MacLean's Passion: A Highland Pride Novel (12 page)

“Evan!” Innis said, outraged.

Evan sliced his hand in the air. “I’ll no’ talk about this anymore. Mount up. Maggie, ye can walk or ye can ride with MacLean. I do no’ much care what ye do.”

Evan helped a tight-lipped Innis up on his horse while Colin waited for Maggie to mount his. She just stood there and watched Evan and Innis with a stony expression that told him nothing of what she was thinking. He’d been dressed down enough by his father and brothers to guess at her thoughts, though.

Innis looked back once at Maggie with sorrowful eyes. Whatever had happened at the shores of Loch Rumsfeld had brought the two women closer. It wasn’t until Evan was out of sight that Maggie marched over to Colin’s horse and mounted smoothly, then waited for him.

He hopped up in front of her and they started off, but he made sure to keep at a distance from Evan and Innis, thinking that Maggie wanted nothing to do with her brother at the moment.

It felt familiar, riding this way. Maggie was light enough that it didn’t bother the horse, and she fell into the habit of watching their back.

He felt the slight tremors coursing through her. Against his will and completely inappropriately, Colin’s mind flashed back to the dream he’d had before Evan had barged into his room. Quickly, he pushed the image away. Now was not the time.

“They were
jessies
,” Maggie said. “They had no idea how to fight.” She sounded disgusted with the English soldiers, and Colin grinned. They fell into an easy silence after that, but Colin couldn’t get Evan’s tirade out of his mind.

“Maggie, what yer brother said—”

“I do no’ want to talk about it.”

Colin hated the way Evan treated Maggie, and he hated even more Evan’s plans for her. He badly wanted to tell her that he would leave with her tonight if that was what she wanted, but what would that prove? He couldn’t take her to his home, and when he was able to return, he had no idea what he was returning to. He had nothing to offer her. So he kept his mouth closed, and they rode to the Sinclair keep in silence.

But once they got there, they were faced with yet another unwelcome surprise.

Evan was standing in the middle of the courtyard, talking to a man Colin had never seen before. Colin immediately was on guard, mainly because the atmosphere was tense and subdued.

Innis stood behind Evan, her hands folded demurely in front of her, her head bowed as if she were trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, which was a difficult feat, since she was wearing breeches and a wet shirt and no shoes.

Colin rode up to the strange scene and slid off his horse to stand a little behind Evan and guard his back.

Maggie dismounted and stood next to Innis, but it was her expression that gave Colin pause. Her face had lost all color and her hands were trembling. When she looked at Colin, her eyes were bleak.

Evan finally turned to Colin. “MacLean, meet Hugh Fraser, chief of the clan Fraser.”

Colin nodded to Fraser, who responded with his own terse nod.

“I’ve heard of yer clan,” Fraser said. He didn’t elaborate, but from the twist of his lips, Colin could guess that what he’d heard wasn’t good. Fraser was a short man. Short and squat but powerful, with little to no fat on him. He put Colin in mind of the wild boars that roamed the Highlands. Boars could be mean, nasty creatures.

Colin’s first instinct was to get as far from Fraser as he could. If an English sympathizer, then he might be aware that the English were looking for Colin. Besides, Colin had no interest in being around Scots who betrayed their country and their heritage.

But he was stupid enough to want to stay and protect Maggie from the man.

“Ye caught us off guard,” Evan said. “We were no’ expecting ye for a few days.”

“My plans changed and I found myself in the area sooner than anticipated. I trust Lady Margaret is in residence?”

“Of course,” Evan said after a slight pause.

Behind him, Colin felt Maggie shift and willed her to stay silent.

“I’d be happy to finally make my betrothed’s acquaintance. If all goes well, mayhap we can speed up our original plans and I can wed her on this visit. It will save me from traveling this way again.”

What a fool Fraser was to think that he could wed because the timing was convenient for him. Maggie wasn’t a piece of cattle to purchase at a moment’s notice. Colin understood enough about women to know they needed to plan the wedding ceremony and to have new clothing made. They needed to be wooed.

