I have nay business playin’ nursemaid to some laird’s spoiled daughter.
Once I have delivered her safely to Castle MacTavish, I promise ye will never hear the name ‘Callum Kerr’ ever again. ”
Meria opened her mouth to say that she was not spoiled, but Laird Calvin replied first.
“Och, it’s as ye say? The season is nae going to get any warmer the longer we sit about here chattering.
There's already ice in the air, I can feel it in me bones. Just be sure to travel back along the main roads and stay at all the best inns. Meria has never slept outdoors, ye ken. It’s no’ how I would have liked it, but it will have to do.
” Then Laird Calvin turned to look at his eldest daughter.
“Go fetch yer goods, Meria, and tie the small chest to yer saddle. Tell Laird MacTavish when ye arrive there that I have nay choice but to send yer chattels on in the spring. It’s too cold for milch cows to travel. ”
Meria seethed. “Och, so it’s fine for me to freeze during the trip, but no’ the cows?”
The escort grabbed her by the elbow so fast she did not even have time to pull away from him. He began hustling her out of the hall, saying, “Come, lass. Ye heard yer faither’s orders. Make haste.”
Meria had never been touched by a man other than her father before. The power in this man’s hand was a hundred times stronger than Laird Calvin’s!
“Take yer hands off me, ye…ye errand boy!” She wrenched her arm out of his grasp and stood in front of him. “I mislike yer tone, Mister Kerr, and let me remind ye that I am a young lady with refined tastes, and I only travel with the likes of ye under extreme duress!”
All this made the tall red-haired man do was give a loud bark of laughter and stride off to the stables, saying, “Say yer farewells to yer clan, lady. It may be a while before ye see them again.” True words, but they did not make Meria any less angry for all that.
It was all happening so quickly. One moment she was hugging Catherine and promising her she would name her firstborn daughter by that name, and the next moment she was being hoisted into the saddle by her tall escort.
As they rode out of the gateway together, the Kerr man said to her, “If ye give a wee keek to the left, lady, ye’ll see yer faither giving ye a wave from the window.”
Meria gave a little sullen growl, trying hard not to pout, saying in a soft voice. “I hope he falls out the window and breaks his head on the casement…”
Her escort had sharp hearing. “Och, shame on ye, lady. The laird is only doin’ what he thinks best.”
That goaded Meria into replying, “Ye don’ ken me faither, soldier, so ye can be quiet. He’s the most selfish, hard-hearted, cold-minded man I have ever known!”
But all this made him say was, “How many men d’ye ken?”
Seeing as Meria only knew the tradesfolk who visited the estate to gather the harvest bales, she chose to remain silent, hoping the man would think she believed him to be unworthy of an answer. He did not do himself any favors when he replied anyway.
“Och, so yer faither has kept ye under close observation. Well, that’s as it should be. Women—and ladies in particular—are worth naught on the marriage market if they have been with a man.”
She did not mince her words. “I am sure ye speak from experience then, do ye?”
That got his attention. He reined in his horse, a great gray gelding with a long white mane and tail, so that he could ride alongside her for a while. “What makes ye say that?” he wanted to know. “I was only stating the obvious truth. Would ye find yerself an acceptable bride if it were not so?”
Meria knew she had overstepped the boundaries of propriety by even mentioning the fact she thought the man might keep low company, and she was gracious enough to admit it.
“I-I… Forgive me, Mister Kerr. I ken nothing about ye. I only guessed that to be the truth because most soldiers are no’ married. They must always be on the move and face the possibility of death in battle all the time…so, I thought ye must use the convenience of…”
He frowned. “The convenience of tavern wenches? Nay, lady, I dinnae!”
She trembled a little bit. “How now, please accept me apologies again. Where do yer wife an’ bairns live?”
He was the perfect specimen of masculinity. Of course some pretty maid or shopkeeper’s daughter would have accepted his offer of marriage!
Meria waited for his reply, but all he did was spur his horse into a fast gallop after saying in a gruff voice, “Nor am I married, lady!”
Meria did not immediately spur her mare to follow.
So much had happened that morning it felt as if her head was spinning.
It suddenly dawned on her that this man was not only the first male she had been left alone with but also the first man outside of the Calvin clan that she had ever met.
If that was not enough to make her sway in the saddle a little bit, she did not know what was.
With her narrow worldview, Meria had no idea if every man looked like Mister Kerr.
She was an honest girl and had to admit to herself that she would be pleased to find that every Highlander she met from now on had wild dark red hair, green eyes that looked about with a brooding air, and muscles that bulged out everywhere a woman’s eyes might care to glance.
If Laird MacTavish looked the same as his envoy, Meria was sure her future would be as happy as she wanted it to be.
But surely it could not be? There was an indefinable foreignness about Mister Kerr, something that no mere Highland soldier could lay claim to.
A dark aura, a restless presence, hung about her escort.
He was the most original man she had ever met in the way he spoke, the way he looked, and how he acted.
Meria gave herself a small shake, trying to laugh off the feeling she had that Mister Kerr was not who he pretended to be. He had presented her father with the letter of introduction from Laird MacTavish for goodness’ sake, so he must be everything he claimed to be!
Kicking her mare to urge her into a gallop, Meria followed the tracks the man’s horse had left in the early morning dew-laden grass…