Chapter 15
Fifteen
As they dressed, Maggie could feel Braden’s tenseness, it seeped into her very bones and made her ache. She didn’t want to leave it at this.
“Braden,” she said, drawing his attention, “I want you to know that I have no regrets.”
His face was even more grim than before. And she could read the “I do” in his eyes.
Her heart heavy, she turned away from him.
So, that was it. He truly had no feelings for her, and now he wished he could forget her.
At that moment, Maggie wished she had stayed at the camp. She should...
“Maggie…” Braden pulled her into his arms. “I’m not upset at you. I’m upset at myself. I should never have taken you. It was wrong of me.”
He tilted her chin to where he could search her eyes. “Why did you come to me?”
“Because I wanted you.” She reached up and touched his whiskered cheek. “I’m not asking anything from you, Braden. I don’t expect you to treat me any differently than you did before. I was curious, and now I know.”
Braden clenched his teeth at her words. The problem was now he knew, too. Already, his body stirred from her casual touch, from the scent of her freshly washed body.
He still wanted her.
In fact, he could take her again this instant.
And it scared him. Scared him more than anything else ever had. He would sooner walk naked into battle against a full English garrison than face her like this.
If only he knew he could trust her.
You could try.
How easy that sounded. But the consequences were too dire.
No woman was worth his life. It was the conviction he lived by, and it was the one truth he would never forsake.
Maggie saw the shadow fall over his eyes. He’d made a decision regarding her, she could feel it. And judging by the stiffness of his body, it didn’t bode well for her or her heart.
You expected as much.
Indeed, she had. Now it was time for her to preserve her dignity. Rising up on the tip of her toes, she placed a tender kiss on his whiskered cheek.
“Thank you,” she whispered in his ear, then she stepped out of his arms and walked back to the camp.
Braden closed his eyes as pain washed over him. He understood what she meant and it tore through him that he wasn’t the man she deserved.
He stooped, picked up the plaid from the ground and folded it. Memories assailed him. Memories of her lying naked above him as she gave herself fully to their union.
She was magnificent.
And he was an ass. A giant, arrogant one who should be taken out and beaten by each of her brothers.
Sighing, he tried to put the matter out of his mind as he headed back to camp.
That night passed slowly to Maggie who couldn’t really sleep. All night long, she tossed and turned as she tried her best to prepare her words for the MacDouglas.
Worse, dreams of Braden tormented and seduced her. But of all the dreams she had, the most terrifying was the one of the MacDouglas plunging his sword through Braden as she watched, helpless to stop it.
She woke in the morning with a prayer lodged in her throat and her hands trembling uncontrollably.
“Are you all right?” Braden and Sin asked as she sat straight up.
Her heart pounding, she could do nothing more than nod. But it was a lie and she knew it. She wasn’t all right. She was terrified beyond her capacity.
Everything rested on her shoulders. If she failed, all three of them would pay with their lives.
All throughout the morning, her panic stayed close to her heart.
After breaking the fast, they rode through the morning and well into the afternoon, watching for anyone who might see them on horseback and offer a challenge. But their luck held and they passed no one at all.
In truth, it was eerie that they saw no one in the lush, green fields or along the road as they crossed MacDouglas lands and headed for the castle. In some ways it appeared as if the world had ended and they were the only survivors.
When they came within an easy walk of their destination, they left the horses to graze in a small meadow.
“Do you think the horses will be here when we return?” Maggie asked Braden while he turned the last horse free.
“We’ll see.” Braden and Sin hid the saddles and bridles under a small bush.
Maggie nodded, noting that he didn’t mention the small fact of what would become of them all if she didn’t succeed.
It has to work, she assured herself as they gathered their packs and headed up the steep hill where the castle, and their fates, rested.
She couldn’t fail. Not while Braden’s life depended on her.
It was a couple of hours before dusk, when they finally reached the old stone walls surrounding the MacDouglas stronghold.
Since William Rufus had ruled England, these walls had protected all the MacDouglases from their enemies. No one had ever breeched the fortress, laid a successful siege to the castle, or held a MacDouglas laird hostage.
No one that was until Maggie had forged an alliance with the lady of the castle, and Ceana MacDouglas and her women had driven the men out.