But for Evan and Fraser, this was no more than a cattle purchase. Fraser would offer a degree of protection for Evan and clan Sinclair, and Fraser would…What would Fraser gain from this union?

Maggie stepped around Colin and he automatically moved to drag her back behind him, but she shook his hand off her arm. “I am Lady Margaret,” she said.

Evan stood rigid, his expression unreadable. Innis made a small sound of distress, and Colin bit back a groan.

Fraser’s dark eyes looked Maggie up and down, starting at her worn boots, the breeches that had been mended at the knees several times, her shirt with wet patches one could almost see through, and her wild hair, still damp from her swim and sticking up in all directions. She even had a red mark on her chin where the English soldier had made contact. She stood before Fraser with her chin raised, her shoulders back, and no apology in her expression.

Fraser turned to Evan. “What’s the meaning of this?” he asked in such a civil tone that Colin had to hold back a shudder. Instinct told him that Hugh Fraser was not a nice man.

“I apologize for my sister’s appearance,” Evan said, shooting Maggie an angry look. “As I said, we were not expecting ye for another few days.”

Fraser eyed Maggie again, taking his time as if she truly were cattle and he was trying to decide if she was worthy of his purchase. His perusal took so long that even Colin began to feel uncomfortable.

“My apologies, my lady,” Fraser said. “For arriving unannounced and finding you unready to greet me properly.”

Maggie’s hands clenched at her sides. “Apology accepted, my lord. Ye should have sent word with the new date of yer arrival. Maybe then I would have been prepared for ye.” She lifted her head a fraction more. “Now if ye’ll excuse me”—she looked around at Evan, Innis, and Colin—“I will retire and put on some dry clothes.”

She walked away with all the dignity of royalty, and in that moment Colin admired her more than anyone else he knew.

“I’ll have Innis see t’yer rooms,” Evan said to Fraser.

With her head still bowed, Innis slid away and hurried up the steps into the dark recesses of the castle. There was no telling what Fraser was thinking after seeing Evan’s wife and sister dressed as they were. Colin felt for Sinclair, who appeared to be embarrassed by his kinswomen; but at the same time, Colin wanted to laugh at the fantastical scene. He wanted to applaud Maggie for not cowing to the man, and he wanted to slap Evan on the back and wish him luck with his soon-to-be brother-in-law. And he would have if he hadn’t felt deep apprehension over the entire affair. An affair he had no business getting in the middle of, he kept having to remind himself, and yet he felt a need to protect Maggie. Maybe because she’d protected him when he was sick. Maybe because he couldn’t stop thinking of the kisses they’d shared. Maybe because he was an
ijit
and should mind his own business.

“I’m going back to bed,” Colin muttered, and walked off before he ended up doing something really stupid, like throwing Maggie onto the back of his horse and riding away with her.

“I’ll no’ do it.” Maggie crossed her arms and glared at Innis, who was wringing her hands and looking like she was going to cry at any moment.

“Please, Maggie, I beg of ye. Ye must put the gown on.”

Maggie had been shocked to see Fraser in the courtyard. She’d always felt a little sick at the mention of his name, but to see him made her stomach roil in a most unpleasant way. It wasn’t that he was unpleasant to look at. It was the way he looked at her, like a piece of tasty meat that he would consume whole. She got a strange feeling being around him, and it wasn’t the heart-melting, bone-weakening feeling she had around MacLean. This was altogether different and unwelcome.

She didn’t like Hugh Fraser at all.

She couldn’t marry him. She just couldn’t, and Evan had to see that as well. Fraser’s tone was cutting and hurtful, not to mention rude. He’d made it sound like her fault that she wasn’t prepared to meet him when, by his own admission, he’d arrived days ahead of time.

“I’ll no’ wear the gown,” she said. “No’ this time. No’ ever. If a man does no’ like me as I am, then I don’t want him.”

“He came to see ye,” Innis pleaded. She’d already changed back into her gown. Her hair was pinned up and she looked the proper lady of the house, something Maggie would never be able to accomplish.

