The Highland Wife

“Nay, he’ll have my place here, Mairi. The clan decided that years ago,” he argued, gasping. “But he’ll no’ have my lass. I told him so…our kin’s too close.”

“Greater reason than that not to have him!” Mairi exclaimed. “I’d die first!”

He clenched his eyes shut and grimaced. “Wed MacBain this night, Mairi…and begone afore it’s too late.”

“Hist!” she said to hush him. She would wed, but she’d not leave. “Ranald sent those men to do murder, Da. He should be punished for it, not rewarded with Craigmuir!”

“May be, but he…he will have it nonetheless,” he insisted. “Just marry and go, hinny. Please!” he gasped the word and groaned.

“As ye wish, Da.” She’d not leave, of course. She could never desert her father when he lay mortally wounded. Nor would she abandon her home as a boon for that dastardly cousin of hers. But she would wed MacBain as soon as someone could fetch the priest. Not only to fulfill her father’s wish. She wanted to.

Ranald MacInness would never claim her as his wife if she had to wed the devil himself to prevent it. Fortunately, it would not come to that. She had a perfectly good husband-to-be at hand, thanks to her father’s foresight.

When the men—grimy from battle and grieving for those lost to it—had moved the laird into the hall, Mairi made him as comfortable as she could. Someone had brought a pile of blankets and furs from his bed abovestairs and placed them upon one of the long oak trestles used for meals.

It looked to Mairi like a bier, which she realized it soon would be. She had stopped his bleeding at long last, but not quickly enough to save him.

His tunic, the blankets that covered him and her own sleeves were soaked with his blood. Her father was not long for this world, she knew.

“I am with ye, Da,” she whispered. “I’m here.”

The priest had come and administered rites. He now stood by, praying silently for his old friend and laird. There would be further duty for the Father Ephriam if only her betrothed would get himself within the hall.

Where was MacBain? Mairi wished with all her might that he would arrive in time. Her father would rest so much easier if he could witness the wedding and know that she had at least complied with one part of his behest.

Seeing the marriage accomplished would give him peace in his final hours. There was little more she could do for him, other than grieve for him when he was gone, and then avenge his death.

That, she vowed she would do. It was her duty as well as her heart’s wish. Ranald MacInness would die a gruesome death for this day’s work. She could envision his dark hair whipping in the wind, that smirk permanently frozen on his face when they mounted his head upon a pike outside the gates of Craigmuir.

A scant hour later, when she had almost given up, MacBain strode in, followed by several of her father’s men. No decently groomed lord now, he wore a savage look upon his face and carried himself like the victor he had proved to be. Her father had chosen wisely for her. And for Craigmuir.

When MacBain stopped several feet away and remained silent, Mairi beckoned him closer.

“We must wed now,” she announced clearly, fearing for some obscure reason that he would object to the haste. He merely looked at her, a question in his sharp gray eyes.

“My father is dying. He desires me safely wed to you without wait. I would have it so.”

The baron turned to the priest, who nodded in agreement with her words. From his sleeve, Father Ephriam drew the parchments prepared long before MacBain had arrived, and handed them over to her betrothed.

Within moments they had signed them and the official deed was done. Even without the spoken vows to follow, they were contracted man and wife. All that remained were the words of acceptance and, later, the consummation. She grasped his hand, eager to proceed for her father’s sake.

Her sire looked on from the table upon which he lay. With great effort to suppress her tears, Mairi smiled at him, telling him with her eyes how dear he was to her.

No matter that he had been a gruff old father who reprimanded far more often than he praised. She could see his caring much more clearly now than ever before in the provision he had made for her.

“Lord Robert Alexander MacBain, wilt thou have this woman, Mairi MacInness, to wife?” the priest droned.

“Aye,” his lordship answered gruffly, squeezing her small hand gently in his. Mairi noted bloody smears on both and shivered with dread that this presented a bad omen. Nay, she thought, this marriage was a good thing. The blood just spilled would bond them inexorably.