In spite of herself, Maggie felt a little bit of pride at her accomplishment as she noted the large camp of men laying siege to the walls where women stood along the parapets taunting them. It was truly a miraculous sight. One she hoped to someday share with her grandchildren.
As the three of them drew near the camp, Maggie saw the men had left their tents and were grouped around a single individual.
From the looks of the camp, it appeared Ceana MacDouglas had wasted little time after Maggie’s departure to put her husband and his men out.
And by the dour looks on the men’s faces, she could tell they didn’t share Maggie’s humor at their predicament.
Braden pulled her to a stop as he caught sight of the MacDouglas.
Barely a score-and-ten years of age, Robby MacDouglas was almost as handsome as the MacAllisters, and he was a feared laird in the prime fighting years of his life. Wide of shoulder and every bit as tall as Braden, the man could terrify a demon.
His reddish blond hair complimented his bright blue eyes. And by his carriage, it was obvious that he was a man who had been born to command others. He held his spine straight, his jaw stern.
Maggie felt her legs go weak in fear. Her moment at hand, she found herself seriously lacking in courage.
What an arrogant braggart, I am, she thought ruefully as she watched the MacDouglas snarl at the men around him.
How on earth would she ever dare confront such a large, terrifying man?
But she must.
Run, her mind railed. Run before it’s too late.
Still, she couldn’t. She’d never in her life been a coward and this was not the time to become one.
Ha! Her mind argued. This is the perfect time to learn cowardice!
Maggie refused to listen. Taking a deep breath for courage, she stepped forward, then froze as she heard Robby MacDouglas’s words to the crowd.
“I’ll give a king’s ransom in gold to the man who brings me Maggie ingen Blar’s head on a pike!
I swear I’d rather break bread with the King of England than that horse-faced, toad-eating lickspittle! ”
Maggie’s heart pounded, and for a minute she feared she might run after all.
Sin bent down to whisper in her ear. “What are you waiting for? Go on and tell him how wrong he is not to end this.”
Aghast, Maggie gaped at him. At the moment, she didn’t find him funny. Not in the least.
Braden grimaced at his brother and pulled her aside. But before he could speak, the entire camp grew quiet as a horse came running from the castle walls and into the circle of tents.
The men broke apart enough to where Maggie saw a rider slumped over the back of a white horse.
And he was covered in...
Or rather he was dripping...?
Frowning, Maggie stepped forward, not quite sure if she could trust her own eyes and what she thought she saw.
The horse stopped before the MacDouglas and the rider looked down at his leader as if he were sick to his stomach.
As the rider stood up in the stirrups, there was a strange sucking noise and as he threw his leg over and dismounted, an odd, iridescent trail marked his descent. Then, he slopped his way toward the MacDouglas as flies and other insects buzzed around his head.
“They honied me,” the rider said to the group, shaking his arms and sending trails of honey in all directions. Several men cursed as the honey landed on them.
His face grim, the rider snarled, “Them wenches done gone and honied me from head to toe. Said they’d be throwing cabbages at the next one of us what comes near the gate.”
Maggie covered her mouth with her hand to stifle her laughter.
Robby MacDouglas cursed. “Did you tell her you were there for a truce?”
“Aye, my lord. The lairdess said there would be no truce until she saw you and Lochlan MacAllister, side by side, at the gate.”
The curse Robby MacDouglas let out shamed his former one.
“My lord,” Braden said all of a sudden.
Maggie went cold as she gaped at him. What was he thinking?
Her heart pounding even more fiercely than before, she watched in stunned silence as Braden crossed the short distance between them and stopped directly in front of his family’s mortal enemy.
How on earth could he appear so calm and unshaken while it was all she could do not to faint?
Robby MacDouglas turned a hostile eye to Braden. “I don’t know you.”
The silence was deafening.
Braden nodded at Robby MacDouglas—the man who had sworn to see him and his brothers in their graves.
Braden couldn’t believe he was doing this. There must be a special corner of hell for a fool such as he. He only prayed it would still be a few more years before he learned whether or not that was true.
In the meantime, Braden had to find some way to end this stand-off before the three of them were slaughtered by the men or cabbaged by the women.
“Nay,” Braden said in a good natured tone, hoping to allay the laird’s fear and mistrust. “You don’t. I’m just a traveling bard, but I’m thinking I might be able to help you with this matter.”
Braden resisted the urge to snort at himself.