“He came because his plans changed and he wanted to get the wedding ceremony over.” To her mortification, her throat grew thick with unshed tears. How horrible of him to even say such a thing! Evan entered without knocking, and Maggie threw him a furious look. “Ye can at least knock. I could have been dressing.”

“I heard ye yelling from down the hall and I knew ye were no’ dressing. Wear the damn gown, Maggie.”

“Nae.” She lifted her chin and swallowed the lump in her throat. Fraser was not worth crying over.

Evan snatched the gown off her bed and thrust it at her. “Just put the gown on,” he growled.

“Nae.”

“Margaret Rose Sinclair, I swear by all that’s holy…” He sighed and lowered the gown. “Maggie. This has got to end. Ye canno’ go about in breeches for the rest of yer life.”

“It’s always been fine before. Why has it changed now?”

He balled up the gown in his hand and looked down at it as if it held all the answers. “Ye’re a woman now, and it’s past time ye act like one.”

“Is that all there is to it?”

Evan looked up at her quickly, then away. “I made some wrong decisions when it came to raising ye. I should have forced ye to be a lass and not a lad. Ye have to know that it’s unnatural…” He looked at her with pleading eyes.

“I’m unnatural?”

Innis stepped forward. “That’s no’ what he meant, Maggie. Evan did the best he could. He was just a boy himself when yer parents died, and ye were so small, just a wee one. But it’s time for ye to be the woman ye can be. Ye can still be strong, a gown will no’ change that.”

“I do no’ like him,” she said.

“In time ye’ll grow to like him,” Evan said.

She would have laughed at that absurd comment if she weren’t so frightened. Surely her brother wasn’t going to make her wed that awful man. “Ye saw how he looked at me.”

Evan’s gaze was apologetic and bleak. “Because he was no’ expecting ye to be rumpled and wearing rags.”

“I was no’ wearing rags.”

“Must ye argue about everything?”

“Only about what’s important, and this is my life ye’re asking me to compromise for yer own peace of mind.”

“Ye think I do this for my peace of mind?”

“Why else would ye make me do this?”

He hesitated and seemed about to say something, then thought better about it. “I truly do think ye’ll grow to like him someday.”

She knew she wouldn’t. Not after the way he’d looked at her and spoken to her. He had not one bit of humor in him. How could she marry a man who never saw humor? “And what if I do no’? I stay married to him for the rest of my miserable life?”

His jaw clenched and he shoved the gown at her, forcing her to take it. “Put the gown on. I expect ye at dinner wearing that gown and acting like a lady.” He turned on his heel and stomped out.

“Please, Maggie,” Innis said. “Please do as yer brother says. It’s important to him that it appears he is in charge of the household. Ye’ll make him look bad if ye continue to act this way in front of Fraser.”

Maggie felt as if Innis had thrust a dagger in her side. “I thought ye were my friend, Innis.”

“I am. But I’m also yer brother’s wife. His reputation is important to him and this clan. Ye need to know when to do something that’s right for others even if no’ necessarily right for ye.” Innis walked out and closed the door quietly behind her, leaving Maggie stunned and hurt and angry.

Innis and Evan were telling her to act right, to marry Fraser, to be someone she was not in order to preserve Evan’s reputation. Neither of them cared a whit about her and her feelings. If it were one night, she would consider it, but this was her future they were talking about. Her entire life.

She looked at the gown, a dark red, and wondered how much of her soul Evan and Innis were expecting her to sacrifice for them.

Colin was eating with the rest of Sinclair’s men; there was an air of expectancy surrounding the great hall. Evan and Innis were dressed in their best and sitting on the dais. Fraser had arrived a few minutes earlier and taken his place next to Sinclair.

Word had spread that Fraser was not pleased with his betrothed. Colin heard everything from “As well he shouldn’t be” to “How dare he besmirch our Lady Margaret.”