She watched the baron slip a gold crested ring off his smallest finger and slide it onto her third. A circle of fire it was, hot from the heat of battle, wet and slippery with sweat and gore he had shed for her and hers. She made a fist to keep the ring in place. A fist full of vengeful promises that must be honored.

“Lady Mairi MacInness, do you take this man to husband?”

She glanced up at MacBain—called Robert, so she had just learned—and caught a fleeting look of apprehension. Did he fear she would say nay?

“I will,” she answered emphatically, and added a nod for good measure. Not for anything would she leave a doubt in anyone’s mind. This was her choice. She was this man’s wife now. As soon as humanly possible, she would make certain no man could alter that.

Strange and fearsome as he was, the man could fight. And he had done all he could to save her and her father during the attack. At the moment, she could think of no better recommendation than that for a husband.

Her new lord might not be a Highland man, but he was a true Scot. And when the wedding and bedding were done, he would be family. Then he could do naught but marshal her father’s men, give them their orders and lead them out to avenge the laird.

Ranald MacInness must die at his hand, and the MacBain must rule Craigmuir. She had decided. And no man—not even her father at his fiercest—had ever been able to sway Mairi MacInness once she had settled upon a true course of action.

The night through, Rob sat beside Mairi near the laird’s deathbed. Now and again, she would lean forward and adjust the covers, caress her father’s brow or pat his hand. Her strength and control impressed Rob. Not once had she wept for what was to come, though she surely knew.

Only once did she excuse herself to go abovestairs and then only for a short time. Long enough, however. The old laird roused himself and gave Rob orders to take Mairi away at first light.

He spoke haltingly, yet formed each word clearly and precisely. “Ranald wants her…and my place here. No matter what Mairi says, take her and depart.”

Rob nodded in understanding and grasped the gnarled hand the laird offered him.

“Leave me to my men,” MacInness instructed. “Travel light and swift. And watch your back.”

Rob did not ask why. He did not need to. Any man who wanted Lady Mairi would not relinquish her easily. MacInness’s tanist would follow. In his place, Rob would certainly do so. The woman was a treasure worth fighting for.

“I beg you, do not rest until my lass has seen her last of the Highlands. Never bring her back here. Promise you will honor my…my wishes! Swear!”

What alternative did Rob have but to give his word? A last request was a last request, after all. And the laird was Mairi’s father, and now also his, by marriage.

Reaching down, Rob grasped his sword and raised it enough for the old man to see. He bent his head and put his lips against the jeweled pommel, then lifted the weapon higher, as though swearing on the cross formed by hilt, cross-guard and blade. “I so vow,” he declared.

Chapter Three

Rob did not tell Mairi of the oath when she returned downstairs and again took up the vigil by her father’s side. Morning would be time enough to wrest her from the only home she had ever known, and without a proper departure.

She would have a much sadder farewell to endure before that time came. He sat beside her on the bench while she leaned forward, her elbows resting upon the table where her father lay.

Suddenly, Mairi straightened and jumped as though startled out of sleep.

“What is wrong?” Rob asked her. More to the point, he should have asked her what was not wrong?

“Did ye hear? The cock just crowed,” she muttered. He almost did not catch the words. “’Tis morn.”

Laird MacInness turned his head toward where they sat and smiled his adieu at the both of them. “Keep her…safe,” he said, and breathed his last as though well content to do so.

Noble till the end, Rob thought, admiring the man for facing death as he had done. Not with whimper or complaint. Only a smile and a demand for the safety of his daughter. Any man could be proud of such a death, and Rob saw that pride reflected on the faces of the laird’s men.

Mairi’s delicate fingers trembled as she closed her father’s wrinkled eyelids. Exhaustion, pain and grief had leached her features of their usual bloom, and lent her body a stiffness he wished would abate. She would do well to give way to her anguish now and be done with it.