Captured by a Laird (33 page)

“We must find a way around this,” she said. “We’ll offer the castle for both girls.”

“Patrick won’t accept that.”

“Then I’ll beg my brothers for their help.”

He raised an eyebrow at her. They both knew how likely that was to meet with success.

“Things are different now,” she said, clinging to his arm. “They will have heard that when ye confronted D’Orsey hundreds of Scots crossed to your side. They’ll want ye on their side for their fight with the Hamiltons.”

“I’ll send an escort to ride with ye to your brothers.”

Even if her brothers did send help, which he doubted, they would never arrive in time. The ride to Edinburgh, however, would keep Alison safely away from the exchange. If she were there, he feared Patrick would be tempted to add her to his list of demands.

“I’ll not be parted from ye so soon,” Alison said. “I’ll send a message to my sister, Sybil. If anyone can browbeat my brothers into coming, she will.”

David was relieved when she agreed to wait at Hume Castle for their arrival.

As soon as she finished writing her letter and sealed it, he sent for one of his men to carry it the Douglases.

“Lady Sybil must receive it tonight,” Alison told the man. “Tell the servants to wake her if need be.”

After the messenger left, David bolted the door and took Alison into his arms.

“Ach, I missed ye so much,” he said.

“Why did ye leave me?” she asked in a small voice.

“I thought that’s what ye wanted,” he said. “I’m a rough man who doesn’t deserve ye.”

“You’re a good man,” she said. “What I wanted was your trust and your heart.”

“I should have trusted ye,” he said, “but you’ve had my heart from the start.”

He felt like a beast to want her so desperately when they were both filled with such fear for Beatrix and Margaret. Yet he could not help his body’s reaction with her breath on his neck, her scent filling his nose, and her soft curves pressed against him.

“I’ve been a fool to waste the time we could have had together,” he said as he ran his fingers through the thick strands of her midnight hair.

“I’m glad we have tonight,” she said, leaning back to look at him. “Make love to me, David. I need ye.”

“We’ll make the most of this night,” he said. “It may be a while before we have another.”

He knew it would be their last.

“I’m sorry I never told ye how verra much I love you,” he said. If by some miracle he survived this, he would tell her every day.

***

Alison cursed the birdsong and the gray light coming through the window, sure signs of dawn—and David’s imminent departure. From David’s breathing, she knew he was awake too.

“Patrick would take me in your place,” she said, running her fingers over his chest.

“Ach, ye can’t think I could live myself if I let ye do that.” David cupped the back of her neck with his hand and traced the line of her jaw with his thumb.

“But he wouldn’t kill me,” she said. “He’s always wanted me.”

“Nay!” David took a deep breath, then spoke more calmly. “Besides, Patrick wouldn’t agree to take ye in my place.”

“Why not?”

“Because he expects he’ll get ye in the end anyway,” he said. “With the castle in his possession, your daughters disinherited, and me out of the way, he’ll have every reason to believe your brothers will agree to a marriage.”

“But I’d never do it.” She would die first.

“I can face whatever comes so long as I know you’re safe from him,” he said, his eyes fierce on hers. “You’re strong enough to stand up to your brothers. Stay with my men, and they’ll protect you.”

“Don’t worry about me,” she said, and brushed a long, sun-bleached strand of hair behind his ear. “I’ll be waiting for ye.”

“The time grows late,” he said. “I must get dressed and go.”

She crawled out of bed and fetched his shirt for him.

“While ye were sleeping, I used the tip of your dagger to pry the black stone from my pendant,” she said as she helped him put it on, “and I sewed it into the hem of your shirt.”

She took his hand and showed him where the bump in the hem was. The stone was flat and only an inch in diameter, so she did not think it would be noticed.

“I know they’ll take your weapons.” She swallowed. “But I couldn’t let ye go in there with no protection.”

David smiled at that.

“I know ye don’t believe the stone holds magic, but it’s brought me the best of luck since I found it again.” She paused, fighting tears. “It brought me you.”

“I’ll bear this burden lightly, knowing I have something of yours with me,” he said, and patted the hem of his shirt where the stone lay. “Now, lass, we must say goodbye.”