Colin fell into the “How dare he besmirch our Lady Margaret” category. Obviously, the bastard had no idea of the gem he held in his hand. At the same time, Colin had to admit that he was a bit pleased Fraser was such an ass. He didn’t deserve Maggie, and Maggie obviously didn’t want anything to do with Fraser, so if Fraser didn’t like what he saw, then in Colin’s opinion the man could just ride on out of the Sinclair holding and save everyone the trouble.

However, he had a sinking feeling that Fraser wasn’t inclined to ride on out, and that had Colin scowling as he chewed his food.

As time dragged on, the buzzing conversation grew more animated. Quiet bets were made that Maggie wouldn’t come down to dinner. Colin knew that would be the ultimate insult to her brother, and he wondered if she was brave or foolish enough to defy him so openly. As he well knew, she was both brave and foolish so he had no idea which way to bet.

And then she was there, standing at the foot of the stairs, looking defiant and scared at the same time. Colin paused with his spoon halfway to his mouth and the conversations around him stopped. He put his spoon down and swallowed his last bite of food, although it got stuck halfway down.

It was as he’d predicted so long ago in the darkness of the cave.

Dressed as a woman, she was magnificent.

The russet-colored gown was the perfect complement to her porcelain skin and dark hair and eyes. She’d tucked her hair behind her ears, and it curled becomingly to her jaw. Those sculpted cheekbones stood out, high in color, and it wasn’t applied for effect. She was blushing becomingly, although Colin would bet money it was from anger.

Her gaze found his, and for a long moment there was no one else in the room but her. Everything dimmed until all he saw was the fear and uncertainty in her expression, the flash of appeal for his help, before it was squelched and she lowered her gaze.

Colin was nailed to his seat, desperately wanting to whisk her out of there but knowing it would be a foolish move because he had nothing to offer her.

He looked down and pushed his trencher away.

Maggie took her seat on the other side of Innis and smiled tremulously at Fraser. Fraser did not even bother to smile back but turned his attention to the person on his other side. Colin pressed his clenched hands together in his lap and checked his urge to walk across the hall, drag Maggie out of her seat, and punch Fraser. If she had smiled at Colin like that, he would have returned the favor and then engaged her in conversation, making sure no one else had a chance to converse with her.

He sat through the rest of the interminable dinner, unable to stop watching the scene at the main table. Maggie appeared miserable. Fraser ignored her. Innis looked uneasy and Evan seemed to be fuming as he cast glares at his sister. Apparently, Evan was going to blame Maggie for Fraser’s lack of attention.

Before the servants could clear his plate, Colin was moving through the room toward the exit. He couldn’t watch any more of the foolishness. It was so apparent that this marriage should not take place, but no one except Maggie seemed to realize it. Other than stealing her away himself, he didn’t know what to do.

As he was leaving the hall, he spied Fraser and a second-in-command striding in his direction. For a reason he couldn’t name, Colin slid into an alcove. When the men passed, Colin followed at a discreet pace. He found them around a corner and melted into the shadows to listen.

“She’s deliberately making a fool of me,” Fraser said in a low, furious voice. “And I will no’ have it.”

The second-in-command mumbled something that Colin couldn’t hear.

“Sinclair canno’ control his women,” Fraser said. “That is obvious, and it’s regrettable. That hair…” His voice trailed off, and Colin wished he could see Fraser’s expression. Colin loved how Maggie’s hair curled this way and that and how she was constantly pushing at it to keep it out of her eyes and behind her ears. It just proved Colin’s point that the man didn’t appreciate what was in front of him; he looked at her differences and counted them against her. He refused to see that those differences made her unique.

Maggie fled the great hall as soon as she was able. Fraser, thank God, had already made his excuses, and Maggie wanted to get out of there before she was alone with a furious Evan.

Her brother refused to see that she and Fraser did not suit. Instead, he thought of the benefits her marriage would bring him, and it broke her heart that the brother she loved and admired now thought of her only as a bargaining chip. For the first time in a long while, she wished her mother were alive. Maggie didn’t know what it was like to have a mother, but she had to believe that a mother would argue for her daughter’s happiness.

Her heart was thundering and her hands were sweating and, to her disgust, she was crying as she hurried down the dark hallways to ensure that she was as far from Evan as she could get.

She understood that Evan needed to stay in the good graces of the surrounding chiefs. She understood that fighting for Scotland put Evan and clan Sinclair in a precarious position and that Fraser could protect him from the English.

She skirted the corner and entered a hallway only to discover that Fraser was at the other end, talking to the man who was his second-in-command.

“Sinclair is a fool,” Fraser was saying. “And the girl is an embarrassment.”

She opened her mouth to protest but quickly closed it, thinking it best not to alert Fraser to her presence.

“If I did no’ need those upper north fields so much, I’d kick the bloody wench in the teeth and walk away.”

Maggie reared back, appalled. The thought of any man deliberately harming a woman was unconscionable. She had to think he was just saying that, but a tremor of foreboding ran up her back.
This
was what her brother wanted her to marry? And all for land. She’d wondered what this marriage would provide for Fraser, and now she had her answer. He wanted more land. She was being sold for cattle food.

“She’ll need to be properly schooled,” he was saying. “I’ll teach her manners and how to respect her husband even if I have to beat it into her.”

The blood rushed from Maggie’s head. What the hell did “properly schooled” mean?

“Ye’ll still wed her, then?” Fraser’s man asked.

Fraser seemed to think about that for a moment while Maggie held her breath.
Say no. Oh, please say no.

“Aye. Unfortunately. I’ll speak to her brother in the morning and tell him the price has gone up. I’ll want the eastern lands as well. He canno’ deny me. Lord knows he’ll never pawn her off on anyone else, and he wants protection from the English desperately enough that he’ll comply. I’ll also tell him that my protection is dependent on his sister’s behavior. If she does no’ obey me, I will withdraw my protection.”

Maggie could barely breathe, she was so stunned. Fraser was a heartless man. He had her cornered and he knew it. Her brother’s safety and the safety of the Sinclairs fell on her shoulders.

She pressed a hand to her heaving stomach and leaned against the wall because her legs had lost their strength. Evan had sold her to the devil.

“She’s atrocious-looking. Her bosom is too small. Her hips are too small. She’ll probably die birthing my heir. And the clothing…” Fraser’s voice trailed off as he shuddered.

Maggie’s blood ran cold. Die in the birthing? Terror nearly made her fall to her knees. She had no desire to bear Fraser’s offspring. She didn’t want to have anything to do with any of this. She pressed her fist to her mouth to keep her whimper of fear from escaping.

“She’ll fall into line once I have her on Fraser land,” he said. “I’ll no’ put up with these outrageous antics.”

“It’s an advantageous marriage,” the second-in-command said.

“Aye. It is. We’ll be wed on the morrow if this godforsaken place even has a priest. And she better as hell be wearing a damn gown, or she’ll wed me naked as the day she was born.”

The bile rushed up Maggie’s throat, and it took everything she had to swallow it down. She pressed her hand harder against her lips. Fraser and his man moved down the hallway. Tears blurred Maggie’s vision. Evan was going to force her to wed Fraser, and Fraser, in turn, was going to beat her until she behaved and then get her with child, and if she didn’t cooperate, Evan would pay the price.

When she managed to blink the tears away, she was surprised to see MacLean step out of an alcove close to where Fraser and his man had been standing. He spied her at the other end, her fist pressed against her mouth, fighting the urge to spew her dinner.

Somehow it was so much worse, knowing that Colin had heard the disgusting conversation. He’d heard Fraser call her an embarrassment and he’d heard Fraser’s hope that she would die birthing his child and he’d heard why and for what price her brother had sold her off.

“Maggie…” He started for her, and the shocked look on his face splintered whatever paralysis had her in its grip. With a small cry, she spun around and ran down the hallway, bouncing off one wall to push away from the other.

“Maggie,” Colin called from behind her.

“Please go away,” she pleaded, but realized they weren’t words that escaped her but a short whimper.