“This is not goodbye,” she said.

He brushed her cheek with his fingers, and the sad resignation on his face frightened her more than anything.

“From something Patrick told me,” she said, “I don’t believe he’ll kill ye right away.”

David did not speak, but she could see in his eyes that he believed the same.

“That gives us time,” she said, gripping the front of his shirt. “Promise me you’ll hold out until we can get ye released.”

“Dying easy isn’t in my nature, lass,” he said with a bittersweet smile.

“Trust me, my love,” she said, and gave him one last kiss. “This is not the end.”

If her brothers did not come soon, she had another plan.

David would not like it.

CHAPTER 45

As David rode into Blackadder Castle as the laird and a free man for the last time, the memory of entering Holyrood Palace with his father and uncle on that fateful day made him break in a cold sweat. It was not that he feared death, but that he wanted to die with a sword in his hand, not chained and beaten.

This was not the death he would choose, but he would give his life a hundred times over to save Beatrix and Margaret—and to spare Alison the pain of losing them.

His time with her had been far too short. He wanted to have half a dozen children with her and to grow old together. Still, he counted himself a lucky man. He had been truly loved for a time by a dark-haired angel.

He dismounted and patted his father’s horse. One of his brothers could have the stallion now.

In short order, he called his men into the hall and told them about Patrick’s message and the exchange that would take place. The hall filled with raised voices as the men made their objections known. David raised his hand to silence the uproar.

“’Tis been an honor to lead you,” he said when they quieted. “But I’ve made my decision, and you’ll all follow it.”

He took Brian and Robbie aside. Time was growing short.

“Brian, I’m counting on ye to take Alison’s daughters to safety at Hume Castle after the exchange,” he said. “Ride fast. The Blackadders may try to follow.”

“I’ll get them and your brothers to Hume Castle,” Brian said. “But can we not rescue the lassies some other way?”

David remembered Patrick’s threat and shook his head.
Alas, the health of children can be so precarious.
He turned to Robbie.

“I may not return from this,” he said, putting hand on Robbie’s shoulder. “You’re young to take up this burden of leading the clan.”

“Lead the clan?”

“Brian will make the decisions and train ye for the next two years,” David said. “Listen well to him and Alison. With their guidance, you’ll be a wiser laird than I.”

“No one could match you,” Robbie said, blinking back tears. “Ye must come back to us.”

“I’ll certainly try,” he said, and put his arm around his brother’s shoulders.

“Don’t do this,” Robbie said.

“Patrick Blackadder wants my blood,” David said. “I can see no other way to persuade him to release Beatrix and Margaret.”

“Then put him off until we can think of one.”

“If we delay, he’ll murder them.” David thought of what happened to Alison’s aunts. With the right poison, it would be impossible to prove the wee lasses did not simply fall ill.

He called Will to him next. Ach, this was hard. He felt he already knew the man Robbie would become, but Will was still a half-written page. Though David could not divine precisely how this brother would turn out, Will was special and was sure to become a man worth knowing.

“I want ye to keep my sword for me,” he said, then he picked his brother up and gave him a bear hug like he used to when Will was a wee bairn. “Look after your mother.”

“They’re coming!” someone shouted.

David went up on the wall to watch his enemy’s arrival. Relief swept over him when he saw the small figures of Beatrix and Margaret riding with two of the Blackadder men. Until this moment, he had not been certain they were still alive.

“David!” The girls shouted and waved when they saw him.

They looked bedraggled but unharmed.
Praise God
. When the Blackadders halted, the girls were taken off the horses and held by a familiar, black-haired warrior.

“Ye cannot act on it now,” David said in Brian’s ear, “but that is Walter.”

Brian stared at Walter, as if memorizing his image. “I will kill him one day verra soon.”

“Good,” David said.

“What is your decision, Wedderburn?” Patrick shouted from below.

“I accept your terms,” David called back. “All of them.”

“Empty the castle and hand yourself over,” Patrick shouted, “and I’ll release the two lasses.”

Neither side trusted the other, and David left it to Brian to argue the timing. In the end, it was agreed that the Humes would empty the castle first but that the gates would remain open until one girl was handed over.