“Maggie, please.”

Somehow she found herself outside on the parapet. She lifted her head to the cool air that brushed against her heated face, but nothing could stop the sobs that shook her body.

“Maggie, no!” For a brief moment Colin was terrified to find Maggie leaning over the parapet wall. It appeared that she was preparing to throw herself over the edge, and he raced toward her. But she quickly straightened and held her hand out to stop him.

“Go away,” she choked out. Her body shook from sobs and her face was streaked with tears.

“Maggie, please.” He held his hands out in supplication as she scooted down the wall to get away from him.

She choked on another sob and pressed her hand against her mouth. Her dark eyes, filled with shock and terror, swam with tears.

Colin slowly approached, but he worried she didn’t even see him, so consumed was she by her fear.

“Go away,” she whispered.

He cupped her face between his palms, surprised by how violently she was shaking. “Look at me, Maggie. Look at
me
.”

Slowly, her eyes began to focus.

“I’ll go to Evan. I’ll tell him what I heard. He will no’ force you to wed Fraser when he hears what the bastard said.” There was no possibility that Evan would allow his sister to be used in such a way. Colin was convinced of it. There had to be a solution, and Colin swore to himself that he wouldn’t leave until he found one for her. He hadn’t saved her from that damn prison cell to have her abused by the likes of Fraser.

“He said…” Her gaze began to glaze again.

“I heard what he said. I’ll talk to yer brother.”

She started crying in earnest and he had no idea what to do for her. So he went on instinct and gathered her to him, wrapping his arms around her in a fierce, protective hug in the hope that his strength alone would stop her shaking.

Maggie collapsed against him and sobbed into his shirt, her body quaking. Colin rubbed her back and whispered in her ear. He had no idea what he was saying, but he needed to feel like he was giving her some comfort.

Eventually, her sobs gave way to sniffles and the occasional hiccup, and after a while she pulled away and wiped her swollen red eyes. “I feel like an
ijit,
” she said on a watery laugh.

“Why?” He brushed away the last of her tears with the pads of his thumbs. Her skin was so soft and supple. The thought of someone abusing her, of marking that supple skin, infuriated him.

“For crying like that. I never cry.”

“It’s understandable.”

She looked up at him. “I do no’ know what I would have done if ye had no’ been there to hear all of that. Surely Evan would never believe me if I went to him with such a story. I thank ye, Colin MacLean.” She rose up on her toes and kissed him on the lips. He was so astonished that he didn’t move. And she froze, still standing on her toes. Their gazes collided, hers wide and surprised.

He took her cheeks between his hands again and leaned down to really kiss her. It was everything he remembered the last kiss to be except she was a little more tutored and willingly opened her mouth to let him sweep his tongue in. It pleased him to know that he’d been the one to teach her how to kiss and it infuriated him all over again that Fraser would abuse a beautiful soul such as Maggie’s.

She wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled herself closer to him as if she wanted to crawl beneath his skin for safety. He would have opened himself up and let her in if it meant protecting her from the likes of Fraser. Instead, Colin lifted her up and set her on the wall of the parapet so their lips were better aligned, and he kissed her deeply, savoring the salty tears on her lips and the warmth of her tongue. She tasted of salt and wine and woman, and it was an arousing sensation.

A noise behind them had Maggie pulling away with a gasp. Colin automatically tightened his hold on her to keep her from toppling backward off the wall. He glanced over his shoulder to see not only Sinclair behind him, looking thunderous and ready to kill, but Fraser looking on with such a cold expression that it chilled Colin’s heart. His first reaction, apart from protecting Maggie, was to smirk at Fraser, but he checked his instincts and concentrated on Evan instead.

“Tsk, tsk,” Fraser said with an unfriendly grin. “It’s bad form for a lady to be found kissing a servant.” He turned to Sinclair. “Ye have a problem keeping your kin in line, Sinclair. A sister who dresses and acts like a man and a whore at the same time, and a servant who is supposed to be protecting yer home and family taking disgusting advantage.”