David gave the order, and the Humes filed out. To ensure the agreement was followed, the Blackadder archers had arrows aimed at the girls’ hearts, while the Humes had arrows aimed at Patrick.

David was the last Hume to leave. The loss of this castle, which had been so important to him once, meant nothing compared to losing his brothers, his stepdaughters, and most of all, his wife.

Patrick and all but thirty of the Blackadders trooped into the castle. After conducting a search to make sure David had not left men hidden inside, Patrick appeared on the wall.

“Let one of them go,” Patrick called down.

Walter released Margaret. She ran across the thirty yards that separated the Humes and the Blackadders who remained outside the gate, straight into David’s arms.

He held her for a moment, squeezing his eyes shut, then handed her to Robbie. “Keep her hidden behind the men,” he said.

“Now for the moment of truth,” Patrick said in a loud voice. “Will the Beast give himself up for a useless lassie?”

Beatrix, who was still held by Walter, looked at David and shook her head. She was as brave as her mother.

“I’ve pledged to deliver your laird to the Council,” Patrick shouted to the Hume men. “But one wrong move, and we’ll kill both the lass and your laird.”

“Brian,” David whispered, “protect my family.”

“With my last breath,” Brian said. “I wish there was another way to do this.”

“A man has to die sometime.”

And if he must, dying to save those he loved was the best of reasons.

David took a deep breath. Then he did what he had vowed he would never do again.

Just as he had done when he entered Holyrood Palace with his father and uncle on the day they died, he ignored the prickle at the back of his neck and every instinct that told him to fight, and he disarmed himself.

He unstrapped his sword and handed it to Will. Then he removed the dirks from his belt and boot, and the hidden one strapped to his thigh. Finally, he pulled the ax from the back of his belt and dropped it on the ground.

Danger hung in the air and death awaited as he walked with steady steps toward his enemy. Two-thirds of the way across the divide, he halted. He stood alone and weaponless.

“Let the other lass go!” Brian’s voice rang out.

For an instant, David considered whether it was possible to fight, rather than give himself up. When Beatrix ran to him, could he protect her with his body until his men reached him? Nay, the risk of her being hurt was too great to attempt it.

Apparently, the Blackadders had considered this same possibility. Instead of releasing Beatrix as he had Margaret, Walter walked her across the divide to the Hume warriors with the point of his blade at her back.

David was surrounded by a dozen Blackadder warriors, who tied his hands behind his back and shoved him toward the gate. Up on the wall, the Blackadder archers still had arrows aimed at his heart. He looked over his shoulder and saw Beatrix pulled into the protection of the Hume warriors.

All of his family was safe. No matter what happened now, he had no regrets.

CHAPTER 46

Alison’s joy in embracing her daughters was bittersweet.

“Praise God I have ye back.” She broke down weeping as she held them.

“They’ve taken David,” Beatrix wailed.

“I know, I know,” Alison said, patting their backs. After they quieted, she asked, “How did the Blackadders manage to take ye from the castle without any of us knowing?”

“They didn’t take us from the castle,” Beatrix said.

“What?” Alison turned to Brian, who had brought the girls and was standing nearby with Robbie and Will.

“They’ve quite a tale to tell ye, Lady Alison,” Brian said and nodded at Beatrix. “Out with it, lass.”

“We were almost to the village when they caught us,” Beatrix said. “It was those two hateful maid servants. Jasper got away, but we didn’t.”

“Are ye telling me ye left the castle on your own?” Alison was beside herself. The girls had brought all this on them.

“We wanted to find David and tell him we needed him to come home,” Margaret said, her bottom lip trembling.

“Quick, tell her how ye left,” Robbie said, poking Beatrix’s arm.

“We found the secret tunnel out of the castle,” Beatrix said.

Alison’s heart almost stopped in her chest. Could this be the miracle she had prayed for? If there was a tunnel, their warriors could surprise the Blackadders and free David.

“What secret tunnel?” she asked.

“Will told us that the day the Humes took the castle David was afraid we’d escape through the castle’s secret tunnel,” she said. “We’ve been looking for it ever since.”